DISH Network satellite TV provider adds high-speed Internet service with WildBlue.
October 20, 2006
EchoStar Communications has debuted a broadband Internet service for the satellite TV subscribers to its DISH Network.
The service, dubbed DISH Network High-Speed Internet powered by WildBlue, was launched Thursday in partnership with WildBlue Communications, a Greenwood, Colorado-based satellite broadband provider.
Up to now, Englewood, Colorado-based EchoStar has mostly involved itself in Internet service by pointing its DISH Network customers toward DSL providers in their area, like AT&T, BellSouth, EarthLink, Qwest, and Verizon Communications.
The WildBlue partnership will enable the company to team with a provider that can leverage the satellite dish to deliver Net service at speeds that EchoStar said will be up to 30 times faster than dial-up.
“Our customers living in rural communities have endured the slower speeds of dial-up simply because they haven’t had choices when it comes to high-speed Internet service providers,” Jim DeFranco, executive vice president at EchoStar, said in a statement. “They now have access to affordable broadband Internet via satellite with speeds comparable to DSL or cable modem.”
Service packages start at $49.95 per month and come with multiple email addresses, web-hosting space, and around-the-clock tech support. Customers need to get a second satellite dish to receive the Internet service, but they won’t need an extra phone line.
EchoStar’s main competitor in the satellite TV space, DirecTV, also partners with WildBlue as well as with various DSL providers to give its customers broadband Internet access.
The broadband business could be a profitable sideline for EchoStar. Time Warner filed for an IPO on Wednesday for its Time Warner Cable unit, which offers cable TV and RoadRunner high-speed Internet service, and could raise an estimated $7 million in the offering.
EchoStar shares rose $0.02 to $34.00 in recent trading.
Revisiting Satellite Internet
This isn’t EchoStar’s first foray into high-speed satellite Internet service, noted Brian Washburn, principal network analyst at the research firm Current Analysis. During the dot-com boom, the company partnered with an Israeli firm, Gilat Satellite Networks, and other companies to launch StarBand, a broadband service aimed at residences and small businesses.
EchoStar eventually distanced itself from the service, offering it as just an option on its web site and later dropping it altogether. However, the StarBand by Spacenet service is still available from Gilat.
A similar situation happened with DirecTV, which Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. acquired in 2003 from General Motors, along with Hughes Network Systems and PanAmSat. News Corp. eventually spun off Hughes and PanAmSat, but held onto DirecTV.
DirecTV now lists Hughes as a possible broadband provider on its site alongside different DSL firms, but no longer is in the satellite Internet business.
EchoStar has apparently had a change of heart.
“It just seemed like the residential satellite TV industry was not interested in satellite broadband, so it comes as quite a surprise that they have turned around and decided to be in that market with some sort of bundle after all,” said Mr. Washburn.
He noted that WildBlue is a relative newcomer in the business but has cut some substantial deals, including a deal with AT&T to reach rural customers in AT&T territory.
AT&T has also gotten into the satellite business in partnership with EchoStar with the Homezone service it rolled out in July in Ohio and parts of Texas
