Dish Network 2006 Annual Report Download - page 9

ii
• we rely on key personnel including Charles W. Ergen, our chairman and chief executive officer, and other
executives;
• we may be unable to obtain needed retransmission consents, 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 depend on telecommunications providers, independent retailers and others to solicit orders for DISH
Network services. Certain of these providers account for a significant percentage of our total new
subscriber acquisitions. If we are unable to continue our arrangements with these resellers, we cannot
guarantee that we would be able to obtain other sales agents, thus adversely affecting our business;
• we are highly leveraged and subject to numerous constraints on our ability to raise additional debt;
• we may pursue acquisitions, business combinations, strategic partnerships, divestitures and other
significant transactions that involve uncertainties; these transactions may require us to raise additional
capital, which may not be available on acceptable terms. These transactions, which could become
substantial over time, involve a high degree of risk and could expose us to significant financial losses if the
underlying ventures are not successful;
• we have entered into certain strategic transactions in Asia, and we may increase our strategic investment
activity in these and other international markets. These transactions, which could become substantial over
time, involve a high degree of risk and could expose us to significant financial losses if the underlying
ventures are not successful;
• weakness in the global or U.S. economy may harm our business generally, and adverse political or
economic developments may occur in some of our markets;
• terrorist attacks, the possibility of war or other hostilities, natural and man-made disasters, and changes in
political and economic conditions as a result of these events may continue to affect the U.S. and the global
economy and may increase other risks;
• we periodically evaluate and test our internal control over financial reporting in order to satisfy the
requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Although our management concluded that our
internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2006, if in the future we are
unable to report that our internal control over financial reporting is effective (or if our auditors do not agree
with our assessment of the effectiveness of, or are unable to express an opinion on, our internal control over
financial reporting), we could lose investor confidence in our financial reports, which could have a material
adverse effect on our stock price and our business; 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.
We assume no responsibility for updating forward-looking information contained or incorporated by reference
herein or in other reports we file with the SEC.
In this report, the words “EchoStar,” the “Company,” “we,” “our” and “us” refer to EchoStar Communications
Corporation and its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires. “EDBS” refers to EchoStar DBS
Corporation and its subsidiaries.