Dish wins TerreStar by default, as speculation swirls that it's abandoning satellite

Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH), continuing a strange acquisition trend that has some analysts suggesting it may be leaving the satellite business, was the only qualified bidder--and therefore the likely winner--in an auction to acquire satellite telecommunications provider TerreStar Networks.

Dish's $1.375 billion bid will receive a hearing July 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York where, if Dish wins the bid as expected, it would add TerreStar to its earlier purchases of Hughes Communications ($1.3 billion) and DBSD North America ($1 billion).

While Dish isn't talking--just buying--analysts have scoured Chairman Charlie Ergen's earnings call comments to try to determine where the company is going with its future business trends.

For more:
- Multichannel News has this story

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