DISH Manipulates Federal Rules, Gets Billions in Discounts for Wireless Licenses

[mitchflorida]

DISH Network, whose co-founder is a major Democratic donor, cashed in on a $3.3 billion taxpayer-funded discount to purchase wireless licenses from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday.

Using subsidiaries to capitalize on an FCC designation designed to help small businesses, DISH was able to purchasenearly half of the wireless licenses sold at the government auction, known as AWS-3. The satellite cable television company currently does not offer cellular service.

DISH secured $13.3 billion in wireless spectrum at the auction by bidding through smaller companies that qualify for the FCC’s “designated entity” program (DE), which is intended to foster competition by allowing smaller and minority businesses to compete. DE companies, which have less than $15 million in revenue, receive discounts when bidding for wireless licenses.

DISH will only have to pay roughly $10 billion due to the discounts, which are subsidized by the government.

Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai condemned the $3 billion subsidy as making a “mockery of the DE program,” and asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for an investigation.

http://freebeacon.com/politics/dish...-billions-in-discounts-for-wireless-licenses/

 

[dewzan]

when you quoted "Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai condemned the $3 billion subsidy as making a “mockery of the DE program,” and asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for an investigation." you lost any and all credibility but nice try.

 

[ChadT41]

Shouldn't this go into the Put if it's going to be based on the political leanings? Or you can read the other one posted in another thread, that just posts the article and only Dish and Ergen and the FCC are discussed

 

[Slamminc11]

when you quoted "Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai condemned the $3 billion subsidy as making a “mockery of the DE program,” and asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for an investigation." you lost any and all credibility but nice try.

He lost his credibility here a long time ago...

 

[ChadT41]

DISH Network, whose co-founder is a major Democratic donor, cashed in on a $3.3 billion taxpayer-funded discount to purchase wireless licenses from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday.

Using subsidiaries to capitalize on an FCC designation designed to help small businesses, DISH was able to purchasenearly half of the wireless licenses sold at the government auction, known as AWS-3. The satellite cable television company currently does not offer cellular service.

DISH secured $13.3 billion in wireless spectrum at the auction by bidding through smaller companies that qualify for the FCC’s “designated entity” program (DE), which is intended to foster competition by allowing smaller and minority businesses to compete. DE companies, which have less than $15 million in revenue, receive discounts when bidding for wireless licenses.

DISH will only have to pay roughly $10 billion due to the discounts, which are subsidized by the government.

Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai condemned the $3 billion subsidy as making a “mockery of the DE program,” and asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for an investigation.

http://freebeacon.com/politics/dish...-billions-in-discounts-for-wireless-licenses/

Curious. Was it fun to read that "news" story? Did it let you form your own conclusion, or did it form all the conclusions for you, and you get to agree and parrot? Here is the thing, once they start indicating a lean, they lose any and all credibility as a news source, and jump right back into that barrel of info-tainment. News shouldn't clearly portray a good or a bad guy, no need to bring up things of no relevance to the topic, such as the fact that Ergen is a Dem. It means absolutely nothing. This source is nothing more than another mind washing idiot builder. But @mitchflorida, good job becoming their target audience.

 

[Cold Irons]

OP: Yes, we get it - we understand your thinking. All Democrats are demons; all Republicans are saints. OK?

For those of us that take a more nuanced view of life, could you please now give a rest?

I come here for real satellite TV information & news, in particular as related to Dish Network. If you have some valid point vs. political nonsense, please post it. If you want to parade your own black-and-white view of the world, please take it elsewhere.

 

[mitchflorida]

This guy appears to be a crook, pretending Dish is a small business, eligible for special discounts. I am surprised he didn't also claim to be black to get the minority contracts?

 

[ChadT41]

Northstar is a small company earning less than $15M a year. Tell me why Northstar and the other company are not small businesses. Charlie Ergen and Dish do own large portions of them, yes, but so do multiple other companies. And this is the sole definition of investment opportunity. Shark Tank, real life. I'm not saying Charlie didn't have ulterior motives when he bought that much share in these companies, but isn't the purpose of any investment to be able to maximize profit as much as possible??

 

[TechWriter]

The "news" story came from The Washington Free Beacon, a 501(c) organization of the Center for American Freedom.

Michael Goldfarb is the chairman of the Center for American Freedom.

Michael Goldberg is also a public relations consultant for Koch Industries.

The DISH story is "news" created by the 1%,

 

[mitchflorida]

Facts are stubborn things. And if you don't like the facts just engage in personal attacks. How many people here think Dish Network is a small business and deserves that huge tax break? And what did Ergen buy with all of those political campaign contributions?

 

[Voyager6]

From the other thread about this topic.
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/dish-...s-spectrum-auction--2nd-update-20150130-00746

Dish won its licenses through entities called SNR Wireless LicenseCo and Northstar Wireless. Filings with the FCC describe both as a "very small business" with revenue below $15 million. Northstar has an address in Fairbanks, Alaska, and SNR in Falls Church, Va. Filings indicate Dish owns 85% of each.

This has become a normal practice.

Major corporations have previously won small business credits. In a 2000 auction, the old AT&T's wireless division backed Alaska Native Wireless LLC, an Anchorage-based entity that filed for a small business credit. Salmon PCS LLC, which also won a small business credit as a bidder in that auction, was backed by Cingular Wireless. Doyon Communications, which participated alongside Dish in the latest auction, was also a backer of Alaska Native Wireless.

The credits were set up by a 1994 law to make sure some spectrum licenses are awarded to entities controlled by women, minorities and small businesses. Over the years, one former FCC official said, "the larger guys got smart" and set up partnerships with entities that qualified.

 

[Ronnie-]

Guys, if people want to discuss the political aspects of this news release, please do so in the pit.

Thanks!

 

[Yespage]

How is it a taxpayer funded discount? This just would reduce the revenue from the sale of the spectrum.

*note, I didn't feel that was a politically based question. If mods feel otherwise, please edit.

 

[dangue]

Facts are stubborn things. And if you don't like the facts just engage in personal attacks. How many people here think Dish Network is a small business and deserves that huge tax break? And what did Ergen buy with all of those political campaign contributions?

I love how you're talking about facts but you misstating them. Dish isn't a small business but the entities that bid qualify as such under the rules. There is no tax break involved in any of this. It is a discount of auction price. What political contributions are you talking about? As some have previously mentioned these rules date back to the mid 1990s and apply to everyone, so it's not like campaign contributions led to Dish receiving a special exemption. Feel free to ignore those facts and slant this any which way that suits you, but it's nonsense.

On a related but different point: I find the entire practice and the loophole that allows it to be problematic. I think the commission (and or congress if the commission lacks the legal authority to do so on its own) should modify the existing rules to prevent this sort of exploitation of the current status quo. This is not the intended purpose of the discount and should be corrected. Laws and regulations are only as good as the foresight of those who draft them. Unfortunately, this scenario was not foreseen or at least not addressed earlier.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The thing that is being missed was that AT&T and Verizon did the same thing. Only DISH is being brought up as the bad guy as they were the ones who won with their bids. If the others would have one we would be pointing the finger at them saying shame at them. DISH is just playing the game like the other big guys are.

 

[mitchflorida]

The thing that is being missed was that AT&T and Verizon did the same thing. Only DISH is being brought up as the bad guy as they were the ones who won with their bids. If the others would have one we would be pointing the finger at them saying shame at them. DISH is just playing the game like the other big guys are.

Unfortunately you are wrong. Verizon and AT&T both won their auctions and are paying 100 percent of their bid amount.. Dish won its auction and only paying 75 percent of their bid amount because they are pretending that they are a small business. The taxpayer gets shafted, is that what all those political donations were all about?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

You might want to look again Mitch... where AT&T and Verizon used their other smaller companies... those smaller companies did not win their bid.

And I am sure AT&T and Verizon made some nice donations as well, and probably more then what Charlie gave.

 

[mitchflorida]

You might want to look again Mitch... where AT&T and Verizon used their other smaller companies... those smaller companies did not win their bid.

And I am sure AT&T and Verizon made some nice donations as well, and probably more then what Charlie gave.

The only source for the charge against AT&T and Verizon is Dish , who I don't trust. No independent source says Verizon and AT&T cheated. Please post the link if you have one. Dish hid behind a couple of shell companies and pretended to be a small business.


The big winner in the auction was AT&T, who won J Block (paired spectrum at 1770-1780, and 2170-2180MHz) in major markets like New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, San Antonio, and other markets with a total of 251 licenses. In all, AT&T was the big bidder at $18.2 billion. All told, AT&T bought itself a nearly contiguous 10x10MHz block of spectrum which covers approximately 96 of the top 100 markets.

Verizon was the second largest bidder, spending $10.4 billion on 181 licenses in the aforementioned J Block, as well as in the H Block (1760-1765 and 2160-2165MHz) and I Block (1765-1770 and 2165-2170MHz). Markets Big Red won for the more prized J Block include Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Verizon’s licenses cover about 61% of the United States.

The big surprise in the auction was none other than DISH Network, who bid nearly $10 billion. That figure includes discounts for its designated bidding entities Northstar Wireless LLC, and SNR Wireless. Industry insiders expected DISH to participate in the bidding, but did not expect the company to dig that deep into its pockets. In all, Northstar got 345 licenses, and SNR Wireless won 357 licenses on different blocks, with some in major markets like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.

 

[KaptainRandom]

The only source for the charge against AT&T and Verizon is Dish , who I don't trust. No independent source says Verizon and AT&T cheated. Please post the link if you have one. Dish hid behind a couple of shell companies and pretended to be a small business.


The big winner in the auction was AT&T, who won J Block (paired spectrum at 1770-1780, and 2170-2180MHz) in major markets like New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, San Antonio, and other markets with a total of 251 licenses. In all, AT&T was the big bidder at $18.2 billion. All told, AT&T bought itself a nearly contiguous 10x10MHz block of spectrum which covers approximately 96 of the top 100 markets.

Verizon was the second largest bidder, spending $10.4 billion on 181 licenses in the aforementioned J Block, as well as in the H Block (1760-1765 and 2160-2165MHz) and I Block (1765-1770 and 2165-2170MHz). Markets Big Red won for the more prized J Block include Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Verizon’s licenses cover about 61% of the United States.

The big surprise in the auction was none other than DISH Network, who bid nearly $10 billion. That figure includes discounts for its designated bidding entities Northstar Wireless LLC, and SNR Wireless. Industry insiders expected DISH to participate in the bidding, but did not expect the company to dig that deep into its pockets. In all, Northstar got 345 licenses, and SNR Wireless won 357 licenses on different blocks, with some in major markets like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.

You only list the winning bids...
You do not list a single losing bid...
Or the companies/backers of the losing bids.

 

[wallyhts]

I think small business credits should be for small business only. No BS shell companies that are small not owned or funded by big companies.

Congress needs to open an investigated and pass
Legislation that fines company's 5 times there savings and also need to do clawbacks for passed auctions.

My small business was in the past H-Block we lost. The worst part is a company not to point fingers is now sitting on it and doing nothing with it. We would have built a small LTE network and provided Internet to rural folks we only bid for one area in Kentucky. There needs to be new rules use your won spectrum in 3 years or lose it.