Dish Network Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Founding, early growth and launch of DBS services=== The company was formed in 1980 as EchoStar Communications by [[Charlie Ergen]], Candy Ergen, and Jim DeFranco, as a distributor of [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] satellite television systems.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2002/09/02/327891/index.htm | title=The Charlie Ergen Show Echostar's founder is one tough operator who will soon take control of the satellite TV industry—if Washington lets him. |last=Gunther |first=Marc | work=[[CNN]] |date=September 2, 2002 }}</ref> In 1987, EchoStar applied for a [[satellite television]] [[broadcast license]] with the FCC and was granted access to orbital slot 119° west [[longitude]] in 1992.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}} A year after the launch of its first satellite, [[EchoStar I]],<ref>{{Cite web | title=Technical details for satellite ECHOSTAR 1 | url=http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=23754 | website=N2YO.com}}</ref> EchoStar launched its DBS broadcast services under the Dish Network name on March 4, 1996.<ref name=scoop/> That launch marked the beginning of its television services under a [[subscription business model]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page