Despite analyst speculation that EchoStar Communications Corp. could be an acquisition target for telecommunications giant AT&T Corp., Charlie Ergen, chairman and chief executive for Doug las County-based EchoStar, said Thursday he is not looking to sell the company.
"These rumors are false. I'm happy being the largest shareholder of EchoStar," Ergen said after a news conference at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show. "I'm in my dream job. It's my hobby to do satellite."
Ergen has an estimated net worth of $7.1 billion, ranking 30th on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. He controls a majority of the voting shares of EchoStar, meaning any decision to sell the public company is his alone.
EchoStar, which employs 5,000 people in Colorado, has a market capitalization of $12.8 billion.
Ergen said 2005 was a "solid" year for EchoStar and the satellite industry overall. He said that although there's a growing consensus that cable- TV companies have the upper hand over satellite, 2006 will prove that EchoStar can deliver services that can effectively compete against cable providers and DirecTV, with 15 million subscribers the nation's largest satellite-TV provider.
EchoStar announced this week that it added 1 million new subscribers in 2005 for a total of 12 million.
EchoStar unveiled several new high-definition television offerings Thursday, positioning itself as the provider of more HDTV channels than any other pay-TV company in the nation and claiming 1,700 hours a week of HD content.
The company's Dish Network subscribers will be able to receive five new Voom HD channels beginning in February. The new channels are available to customers who upgrade to new set-top boxes capable of receiving MPEG4 - a higher quality of compressed video.
The new HDTV lineup, called DishHD, will offer 25 national high-definition channels, plus local ones - where available - for $54.99 a month. That price also includes 70 standard-definition channels.
In addition to the Voom HD channels and HD channels from ESPN and NBC Universal, Echo Star will broadcast local channels in high-definition in select cities. Local channels in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York will be available in high-definition in February, with Echo Star planning to offer 50 by year-end.
It is unclear when Dish subscribers will be able to receive local Denver channels in high-definition, according to an EchoStar spokesman.
DirecTV, controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., made news of its own, according to the Associated Press. Intel said it's collaborating with DirecTV on a PC tuner that doesn't require a stand-alone satellite box. DirecTV is also working on set-top boxes that can share content with PCs and portable video players.
