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 headquartered
in Englewood, Colorado. On December 28, 1995 EchoStar successfully launched its first satellite, EchoStar I.
The 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.
DISH 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:

First company to offer a satellite receiver for less than $200

First to develop a UHF remote control

First to offer an Integrated Receiver Descrambler (IRD) for C-band satellite TV

First nationwide installation network dedicated solely to satellite TV systems

First to offer satellite receiver with built-in digital video recording

First Satellite TV company to offer local channels to local markets in all 50 states.

First to offer an MPEG4 multi-room high definition and digital video recorder satellite receiver

In 1987, EchoStar applied for a DBS license with the Federal Communications Commission
and was granted access to geostationary orbital slot 119° West longitude. Since
then DISH Network has launched a total of 10 communications satellites named
EchoStar I up through EchoStar X, which was launched on February 15, 2006.
These satellites give Dish Network the capacity to offer over 500 digital video,
data and audio channels of programming including local networks and HDTV.

Back in 2002 a proposed merger between giants EchoStar and DIRECTV was denied by
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC cited the reason that such
a merger would constitute a monopoly of the satellite TV business and that there
would be no competition for the newly created company. In July of 2006 rumors
re-surfaced when Rupert Murdoch the Owner of DIRECTV said that the time might be
right for a merger to happen and that he believed that the FCC would give its
blessing this time around.

On January 4, 2006 EchoStar announced that DISH Network had surpassed the 12
million figure for American households that had DISH Network service. In February
of 2007 DISH Network surpassed the 13 million figure. Each month, DISH Network
broadcasts a show titled "Charlie Chat", which features news about upcoming hardware,
programming events, and new channels. The show is co-hosted by Charlie Ergen, CEO
of DISH Network and Jim DeFranco, Executive Vice-President as they field both email and
phoned in questions. Recently DISH Network has gotten into the high-speed Internet
market and rumors persist that DISH Network and DIRECTV may yet merge so that they
could gain a bigger share of the broadband market.
It remains to be seen whether the FCC will give its blessing this time around.
DISH is also a leader in the area of offering HDTV channels
with 70 channels currently offered in High-Definition.
Since its beginnings in 1996,
over 30 million viewers have subscribed to DISH Network satellite TV service at
one time or another in over 13 million households.