FCC approves Dish/EchoStar licence transfers
December 7, 2023
By Chris Forrester
The FCC has approved the transfer of control of Dish Network and its subsidiaries to EchoStar Corp.
The FCC, and the bureaux under its supervision (the Office of Engineering & Technology, the Space Bureau, the Wireless Telecommunications) allowed the transfer of its broadcast and transmission licences. The FCC order includes those terrestrial licences for Dish’s Boost cellular service.
Dish is a publicly traded business, registered in Nevada and with 90 per cent of the company’s voting stock controlled by Charlie Ergen, and who also owns 51 per cent of the equity.
EchoStar is also beneficially owned by Ergen (93.5 per cent of the voting stock) and 60 per cent of the company’s equity.
The two businesses entered into their merger agreement on August 8th.
When the merger receives its other regulatory approvals, Dish will be a subsidiary of EchoStar and the new combined business will have Ergen holding more than 90 per cent of the voting stock and 54 per cent of the equity.