DISH Network Launches HD Satellite

[dkennedy]

DISH Network launches satellite, promises more HD channels

July 16, 2008

By Andrew Nusca , ZDNET News

In order to offer more HD channels, satellite providers apparently need more satellites.

So if you’re a satellite subscriber who thrives on HD, now’s your time to cheer.

DISH Network successfully launched their EchoStar XI satellite this morning, thus allowing the network to add 17 new HD channels, bringing them to a grand total of about 100. Note that this launch comes after a satellite propelled into space last March reportedly didn’t quite reach the right orbit.

Naturally, #1 competitor DirecTV says they’ll have over 150 by the end of the year, but it remains to be seen if DISH’s upcoming all-HD TurboHD package ends up being the better deal.

[xzi]

When it comes to Dish, it seems every bit of good news is always coupled with some bad:

Dish Network’s EchoStar 2 Satellite Fails
July 17, 2008

[Satellite Today 07-17-08] Dish Network’s EchoStar 2 satellite “experienced a substantial failure that appears to have rendered the satellite a total loss,” Dish said in a July 14 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
EchoStar 2, launched in September 1996, has been operating at 148° West primarily as a back-up satellite but had provided local network channel service to Alaska and six other small markets, Dish said. All programming and other services were restored to EchoStar 1, the primary satellite at the orbital slot. EchoStar 2 carried a book value of about $6.4 million at the end of June, Dish said.