Dish Network 2015 Annual Report Download - page 14

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We primarily bundle our dishNET branded services with our DISH branded pay-TV service, to offer customers a single
bill, payment and customer service option, which includes a discount for bundled services. In addition, we market and
sell our dishNET branded services on a stand-alone basis.
New Business Opportunities
From time to time we evaluate opportunities for strategic investments or acquisitions that may complement our current
services and products, enhance our technical capabilities, improve or sustain our competitive position, or otherwise offer
growth opportunities.
Content Delivery
Digital Broadcast Operations Centers. The principal digital broadcast operations facilities that we use are EchoStar’s
facilities located in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Gilbert, Arizona. We also use seven regional digital broadcast operations
facilities owned and operated by EchoStar that allow us to maximize the use of the spot beam capabilities of certain
satellites. Programming content is delivered to these facilities by fiber or satellite and processed, compressed, encrypted
and then uplinked to satellites for delivery to consumers. EchoStar provides certain broadcast services to us, including
teleport services such as transmission and downlinking, channel origination services, and channel management services
pursuant to a broadcast agreement that expires on December 31, 2016. See Note 19 in the Notes to our Consolidated
Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information on our Related Party Transactions with
EchoStar.
Satellites. Our DISH branded pay-TV programming is primarily delivered to customers using satellites that operate in
the “Ku” band portion of the microwave radio spectrum. The Ku-band is divided into two spectrum segments. The
portion of the Ku-band that allows the use of higher power satellites (12.2 to 12.7 GHz over the United States) is known
as the Broadcast Satellite Service band, which is also referred to as the DBS band. The portion of the Ku-band that
utilizes lower power satellites (11.7 to 12.2 GHz over the United States) is known as the FSS band.
Most of our DISH branded pay-TV programming is currently delivered using DBS satellites. To accommodate more
bandwidth-intensive HD programming and other needs, we continue to explore opportunities to expand our satellite
capacity through the acquisition of additional spectrum, the launching of more technologically advanced satellites, and
the more efficient use of existing spectrum via, among other things, better compression technologies.
We own or lease capacity on 12 satellites in geostationary orbit approximately 22,300 miles above the equator. For
further information concerning these satellites and satellite anomalies, please see the table and discussion under
“Satellites” below.
Conditional Access System. Our conditional access system secures our programming content using encryption so that
only authorized customers can access our programming. We use microchips embedded in credit card-sized access cards,
called “smart cards,” or security chips in our receiver systems to control access to authorized programming content
(“Security Access Devices”).
Our signal encryption has been compromised in the past and may be compromised in the future even though we continue
to respond with significant investment in security measures, such as Security Access Device replacement programs and
updates in security software, that are intended to make signal theft more difficult. It has been our prior experience that
security measures may only be effective for short periods of time or not at all and that we remain susceptible to
additional signal theft. We expect that future replacements of our Security Access Devices will be necessary to keep our
system secure. We cannot ensure that we will be successful in reducing or controlling theft of our programming content
and we may incur additional costs in the future if our system’s security is compromised.
Internet Connection. Our Sling TV services require an Internet connection and are available through certain streaming-
capable devices.