# Inside Charlie's Brain - what's he planning?



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Richard Greenfield of the investment firm BTIG on Tuesday posted a report titled Inside Charlie's Brain: Accepting the Eventual Death of Linear TV and Laying the Groundwork to Reinvent DISH.

It's one very-well-informed person's "big picture" view of what Dish is doing which begins with Charlies response to a question in DISH's Q3 2010 conference call. It's a long post but worth reading as it offers a comprehensive explanation for the various pieces of the puzzle we've been discussing in various threads (spectrum acquisition, Blockbuster acquisition, dropping sports channels, giving away premium movie channels, staying away from sub growth just to grow subs).

Thursday's _The Morning Bridge_ from MediaBiz offered up this summary:


> What, oh what, is Charlie Ergen thinking? BTIG's Richard Greenfield (who came up with today's too-good-not-to-steal headline) says the DISH-EchoStar-Blockbuster etc. etc. honcho is "clearly worried about his core distribution business and has begun to take aggressive measures in 2011 to build a next-generation DISH Network."
> 
> Notes Greenfield, Ergen has been dropping sports programming (bye bye Fox RSNs, MSG, SNY); buying wireless spectrum, giving away free year deals to various premium nets, and apparently challenging Netflix via the purchase of Blockbuster, which, by the way, closed Tuesday. So what's he gonna do with all that? Who knows? says Greenfield. But a hybrid model is one good bet ... as is a challenge to Netflix. To get the full post, go here (and don't forget to register.)


 Near the end of the analysis, Greenfield comments:


> *Ergen's Goal Not Clear Yet: Hybrid Model in the Works?* We're not sure and to be honest, we're not even sure Ergen has an exact plan at the moment, albeit, we increasingly believe he knows he needs to reorient DISH's business model, especially while cash flow from his core business is robust enabling him to redeploy capital to build/re-engineer DISH. Ergen is reducing expensive sports programming and staying away from sub growth just to grow subs (focusing on profitable sub additions), while at the same time redeploying capital into new strategies such as online/mobile programming and helping to enable high speed wireless broadband.
> 
> ...We wonder whether Ergen's goal is to focus on a small group of linear networks that are must have destinations for consumers and supplement it with a robust on-demand offering that allows anytime/anywhere access to a wide array of programming (albeit without sports).


He doesn't discuss the Sling acquisition which was on the Echostar side, but it also fits into a broader picture.

With regard to sports, IMHO Charlie isn't dropping sports but rather only contracting for sports programming that is purchased separately.

I'm going to be curious what he will do with the Disney folks at contract renewal time when Disney will be pressing for a 100% price increase for the ESPN stuff charged to every customer which is already too expensive for the cash-strapped portion of the population.

Of course, Disney will try to leverage the Disney Channel if they notice that Charlie isn't big on making all his customers pay exorbitant fees for ESPN. It's hard to imagine a model without the Disney channel, but then again my 8-year-old granddaughter quit watching TV - she watches streaming video on a computer and other devices. Apparently this is not unusual, according to the Nielsen folks who report that not only do they watch on computer but tell us younger consumers ages 12-17 are the heaviest mobile video viewers.

Certainly Comcast (you remember them, the folks that bought a 51% interest in NBCU) is focusing their efforts on streaming and on-demand and "Comcast on the Go" (yeah, I know I should be using "Xfinity", but to me they're Comcast). Comcast, of course, is "the cable company" much like there used to be "the phone company." So to a degree, they can charge families more without too much subscriber loss.

Anyway, it's interesting to see an analysis of what's going on inside Charlie's brain with regard to the future of Dish.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

The analyst missed one thing but you picked it up yourself without knowing it, Charlie also mentioned how his kids now get to watch those shows and other media.


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## Wilf (Oct 15, 2008)

jacmyoung said:


> The analyst missed one thing but you picked it up yourself without knowing it, Charlie also mentioned how his kids now get to watch those shows and other media.


When we "baby sit" our grandkids, they now choose Netflix on our TV over any cable channel. The have no trouble navigating the GoogleTV remote. Yes, it is a brand new world for TV. A much better one.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Well, since this thread has mentioned both Comcast and Netflix................



> Netflix, the DVD-by-mail and streaming movie giant, now has as many subscribers as Comcast, and in the evenings accounts for more than 40 percent of US bandwidth usage by some measurements.


http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...haring-depends-on-which-stats-you-believe.ars


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

SayWhat? said:


> Well, since this thread has mentioned both Comcast and Netflix................
> 
> 
> > Netflix, the DVD-by-mail and streaming movie giant, now has as many subscribers as Comcast, and in the evenings accounts for more than 40 percent of US bandwidth usage by some measurements.
> ...


That story would seem to support what Greenfield thinks Charlie's focusing in on. Plus, we had Kaufman Bros' Todd Mitchell speculative comment:


> Juxtaposed against the recent spate of M&A activity by DISH and SATS, we think DISH's CEO Charlie Ergen comments on yesterday's conference call reveal he is putting together the assets to build a two-way hybrid satellite/wireless infrastructure capable of delivering a ubiquitous, point-to-point, on-demand video and data offering that can be scaled in a very capital efficient manner and would ultimately provide DISH with a structurally lower cost of delivery for this type of service than the MSOs, DirecTV and emerging OTT competition.


We know Charlie's not into "wired" infrastructure. (He let's me deal with my ISP, Comcast, on that.) There's really three things affecting cable/telcom wired infrastructure: telephone, "cable" TV, and internet. What we know about Echostar and Dish within that framework plus wireless is:

Charlie doesn't sell telephone service, at least yet.
He now sells satellite internet services via the Hughes acquisition by Echostar.
He's acquired or acquiring all that wireless spectrum and some infrastructure.
Related to the internet, Echostar owns Sling which via Dish allows you access through the internet to whatever you get via your 722/722k/922; has a specific arrangement with Google TV as an internet portal from your 722/722k/922; offers DISH Online and HBO/MAX GO.
PPV/VOD is handled on the ViP DVRs via satellite.
He bought Blockbuster.
It's pretty clear Charlie intends to get a meaningful piece of the action shown in the chart in the ars technica story linked above by SayWhat?:


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

25% Other = Porn :lol: (It should be higher.)


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Well, it would be, but that's where a lot of the malware is embedded. (I won't make the Trojan pun)


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## kc1ih (May 22, 2004)

The title of this thread made me think of Charlie Sheen, and my reaction was “what brain?”. :lol:


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

kc1ih said:


> The title of this thread made me think of Charlie Sheen, and my reaction was "what brain?". :lol:


Yeah, that was a dilemma for me when I titled the thread. But the article title was just too good not to use that part of it.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

I would have to say that today really is Charlie's 21st Century "_first day of the rest of his life_" after seeing these news releases:


Slamminc11 said:


> ENGLEWOOD, Colo., May 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) today reported total revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, a 5.5 percent increase compared with $3.06 billion for the corresponding period in 2010.
> 
> DISH Network gained approximately 58,000 net subscribers during the quarter ended March 31, 2011, ending the quarter with approximately 14.191 million subscribers





Jason Nipp said:


> ENGLEWOOD, Colo., May 2, 2011 - DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) today announced that its subsidiary, DISH DBS Corporation, plans to offer approximately $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of debt securities. The net proceeds of the offering are intended to be used for general corporate purposes.





Jason Nipp said:


> ENGLEWOOD, Colo., May 2, 2011 - DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) announced today that Michael Kelly has been named president of its subsidiary, Blockbuster L.L.C. DISH Network completed the purchase of Blockbuster's assets last week.
> 
> ...Kelly served as executive vice president of DISH Network's Commercial Services division as well as both the Direct Sales and Media Sales organizations. Kelly had previously served in various executive positions for DISH Network, including management of field service, customer care operations and strategic initiatives. His company, Kelly Broadcasting Systems, a leader in distributing international radio and television programming in the United States, was acquired by DISH Network in 2000.





Jason Nipp said:


> ALVISO, Calif., and ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - May 2, 2011[/B] - TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), and EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) announced today that they have settled all of their ongoing patent litigation.


I mean, what we have is:

Dish not only has a 5.5% increase in revenue but gained a net of 58 [strike]million[/strike] oops, thousand subscribers in a recession proving its current marketing strategy.
Dish is borrowing some cash to implement its future strategy.
Charlie has appointed someone with solid marketing and management experience to manage the Blockbuster acquisition.
Charlie has settled with TiVo in what appears to be a fair licensing deal, allowing him to move on (and also sell TiVo boxes in Blockbuster outlets).
This is a rather momentous day for Charlie.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

From Bloomberg:


> Ergen said there is a plan to tie together his recent acquisitions, although he wouldn't give details, referring to the TV show "Seinfeld," in which the various story lines often merge in the "last couple minutes" of an episode.
> 
> "Everything we do has a purpose, and we feel like it ultimately fits together," Ergen said. "You'll have to just wait and see where it all comes together. It's a little hard to explain it this early in the show, so to speak."


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## dgordo (Aug 29, 2004)

Gained 58 million subscribers?


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

phrelin said:


> I would have to say that today really is Charlie's 21st Century "_first day of the rest of his life_" after seeing these news releases:
> 
> I mean, what we have is:
> 
> ...


That's a lot...58,000 is realistic.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

sigma1914 said:


> That's a lot...58,000 is realistic.


Thanks, I've corrected it. I get so used to seeing trillions and billions, that millions seems like a low number.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I'm surprised that it wasn't another negative 100k+ subscribers. Hopefully all the things Charlie is doing will combine to improve the satellite company.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

James Long said:


> I'm surprised that it wasn't another negative 100k+ subscribers. Hopefully all the things Charlie is doing will combine to improve the satellite company.


I was as surprised as you were.

Charlie seems pretty realistic. In the Bloomberg story regarding the Blockbuster deal, they report:


> Dish will keep some Blockbuster stores as long as movie studios want them, Ergen said on a conference call. Keeping a per-movie DVD-rental business may give studios a way to make more money than streaming content on Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Ergen said.
> 
> "I don't see Blockbuster being a competitor to Netflix, directly, in terms of streaming, because Netflix has a formidable lead, and probably insurmountable," Ergen said.


That story also noted that Charlie also has acquired:

DBSD North America Inc., a provider of voice and data services over satellite;
Hughes Communications, giving Dish the ability to offer broadband services; and,
Move Networks Inc., which makes technology for streaming video online.
As the bits and pieces come in, such as Charlie mentioning the studios liking Blockbuster having some stores, it seems like a picture is forming. Now whether it works out, no one knows. But it looks solid to me.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

The picture of Blockbuster stores may turn into more of a doodle, as they mentioned only about 370 of the 1700(?) locations are profitable.


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## Wilf (Oct 15, 2008)

http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2011/05/02/02gigaom-dish-ceo-netflix-has-an-insurmountable-lead-in-st-70676.html?ref=technology

A good read.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

James Long said:


> I'm surprised that it wasn't another negative 100k+ subscribers. Hopefully all the things Charlie is doing will combine to improve the satellite company.


Why surprised? Dish is selling a solid product for a competitive price. Their HDDVRs are rock solid, they have a good channel lineup available and their customer service is easier to deal with more often than not.

From the average consumer viewpoint, the big difference is the sports or lack of.

On customer service, the reason I say they are easier to deal with is that in nearly all cases, I can contact tech/customer service/sales via online chat which helps ensure the a mis-communication occurs less often.

I have many friends that have one or the other service and when I bring up some of the issues discussed here, I find that virtually none of them care a whole lot about what we discuss here that seem so compelling to us. They care that the system works, has the channels they want and pay a reasonable bill. They don't get humped up over what is missing in HD, nor any of the 'apps'.

In general, they've stayed with whichever provider they are with for quite some time. In fact, the only time I've seen much in the way of switching was for locals via SAT changes and even then, not nearly as often as discussions here would indicate.


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## koralis (Aug 10, 2005)

A couple of tricks not mentioned so far...


1) the Blockbuster deal allows Charlie access to a contract allowing him to stream movies at rates that are FAR better than he's gotten before (no doubt!)


2) The new tivo settlement had some interesting language in it that suggests that echostar can make DVRs to service Dish, but that Tivo would be making equipment for other markets that are dish-compatible. I forget the exact jargon they used, but I read it as "Dish can make DVRs for Sat/Streaming. Tivo will be making the standalone Streaming devices."


3) The Blockbuster deal helps Charlie get a foot in the door for A-la-cart. He'll already be serving movies as one-ups. If the service is big enough then it gives him extra negotiating power to do individual episodes, seasons of an episode like iTunes does or individual channels unbundled from packages. TV producers are greedy. If doing the deal nets them more revenue they'll talk.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

lparsons21 said:


> Why surprised? Dish is selling a solid product for a competitive price. Their HDDVRs are rock solid, they have a good channel lineup available and their customer service is easier to deal with more often than not.


What did DISH do in 1Q 2011 that they have not been doing the previous three quarters? Ignore what has happened since March 31st - 1st quarter is 1st quarter.

I did not see any reason why 1Q would be any better than the previous three. 19k net loss 2Q 2010, 29k net loss 3Q 2010, 156k net loss 4Q 2010.

The last time DISH ended a year with three net loss quarters (2008) they followed the total 137k net loss with an additional net loss of 94k - making for a four quarter net loss of 231k. This time the year ended with three net loss quarters totaling 204k. Why not expect a fourth quarter of loss?

What did DISH do to stop the bleeding?


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## rasheed (Sep 12, 2005)

James Long said:


> What did DISH do to stop the bleeding?


I wish Dish would break out international subscribers. I think a number of international offerings have started to 'break-out' in 2011 that might be much more profitable customers than the traditional AT120 alone.

1) Tamil Package no longer on DirecTV (and Dish adding News Corp. Tamil channel). Let's say there are 70k people who speak Tamil in the US. How many of the 18k households did not already have Dish who finally made the switch?

2) Cricket (not language specific) AND loss of some cricket packages on DirecTV. I have no idea how many thousands of households that would be.

3) More hindi channels. There are 580k speakers between Urdu and Hindi in the US. How many of those 100k + households did not already have Dish?

There are other posts elsewhere about Ergen getting rid of RSNs. Sure, people who want RSNs would find another carrier, but there are enough people who do without it (those who use Netflix and/or Hulu with OTA sports as examples).

So, if Ergan is going for a company that has:

-Choice for the consumer (streaming Blockbuster/Move/DishOnline/IPTV or satellite packages - primarily international focus or general interest with HD, but not US RSN-focused or any expensive sports for that matter)
-More competitive priced packages (let's face it, general interest packages are not really priced much differently..it is a few dollars this way or that, but not enough to create a mass change to go to one providers esp. when it is never apples to apples)

I am in general supportive of these type of changes if it is more profitable, but it will turn off segments of the population. Dish already does not fit everyone, it will further be a do not fit for even more groups, but maybe attract others who are still sitting with the other vendors.

Yet, a major problem to solve I still believe is real high speed broadband. Whether it is done through Dish's spectrum license, Hughesnet or something, we need to be able to get more uncapped high speed bandwidth otherwise all of this streaming is useless (and it cannot depend on the local cable or phone provider). I find it ironic that television satellites actually are a massive broadband pipe, but it is not used enough in this respect (except for VOD, remote scheduling and a few things here and there). Why not stream DishOnline through the satellite box and switch to a satellite feed from Internet connection (or stored locally on preloaded media EHD) and make the experience even better with much less dependency on local bandwidth through a third-party vendor?

Rasheed


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## satcrazy (Mar 16, 2011)

The last paragraph in rasheed's post is realy the KEY.

After looking at sat internet for my sister who lives out in the country [ her dsl is horrible] It is actually a worse deal than what she has. Not only is it pricey, but the download is not impressive, and upload is terrible. It caps your usage as well. The equipment is not cheap. This would have to radically change to be profitable.

The dsl where I live only offers 2 plans and they are both slow. I have tried streaming [ I have a new cutom built computer, but it doesn't matter] and it is not a viable option for me. As of now fios is a distant dream.

So for all this to work, Rasheed is correct.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Rasheed's last paragraph is right on. Let me repeat what I said earlier:


> Charlie also has acquired:
> 
> DBSD North America Inc., a provider of voice and data services over satellite;
> Hughes Communications, giving Dish the ability to offer broadband services; and,
> Move Networks Inc., which makes technology for streaming video online.


What we're looking at here is engineering and technology resources. And that doesn't even consider all that wireless spectrum and some related infrastructure he's acquired.

And Rasheed is probably correct on the international packages. Just as we know that Dish has solid but not cheap HD premium movie package offerings that don't drive up the basic package prices, international packages and related specialized sports offerings are also "premium" packages that don't drive up the basic package prices.

Unfortunately, Charlie may not have deep enough pockets to fight the major media conglomerates like Disney and Fox in Congress. But I really believe he does fight against those huge corporations to keep the service prices reasonable and is looking for ways to effectively challenge runaway media conglomerate corporate greed.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

James Long said:


> What did DISH do in 1Q 2011 that they have not been doing the previous three quarters? Ignore what has happened since March 31st - 1st quarter is 1st quarter.
> 
> I did not see any reason why 1Q would be any better than the previous three. 19k net loss 2Q 2010, 29k net loss 3Q 2010, 156k net loss 4Q 2010.
> 
> ...


Fair question, I don't know if I have the answers, but here is some things I think had an effect.

Prior to first quarter lots of contention between E* and the content providers which caused some/many to leave because it was with channels they cared about. During the first quarter most all of that had settled down with the only national HD effected being the Disney/ESPN dispute. That particular dispute generated very little action on the part of customers in part because the parents of the children watching Disney found out the kids didn't care if it was HD or not.

I think that the channel disputes were the big thing and caused the gain to happen. Coupled with some better advertising (IMO).

I also think that E*'s better national HD became a bigger part of the picture as many of the cable systems were adding in national HD while D* was sitting on their laurels in that arena. Coupled with that was that E* expanded their locals in HD to many more markets. In those markets, that was a big leg up.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

James Long said:


> What did DISH do in 1Q 2011 that they have not been doing the previous three quarters? Ignore what has happened since March 31st - 1st quarter is 1st quarter.
> 
> I did not see any reason why 1Q would be any better than the previous three. 19k net loss 2Q 2010, 29k net loss 3Q 2010, 156k net loss 4Q 2010.
> 
> ...


Maybe nothing much beyond being cheaper than Comcast, TWC, etc. It appears the gains were part of a trend. From The Morning Bridge:


> If cord cutting is coming, it sure isn't happening in the first quarter of 2011.
> 
> Looking at video subscriber numbers reported by nine of the top 14 MVPDs, we find that their basic pay TV video subs grew by more than half a million in the three months from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2011.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

I must admit I missed the fact that Dish Network bought a phone/internet company ... well, a reseller ... in December. This has some meaning, but what I'm not sure. See the thread Report: Dish to offer phone, broadband bundles.


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## Dave (Jan 29, 2003)

Some have been wondering where Charlie is going with buying up different resources. Perhaps Charlie is planning to get in on the bottom line of the future. 
Examples: A pew poll says that now only 42% see a TV as a nesessity.
The younger generation18-29 only 29% actually need a TV.
In the very near future streaming will outlast a DVD Blu-ray player.
Computers now top the list for need to have over a TV with the younger generation.
Charlie has the google box for streaming different sources. He has purchased Blockbuster to get the titles of movies. I think if he, Charlie works it right that he hopes Blockbuster can compete with Amazon and Netflix one day.
He also has the Sling box for TV everywhere which is where the next generation is headed. Young people want TV to there cell phones these days.
He has bought a phone company. Do you think the purchase of the phone company would be so his customers do not pay the large streaming charges that are coming for cable and DSL companies now everyday? 
So I would say to some of you out there, Charlie has a excellent team around him. They are continually planning ahead. Which is what a successful company does at all times.
I would say that Charlie Ergan is helping to make the future a reality for us Dish customers.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

From Mediabiz Blogger Maxwell:


> Last Friday morning I quietly tagged along on a reporters visit with DISH's Vivek Khemka, the thoughtful head of customer tech; Stanton "Principled Company" Dodge, chief legal eagle; and EVP sales/marketing/programming and long time cable guy Tom Cullen ... all with a show floor tour at DISH's Team Summit in Denver.
> 
> Besides some real news [3-free months of Blockbuster by Mail for new DISH subs; DISH will be a "2-brand company"; the too cool to be real Tailgater dish in a 'cooler' (see pic); free Sling for some; and testing its own triple play bundle via CLEC subsidiary Liberty Bell in Colorado soon - with rights to most of what was Qwest territory], what was most interesting to me was Tom's offhand mentioning of residential market segmentation by technology.
> 
> ...


The segmentation targeting related to a variety screens I get. Now what is the simplified remote????


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

From The Morning Bridge:


> Already known for its aggressive litigation policies (it's a "profit center," Charlie Ergen once half-joked) DISH Network has hired Redgrave LLP as its National Discovery Counsel in order to enhance its "best in class program in eDiscovery."
> 
> What's that? you may ask. According to Wikipedia, the term refers to "discovery in civil litigation which deals with the exchange of information in electronic format." In short, mining (storing and using) various electronic treasure troves for use in litigation. Says the press release, the Redgrave group offers clients "the technical advice, business strategy, legal advice and legal representation needed to address immediate and future regulatory, legal, risk, environmental and operational requirements." Says the Redgrave website, "We help clients respond in 'bet the company' litigation and government investigations."
> 
> In short, expect that aggressive legal approach to continue.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

The Morning Bridge feesl that we're getting clarity on Charlie's big-picture plan:


> During the past several months, DISH went on its heavily-reported spending spree dropping $3B for wireless spectrum and another $320M for bankrupt Blockbuster. The company's moves seemed ambiguous to many, but DISH CEO Joe Clayton offered some clarity this week by saying - to, among others, the LA Times - the satellite company is assembling the building blocks of a multiplatform media giant ... as The BRIDGE newsletters have been covering.
> 
> Next on the agenda, the exec says, is a full suite of services including wireless voice, broadband, video and mobile... With the expanded services, DISH could well develop into a competitor for AT&T and Verizon, not to mention a snowballing movie-streaming service like Netflix with its impressive subscriber base.


The LA Times article doesn't offer much beyond that one statement:


> "We are putting together the building blocks to be able to provide a whole suite of services to the customer," Dish President and Chief Executive Joe Clayton said. "Wireless voice, broadband, video, mobile &#8230; we're going to have the capability to do all of the above."


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## karrank% (Sep 20, 2009)

Too bad he couldn't have something in place to take advantage of Netflix price hike. I can almost divine the intent, but the timing (to paraphrase an old showbiz saw) is everything.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Businessweek yesterday published an article with the same headline as the title of this post but with a sub headline "Founder Charlie Ergen is creating a media empire based on delivery of video and data." The article is long and takes note of the more recent business moves made by Ergen's empire. From the article:


> Charlie W. Ergen is no stranger to risky bets. The former professional blackjack player parlayed his early winnings into the second-largest U.S. satellite television service, Dish Network (DISH). Now the 58-year-old billionaire is making the biggest wager of his career. Ergen wants to transform Dish from a pay-TV provider to a wireless mobile video company that can take on both traditional cable rivals and online services such as Netflix (NFLX).
> 
> Dish has spent over $3 billion this year on three acquisitions of companies in bankruptcy-including the Blockbuster video chain-to combine video content and the valuable wireless spectrum that could be used to distribute programming to mobile devices like Apple's iPad. Another Ergen-controlled company, set-top box maker EchoStar (SATS), spent $2 billion this past spring to buy satellite Internet service provider Hughes Communications. In September, Ergen rolled out a Blockbuster-branded movie-streaming service to Dish's 14 million subscribers. His next addition could be Hulu, the online TV-service owned by News Corp. (NWSA), Walt Disney (DIS), and Comcast's (CMCSA) NBC Universal. Dish has made a $1.9 billion offer for Hulu, outbidding rivals including Amazon (AMZN) and Yahoo! (YHOO), according to a person familiar with the bidding who was forbidden to speak on the record.
> 
> ...


(I would note that the HULU deal is dead as the owners have pulled the company off the market.)

The article doesn't tell us anything we haven't already noted in thread here, but it is a fairly significant piece within the business media community.


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## dishman1999 (Sep 26, 2011)

Hughes Communications if he owns any part of this company then Directv should be a opt for dish network we should be able to get there programing too?

Originally branded as DirecPC and later DirecWay, it originally marketed to business customers as a side venture to the consumer product DirecTV.


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## Slamminc11 (Jan 28, 2005)

dishman1999 said:


> Hughes Communications if he owns any part of this company then Directv should be a opt for dish network we should be able to get there programing too?
> 
> Originally branded as DirecPC and later DirecWay, it originally marketed to business customers as a side venture to the consumer product DirecTV.


:bang :icon_lame :bang


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## tampa8 (Mar 30, 2002)

karrank% said:


> Too bad he couldn't have something in place to take advantage of Netflix price hike. I can almost divine the intent, but the timing (to paraphrase an old showbiz saw) is everything.


In retrospect (Blockbuster Movie Pass Package) he was waaaay ahead of you.... Although I have always maintained this has little to do with Netflix, and much to do about competing with Direct TV and Cable, it would appear this has become a huge hit, I see lots of posts from people ready to or already have dropped Netflix.


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## karrank% (Sep 20, 2009)

tampa8 said:


> In retrospect (Blockbuster Movie Pass Package) he was waaaay ahead of you.... Although I have always maintained this has little to do with Netflix, and much to do about competing with Direct TV and Cable, it would appear this has become a huge hit, I see lots of posts from people ready to or already have dropped Netflix.


That's cool, i posted in August, and BBMP was introduced in October, so timing was reasonably good there, I think.

Still think we are being used as guinea pigs--excuse me, beta testers--for the new BBMP concept, but I don't mind. I'd been ready to go back to NF anyway, either dish marketing somehow knew this or it's a (happy, for me) coinkydink.


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## Inkosaurus (Jul 29, 2011)

Yeah the BBMP came alot faster then we thought it would. Us working at dish didnt think it would be available as much as it is until atleast another few months.

I agree though, this is pretty much a large scale beta test lol.


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## dishman1999 (Sep 26, 2011)

Slamminc11 said:


> :bang :icon_lame :bang


wow jerk!


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

From The Morning Bridge:


> It's award time, folks! Another year is nearing its end. A tsunami of news surged through our computers in 2011 with big deals, big busts and a whole slew of hazards to keep your eye on for next year. So, without further ado, our list of 2011 bests, worsts, most surprising and most foreboding:
> 
> Waiting for Machiavelli: Not to be confused with Godot, who never did arrive, our very own Machiavelli (aka Charlie Ergen) has his hands on a whole string of spectrum and everybody wants to know what he's going to do with it. Will the answer be found in 2012? Bet on it.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Since the previous post, there has been many new developments with regard to spectrum. In yesterdays The Evening Bridge we have this:


> With spectrum auctions now enshrined in the Payroll Tax Bill, "there are hints that *DISH* may be set to negotiate some spectrum swaps with the *FCC* that would enable its waiver approval and increase the value of spectrum for the FCC," writes *BTIG's* _Walter Piecyk_. The Bill also appears to give the FCC some power to limit the amount of spectrum that *AT&T* and *Verizon* can control, although that's up for dispute. Cable ops, says Piecyk, were "losers in the bill as the FCC's ability to allocate unlicensed spectrum was limited to guardband areas." Read the post here (and don't forget to register).


 Piecyk's somewhat technical and long post referenced notes:


> The FCC controls two different 5×5 spectrum blocks called the H and J AWS-2 Blocks. Their value is limited given their narrow width and the interference issues. The MSS spectrum that Dish is trying to acquire sits next to the H and J Blocks and as a result Charlie Ergen is in a position to help the government and increase the value of the H and J Blocks through a spectrum swap. We wrote about these possibilities a year ago. Ergen's willingness to deal could help him obtain a waiver to offer terrestrial services and mute the complaints of any resulting windfall.
> 
> The Tax Bill indicates that a downlink of the J-Block would be rolled into the AWS-3 band, increasing the size of AWS-3 to 25 MHz from 20 MHz. This could have been a residual "packaging of spectrum" to get AWS-3 up to 25 MHz so that it could be paired with the 25 MHz of spectrum in the 1755 MHz band that was dropped out of the bill late in the process. There is no mention of the uplink, lower band of the J-Block which sits between Dish's spectrum and some government spectrum. However, if Ergen agreed to slide up into this J-Block it would increase the usability of the H-Block by inserting a 5 MHz guardband that would help interference and possibly source additional spectrum for unlicensed applications.
> 
> ...While the headlines will be dominated by politicians talking about how they sourced additional spectrum, a key block of spectrum was excluded from the bill and the incentive auctions of broadcasters spectrum are likely to take much longer to source than the FCC will claim. It is unclear how the FCC will use the AWS-3 band now that it does not have a block to pair it with. TDD-LTE implementations are gaining momentum globally and that could be an alternative or it could play a larger role in the Ergen negotiations than we are aware of. In any event, the early of this expected Spectrum bill might be that it will drive spectrum values down but we believe the reality is different based on the rising usage and the timing of the availability of this spectrum.


Obviously, much is going on inside Charlie's brain relative to all that spectrum Dish has acquired. Should be interesting in the months to come


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Just to keep up with what's going on inside Charlie's brain, last week the _Denver Post_ had this article Dish Network aims for smarter phones, simpler bills:


> Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen wants to launch a stand-alone wireless business that would offer mobile broadband, text and voice services to compete against telecom giants AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
> 
> Ergen, who stepped down as Dish chief executive in June to focus on the mobile strategy, revealed details of that plan Tuesday during a discussion at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
> 
> ...


Whatever else, you've got to love Charlie's audacity.


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