| Dish
Network - History |
EchoStar's
story began in 1980 when Chairman and CEO, Charlie Ergen,
entered the satellite television industry as a distributor
of C-band TV systems. After the successful launch of
their first sky satellite EchoStart I in December of
1995, Dish Network was established as a satellite TV
brand. The new company reached its first million customers
at the end of 1997 and its second million in less than
a year.
|
| Dish
Network - Present |
On
February of 2002 the EchoStar VII Satellite was successfully
launched from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida and
Dish Network became the first Satellite TV system to
offer over 500 channels of digital video, audio and
data throughout the United States. With over 7 million
customers Dish Network was the first Satellite TV company
to offer two-way, high-speed Internet access via satellite
through StartBand.
|
| Dish
Network - Future |
| In
October 2001, General Motors Hughes (DirecTV's parent
and Dish Network's main competitor) and EchoStar Communications
Corp., trader of Dish Network agreed to a merger.
The merged company would have provided an enhanced
television experience by adding at least a dozen high
definition TV channels and new interactive features
such as expanded pay-per-view selections and video-on-demand
service. In addition all satellite tv customers would
now have been able to receive local channels. Unfortunately
such enhancements are still a thing of the future
as the proposed merger was blocked on October 31,
2002 by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Read
the official release. |
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