It’s been just over four months since Hughes Network Systems’ owner Echostar acquired Dish Network, and the merged company has been pursuing synergy opportunities. The merged company announced a bundled offering this week that combines Hughes satellite broadband service with Dish video service for a $10 discount.
Telecompetitor talked to Gary Schanman, executive vice president and group president for video services, about the offering.
“When I started at the company, I had no idea that no one had ever done this for this market,” said Schanman of the satellite service bundle. “It’s a no-brainer.”
Customers taking the services will need two satellite dishes – one for each service. But both dishes can be installed at the same time, an example of the synergies that the merged company will see moving forward.
The company, which continues to use both the Dish and Hughes brands, has no plans to deliver both services from the same satellite, though.
As Schanman explained, Hughes internet service is now delivered via Echostar’s Jupiter 3 satellite, which is the largest satellite ever launched and which was engineered specifically to support internet connectivity.
Video and internet services will be integrated via the Hopper TV interface used with the Dish video service, however. Customers will be able to manage their Hughesnet service through Hopper, Schanman said.
Asked whether Echostar expects many customers for the bundled service to come from the existing Dish and Hughes customer bases, Schanman said, “We think it will be a mix.”
He added that 9% of new Hughes customers are now coming from Dish via cross-selling activities.
Schanman hinted that there may be more cross-selling opportunities in the future. He noted that the company is considering a “triple play” bundled offering that would include Boost mobile service along with video and satellite broadband.
Dish bought the Boost Mobile business, which at the time was prepaid only, from T-Mobile as a condition of T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint in 2020.
Initially, Dish relied on a resale agreement to support the service but more recently has begun operating its own mobile network.
