Dish Network Corporation is an American television provider based in Englewood, Colorado.^[6] It is the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, also still commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service Sling TV. Dish also operates DISH Wireless LLC to offer mobile wireless service, currently offering prepaid service to 9.3 million customers with the purchase of Boost Mobile on July 1, 2020 through the Boost brand.^[7][8] DISH intends to offer postpaid service as well in the future. The company has approximately 16,000 employees.

• 1History
  • 1.1Founding and early growth
  • 1.2Acquisitions and expansion
  • 1.3Disputes and lawsuits
• 2Services and devices
  • 2.1DishNET
  • 2.2Wireless
  • 2.3OnTech Smart Services
  • 2.4Charitable causes
• 3Technical information
  • 3.1Broadcast technology
  • 3.2Receivers and devices
    • 3.2.1Earlier satellite dishes
    • 3.2.2Tailgater
    • 3.2.3Wally
    • 3.2.4Hopper and Joey
  • 3.3Apps
    • 3.3.1Sling TV
  • 3.4Satellite fleet
• 4Dish Wireless
• 5See also
• 6References
• 7External links

History[edit]

In January 2008, EchoStar Communications Corporation, which was founded by Charlie Ergen as a satellite television equipment distributor in 1980, changed its name to DISH Network Corporation and spun off its technology arm as a new company named EchoStar Corporation.^[9] The company had begun using DISH Network as its consumer brand in 1996,^[10] after the launch of its first satellite, EchoStar I, in December 1995.^[11] That launch marked the beginning of its subscription television services.^[10]

Joseph Clayton became president and chief executive officer of the company in June 2011, while Charlie Ergen remained chairman.^[12] Clayton remained in the position until March 31, 2015 when he retired leaving Ergen to resume the post.^[13] Ergen has said diversifying and updating technology for the company will be a high priority, with an expectation that, over the coming decade, the company will provide internet, video, and telephone service for both home and mobile applications.^[14] In December 2017, DISH Network announced that Ergen would step down and be replaced by Erik Carlson.^[15]

As of November 2016, the company provided services to 13.7 million television and 580,000 broadband subscribers.^[16]

Founding and early growth[edit]

DISH Network began operations on March 4, 1996, as a service of EchoStar.^[10] EchoStar was formed in 1980 by its chairman and chief executive officer, Charlie Ergen, along with colleagues Candy Ergen and Jim DeFranco, as a distributor of C-band satellite television systems.^[17] In 1987, EchoStar applied for a direct-broadcast satellite broadcast license with the FCC and was granted access to orbital slot 119° west longitude in 1992.^{[citation needed]}

On December 7, 2007, EchoStar announced it would spin off its technology and infrastructure assets into a separate company under the EchoStar name, after which the remainder of the company would be renamed DISH Network Corporation.^[18] The spun-off EchoStar began trading on January 3, 2008.^[19]

Acquisitions and expansion[edit]

In 2011, DISH Network (DISH, an acronym for Digital Sky Highway^[20]) spent over $3 billion in acquisitions of companies in bankruptcy,^[21] which The Motley Fool's Anders Bylund described as "a veritable buying rampage in the bargain bin."^[22] This includes the April 6, 2011, purchase of Blockbuster Inc. in a bankruptcy auction in New York, agreeing to pay $322 million in cash and assume $87 million in liabilities and other obligations for the nationwide video-rental company.^[23] DISH Network also acquired the defunct companies DBSD and Terrestar.^[21] DISH Network also made a bid to purchase Hulu in October 2011, but Hulu's owners chose not to sell the company.^[24] There was also speculation that DISH Network might purchase Sprint Nextel or Clearwire.^[25] In 2013, DISH made a bid for both companies. CEO Charles Ergen plans on adding wireless internet and mobile video services^[when?] that can compete with Netflix and cable companies.^[21] About the new markets, Ergen said, "Given the assets we've been accumulating, I don't think it's hard to see we're moving in a different direction from simply pay-TV, which is a market that's becoming increasingly saturated."^[21]

DISH Network put its Blockbuster acquisition to work by making available DISH Movie Pack for DISH Network subscribers and Sling TV for non-DISH Network subscribers. Blockbuster also has agreements that allow it to receive movies 28 days before Netflix and Redbox which could encourage customers to use these services.^[21]

DISH Network also plans on offering high-speed internet.^[when?] The company plans a hybrid satellite/terrestrial mobile broadband service. In 2011, it petitioned the FCC to combine the S-Band spectrum it acquired from DBSD and Terrestar, and combine this spectrum with LTE. Unlike LightSquared, DISH's spectrum has minimal risk of disrupting Global Positioning Systems.^[26]

At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, DISH Network announced a corporate rebranding, under which the company would publicly refer to itself as just "DISH" rather than "DISH Network".^[27]

After changing the position of a satellite orbital position from being over Mexico to Brazil in 2011, DISH Network sought companies that could make a deal, among them Telefónica. However, nothing ever came of this, and DISH decided to enter the country itself. According to the Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications (Anatel), they awaited the authorization of the application.^[28] In June 2019, nonetheless, DISH TV accepted to resign its satellite exploration rights assigned to EchoStar and thus ending the possibility of entering the Brazilian market.^[29]

On July 26, 2019, DISH announced it had reached an agreement with T-Mobile and Sprint to sell Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, Sprint's prepaid businesses, for $1.4 billion to DISH Network. They will also sell DISH $3.6 billion of 800 MHz spectrum, Sprint's entire 800 MHz portfolio. DISH customers will be able to use the New T-Mobile Network for seven years. DISH and T-Mobile are currently negotiating the lease of 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail stores being decommissioned by the New T-Mobile.^[30] The deal for the purchase of all of Sprint's prepaid businesses, including Boost, officially closed on July 1, 2020.^[31][32]

Disputes and lawsuits[edit]

Main article: Criticism of Dish Network

DISH and its independent dealers have faced criticism and fines for their practices, including fines around telemarketing tactics and failure to disclose fees.^{[33][34][35][36]}

DISH has been sued and countersued dozens of times. DISH argues that effective litigation is important to corporate operations. One such lawsuit was DISH's use of their Hopper DVR to make it easy for viewers to erase commercials.^[37]

Services and devices[edit]

DISH's main service is satellite television. Its offerings are similar to other satellite and cable companies. Viewers can choose from a series of service bundles, paying more money for more channels. A la carte programming is available, however limited other than premium channels. The company is currently working on diversifying its offerings. With its purchase of Blockbuster LLC, it now owns the Blockbuster trademarks and has used its intellectual property agreement to offer streaming and mail-order video services.

DishNET[edit]

See also: Satellite Internet access

On September 27, 2012, DISH Network announced a satellite broadband service called DishNET, aimed at rural areas.^[43]

Wireless[edit]

In 2019, DISH entered an agreement as part of the Sprint/T-Mobile merger in which DISH would acquire Sprint's prepaid wireless businesses, including Boost Mobile.^[44] As part of this agreement, DISH became the 4th-largest major wireless carrier in the United States.^[45] After the merger was approved by the Justice Department, DISH announced plans to "deploy a facilities-based 5G broadband network capable of serving 70% of the U.S. population by June 2023."^[45]

On July 1, 2020, DISH officially purchased Boost Mobile from T-Mobile for $1.4 billion.^[46] With this purchase it officially launched its wireless business, DISH Wireless, LLC, offering prepaid service through the Boost brand as an MVNO on the T-Mobile network.^[31] DISH stated intentions to offer branded postpaid service in the future with the build out of their own network.^[31] DISH also intends to have the first standalone, 5G-only network in the United States.^[31]

OnTech Smart Services[edit]

Dish launched the direct-to-consumer smart home technology brand OnTech Smart Services in 2019; initially available in 11 metropolitan areas, the brand offers smart home devices and installation services.^[47]

Charitable causes[edit]

DISH Cares was launched in 2014 and focuses on community engagement, sustainability, and providing services following disasters.^[48] The company has engaged in disaster relief efforts, including after Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, Irma, and Maria.^[49][50][51]

Technical information[edit]

Broadcast technology[edit]

While for years DISH Network has used standard MPEG-2 for broadcasting, the addition of bandwidth-intensive HDTV in a limited-bandwidth world has called for a change to an H.264/MPEG-4 AVC system. Dish Network announced as of February 1, 2006, that all new HDTV channels would be available in H.264 format only, while maintaining the current lineup as MPEG-2. DISH Network intends to eventually convert the entire platform to H.264 in order to provide more channels to subscribers. In 2007, DISH Network reduced the resolution of 1080-line channels from 1920x1080 to 1440x1080. Reducing horizontal resolution and/or data rate of HD video is known as HD Lite and is practiced by other TV providers as well.^{[citation needed]}

Both a standard receiver and a receiver with built-in digital video recorder (DVR) were available to subscribers.^[52] The DISH Network ViP722 HD DVR (Record up to 350 hours of standard-definition (SD), up to 55 hours of high-definition (HD)) replacement to the ViP622 has received generally positive reviews^[53] from CNET and others. These Set Top Boxes (STBs) allow for HD on the Primary TV and SD on the secondary TV (TV2) without a secondary box on TV2.

Receivers and devices[edit]

Earlier satellite dishes[edit]

DISH Network's first satellite antenna was simply called the "DISH Network" dish. It was retroactively named the "DISH 300" when legal and satellite problems forced delays of the forthcoming DISH 500 systems. It uses one LNB to obtain signals from the 119°W orbital location,^[54] and was commonly used as a second dish to receive additional high-definition or international programming from either the 148°W or 61.5°W orbital locations.^[55][56] The 119°W slot is one of two primary orbital locations, the other being 110°W, that provide core services.^[57][58]

After EchoStar obtained the broadcasting assets of a failed joint venture between ASkyB and MCI WorldCom, it had more than doubled its capacity by adding 28 transponders at the 110°W orbital location. Since EchoStar also owned the adjacent 119°W orbital location it developed the DISH 500 to receive the signals of both orbital locations using one dish and an innovative dual-LNB assembly. Although the new 20-inch DISH 500 was slightly larger than the then-current 18-inch DISH 300 and DirecTV dishes it had the distinct advantage of obtaining signals from EchoStar's two adjacent satellite locations for a theoretical 500-channel capacity. The DISH 500, as a result, provided very large capacity for local-into-local service, nationwide programming, and business services. In order to migrate existing customers to DISH 500, DISH Network provided value-added channels in addition to local channels that could only be received with the DISH 500 and newer systems. Some of the channels exclusive to these newer systems were H₂, Boomerang, Science, Planet Green, PBS Kids Sprout and Comedy Central.

Tailgater[edit]

Tailgater is a portable satellite antenna; the tailgater can be purchased as a standalone device for $350. The Tailgater is now being supported by a Wally receiver, to replace the still supported 211k model. Customers only need pay for the period of time where the receiver is active on the account, monthly cost for a Vip211k or Wally is $7 per month, if the receiver is the only one on the account, there is no charge.^[59] It weighs ten pounds, is protected from weather, and automatically searches for a signal. The only satellites that are currently compatible with the Tailgater are at DISH's 119 (SD/HD TV), 110 (SD/HD TV), and 129 (SD/HD TV) orbital slots.^[60]

Wally[edit]

The Wally is a solo-receiver without a built in digital video recorder (DVR).

Hopper and Joey[edit]

Main article: Hopper (DVR)DISH HD, newest version used with the Hopper and Joey system

Hopper is a line of multi-tuner set-top boxes first introduced in 2012; they are digital video recorders that can be networked with accompanying "Joey" set-top boxes for multi-room access to recordings. DISH Network subsequently introduced updated versions of the Hopper, including Hopper with Sling (which adds integrated placeshifting capabilities), and the Hopper 3, which features 4K support and 16 tuners. Hopper supports a voice-activated remote,^{[61][62][63][64][65][66]} as well as Amazon Echo and Google Home integration.^[67][68]

Apps[edit]

DISH Anywhere is DISH's subscriber-only streaming video service, which includes HBO and Cinemax programming. As of late 2018, HBO and Cinemax are no longer available for DISH customers due to Contract disputes.^[69]

Sling TV[edit]

Main article: Sling TV

In May 2012, DISH launched DISHWorld, a subscription-based over-the-top streaming IPTV service, as an app on Roku devices, offering access to over 50 international television channels via broadband streaming.^[70]

In 2014, DISH Network began to reach carriage deals with broadcasters for a new over-the-top service that would be aimed towards cord cutters as a low-cost alternative to traditional pay television.^[71] On January 5, 2015, DISH Network officially unveiled Sling TV, an over-the-top IPTV service designed to complement subscription video on-demand services such as Hulu and Netflix.^[72]

Some broadcasters have been hesitant about over-the-top services such as Sling TV, showing concern that they may undermine their carriage deals with larger conventional cable, satellite and Internet TV providers. Time Warner initially noted that the carriage of its channels on the service was only for a "trial" basis, while both Time Warner's CEO Jeffrey Bewkes and an analyst from the firm Macquarie Capital disclosed that current contract language in DISH's OTT carriage deals with the service's content distributors would cap the number of subscribers that the service is allowed to have at any given time to 5 million. Neither DISH Network or its content providers have confirmed any such cap.^[73][74][75] As of May 2019, the service has 2.4 million subscribers.^[76]

Satellite fleet[edit]

Most of the satellites used by DISH Network are owned and operated by EchoStar Corporation. DISH frequently moves satellites among its many orbiting slots this list may not be accurate. Refer to Lyngsat and DISH Channel Chart for detailed satellite information.

Dish Wireless[edit]

Dish Wireless LLC is an American wireless network provider. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Dish Wireless was founded on July 1, 2020 when it acquired Boost Mobile. Its headquarters are located in Littleton, Colorado.^[79][80] It acquired Ting Inc. on August 1, 2020.^[81] Dish Wireless is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 9.3 million customers after its acquisition of Boost Mobile.^[31][32]

Dish Wireless provides wireless voice and data services in the United States and Puerto Rico under the Boost Mobile brand and will under its own brand after its network is built. Dish Wireless is currently using T-Mobile's network for 7 years due to an agreement between Dish and T-Mobile. Dish Wireless is in the process of building their own 5G network which will be the first virtualized standalone 5G broadband network in the United States. Dish is committed on covering 70% of Americans with 5G by the end of June 2023.^[82]