# Q4 2001 EchoStar Communications Earnings Conference Call



## Guest (Feb 28, 2002)

Q4 2001 EchoStar Communications Earnings Conference Call February 28, 2002

Opening comments

2002 20-25% increase in revenue
All 4Qs for the year had positive EBITDA
1.57 M for the year. 57% of the DBS market
49.60 RPU up .42
$371 SAC for the quarter exculding cap cost for leases
$838 per sub, net debt $400
FCC to decide by June, DOJ a little longer
Political side support is getting better
E*VIII launch early summer
E*IX launch in the fall
Wild Blue invest written off and Starband written down
Gemstar case to settle March 21

Analysts Questions

Radio Shack agreement?RS will sell E* in all stores, not sure if lease or hardware. Not unitl May.

Cable neworks getting dropped?General concern is retranmission leverage by large programmers. Had positive talks with Disney.

Will E* get closer to content?Strategy will not be to hook up with providers but remain an independant pipe.

E*VII's role, is just LIL?E*VII is a replacement for E*IV and a secondary role for LIL. E*VIII is the better spot beam for LIL (to go to 110).

Gross adds for the quarter?
Don't release gross adds.

Why the below the line increases?
Securities write offs (Wild Blue) and equity losses on Starband.

What was total SAC?
$486 total, $115 in cap costs.

How can you compete with Cable broadband?
May partner with DSL for urban arears and satellite broadband for rural.

Gemstar litigation worst case scenario?
Not monetary damages, risk is continued litigation (forever?).

Subscriber growth breakout for 2002? What % is on Home Plan.
8 million is best guess with a sluggish. Would like it to be 50%, but not there yet.

Rate increases?
Do not anticipate any price increases for 2002.

PVRs penetration?
Difficult product to explain and sell but commited to it, goal to be first to a million (not there yet). Enhancements to come out this summer. Will work with Vivendi on deliverying content via PVR.

Disconnect policy.
E* disconnects quickly. 58 days before soft disconnect. 73 for a hard disconnect. Puts E* at a one month risk. Most agressive in the industry.

Merger costs?
Have raised $4B need another $3B to give to GM. Other costs will be immaterial

Box sales were strong at ETC, Why?
Sellign multiple boxes to lease customers and to Canada

SAC was down big, why?
I like 9 was successful, but advertsing was reduced. SAC will not continue to improve like this.

Cable is hurting, will they increase attacks?
Buy backs are a poor model for cable and these subs often come return to DBS.

Does RS get more subsidy from D*?
Don't know what D* pays, but believes that RS gets nothing for an RS sale in NRTC territory.

Programming contracts and which contracts will get honored in a merger?
Don't know answer. Every contract could be different.

Why is Spaceway a better broadband service
It sells to enterprise businesses.

Sunset of program access?
This is why E* needs to merge. For example Comcast could now get two networks in addition to all the sports in Philly. Believes that program access will sunset if the merger is approved.

[Note: This is not meant to be a correct interperatation or an all inclusive review of the conference call]


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## Guest (Mar 1, 2002)

Thanks for the recap. I completely forgot to listen in today!

BTW What is SAC? The only SAC I know is in Nebraska!  

See ya
Tony


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## Guest (Mar 1, 2002)

Subscriber acquistion costs.


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