# Dish Network Article in Business Week



## Rugged (Sep 16, 2006)

didn't see this posted anywhere but it's about a week old story from business week. Some very interesting statements from Dish CEO about how they lost focus and are trailing D*, how they may lose their relationship with AT&T and worse, how they might one day have to merge with D*.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_31/b4094065678206.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech



> How did pay-TV's most aggressive player arrive at this juncture? By failing to see the world changing around him. Ergen, 55, focused on keeping costs low (he famously requires executives to share hotel rooms on business trips) and declined to bid for the pro football and Nascar programming that DirecTV offers exclusively to sports-loving satellite subscribers. He skimped on marketing even as DirecTV and the cable and phone companies hired actors and star athletes to hawk their services. He missed the high-definition revolution, concentrating instead on flashy technology, such as set-top boxes that can control TVs in two separate rooms. DirecTV, meanwhile, lured new subscribers with dozens more channels in crystal-clear high-definition.





> It's not clear, however, that these moves will be enough to boost Dish into a sustainable orbit. If AT&T bolts to DirecTV, as seems increasingly likely, Ergen would be left with a few small regional phone companies as partners. That could force him to do something he really doesn't want to do: merge Dish with DirecTV, which is controlled by Liberty Media, the company owned by his archrival John Malone. A painful choice, for sure, but possibly Charlie Ergen's only real option.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Seems like the author has an agenda. If the question was DISH Network, why does he make so many references to DIRECTV et al???

I'm pretty sure it is possible to talk about one without making numerous references/comparisons to the other.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I think it would only be fair to move this to the General Satellite forum, where supporters of both companies can politely and respectfully discuss the issue.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Please see existing thread for additional discussion ... Is Dish in Trouble?


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## Rugged (Sep 16, 2006)

Thanks. I hadn't looked over there.


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