Happy President's Day!

Yeah I know that President’s Day is normally in February… but here in the satellite world two companies celebrated the holiday today by announcing new Presidents and CEO’s for their companies.

First out of the shoot this morning was a press release from Echostar announcing that Michael Dugan is the new president and CEO of the Echostar Corporation.

Mr. Dugan is no stranger to Echostar; in fact he held the Presidents title at Echostar before and was also the company’s chief operating officer.

Many websites were surprised by this move, but I was not in fact I expected this move months ago. While Charlie Ergen has stepped down as President and CEO of the company he still holds the company’s reigns as the Chairman of Echostar. In addition Charlie is still in charge of Dish Network which is now a separate company from Echostar.

Mr. Ergen has had a lot on his plate and with the appointment of Mr. Dugan as President and CEO it takes some of the direct weight off of his shoulders. I don’t expect to see many changes with Mr. Dugan in charge.

Then Presidents day continued today at noon with DirecTV announcing that they have selected Michael White as the new President and CEO of DirecTV.

Mr. White comes to DirecTV from PepsiCo where he currently holds the position of CEO of PepsiCo International. Looking over his qualifications he seems to have a great track record of success. And those who know him say that Mr. White has a way of making the impossible possible.

I got to be honest other than the bios I have read online I don’t really know too much about Mr. White and while it appears he is a financial business wizard, I just hope he understands and allows DirecTV to expand and upgrade their technologies for the future.

While I ultimately find wild about all of this news is as of January 1st (the day Mr. White assumes his new position) both CEO’s for both satellite companies have both got their start in the potato chip industry. Charlie Ergen left Frito-Lay in 1978 and Michael White was the president and CEO of Frito Lay Europe / Africa / Middle East from 2000 to February 2003.

If history is any way to judge then we for the most part already know how Mr. Duggan will perform at his duties at Echostar, but I will be interested in seeing how Mr. White does at DirecTV. He may be new to the world of communications, but I have a feeling he will learn quickly. I wish both of them all the best in their new positions!

Thanks to the SBCA

Today the SBCA (Satellite & Broadcasting Communications Association) held its first ever online virtual trade show that they called the SBCA SkyFORUM. It was much like the industry trade shows of the past except for this show you could enjoy everything from the comfort of your desk. They had speakers talking about the industry, a trade show floor where you could see new satellite industry products and services, plus you could chat with the exhibitors and they also had a networking lounge where you could come in and chat (or network) with others about the industry. After attending a number of the speaches and touring the virtual “expo floor” I went and hung out in the networking lounge for a good part of the day talking with others about this amazing industry.

The Virtual Trade Show seemed to be a success, although it was missing some things that you can only get from a real trade show, and that is face to face meetings with folks, free pens and the ever popular booth babes.

Thanks to the SBCA for having me and to everyone who stopped and said hello and chatted with me today.

Epix Coming To Dish?

There is a very good sign that EPIX is coming to Dish Network, just before this edition of “The Satellite Dish” went to press Dish Network did their weekly uplink changes. Simply explained these uplink changes are changes to the channel maps which are sent to Dish Network customers satellite receivers. Using special equipment and software people like me can read these data maps and see changes made to those maps. (These data maps use DVB standards and are sent in the clear as part of the DVB standards) anyways it appears that Dish is getting ready to launch EPIX in both SD and HD on channel 292. And even though the maps have these channel listed in hidden mode its a good sign that Dish and Epix are close to launching the channel. However I should note that because a channel is added to the maps does not mean it will indeed launch, there have been cases in the past where channels were added to the maps then later removed. Again this is just a sign that Dish and Epix are indeed close on launching this new channel.