Wednesday was a bad day for Dish Network Corp.
Early in the day, Philip Falcone and his Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund firm relaunched a $1.5 billion racketeering lawsuit against the satellite-TV company and chairman Charlie Ergen, after a Colorado judge dismissed a similar suit earlier this year.
Dish also confirmed that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has circulated a draft order to deny $3.3 billion in small-business discounts sought by the satellite provider’s affiliated entities in an airwaves auction earlier this year.
Dish met with the FCC’s wireless bureau Wednesday about the order.
In the six-count suit, Falcone and Harbinger say Ergen violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act when he acquired the debt of LightSquared — the wireless venture controlled by Harbinger — as Dish was making a bid for the company in bankruptcy court.
