They rent the 105 sat from year to year so they could end that lease . The 121 sat is Echostar 9, I think, so they must use that one. But they could use it for business customers and not for residential at all. It makes good sense to consolidate all international channels to one sat instead of spreading them out over 4 as they have done up to now. My question is when will we learn which sats are going to be used for the new sat service in mpeg 4? I read now that they will be launched next year, instead of December as Charlie said at Team summit. THis will mean that DISH better get to moving all hd to mpeg 4 if they want to compete with Directv till they get the new sats up next year. IF they could put all hd to mpeg 4 they would be able to squeeze upto 6 hd channels per transponder with no picture quality issues. THis means they could keep adding the national channels in hd to compete, but they won't match the hd lils that Directv are continuing to add at a fast rate.
As to the 129 sat issues, I don't know what DISH is waiting for, in replacing this one. THey need a good stable signal for no issues on their picture for most of the southwest of the country. THey really need to think of moving one of the spares not being used to the spot and let this 129 sat up there plummet to its death. BY next year this will be a non issue for the new mpeg 4 service but it is still a reason for some people to go to Directv instead of DISH because of problems with HD off of this sat.