Echostar - Dish Network merger complete

[nelson61]

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Shares of EchoStar (SATS.O) surged as much as 41% on Wednesday after the satellite operator said it has hired advisors to help evaluate strategic alternatives following its merger with Dish Network..

 

[TheKrell]

I guess 1997 was considered a futuristic year. Both the Jupiter II launch and the commissioning of HAL happened then. In A.C.Clarke's book 2001, Hal came to life on January 12, 1997 in Urbana, IL. In the movie the year is 1992.

2001 was released in 1968 IIRC. We were going to the moon! Nothing seemed impossible, including space stations, sentient computers, cryogenic sleep, and enormous space ships going to the outer planets. We have fallen so short of all that.

 

[Bruce]

2001 was released in 1968 IIRC. We were going to the moon! Nothing seemed impossible, including space stations, sentient computers, cryogenic sleep, and enormous space ships going to the outer planets. We have fallen so short of all that.

Sentient Computers I can see happening soon because of AI, Space Stations we could do, just no need, same thing for enormous space ships, why would we need to, takes too long to get anywhere, hence why we have never been visited by Aliens, they have the same laws of physics as we do.

Cryogenic Sleep is still Science Fiction.

 

[navychop]

we have never been visited by Aliens,

Better not tell your employer that!

 

[telstar_1]

Sentient Computers I can see happening soon because of AI, Space Stations we could do, just no need, same thing for enormous space ships, why would we need to, takes too long to get anywhere, hence why we have never been visited by Aliens, they have the same laws of physics as we do.

Cryogenic Sleep is still Science Fiction.

But couldn't we be getting visited by aliens' AI?

 

[TRG]

2001 was released in 1968 IIRC. We were going to the moon! Nothing seemed impossible, including space stations, sentient computers, cryogenic sleep, and enormous space ships going to the outer planets. We have fallen so short of all that.

"I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

 

[telstar_1]

3 letters from DiSH today. 1, I need to round up my DiSH Network Class A common stock certificates and send them in. It shows 4 cert. #'s covering 8 shares. I've lost track of the first one that I got from TS98 for 1 share (Echostar) and know I wouldn't have any others. It does have a "lost certificates" instruction. Also comes with a W-9 to submit.

2, A statement of holdings as of 31 Dec. showing 8 shares, a closing price of $5.77 and closing value of $46.18.

3, Offer of $400.00 Mastercard to sign up for 2 years of DiSH.

I really don't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

[dishdude]

3 letters from DiSH today. 1, I need to round up my DiSH Network Class A common stock certificates and send them in. It shows 4 cert. #'s covering 8 shares. I've lost track of the first one that I got from TS98 for 1 share and know I wouldn't have any others. It does have a "lost certificates" instruction. Also comes with a W-9 to submit.

2, A statement of holdings as of 31 Dec. showing 8 shares, a closing price of $5.77 and closing value of $46.18.

3, Offer of $400.00 Mastercard to sign up for 2 years of DiSH.

I really don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Don't spend it all in one place!

 

[telstar_1]

Don't spend it all in one place!

I guess "buy & hold" wasn't such a great idea with DiSH.

 

[nelson61]

Bloomberg reports the bondholder lawyers are hard at work figuring out if they should go to court.
Yesterday, Dish offered to convert 4.9 billion of their bonds into new debt secured (maybe) by spectrum at a conversion rate of around 50 cents on the dollar.

 

[navychop]

Adjusting due dates? Equity trade option?

 

[MikeD-C05]

Sounds like something is going on. I wonder what Charlie is trying to do with all these tax gimmicks and new licenses and transfers. He almost sounds like how our congress is trying to come up with a budget funding.

 

[nelson61]

It's like when you owe the bank 20,000 dollars , you got a problem but if you owe the bank 20 billion dollars , the bank has a problem.

His problems are smaller than the bondholders.

First, he rolled Dish into Echostar to get access to their cash and or credit line.

Then he move a bunch of assets, customers and FCC frequencies from Dish into entities that have little or no liabilites, which is an attempt (maybe legal, maybe not) to get them out of the bondholders grasp.

Then he went to the bondholders holding about 5 billion in bonds that likely can not be paid off and told them he would give them 50-60 cents on the dollar to roll them into new bonds paying 10 percent which would be secured by FCC frequencies that he left in Dish's control.

Now those bondholders are mulling whether to take a haircut and accept the deal or to go to court and try to get the customers and frequencies that may have been put up for collateral.

All within the last week or two.

 

[MikeD-C05]

It's like when you owe the bank 20,000 dollars , you got a problem but if you owe the bank 20 billion dollars , the bank has a problem.

His problems are smaller than the bondholders.

First, he rolled Dish into Echostar to get access to their cash and or credit line.

Then he move a bunch of assets, customers and FCC frequencies from Dish into entities that have little or no liabilites, which is an attempt (maybe legal, maybe not) to get them out of the bondholders grasp.

Then he went to the bondholders holding about 5 billion in bonds that likely can not be paid off and told them he would give them 50-60 cents on the dollar to roll them into new bonds paying 10 percent which would be secured by FCC frequencies that he left in Dish's control.

Now those bondholders are mulling whether to take a haircut and accept the deal or to go to court and try to get the customers and frequencies that may have been put up for collateral.

All within the last week or two.

Doesn't sound good or legal to me. But I am not an accountant so who knows if he can pull it off. I still think he will end up selling the excess cell bandwith to the highest bidder, if he can't get the money he needs to meet the dead line from the FCC. Either way 2025 will be the year it will all come to fruition in June, so 17 months and two weeks from now.

 

[navychop]

1. I’m not sure the terms of the auction where Dish got those frequencies allows for resale. Might be some timeline restrictions before they could do so. Or I could be totally out to lunch.

2. I think Dish / Echostar have excellent reasons to get a 2-3 year extension. COVID, late development and delivery of their 5G hardware. Etc.

3. I’ve believed from the start his plan was to cater to supporting vehicles in a two way arrangement. S/W downloads, navigation, entertainment etc. now I suspect StarLink has stolen a march on them.

 

[Bruce]

1. I’m not sure the terms of the auction where Dish got those frequencies allows for resale. Might be some timeline restrictions before they could do so. Or I could be totally out to lunch.

I have read 2026 for some of the spectrum.

2. I think Dish / Echostar have excellent reasons to get a 2-3 year extension. COVID, late development and delivery of their 5G hardware. Etc.

Covid was the reason they already received an extension, for the deadline coming up in 2025 has already been extended by a couple of years.

Also, they have received a number of extensions since they started hoarding spectrum, the FCC seems to be tired of it.

3. I’ve believed from the start his plan was to cater to supporting vehicles in a two way arrangement. S/W downloads, navigation, entertainment etc. now I suspect StarLink has stolen a march on them.

True, hence why he keeps fighting against StarLink, he also knows it will put Hughes out of business.

Since he is going to make plays to get more funds, he will have to say how they plan on monetizing the spectrum , because it is still a money pit as of now.

 

[nelson61]

Their problem is the lack of a customer base bringing in money to pay the debt.

Since they started with a very small base, I don't see any way they can grow the business fast enough to cover the debt, particularly when the big three AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon already have captured most of the base and are now trying to expand into the nich markets .
I'm thinking wireless is like satellite tv. Sticky customers that stay with their providers even if the cost is a bit more expensive.

And as far as technology goes, AT&T is well on the way to converting to the same type of cloud service Dish has bragged would let them undercut the competition.

 

[nelson61]

The lawyers are going to make money on this deal.

Bloomberg:

"A group of Dish Network Corp. creditors sent a letter to the company’s board alleging that the satellite television provider’s restructuring plan is illegal, and threatening legal action if the deal isn’t reversed, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

The creditor group, working with law firm Milbank, argued in the letter sent Friday that the company’s plan to swap nearly $10 billion of debt for new secured notes violates debtholder agreements, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the communications are private. The letter also alleges that Dish’s move to transfer prized collateral away from existing creditors could be considered fraudulent, and an illegal dividend.--------------------------------------------------"

 

[dishdude]

Dish creditors send letter to company alleging debt swap fraud

(Bloomberg) -- A group of Dish Network Corp. creditors sent a letter to the company’s board alleging that the satellite television provider’s restructuring plan is illegal, and threatening legal action if the deal isn’t reversed, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Most Read...

finance.yahoo.com

 

[SandFarmer]

Now the layoffs start and they start having more power to get another loan to finish out their upcoming network before June of 2025. With every merger there comes layoffs because of duplicate positions no longer needed.

The "Echo" in the Littleton Mega Facility is getting more and more . . .