Would you guys please do the research and compare the companies Dish Network & Echostar to Liberty Media/Direc TV, Time Warner Corp., AT&T, Verizon, et al. The big talk for years among media folks is how long Charlie can continue to be competitive (the lack of MLB being one offering they CAN'T AFFORD, thereby hurting his competitiveness) before he has to sell or buy a really big media conglomerate. Even Charlie has admitted this in public many times because it is no secret to investors how small Dish is--as a company--compared to the media titans he competes with each day.
Charlie has been very open saying, "We feel we can be independent for at least a few more years." The proposed merge of Comcast and Disney had Ergan telling investors: "If that merger happens, we can't compete with that. Either I write a big check to someone, or someone writes a big check to me, and I'm on down the road." He is still the scrappy little competitor who often outwits his much larger competition. The proposed Comcast/NBC Universal merger is bad, most of all, to Dish, as the leverage Comcast/NBC Universal would have against pay TV providers would be unprecedented. Not even Disney would be an equal.
Which brings us to the point of why Dish doesn't have MLB IE: Dish Network would love to have it, but just can't afford it. But such decisions not to veer from the spreadsheet and not pay for MLB IE is exactly what keeps Dish a healthy company, and not one nearing going out of business. Look up the facts yourself, and you will see why Ergan himself openly admits his company's (Dish) disadvantage at competeting with the much bigger boys. BTW, Echostar is a small fry compared to Intelsat and AMC, etc. and in the last quarterly for Echostar, Charlie admitted his much smaller size and shallow pockets were a major reason why Echostar is not leasing its huge capacity. But that doesn't mean that Charlie is out for the count as he has outsmarted others before.
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