Dish Network 2007 Annual Report Download - page 7

Table of Contents
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.
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
”
).