Q: Where is EchoStar trying to position itself with the PocketDish?
A: Taking it with you is a cornerstone of our strategy. It may not always be on the PocketDish. We believe the device that will be most prolific is the one you can take with you wherever you happen to go, and we want to be there distributing our technology and programming to those devices.
Another important part of our strategy is that when Echo Star subscribers take the content on the road, they’re taking paid-for programming with them. The PocketDish doesn’t enable me to release that programming onto the Internet. That sets us aside from other approaches to recording or subsequent distribution of programming.
We make money if our programmers make money, and we think our PocketDish facilitates both those things occurring.
Q: What’s on your PocketDish?
A: My PocketDish right now contains about 20 30-minute kids’ programs and probably a half-dozen movies I haven’t gotten around to yet. And I had forgotten that I downloaded about 350 photos from my digital camera to my PocketDish as well.
Q: How does the satellite-TV industry in Canada differ from the United States?
A: The one stark difference stems from the very great difference in the size of population. In Canada, the population is approximately one-tenth that of the United States. When you launch a satellite to drive new channels to that market, the potential size of the market for those channels is a tenth.
A $300 million satellite shone on the United States would enable access to approximately 110 million television households. In Canada, that number would be approximately 11 million households. Therefore, the channel lineups tend to be much more limited than they are in the United States, where there is a market for even the most niche channels.
Q: With all of the consolidation going on in the media industry, will EchoStar remain an independent company?
A: We have no plans at this time to change the structure of our business or the way we operate today. We’re pretty happy with the success we’ve been able to achieve.
Charlie (Ergen, EchoStar’s CEO) and the management team took on some of America’s largest corporations. We’re one of the few companies that has gone from zero to Fortune 300 in less than 10 years. That’s a remarkable accomplishment.
Q: You’re from Toronto and have spent much of your career at Canadian corporations. How did you end up at EchoStar?
A: I had worked in the U.S. previously on a number of occasions. EchoStar was the primary supplier of satellite set-top boxes for the satellite company I started in Canada in 1995, called Bell ExpressVu. I had the benefit of knowing Charlie Ergen and many of the members of management.
ExpressVu remains a major customer of EchoStar, and EchoStar provides the set-tops that drive services to all ExpressVu Canadian customers.
I felt that the company was at a very important turning point in the industry. We are going to see some very interesting integration between video IP and linear satellite TV. We’re going to see the addition of new products to the Dish Network platform over time, and that is going to give rise to a new period of growth. I wanted to be a part of that.
Q: How many channels do you get on your Dish at home? What do you watch?
A: I’m probably getting all the channels that we distribute to the Denver area, with the exception of the foreign-language channel. I speak a little bit of French, but not very well.
Right now I’m watching the Discovery Channel, but I’ll watch the National Geographic channel as well. My programming is dictated by my 2-year- old.
If I have a little extra time, then I’ll go to the various movie networks. I like to watch Starz, Showtime and HBO. And if I don’t have time, I’ll just put them on the PocketDish and take them with me on a trip.
Q: You moved to Denver from Canada in June. What have you enjoyed the most?
A: I had been to Denver many times, but I had never been here more than a couple of nights in a hotel. I’m amazed at the proliferation of outdoor activities, at bike paths, the proximity of the mountains. We’re finding it, as a family, to be a wonderful place to live.
I’ve resumed some (outdoor activities) I had all but forgotten. I bought new ski equipment. I’m going to get back into it with a vengeance this year. And another thing I’ve resumed is bike riding. I bought my wife a bike and dusted off mine. We’re finding miles and miles of bike trails.
Edited for space and clarity from an interview by staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson.
