EchoStar Will Launch New HDTV Satellites

[Poke]

Hmm Swann must read SatelliteGuys.



http://www.tvpredictions.com/ergen050907.htm


The satcaster looks to expand high-def capacity.
By Phillip Swann

Washington, D.C. (May 9, 2007) -- EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen revealed yesterday that his company will launch two new satellites late this year to expand capacity for High-Definition channels.

That's according to an article in The Rocky Mountain News.

The newspaper did not reveal more details, but posters at several Internet message boards last week said Ergen first disclosed the company's launch plans at EchoStar's annual summit of retailers.

Ergen vowed that EchoStar would remain the industry's high-def leader and told retailers that the company would have two new satellites going up by year's end.

EchoStar's Dish Network now carries 32 national high-def channels, more than any other TV provider. However, the nation's second largest satcaster is under pressure from rival DIRECTV to expand HD capacity in the coming months. DIRECTV has said it will offer 100 national HD channels by year's end.

Cable operators are also planning to offer high-def channels by using new bandwidth-expanding technologies and removing analog channels to create more room.

If the launches are successful, EchoStar could dramatically expand its high-def lineup in early 2008, matching or perhaps even surpassing DIRECTV's total number of HD channels.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Of course Swann reads SatelliteGuys.

 

[JohnH]

Where did the "HDTV Satellites" come from?

 

[David_Levin]

Boy, I think Charlie really put his foot in his mouth on this one...

We have not idea what level of planning this thing is at. Where are these birds? What Technology? Is the launch scheduled?

Is it truly on the books, or just something Charlie thinks would be cool? How can E* contract two new sats without the stock holders knowing?

I'm VERY skeptical at this point.

 

[Van]

hmmm, wonder how many new channels will be added, further how many more are cable going to add and who is going to be adding them?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The birds are ready. The Technology is MPEG4, the launches are scheduled.

Who says that the birds are Echostars.

Read around there are lots of clues to put this all together. Lots of stuff from the FCC on this.

I do believe it will happen.

 

[Poke]

Yeah I agree with Scott no big deal Dish should not have any issues and MPEG4 will be nice. I think the only one that puts their feet in their mouth is the other guys.

 

[Voyager6]

Hmm Swann must read SatelliteGuys.



http://www.tvpredictions.com/ergen050907.htm


The satcaster looks to expand high-def capacity.
By Phillip Swann


EchoStar's Dish Network now carries 32 national high-def channels, more than any other TV provider. However, the nation's second largest satcaster is under pressure from rival DIRECTV to expand HD capacity in the coming months. DIRECTV has said it will offer 100 national HD channels by year's end.

I had to e-mail Mr. Swann about this obvious error in his report. According to the DirecTv website, DirecTv will have the capacity of 150 HD channels. Here's the quote "

• Soon, we'll have the capacity to offer 150 HD channels*, that's three times more than cable**"

DirecTv does not state that these channels will be "National". http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=900034&CMP=ILC-Q107-Film-HD
I challenged him to name the "100 national HD channels" to be offered. The fine print on the DirecTv site says " *Number of channels subject to available HD programming.".
It's time to break the myth about these "100 national HD channels" on DirecTv.

 

[charper1]

"Charlie Ergen revealed yesterday that his company will launch two new satellites"

The "...his company will launch..." gives the impression that they are EchoStar's own birds; not leased space on someone else's birds. IMHO

 

[Bountykiller]

Scott I am with you, the info is there. For example.. if you were to look at lygsat today you could find one thats moving 1.11east per day *RIGHT NOW* .. HINT HINT HINTTTT... ;0 You could also find spare unused spot capacity too right now... wink wink... You could also know that when E11 goes to 110, theres going to be E8 and E6 doing nothing once again ... but thats just for the observant people... ;0 you could also even surmise that AMC 14 has *BEEN* ready for launch for a very long time, and was specially reconfigured as per charlies requests... ;0

-B

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

[*] Soon, we'll have the capacity to offer 150 HD channels*, that's three times more than cable**"[/LIST]DirecTv does not state that these channels will be "National". http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=900034&CMP=ILC-Q107-Film-HD

DirecTV has no clue what its doing. Take a look at its earning statement released today...
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=96451

It states... "we remain on schedule to offer up to 100 HD channels by the end of this year."

Of course they use the term "up to" to get them out of the loophole when they dont deliver. Hell they could say "up to 100,000 HD channels by the end of the year" and they would not be lieing. In fact "up to" could mean that they have the same amount of HD Channels at the end of the year that they have now and they would not have lied to their customers.

 

[RealityCheck]

I thought Charlie said the 2 sats were to duplicate the mpeg2 offering in mpeg4. Now they are hi-def sats? Its already spinning I see.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

"Charlie Ergen revealed yesterday that his company will launch two new satellites"

The "...his company will launch..." gives the impression that they are EchoStar's own birds; not leased space on someone else's birds. IMHO

First and formost, the ONLY website where this news was announced where someone was actually at Team Summit was HERE at SatelliteGuys.

Secondly the only forum to sit in a room and talk with Charlie Ergen for over an hour was SatelliteGuys.US.

Third, NO ONE at Dish is talking about this announcement, feel free to call the Echostar press office at 720-514-5351 and ask about this and they won't comment.

To me this means that once again Phillip Swan shows that he does not verify his stories before posting them and twists words to what he thinks they mean, and posts his news as if they are facts. When he is just someone sitting at home (or in his office) on a butt sitting around reading websites like ours looking for news to report as his own.

Now with that said I don't have a problem with Phillip Swan, he is for the most part good at what he does and the public follows him and his word as if it is gospel. I enjoy his interviews most and I feel he excells at them. The only problem I have is when he takes news from sites such as ours with no credit to the origional sites and twists what is being said without verifying his story before publishing it.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I thought Charlie said the 2 sats were to duplicate the mpeg2 offering in mpeg4. Now they are hi-def sats? Its already spinning I see.

The only spinning being done is by Mr Swan.

There is no such thing as an Hi Def Satellite.

 

[JohnH]

Well, tomorrow may bring some info in the quarterly financial report.

 

[RealityCheck]

Thanks for the reply. But (no fault to you) the spin has started. I'm sure we have not heard the last of this fabrication.

 

[Poke]

Yeah don't get caught in the wording of things like Scott said there is not such a thing as a HD Satellite. Basically would have been better to say that a new satellite might be used to offer more hd so forth.

 

[JohnH]

For example.. if you were to look at lygsat today you could find one thats moving 1.11east per day *RIGHT NOW* .. HINT HINT HINTTTT... ;0

That one would be at a loss to do much, if anything, in the way of ConUS activity for an 18" dish.

 

[mdonnelly]

That one would be at a loss to do much, if anything, in the way of ConUS activity for an 18" dish.

That one's gonna slow down and stop at 113º for a few weeks, then at 97º for a few weeks, for Ka-band testing. Then it'll go back to it's home at 85º. But, it could be a glimpse into the future.

 

[ccash]

Well, tomorrow may bring some info in the quarterly financial report.

& Conference Call at noon