Dish Network to no longer provide Starband

[Richard King]

Effective immediately we are changing our business relationship with StarBand......

To insure that your customers can continue to benefit from Internet access over satellite, EchoStar has determined it is best for StarBand to develop a direct relationship with retailers.....

This can no longer be a single antenna installation; installations of the StarBand service must be on a different antenna than the antenna used for DISH Network's video service....

DISH Network will continue to provide technical support for your showroom account and for your customers.

[Chris Blount]

Where exactly did this information come from?

[Richard King]

An e-mail to Starband dealers at 6:37 this evening.

[John Corn]

Well that is certainly a surprise.:eek:
I wonder whats up, sounds like they droped them like a hot potatoe.

Anymore info Richard?

[MarkA]

Suprise? With StarBand's difficulty they'll be totally dead soon.

[Chris Blount]

Thanks for the info. I bet that could be a real pain for both installers and customers having yet another dish to deal with.

[Richard King]

Updated Information.....

Please note that the updated version, #33A, included corrected and up-to-date information on your ability to continue providing a single antenna installation to StarBand and DISH Network subscribers. Please note that you can and should continue using this single antenna solution.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Im getting confiused.

Does this mean they changed their mind? Or was their first email an April fools joke?

[John Corn]

No, Richards last post just states that exisiting customers can continue to use 1 dish for both services.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Then why did they origional say...

This can no longer be a single antenna installation; installations of the StarBand service must be on a different antenna than the antenna used for DISH Network's video service.... ????

Im confused :)

[Steve Mehs]

I wonder how much longer SBs going to be around. I cant say I never expected this becasue I knew something like this would happen, it was only a matter of time something major would happedn to SB becasue of their lack of subs and revenue.

Sounds like its pre-merger activity. They certainly can't support both Starband and Directway, especially since Starband (Gilat) is an outside company.

Will this have any affect on Philadelphia networks on 129?

[Steve Mehs]

I dont see why it would

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Sounds like its pre-merger activity. They certainly can't support both Starband and Directway, especially since Starband (Gilat) is an outside company.

Dish has to be careful, because until the merger is approved, they legally are not supposed to do anything different as if they were a merged company. When I worked at a company that was going to be bought by GE, we had people in some dive of a office in Singapore and there was a nice GE office across the street and they were not allowed to reside in the building until the merger was approved.

Of course if the actions can be justified under the "Just Echostar" way of doing things, it would not be a problem. Maybe this was going to happen even without a merger???