verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message dish network l.l.c. type public traded as nasdaq dish nasdaq 100 component industry satellite television founded 1980 ; 36 years ago 1980 founder charlie ergen jim defranco candy ergen headquarters meridian colorado u.s. area served united states key people charlie ergen chairman & ceo jim defranco evp and director w. erik carlson president & coo products direct broadcast satellite pay television pay per view revenue us 15.1 billion 2015 1 operating income us 1.3 billion 2015 1 profit us 747 million 2015 1 total assets us 22.9 billion 2015 1 total equity us 2.7 billion 2015 1 number of employees 18 000 2015 1 subsidiaries blockbuster dbsd north america liberty bell telecom sling tv website www.dish.com footnotes references 2 3 dish network corporate headquarters dish network stylized as dish is an american direct broadcast satellite service provider . the company provides satellite television satellite internet access audio programming and interactive television services to commercial and residential customers in the united states . as of april 2016 update the company provided services to 13.9 million television and 628 000 broadband subscribers . 1 4 the company has approximately 18 000 employees . 1 the company is headquartered in meridian colorado though the postal designation of nearby englewood colorado is used in the corporate mailing address . 3 in january 2008 dish network was spun off from its former parent company echostar which was founded by charlie ergen as a satellite television equipment distributor in 1980 . 2 the company began using dish network as its consumer brand in march 1996 citation needed after the successful launch of its first satellite echostar i in december 1995 . 5 6 that launch marked the beginning of its subscription television services and echostar has since launched numerous satellites with nine owned and leased satellites in its fleet as of january 2013 . echostar continues to be the primary technology partner to dish network . joseph clayton became president and chief executive officer of the company in june 2011 7 while charlie ergen remained chairman . clayton remained in the position until march 31 2015 when he retired leaving ergen to resume the post . 8 ergen has said diversifying and updating technology for the company will be a high priority with an expectation that over the coming decade the company will provide internet video and telephone service for both home and mobile applications . 9 contents 1 services 1.1 tailgater 1.2 hopper 1.2.1 hopper with sling 1.3 sling tv 1.4 dishnet 1.5 founding and early growth 1.6 hd expansion 1.7 acquisitions and expansion 2 technical information 2.1 satellite dishes 2.1.1 earlier satellite dishes 2.1.2 higher capacity satellite dishes 2.2 broadcast technology 2.3 satellite fleet 3 criticisms and controversies 3.1 autohop 3.2 work environment 3.3 telemarketing violations 3.4 amc networks 3.4.1 remarks on rural viewers 3.5 turner networks 3.6 hidden fees 3.7 government subsidies 3.8 litigation 3.8.1 autohop 3.8.2 off the job marijuana use 3.8.3 voom 3.8.4 fox 3.8.5 tivo patent lawsuit 3.8.6 bartlit beck herman palenchar & scott 3.9 related party transactions 3.10 investor relations 4 see also 5 references 6 external links services edit dish s main service is satellite television . its offerings are similar to other satellite and cable companies . viewers can choose from a series of service bundles paying more money for more channels . a la carte programming is available however limited other than premium channels . the company is currently working on diversifying its offerings . with its purchase of blockbuster llc it now owns the blockbuster trademarks and has used its intellectual property agreement to offer streaming and mail order video services . dish anywhere is dish s subscriber only streaming video service which includes hbo and cinemax programming . 10 in may 2012 the american customer satisfaction index ranked dish second among american television providers . 11 12 tailgater edit tailgater is a portable satellite antenna ; the tailgater is able to be purchased as a standalone device for 350 the tailgater is now being supported by a wally receiver to replace the still supported 211k model . customers only need pay for the period of time where the receiver is active on the dish account monthly cost for a vip211k or wally is 7 per month if the receiver is the only one on the account there is no charge . 13 it weighs ten pounds is protected from weather and automatically searches for a signal . the only satellites that are currently compatible with the tailgater are at dish s 119 sd hd tv 110 sd hd tv and 129 sd hd tv orbital slots . 14 hopper edit in march 2012 15 dish began offering a digital video recorder called dish hopper dvr that can automatically record all prime time programming on the four major television networks . 16 the dvr which costs 12 per month has three tuners and 2 tb of hard disk space half of which can be used to record 500 hours of high definition television or 2000 hours of standard definition television programs . the other half is for video on demand . 17 18 a hopper feature called autohop enables customers to view these programs without commercials subject to time restrictions . autohop has attracted enthusiasts critics boycotts and legal action . 19 at the 2013 consumer electronics show dish won an award for their autohop feature on the hopper . 20 hopper with sling edit at the 2013 consumer electronics show dish announced the hopper with sling an updated version of the hopper with slingbox place shifting technology built in allowing the ability to watch live tv and dvr recordings online or through a free dish anywhere mobile app and the ability to fling content from a mobile device such as videos or photos onto the tv as well . a hopper transfers app for the ipad and android also allows recordings to be downloaded directly to the device for offline viewing and a new dish explorer app also provides control of the hopper along with integration with social networks to track trends and reactions to a program ipad only . the new hopper also includes a 2 tb hard drive allowing the storage of up to 2 000 hours of standard definition recordings and 500 hours in high definition and a broadcom bcm7425 cpu . 21 cnet praised the hopper with sling for being cutting edge technology that helps dish make a strong case that its hd dvr is the most advanced out there . it subsequently nominated the new hopper for the ces best in show award which was decided by cnet and had won the award based off the original vote of cnet s staff . however cnet s parent company cbs corporation vetoed the results disqualified the device and forced a re vote because cbs was in active litigation with dish . 22 23 after complaints by critics including consumer electronics association ceo gary shapiro cnet was dropped as the organizer of the ces awards program and the best in show award was re awarded to both the hopper with sling and the razer edge gaming tablet which had won in the second vote by cnet . 24 sling tv edit in may 2012 dish launched dishworld a subscription based over the top iptv service as an app on roku devices offering access to over 50 international television channels via broadband streaming . 25 in 2014 dish network began to reach carriage deals with broadcasters for a new over the top service that would be aimed towards cord cutters as a low cost alternative to traditional pay television . 26 on january 5 2015 dish network officially unveiled sling tv an over the top iptv service designed to compliment subscription video on demand services such as hulu and netflix . 27 some broadcasters have been hesitant about over the top services such as sling tv showing concern that they may undermine their carriage deals with larger conventional cable satellite and internet tv providers . time warner initially noted that the carriage of its channels on the service was only for a trial basis while both time warner s ceo jeffrey bewkes and an analyst from the firm macquarie capital disclosed that current contract language in dish s ott carriage deals with the service s content distributors would cap the number of subscribers that the service is allowed to have at any given time to 5 million . neither dish network or its content providers have confirmed any such cap . 28 29 30 as of february 2016 update the service has approximately 600 000 subscribers . 31 dishnet edit on september 27 2012 dish network announced a satellite broadband service called dishnet aimed at rural areas to be launched on october 1 . 32 founding and early growth edit dish network officially began operations on march 4 1996 as a service of echostar . echostar a precursor to dish network was formed in 1980 by its chairman and chief executive officer charlie ergen along with colleagues candy ergen and jim defranco 2 as a distributor of c band satellite television systems . in 1987 echostar applied for a direct broadcast satellite broadcast license with the federal communications commission and was granted access to orbital slot 119 west longitude in 1992 . 33 in 1998 echostar purchased the broadcasting assets of a satellite broadcasting joint venture of news corporation and mci worldcom called askyb for american sky broadcasting named after news corp s bskyb service in britain ; the two companies had nearly merged which called for dish network being renamed sky before it was called off due to charlie ergen s clashes with news corp. executives . with this purchase echostar obtained 28 of the 32 transponder licenses in the 110 west orbital slot more than doubling existing continental united states broadcasting capacity at a value of 682.5 million ; some of the other assets were picked up by rival primestar which was sold to directv in 1999 . the acquisition which also included an uplink center in gilbert arizona inspired the company to introduce a multi satellite system called dish 500 theoretically capable of receiving more than 500 channels on one dish . in the same year echostar partnering with bell canada launched dish network canada . hd expansion edit in january 1999 the company released the industry s first high definition television hdtv tuner . in august 2003 the company launched echostar ix the first satellite equipped with commercial ka band payload for broadband service over the united states . this led the company in 2004 to be the first satellite tv service to offer local channels to all 50 states . in that year the company also introduced the nation s first interactive tv multiple picture in picture application for the olympic games offering coverage from multiple channels at once . this year the company also acquired its 10 millionth customer . in january 2005 echostar bought the broadcasting assets of the troubled hdtv satellite provider voom including its rainbow 1 satellite co located with echostar 3 at 61.5 west . on april 29 echostar announced that it would expand its hdtv programming by adding the first 10 of 21 original voom channels and mirror the channels on a conus slot . dish network added cnn hd in spanish along with other packages in its latino hd lineup . on january 1 2008 the company completed its spinoff of its technology and set top box business into a separate publicly traded company echostar corporation echostar effectively splitting the original echostar into two separate businesses . 34 dish network corporation the larger of the two resulting companies focuses on programming service and marketing of satellite television