DISH Network is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that provides satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services to households and businesses in the United States, owned by parent company DISH Network Corporation. DISH Network was launched in March 1996, and, along with DirecTV, primarily competes with cable television providers throughout the United States. They have registered as a Nevada corporation. The corporate office is based at Meridian, Colorado, though the postal designation of nearby Englewood is commonly listed as the company's location in corporate filings and news accounts.

Satellites & locations

In 1996, EchoStar and Dominion Video Satellite, Inc., proprietor of the Sky Angel DBS service, formed a technical agreement where Dominion has co-located its FCC-licensed DBS frequencies and channels on the same DBS satellite, EchoStar III (61.5° West longitude), carrying DBS frequencies and channels licensed by the FCC to EchoStar. The two DBS companies operate independently of one another, and subscribers to each service are not required to subscribe to both services, however, this technical agreement enables individuals, at their option, to subscribe to both services using the same satellite receiving system.

In 1999, EchoStar obtained the broadcasting assets of a failed joint venture between ASkyB and MCI WorldCom, including 28 transponders at the 110°W orbital location.

On May 1, 2005, EchoStar added the first ten of the 21 original Voom channels. These channels were made available at a 61.5°W orbital slot position. (The Voom channels ultimately were available from either 61.5°W or 129°W locations.) EchoStar planned to carry all 21 original Voom channels by 2006. As of May 15, 2008, all Voom channels were removed from DISH Network due to a contractual dispute between the two service providers.

On February 15, 2006, Echostar X, the tenth satellite in Echostar's fleet, was successfully launched. By mid-May it successfully began broadcasting from the 110°W orbital location to satisfy a legal mandate (passed by Congress in December 2004) for single-dish local-into-local service.

On March 14, 2008, the AMC-14 satellite owned by SES Americom and under contract to EchoStar Corp failed to reach its intended orbit after being launched from Kazakhstan. The Ku-band satellite was to be used by DISH Network to increase the number of their HD channels from the current slate of 50 to between 70 and 100. SES and Lockheed Martin are exploring ways to attempt to bring the functioning satellite into its correct orbital position. In the event that their effort is successful, the extra use of fuel needed to correct the orbital error is anticipated to significantly reduce AMC-14's originally expected service life of 15 years.