Dish Network 2003 Annual Report Download - page 6

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1
DISCLOSURE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
We make “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
throughout this document. Whenever you read a statement that is not simply a statement of historical fact (such as
when we describe what we “believe,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect” or “anticipate” will occur, and other
similar statements), you must remember that our expectations may not be correct, even though we believe they are
reasonable. We do not guarantee that any future transactions or events described herein will happen as described or
that they will happen at all. You should read this document completely and with the understanding that actual future
results may be materially different from what we expect. Whether actual events or results will conform with our
expectations and predictions is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to the following:
• we face intense and increasing competition from the satellite and cable television industry, new competitors
may enter the subscription television business, and new technologies may increase competition;
• DISH Network subscriber growth may decrease, subscriber turnover may increase and subscriber
acquisition costs may increase;
• satellite programming signals have been pirated and will continue to be pirated in the future; pirating could
cause us to lose subscribers and revenue, and result in higher costs to us;
• programming costs may increase beyond our current expectations; we may be unable to obtain or renew
programming agreements on acceptable terms or at all; existing programming agreements could be subject
to cancellation;
• weakness in the global or U.S. economy may harm our business generally, and adverse local political or
economic developments may occur in some of our markets;
• the regulations governing our industry may change;
• our satellite launches may be delayed or fail, or our satellites may fail in orbit prior to the end of their
scheduled lives;
• we currently do not have traditional commercial insurance covering losses incurred from the failure of
satellite launches and/or in-orbit satellites and we may be unable to settle outstanding claims with insurers;
• service interruptions arising from technical anomalies on satellites or on-ground components of our DBS
system, or caused by war, terrorist activities or natural disasters, may cause customer cancellations or
otherwise harm our business;
• we may be unable to obtain needed retransmission consents, Federal Communications Commission
(“FCC”) authorizations or export licenses, and we may lose our current or future authorizations;
• we are party to various lawsuits which, if adversely decided, could have a significant adverse impact on our
business;
• we may be unable to obtain patent licenses from holders of intellectual property or redesign our products to
avoid patent infringement;
• sales of digital equipment and related services to international direct-to-home service providers may
decrease;
• we are highly leveraged and subject to numerous constraints on our ability to raise additional debt;
• acquisitions, business combinations, strategic partnerships, divestitures and other significant transactions
may involve additional uncertainties;
• terrorist attacks, consequences of the war in Iraq, and the possibility of war or hostilities relating to other
countries, and changes in international political conditions as a result of these events may continue to affect
the U.S. and the global economy and may increase other risks; and
• we may face other risks described from time to time in periodic and current reports we file with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
All cautionary statements made herein should be read as being applicable to all forward-looking statements
wherever they appear. In this connection, investors should consider the risks described herein and should not place
undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.