EchoStar Declares One-Time Stock Dividend

[Scott Greczkowski]

EchoStar Declares One-Time Stock Dividend

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 2004--EchoStar
Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: DISH) announced today that its Board of
Directors has declared a one-time dividend of $1 per outstanding share
of Class A and Class B Common Stock. The dividend, totaling
approximately $455 million, will be payable on Dec. 14, 2004, to
shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 8, 2004.
EchoStar anticipates that for U.S. federal income tax purposes a
portion of the dividend will be treated as income and a portion as a
return of capital. The precise allocation will be determined after the
end of the 2004 tax year and will be reflected on Forms 1099 DIV
delivered to shareholders.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995:

Except for historical information contained herein, the matters
set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements set forth above involve a number of risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from any such statement, including the risks and uncertainties
discussed in EchoStar Communications Corporation's Disclosure
Regarding Forward-Looking Statements included in its recent filings,
including Forms 10-K and 10-Q, with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date
made, and EchoStar Communications Corporation undertakes no obligation
to update these forward-looking statements.

About EchoStar Communications

EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH) serves
approximately 10.475 million satellite TV customers through its DISH
Network(TM), and is a leading U.S. provider of advanced digital
television services. DISH Network's services include hundreds of video
and audio channels, Interactive TV, HDTV, sports and international
programming, together with professional installation and 24-hour
customer service. EchoStar has been a leader for 24 years in satellite
TV equipment sales and support worldwide. EchoStar is included in the
Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and is a Fortune 500 company. Visit EchoStar's
Web site at (www.echostar.com) or call 800-333-DISH (3474).

# # #

CONTACT: EchoStar Communications Corp.
Jason Kiser, 303-723-2210 (Investor contact)
Jason.kiser@echostar.com
or
Steve Caulk, 303-723-2010 (Media contact)
steve.caulk@echostar.com

 

[rocatman]

As an Echostar stockholder, this dividend is financially rewarding but this action of paying out $455 million has to raise some speculation on the future of Echostar. This appears to be a ploy to raise the near term stock price of Echostar and I can think of only two reasons why this would be done. One would be the sale of Echostar. The second would be the purchase of another company by Echostar in a stock swap. By raising the price of Echostar stock near term, this would reduce the number of shares that would need to be used for the purchase. This latter scenario would fit an Echostar purchase of Voom especially if there is a limit on the percentage of Echostar stock that Cablevision could own by FCC regulation.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

If you notice VOOM and Dish have been VERY quiet lately.

Just something else to make you go HMMM

 

[AcuraCL]

Woohoo !!

I just got me a nice Xmas present.

 

[Cyclone]

If you notice VOOM and Dish have been VERY quiet lately.

Just something else to make you go HMMM

I know what you are thinking, that Voom is about to buy up Dish Network. They really do need to increase their customer numbers and this a sure fire way to do that.

 

[hancox]

boy - that would put CVC's stock even further in the toilet, because you know where the $$$ would come from

 

[mwgiii]

Since Charlie is a major stockholder, maybe he is taking some cash out of the company before he sells out.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The dividend, totaling approximately $455 million, will be payable on Dec. 14, 2004, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 8, 2004.

You still have time to BUY Echostar stock. Then On December 9th SELL SELL SELL!

 

[ken]

Wow, they are going to give me $230 after they blew $5000 of my money. I hope they don't think it's even now.

 

[SimpleSimon]

You still have time to BUY Echostar stock. Then On December 9th SELL SELL SELL!

Unh. You might want to eyeball the charts first. Any bets that DISH opens down $1 on the 9th?

 

[zubinh]

From the dividend Charlie Ergen gets $241 Million.

Why spend money on a HD satellite when you can spend it on yourself?

 

[rocatman]

If Dish were to buy Voom from Cablevision by giving them Echostar stock, prior to December 8th, Cablevision would get a $1.00 per share in cash upfront. There is probably some tax implications for both Echostar and Cablevision by doing this. The deal probably would have stipulations on how soon and how much of the Echostar stock Cablevision could sell so as not hurt the Echostar stock price in the short term. I think Charlie's comments yesterday at the Earnings Conference Call about HD were just trying to cover this deal along with messing with the heads of Rupert, the FCC, Congress and perhaps the content providers that Dish is negotiating with for HD channels. The Charlie Chat on December 8th might be something worth watching as opposed to the last couple that were relatively worthless.

 

[slacker9876]

How proud the stockholders must be ... when D* declared their dividend for this quarter each share holder owed a dollar! All jokes aside this is just a rich get richer, most common folk own common stock ... these are C class shares and are not generally eligible for dividends ... or wait, maybe that is employee stock.

Either way it will be nice to see Voom get swallowed. They need it and so does E*!