Dish Network History

EchoStar Communications Corporation, the parent company of DISH Network was formed back in 1980 by CEO and Chairman Charles W. Ergen originally to distribute Television systems. EchoStar is a public company with over 21,000 employees and is headquarterednin Englewood, Colorado. On December 28, 1995 EchoStar successfully launched its first satellite, EchoStar I. nThe successful launch of EchoStar I came after several failed launch attempts. That same year, EchoStar established the DISH Network brand name to market its home satellite TV system.nDISH Network is a Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS)service that provides satellite television and audio programming throughout the United States. The company used "DISH" as an acronym for Digital Sky Highway. In it's 28 year history EchoStar has had several industry firsts, most notably:nnFirst company to offer a satellite receiver for less than $200nnFirst to develop a UHF remote controlnnFirst to offer an Integrated Receiver Descrambler (IRD) for C-band satellite TVnnFirst nationwide installation network dedicated solely to satellite TV systemsnnFirst to offer satellite receiver with built-in digital video recordingnnFirst Satellite TV company to offer local channels to local markets in all 50 states.nnFirst to offer an MPEG4 multi-room high definition and digital video recorder satellite receivernnIn 1987, EchoStar applied for a DBS license with the Federal Communications Commissionnand was granted access to geostationary orbital slot 119° West longitude. Sincenthen DISH Network has launched a total of 10 communications satellites namednEchoStar I up through EchoStar X, which was launched on February 15, 2006. nThese satellites give Dish Network the capacity to offer over 500 digital video, ndata and audio channels of programming including local networks and HDTV.nnBack in 2002 a proposed merger between giants EchoStar and DIRECTV was denied bynthe Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC cited the reason that suchna merger would constitute a monopoly of the satellite TV business and that therenwould be no competition for the newly created company. In July of 2006 rumorsnre-surfaced when Rupert Murdoch the Owner of DIRECTV said that the time might benright for a merger to happen and that he believed that the FCC would give its nblessing this time around.nnOn January 4, 2006 EchoStar announced that DISH Network had surpassed the 12nmillion figure for American households that had DISH Network service. In Februarynof 2007 DISH Network surpassed the 13 million figure. Each month, DISH Network nbroadcasts a show titled "Charlie Chat", which features news about upcoming hardware, nprogramming events, and new channels. The show is co-hosted by Charlie Ergen, CEOnof DISH Network and Jim DeFranco, Executive Vice-President as they field both email andnphoned in questions. Recently DISH Network has gotten into the high-speed Internetnmarket and rumors persist that DISH Network and DIRECTV may yet merge so that theyncould gain a bigger share of the broadband market. nIt remains to be seen whether the FCC will give its blessing this time around. nDISH is also a leader in the area of offering HDTV channelsnwith 70 channels currently offered in High-Definition.nSince its beginnings in 1996,nover 30 million viewers have subscribed to DISH Network satellite TV service atnone time or another in over 13 million households.nn