EchoStar Corporation Names Michael Dugan President and CEO

[DishSubLA]

Yes, this is good because it seems, IMHO, that Charlie is doing this so that he can focus his efforts on Dish Network as that is the company that really needs his day-to-day attention, at the moment. He has got to return some of Dish's luster. The last quarter was good news, but there is a lot more to be accomplished. It will be like the old days when James DeFranco was running the Echostar part of the business (then a division and not a separate company) so that Charlie could be 100% on Dish Network when things were quite desperate in those early years. It was Ergan's running Dish day-to-day that allowed Dish to grow tremendously, and his absence from Dish day-to-day when he was off arranging the Dish/Echo split that was when Dish began its slide.

IMHO, the Dish/Echostar split was made so that when the time comes to sell Dish Network, it would be far more desirable because a potential buyer would not really want the Echostar part of the business and the additional cost to acquire Echostar part of the same company. The creation of Echostar as a separate company also gives Ergan a company of his own to go to and run (in complete control) when he sells Dish Network.



Ergan has been very candid over the years that at some point he would either have to buy a really big media company or sell Dish Network because Dish is too small to effectively compete against the deep-pocketed media conglomerates. Even Echostar is having a very tough time competing with the much larger satellite operating companies, and Ergan admitted this in the last quarterly conference call.

When the Disney/Comcast merger was speculated a few years ago, Ergan said, "Either I write a big check to someone, or someone writes me a big check, and I'm on down the road." The Comcast/NBC Universal merger is BAD for Dish Network because the new combined media company's leverage will be MASSIVE, and Dish is not deep-pocketed enough to keep up in the long run with such large media conglomerates. But, Charlie has to fix the problems at Dish to make it a far more attractive purchase to whoever buys it, should he sell.

Unless the economy changes big-time really soon to allow Ergan to gather the financing (a package of loans from multiple banks) to buy a big media company, it will be just a matter of time before Ergan has to sell, and he knows it. That would be sad, I think, because much of the innovation and re-focus on customer service is Charlie. I can only imagine one of the big media companies treating customers worse and getting rid of good upgrades, etc. In other words, a lot of what we like about Dish Network, and you can forget about competition on price. New owners would probably follow the Direct TV model of higher monthly rates.

[MikeD-C05]

Higher monthly rates huh?

They are already too high now and I have news for all sat /cable companies; In this economy people are cutting the cords and going with internet only or ota. Myself, I have seen that we mostly watch our locals , do I need to pay over $88.00 a month to watch top 250 programming? I can remember 10 years ago I paid $69.99 a month for America's Everything Pack and we had 3 dvrs . I had this pack for about 8 years, till 2 years ago we dropped all premiums and cut down to one dvr and a non dvr receiver. Add to the already high price the yearly , yes, YEARLY price increases, and I can see dropping down to the lowest pack . The next step would be going locals only or the welcome pack + locals. I simply can not justify these prices for a handful of channels that I watch in addition to my locals.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have been reading the other site, and it just shows me clearly how far their heards are shoved up their asses.

Charlie Ergen is still the President and CEO of DISH NETWORK.
He didn't step down from the president and CEO of ECHOSTAR because of the TIVO lawsuit.

The new president and ceo Michael Dugan use the be the former President of Echostar and COO of ECHOSTAR. When he decided to leave Charlie took his position.

While Charlie is not the president and CEO of Echostar anymore he is still Chairman of the board, meaning HE STILL PULLS THE STRINGS at Echostar.

I couldn't believe what I read at the other site yesterday, everyone was making it sound like he was leaving Dish Network which is not the case at all. Charlie still has full reign and control over BOTH companies.

Lets get the facts straight.

[Bob Haller]

facts that other site doesnt know a fact when it hits them with a 2 by 4

I DONT waste my time going there.........

[jacmyoung]

...The Comcast/NBC Universal merger ...

It will not pass the regulators' door.

I agree though if there is a good buyer Charlie will not refuse to sell his DISH, which makes winning the TiVo case an important part of it.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Charlie has told me face to face that if the right buyer came along for the right price he would sell.

I have been told by others that he was close to selling before but tried pushing up the price to high and the two companies that were interested both walked away.

[Jhon69]

Well maybe Charlie came back to Dish cause they were giving away the Bank?.

When I decided maybe it was time to leave DirecTV I couldn't believe my eyes what they were offering on their website it made the switch alot easier to decide.

Which just proves I'm not easy but I can be had!.

[toto]

Maybe Charlie wants to enjoy his aging self some and some of that money he has made.

One of stories from Charlie about the early days of Echospher. They were selling systems for 25K. Charlie and Jim were driving through Kittredge, Co (Denver foothills Evergreen school district), when they passed a home with an impressive antenna farm. They knocked on the door and introduced themselves to Mike. He said "Hello you're the guys selling those crappy satellite dishs" That is when the course of the history of Dish made a drastic and positive turn.