Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar satellite operation, despite losing subscribers on its Hughes Network Systems subsidiary, seems committed to launching its own Low Earth Orbiting fleet of satellites. EchoStar Corp CEO Hamid Akhavan has spoken in the past that Direct-To-Device connectivity from satellite to consumers is a huge opportunity. Now, in releasing the company’s full-year results, he […]
Investment bank BNP Paribas hosted a low Earth orbiting ‘expert event’ with Dr Tim Farrar, an acknowledged expert on the satellite sector and Direct-to-Device (D2D) services in particular. Farrar argued that Elon Musk’s SpaceX/Starlink service, although embryonic today, are some “18 months ahead of competitors on D2D and that by the end of the year […]
The planned merger between two US pay-TV satellite broadcasters is definitely off – at least for the moment. A deadline set by DirecTV passed without fresh discussions or progress happening. The blame for the decision falls on Charlie Ergen’s Dish/EchoStar and its bond (debt) holders. Under the complex merger deal, which would have created the […]
EchoStar’s share price has plummeted 13 per cent as news emerged that TPG (the former Texas Pacific Group) has said that the acquisition by DirecTV of EchoStar’s pay-TV assets was at risk because of EchoStar/Dish bond-holders who were holding out over the terms of a debt exchange offer. There are multiple reports that Dish bondholders […]
As heavily rumoured, DirecTV and EchoStar have entered into a definitive agreement under which DIRECTV will acquire EchoStar’s video distribution business DISH DBS, including DISH TV and Sling TV, through a debt exchange transaction. “DirecTV operates in a highly competitive video distribution industry,” said Bill Morrow, Chief Executive Officer, DirecTV. “With greater scale, we expect […]
The long-awaited merger between DirecTV and Dish Network appears imminent and could be announced as early as September 30th, according to a report in the WSJ. If an agreement is reached, the result would be the creation of the largest pay-TV operator in the US. Together, the pair would have some 20 million subscribers. The […]
EchoStar, the Charlie Ergen-backed business that owns the Dish US pay-TV operator, says that negotiations which have taken place over the past weeks with certain debt-holders and which would have led to a financial reconstruction have failed to reach agreement. The negotiations were primarily with members of a group represented by Milbank. Despite this setback, […]
FreeCast has announced a partnership with DISH Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation, to offer its aggregated streaming software on AirTV 2 and AirTV Anywhere devices to serve FreeCast’s commercial customers with a network-attached broadcast tuner for blending streaming and over-the-air channels. FreeCast’s software will work seamlessly with these devices. AirTV 2 and […]
Elon Musk, in a Tweet on X, says he will “blast away the dead [cellular] zones,” helped by a launch on August 31st which added 26 Starlink satellites suitable for handling calls direct–to–cellular (DTC). The latest batch takes the number of DTC satellites to 168, with another launch likely later this week. However, waiting in […]
US satellite operator EchoStar has not had the best of weeks. August 12th saw the company report revenue had fallen by 9.3 per cent and a net loss of $205.6 million (from a profit during the same period last year of $212.7 million). Its share price, already depressed, fell back by 6.1 per cent to […]