EchoStar now officially called DISH Network

EchoStar, the company that always should have been called DISH, is apparently now and finally going by the name of their flagship product, according to fairly momentus SEC filing. Officially re-dubbed DISH Network, the EchoStar name will live on in DISH's spun-off holding company, cleverly called the EchoStar Holding Company; EHC will operate as an independent business intended to be not at all owned by DISH (yet it will still remain under DISH CEO Charlie Ergen's executive command -- make sense out of that one), and will continue running the former EchoStar's non-satellite businesses, like Sling Media. What's it mean to you, the consumer? Well, DISH-related posts you read on Engadget will be all the less (and yet somehow more) confusing, but perhaps most importantly the new chunked companies are more susceptible to an acquisition or further split-ups, but are also more limber in the market. In other words, unless you're a shareholder, we're guessing none of this will probably mean a ton to you, your satellite service, your Slingbox, or much anything else for the time being.

[Via GigaOM]

[Dave @ Dec 7th 2007 4:31AM]

Shame they didn't spend some time designing the logo ... it's awful.

[Brian @ Dec 7th 2007 8:41PM]

It was the early 90s. All logos sucked.

[3rdsun @ Dec 7th 2007 5:48AM]

Dish is playing hard ball now. In the last 4 weeks FTAers have been hit by numerous ECMs the last one being two days ago. Our satbox coders are on the ball assuring us all is not lost. Fight for free Tv

[Andrew Borem @ Dec 13th 2007 9:25AM]

What you really mean is:

"Fight for stolen TV!!! Theft is so awesome! In fact, if I ran in a business in which I sold a product and/or services, I would like it if I was stolen from, because I am just that nice. Oh yeah, I love other people!!!"


Oh wait. No, you are just a petty thief.

[VooDoo288 @ Dec 7th 2007 9:33AM]

Thief

I hope they double and even triple the ECM's coming down the beam.

[Ethan @ Dec 7th 2007 10:33AM]

You're probably just sore that you don't know how to do it yourself.

How much music do you download? Are you hoping that they double and triple DRM efforts too?

[JohnTitor @ Dec 7th 2007 2:45PM]

meh, I liked it the old way
Dish Networks sounds like a service which is was but EchoStar like a corperation or something, and clearly they've been doing some expanding over the years outside their primary business

[docsharp01 @ Mar 8th 2008 11:45PM]

This is an excellent article about Dish Network satellite TV. Dish Network satellite TV is the future of satellite TV communications.
http://www.1-satellite-tv-facts.com/Dish-Network.html

[Matt Van Dusen @ Jan 4th 2008 10:53AM]

John, Dish Network is a corporation. "Dish Network Corporation" or "Echostar Communications Corporation", same products, same people, just a name change.

As for the article, the line "the company that always should have been called DISH" doesn't make any since, because for the first 16 years of the company's life, it offered no DBS services - most of what they did was sell the old C-band satellite dishes in rural areas where there was nothing else, so therefore they were "echoing" the "stars" - hence, EchoStar.

3rdsun, there is no need to fight for free TV. It already exists. You don't get it with modified receivers or with receivers manufactured by you. You get free TV by sticking an antenna on your TV and watching whatever that brings in. If everyone stole the channels not provided freely, they simply wouldn't exist. Try to remember that when your modded boxes stop working entirely.

Oh, and by the way: the Dish Network Residential Service Agreement expressly prohibits modification or reverse engineering of Smart Cards (sections 4a, 4b), Receivers (section 4e), and Software (section 4h). Therefore, not only are you breaking copyright laws of the providers themselves, but you are also breaking copyright laws as they apply to Dish Network. Consider yourself warned.

[docsharp76 @ Jan 28th 2008 10:39PM]

An excellent resource for satellite TV is at
http://www.1-satellite-tv-facts.com