Organization and Business Activities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Organization and Business Activities

Organization and Business Activities

1.             Organization and Business Activities

Principal Business

DISH DBS Corporation (which together with its subsidiaries is referred to as “DDBS,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” and/or “our”) is a holding company and an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of DISH Network Corporation (“DISH Network”).  DDBS was formed under Colorado law in January 1996 and its common stock is held by DISH Orbital Corporation (“DOC”), a direct subsidiary of DISH Network.  We operate the DISH® branded direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) pay-TV service which had 14.071 million subscribers in the United States as of March 31, 2012.  The DISH branded pay-TV service consists of Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) licenses authorizing us to use DBS and Fixed Satellite Service (“FSS”) spectrum, our owned and leased satellites, receiver systems, third-party broadcast operations, customer service facilities, a third-party leased fiber network, in-home service and call center operations, and certain other assets utilized in our operations.