Seeing what has happened to Dish Network this week in the press has reminded me of a game we use to play as a kid.  The game was you told a friend a secret and that friend had to pass it on to someone else who had to pass it on to another and this repeated again and again until someone told you the secret… the only problem was what you were told was not was originally said.

That has happened to the folks this week at Echostar / Dish Network.

My jaw has hit the floor a few times over the past few days from numerous mainstream news reports about the Dish Network AMC-14 issue.  Many of the stories I have read paint a total doom and gloom picture for Dish Network.  From where I sit, nothing could be further from the truth.

 I would like to hopefully set the record straight from the information I have been told by my various contacts.  In my trying to clear the air be aware that none of this information is “official” from Echostar / Dish Network in any way.

As you may remember on last weeks “Charlie Chat” Dish Network announce a bunch of new HD Locals and new national HD channels.  On this chat they announced that these channels were coming in April.  Now if you follow satellite launches at all you know it takes a couple of months to fully get the satellite in proper orbit and to fully test the satellite before it will be used.  From what I know the AMC-14 satellite was not scheduled to be put into operation until mid May.  This means all the new HD that was announced on the Charlie Chat would be put up and made available to customers before AMC-14 was even ready to be used!  In other words AMC-14 was never a factor at all in launching all of these new channels!

Now to make things more confusing Dish Network filed an 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday and in this document they stated, “the launch anomaly will result in a delay in our roll out of some high definition channels, including some local network channels.”  What made that confusing was it made it sound like the HD announced on the Charlie Chat was going to be delayed, this is not the case.  For this 8-K Echostar was talking about other unannounced HD channels and HD Locals, which were going to be on AMC-14, satellite not the new HD channels which were announced on the Charlie Chat.

If you take a good look you will see that all is not doom and gloom for Dish Network as has been reported by some media outlets. 

As I sat watching yesterdays Dish Network “Retailer Chat” it mirrored almost exactly what I reported in my Monday column here at MultiChannel News and it also echoed what I said on my podcast which was recorded on Sunday Night.  I am proud of the fact that I have been “spot on” with everything I have said.

From where I sit, the future for Dish Network looks bright, with or without AMC-14 in place.  Now I just wish the rest of the world understood this.

Farewell to a Friend

Last night I received the sad news of the passing of Sir. Arthur C. Clarke.  While I had never met the man tears formed in my eyes just hearing the news.  I was fortunate enough to have received a phone call from Sir Clarke last year to thank me for the work I was doing on a Satellite Pioneers event I was working on.  That phone call from Sir Clarke meant a lot to me. He will be missed.

DirecTV 10 Launch Tonight

Just a reminder the DirecTV 10 satellite is scheduled to launch tonight at 6:48 PM ET / 3:48 PM / PT.  You can watch the launch live on DirecTV channel 573 or via the Internet at the Sea Launch website at http://www.sea-launch.com.  Go DirecTV 10!

Personal Note

I just wanted to take a moment to pass along that my grandmother Helen is on my mind.  Last night she had a massive stroke and is not looking too good.  Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  I love you Grandma!