Dish Network

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Image:DISH Network Logo.gif Dish Network is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that broadcasts digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, owned by parent company EchoStar Communications Corporation (Template:Nasdaq). Dish Network was launched in March, 1996, and, along with DirecTV, primarily competes with cable television providers throughout the United States.

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History

EchoStar was formed in 1980 by its Chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen as a distributor of C-band TV systems. In 1987, EchoStar applied for a DBS license with the Federal Communications Commission and was granted access to geostationary orbital slot 119° west longitude in 1992.[1]

On December 28, 1995, EchoStar successfully launched its first satellite, EchoStar I. That same year, EchoStar established the Dish Network brand name to market its home satellite TV system.

In 1996, EchoStar and Dominion Video Satellite, Inc., proprietor of the Sky Angel DBS service, formed a technical agreement where Dominion has co-located its FCC-licensed DBS frequencies and channels on the same DBS satellite, EchoStar III (61.5° west longitude), carrying DBS frequencies and channels licensed by the FCC to EchoStar. The two DBS companies operate independently of one another, and subscribers to each service are not required to subscribe to both services, however, this technical agreement enables individuals, at their option, to subscribe to both services using the same satellite receiving system.

Dish Network originally used an 18-inch satellite dish called Dish 300 that allowed subscribers to receive a signal from one satellite location. Today, Dish Network uses 20-inch satellite dishes called Dish 500, which allows subscribers to receive satellite signals from two satellite locations simultaneously. Slightly larger, dishes such as the 36"×20" SuperDish and the Dish 1000 are being introduced with capability to receive satellite signals from three satellite locations simultaneously. There are two different versions of the SuperDish. One receives feeds from satellites at 119°W, 110°W, and 121°W while the other receives 119°W, 110°W, and 105°W. The Dish 1000 receives from satellites at 119°W, 110°W, and 129°W. Both Dish 1000 and SuperDish are becoming more common as Dish Network (as well as other DBS services) are attempting to squeeze more programming onto their growing systems, particularly local and national American television network stations, and foreign programming.

In 2003, Dish Network began providing in-flight satellite TV service to the U.S. airline Song. In 2004, all selected music channels from the Sirius Satellite Radio audio pack were added to Dish Network's lineup of audio-only channels.

Dish Network is also partnered with Starband to deliver broadband satellite Internet service along with its television service. Every month, Dish Network has a show called Charlie Chat, which features news about upcoming hardware, programming events, and new channels. Company CEO Charlie Ergen and Jim De Franco host the show and take questions from e-mail and live callers.

On May 1, 2005, EchoStar added the first 10 of the 21 original Voom channels. These channels are available at a 61.5°W orbital slot position. EchoStar plans to carry all 21 original Voom channels by next year. (more information here)

In October 2005, Dish Network unilaterally cut service of one of its channels to its subscribers. The situation involved OLN and its owner Comcast. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based cable provider refused to provide OLN's National Hockey League coverage to Dish, because it was not available on a sufficiently high-penetration tier. Dish then removed OLN from its lineup indefinitely, claiming that customers would eventually have to pay more for a service that few of its 12 million customers actually watched.

On January 1, 2006, Dish Network cut service of two additional channels to its subscribers: Lifetime Television, and its sister network Lifetime Movie Network. According to Dish, Lifetime demanded a 70% price increase of its programming, whereas Lifetime claims the increase was only pennies. The companies came to an agreement and restored the channels on February 1.

On January 4, 2006, Echostar announced that Dish Network surpassed 12 million paid subscribers. In the last five years, DISH Network added more than 6.74 million net new customers, more than all other satellite TV and cable companies during the same period.

On February 8, 2006, the scheduled launch of Echostar X, the tenth satellite in Echostar's fleet, was scrubbed due to an unspecified issue at the Sea Launch site. The launch was pushed back to February 15, when it was successfully launched into its orbital position.

On March 13, 2006, a special 90-minute edition of "Charlie Chats" aired at 9 pm (Eastern time) to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Dish Network to its customers. Since its launch in 1996, 30 million viewers in 12 million households have enjoyed programming on the Dish Network.

While for years, Dish Network has used standard DVB-S for broadcasting their channels, the addition of bandwidth-intensive HDTV in a limited-bandwidth world has called for a change to an MPEG-4 system. Dish has announced as of Feb. 1, 2006, that all new HD (High Definition) channels would be available in MPEG-4 format only, while maintaining the current MPEG-2 lineup. Both a standard receiver and a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) are available to subscribers at a surprisingly low upgrade fee when leased. Dish Network plans to convert the entire lineup, high-def and standard-def channels, to MPEG4 in order to provide more channels to subscribers. The new MPEG4 system uses the Dish 1000 system pulling from 110/119 and 129 orbital slots. The 129 orbital slot serves the new MPEG-4 HDTV channels and is also a mirror of 61.5. With this, they are finally able to offer HD Locals-into-locals (high-def locals over satellite)

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Number of subscribers by year

YearSubscribers
199520,000
1996100,000
1997250,000
1998500,000
19991,000,000
20002,000,000
20004,000,000
20005,000,000
20029,000,000
200410,000,000
200511,000,000
200612,000,000
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Management

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List of channels on Dish Network

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Local channels

Dish Network also offers local channels (CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, PBS, WB, UPN, and some independent stations) for many markets. To view independent stations, a second dish (installed at no additional cost to the customer) may be required. If a market lacks an affiliate for a network, Dish Network offers feeds from other cities (known as distant locals). Feeds from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Denver are available for CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox; the company once also offered these distants from Atlanta, but this ended in March 2006. Dish Network also offers UPN affiliates WWOR-TV (New York City) and WSBK-TV (Boston), and WB affiliates WPIX (New York City), KWGN-TV (Denver), and KTLA-TV (Los Angeles). WPIX, KWGN and KTLA will become affiliates of the new CW Television Network, while WWOR will join forces with MyNetworkTV, and WSBK is scheduled to return to its independent status, all during September of 2006. A national PBS channel is also available. The WB feeds from Miami and San Diego are also provided to customers in certain markets who subscribe to local channels.

While the distant locals of the major networks are limited to viewers who cannot receive local affiliates by antenna, the UPN and WB affiliates and PBS member are available to most subscribers, whether or not they have local equivalents. (in fact, DISH once offered a package discount for viewers who choose to receive their local affiliates and the superstations which is still available to some "grandfathered" subscribers).

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Satellite fleet

Satellite Current Orbital Slot Launch Date Satellite Manufacturer/Type
EchoStar I 148° W 28 December 1995 Lockheed Martin Astro Space Series 7000
EchoStar II 148° W 10 September 1996 Lockheed Martin Astro Space Series 7000
EchoStar III 61.5° W 5 October 1997 Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space A2100AX
EchoStar IV * 77° W 8 May 1998 Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space A2100AX
EchoStar V 129° W 23 September 1999 Space Systems/Loral FS-1300
EchoStar VI 110° W 14 July 2000 Space Systems/Loral FS-1300
EchoStar VII 119° W 21 February 2002 Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space A2100AX
EchoStar VIII 110° W 21 August 2002 Space Systems/Loral FS-1300
Rainbow 1 * 61.5° W 17 July 2003 Lockheed-Martin AS-2100
EchoStar IX/Telstar 13 121° W 7 August 2003 Space Systems/Loral FS-1300
AMC-15 * 105° W 14 October 2004 Lockheed-Martin AS-2100
EchoStar X 110° W 15 February 2006 Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space A2100AX

EchoStar IV at 77° W is not licensed to serve customers in the United States. Echostar has placed the satellite in this Mexican controlled orbital slot to serve future DBS customers in Mexico.

Rainbow 1 was launched by Cablevision/Rainbow DBS and used for the Voom DBS service until the satellite and transponder licenses were sold to Echostar in 2005.

AMC-15 is owned by SES Americom and replaced AMC-2 at the 105° orbital location. Echostar leases the entire bandwidth of the AMC-15 satellite.

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See also

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External links

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