You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with the condensed consolidated financial statements and notes to the financial statements included elsewhere in this quarterly report. This management's discussion and analysis is intended to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, changes in financial condition and results of our operations and contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about our industry, business and future financial results. Our actual results could differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, under the caption "Item 1A. Risk Factors."
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Overview
DISH Network added approximately 241,000 and 173,000 net new subscribers during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2009, respectively. Our third quarter performance was positively impacted by our sales and marketing promotions and reduced churn. Our churn was positively impacted by, among other things, the second quarter 2009 completion of our security access device replacement program, an increase in our new subscriber commitment period and initiatives to retain subscribers. Historically, we have experienced slightly higher churn in the months following the expiration of programming commitments for new subscribers. In February 2008, we extended the required new subscriber programming commitment from 18 to 24 months. In the third quarter of 2009, due to the change in promotional mix, we have fewer expiring subscriber commitments. Current economic conditions have negatively impacted our subscriber growth. We continue to focus on addressing operational issues specific to DISH Network which we believe will contribute to long-term subscriber growth. "Subscriber-related expenses" have continued to increase and ARPU has been negatively impacted by promotional discounts on programming offered to new subscribers and our initiatives to retain subscribers, all of which negatively impact our subscriber-related margins. In addition, "Subscriber-related expenses" continued to be negatively impacted by increased programming costs, initiatives to retain subscribers and migrate certain subscribers to free up transponder capacity, and improve customer service.
The current overall economic environment has negatively impacted many industries including ours. In addition, the overall growth rate in the pay-TV industry has slowed in recent years as the penetration of pay-TV households approaches 90%. Within this maturing industry, competition has intensified with the rapid growth of fiber-based pay-TV services offered by telecommunications companies. Furthermore, new internet protocol television ("IPTV") products/services have begun to impact the pay-TV industry and such products/services will become more viable competition over time as their quality improves. In spite of these factors that have impacted the entire pay-TV industry, certain of our competitors have been able to achieve relatively strong subscriber growth in the current environment.
While economic factors have impacted the entire pay-TV industry, our relative performance has been mostly driven by issues specific to DISH Network. In recent years, DISH Network's position as the low cost provider in the pay-TV industry has been eroded by increasingly aggressive promotional pricing used by our competitors to attract new subscribers and similarly aggressive promotions and tactics used to retain existing subscribers. Some competitors have been especially aggressive and effective in marketing their service. Furthermore, our subscriber growth has been adversely affected by signal theft and other forms of fraud and by operational inefficiencies at DISH Network. We have not always met our own standards for performing high quality installations, effectively resolving customer issues when they arise, answering customer calls in an acceptable timeframe, effectively communicating with our subscriber base, reducing calls driven by the complexity of our business, improving the reliability of certain systems and subscriber equipment, and aligning the interests of certain third party retailers and installers to provide high quality service.
Our distribution relationship with AT&T was a substantial contributor to our gross and net subscriber additions over the past several years, accounting for approximately 17% of our gross subscriber additions for the year ended December 31, 2008. This distribution relationship ended January 31, 2009. Consequently, beginning with the second quarter 2009, AT&T no longer contributes to our gross subscriber additions. In addition, nearly one million of our current subscribers were acquired through our distribution relationship with AT&T and subscribers acquired

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through this channel have historically churned at a higher rate than our overall subscriber base. Although AT&T is not permitted to target these subscribers for transition to another pay-TV service and we and AT&T are required to maintain bundled billing and cooperative customer service for these subscribers, these subscribers may still churn at higher than historical rates following termination of the AT&T distribution relationship.
We have been investing more in advanced technology equipment as part of our subscriber acquisition and retention efforts. Recent initiatives to transmit certain programming only in MPEG-4 and to activate most new subscribers only with MPEG-4 receivers have accelerated our deployment of MPEG-4 receivers. To meet current demand, we have increased the rate at which we upgrade existing subscribers to HD and DVR receivers. While these efforts may increase our subscriber acquisition and retention costs, we believe that they will help reduce subscriber churn and costs over the long run.
We have also been changing equipment to migrate certain subscribers to free up transponder capacity in support of HD and other initiatives. We expect to continue these initiatives through 2010. We believe that the benefit from the increase in available transponder capacity outweighs the short-term cost of these equipment changes.
To combat signal theft and improve the security of our broadcast system, we recently completed the replacement of our security access devices to re-secure our system. We expect additional future replacements of these devices to be necessary to keep our system secure. To combat other forms of fraud, we have taken a wide range of actions including terminating retailers that we believe were in violation of DISH Network's business rules. While these initiatives may inconvenience our subscribers and disrupt our distribution channels in the short-term, we believe that the long-term benefits will outweigh the costs. To address our operational inefficiencies, we continue to make significant investments in staffing, training, information systems, and other initiatives, primarily in our call center and in-home service businesses. These investments are intended to help combat inefficiencies introduced by the increasing complexity of our business, improve customer satisfaction, reduce churn, increase productivity, and allow us to scale better over the long run. We cannot, however, be certain that our increased spending will ultimately be successful in yielding such returns. In the meantime, we may continue to incur higher costs as a result of both our operational inefficiencies and increased spending. The adoption of these measures has contributed to higher expenses and lower margins. While we believe that the increased costs will be outweighed by longer-term benefits, there can be no assurance when or if we will realize these benefits at all.
Programming costs represent a large percentage of our "Subscriber-related expenses." As a result, our margins may face further downward pressure from price increases and the renewal of long-term programming contracts on less favorable pricing terms.
Over the long run, we plan to use Slingbox "placeshifting" technology and other technologies to maintain and enhance our competitiveness. We may also partner with or acquire companies whose lines of business are complementary to ours should attractive opportunities arise.
Liquidity Drivers
Like many companies, we make general investments in property such as satellites, information technology and facilities that support our overall business. As a subscriber-based company, however, we also make customer-specific investments to acquire new subscribers and retain existing subscribers. While the general investments may be deferred without impacting the business in the short-term, the customer-specific investments are less discretionary. Our overall objective is to generate sufficient cash flow over the life of each subscriber to provide an adequate return against the upfront investment. Once the upfront investment has been made for each subscriber, the subsequent cash flow is generally positive.
From a company standpoint, there are a number of factors that impact our future cash flow compared to the cash flow we generate at a given point in time. The first factor is how successful we are at retaining our current subscribers. As we lose subscribers from our existing base, the positive cash flow from that base is correspondingly reduced. The second factor is how successful we are at maintaining our subscriber-related margins. To the extent our "Subscriber-related expenses" grow faster than our "Subscriber-related revenue," the amount of cash flow that is

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generated per existing subscriber is reduced. The third factor is the rate at which we acquire new subscribers. The faster we acquire new subscribers, the more our positive ongoing cash flow from existing subscribers is offset by the negative upfront cash flow associated with new subscribers. Finally, our future cash flow is impacted by the rate at which we make general investments and any cash flow from financing activities.
Our customer-specific investments to acquire new subscribers have a significant impact on our cash flow. While fewer subscribers might translate into lower ongoing cash flow in the long-term, cash flow is actually aided in the short-term by the reduction in customer-specific investment spending. As a result, a slow down in our business due to external or internal factors does not introduce the same level of short-term liquidity risk as it might in other industries.
Availability of Credit and Effect on Liquidity While the ability to raise capital has generally existed for DISH Network even during the recent market turmoil, the cost of such capital has not been as attractive as in prior periods. Because of the cash flow situation of our company and the absence of any material debt payments over the next two years, the higher cost of capital will not impact our current operational plans. However, we might be less likely than we would otherwise be to pursue initiatives which could increase shareholder value over the long run, such as making strategic investments, prepaying debt, or buying back our own stock. Alternatively, if we decided to still pursue such initiatives, the cost of doing so would be greater. Currently, we have no existing lines of credit, nor have we historically.
Future Liquidity
Our "Subscriber-related expenses" as a percentage of "Subscriber-related revenue" grew from 51.4% to 52.2% in 2008 and reached 54.7% during the nine months ended September 30, 2009, mainly as a result of an increase in "Subscriber-related expenses." Our "Subscriber-related expenses" continued to be negatively impacted by initiatives to retain subscribers, migrate certain subscribers to free up transponder capacity and improve customer service. In addition, our "Subscriber-related revenue" was negatively impacted by our increase in the use of promotional discounts on programming offered to new subscribers and retention initiatives offered to existing subscribers. Uncertainties about these trends may impact our cash flow and results of operations. In addition, although our subscribers have recently grown, we continue to be impacted by operational issues specific to DISH Network, as previously discussed.
If we are unsuccessful in overturning the District Court's ruling on Tivo's motion for contempt, we are not successful in developing and deploying potential new alternative technology and we are unable to reach a license agreement with Tivo on reasonable terms, we would be required to eliminate DVR functionality in all but approximately 192,000 digital set-top boxes in the field and cease distribution of digital set-top boxes with DVR functionality. In that event we would be at a significant disadvantage to our competitors who could continue offering DVR functionality, which would likely result in a significant decrease in new subscriber additions as well as a substantial loss of current subscribers. Furthermore, the inability to offer DVR functionality could cause certain of our distribution channels to terminate or significantly decrease their marketing of DISH Network services. The adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations if the District Court's contempt order is upheld is likely to be significant. Additionally, the supplemental damage award of $103 million and further award of approximately $200 million does not include damages, contempt sanctions or interest for the period after June 2009. In the event that we are unsuccessful in our appeal, we could also have to pay substantial additional damages, contempt sanctions and interest. Depending on the amount of any additional damage or sanction award or any monetary settlement, we may be required to raise additional capital at a time and in circumstances in which we would normally not raise capital. Therefore, any capital we raise may be on terms that are unfavorable to us, which might adversely affect our financial position and results of operations and might also impair our ability to raise capital on acceptable terms in the future to fund our own operations and initiatives. We believe the cost of such capital and its terms and conditions may be substantially less attractive than our previous financings.
If we are successful in overturning the District Court's ruling on Tivo's motion for contempt, but unsuccessful in defending against any subsequent claim in a new action that our original alternative technology or any potential new alternative technology infringes Tivo's patent, we could be prohibited from distributing DVRs or could be required to modify or eliminate our then-current DVR functionality in some or all set-top boxes in the field. In that event we

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would be at a significant disadvantage to our competitors who could continue offering DVR functionality and the adverse effect on our business could be material. We could also have to pay substantial additional damages.
Because both we and EchoStar are defendants in the Tivo lawsuit, we and EchoStar are jointly and severally liable to Tivo for any final damages and sanctions that may be awarded by the Court. We have determined that we are obligated under the agreements entered into in connection with the Spin-off to indemnify EchoStar for substantially all liability arising from this lawsuit. EchoStar has agreed to contribute an amount equal to its $5 million intellectual property liability limit under the Receiver Agreement. We and EchoStar have further agreed that EchoStar's $5 million contribution would not exhaust EchoStar's liability to us for other intellectual property claims that may arise under the Receiver Agreement. We and EchoStar also agreed that we would each be entitled to joint ownership of, and a cross-license to use, any intellectual property developed in connection with any potential new alternative technology. The Spin-off
On January 1, 2008, we completed the separation of the assets and businesses we historically owned and operated into two companies (the "Spin-off"):
• DISH Network Corporation - which retained its DISH Network® subscription television business, and

• EchoStar Corporation ("EchoStar") - which sells equipment, including set-top boxes and related components, to DISH Network and international customers, and provides digital broadcast operations and satellite services to DISH Network and other customers.

DISH Network and EchoStar now operate as separate publicly traded companies, and neither entity has any ownership interest in the other. However, a substantial majority of the voting power of both companies is owned beneficially by Charles W. Ergen, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer or by certain trusts established by Mr. Ergen for the benefit of his family. In connection with the Spin-off, DISH Network entered into certain agreements with EchoStar to define responsibility for obligations relating to, among other things, set-top box sales, transition services, taxes, employees and intellectual property, which impact several of our key operating metrics. The fees we pay to EchoStar to access assets or receive certain services following the Spin-off, after taking into account the cost savings realized from the Spin-off, have not had a significant impact on our operations. Subsequent to the Spin-off, we have entered into certain other agreements with EchoStar and may enter into additional agreements with EchoStar in the future.
EXPLANATION OF KEY METRICS AND OTHER ITEMS Subscriber-related revenue. "Subscriber-related revenue" consists principally of revenue from basic, premium movie, local, pay-per-view, Latino and international subscription television services, equipment rental fees and other hardware related fees, including fees for DVRs and additional outlet fees from subscribers with multiple receivers, advertising services, fees earned from our DishHOME Protection Plan, equipment upgrade fees, HD programming and other subscriber revenue. Certain of the amounts included in "Subscriber-related revenue" are not recurring on a monthly basis.
Equipment sales and other revenue. "Equipment sales and other revenue" principally includes the non-subsidized sales of DBS accessories to retailers and other third-party distributors of our equipment domestically and to DISH Network subscribers.
Equipment sales, transitional services and other revenue - EchoStar. "Equipment sales, transitional services and other revenue - EchoStar" includes revenue related to equipment sales, and transitional services and other agreements with EchoStar associated with the Spin-off.
Subscriber-related expenses. "Subscriber-related expenses" principally include programming expenses, costs incurred in connection with our in-home service and call center operations, billing costs, refurbishment and repair costs related to receiver systems, subscriber retention and other variable subscriber expenses.

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Satellite and transmission expenses - EchoStar. "Satellite and transmission expenses - EchoStar" includes the cost of digital broadcast operations provided to us by EchoStar, including satellite uplinking/downlinking, signal processing, conditional access management, telemetry, tracking and control and other professional services. In addition, this category includes the cost of leasing satellite and transponder capacity on satellites from EchoStar. Satellite and transmission expenses - other. "Satellite and transmission expenses - other" includes executory costs associated with capital leases and costs associated with transponder leases and other related services. Equipment, transitional services and other cost of sales. "Equipment, transitional services and other cost of sales" principally includes the cost of non-subsidized sales of DBS accessories to retailers and other distributors of our equipment domestically and to DISH Network subscribers. In addition, this category includes costs related to equipment sales, transitional services and other agreements with EchoStar associated with the Spin-off.
Subscriber acquisition costs. In addition to leasing receivers, we generally subsidize installation and all or a portion of the cost of our receiver systems in order to attract new DISH Network subscribers. Our "Subscriber acquisition costs" include the cost of these receiver systems sold to retailers and other distributors of our equipment, the cost of these receiver systems sold directly by us to subscribers, net costs related to our promotional incentives, and costs related to installation and acquisition advertising. We exclude the value of equipment capitalized under our lease program for new subscribers from "Subscriber acquisition costs."
SAC. Management believes subscriber acquisition cost measures are commonly used by those evaluating companies in the pay-TV industry. We are not aware of any uniform standards for calculating the "average subscriber acquisition costs per new subscriber activation," or SAC, and we believe presentations of SAC may not be calculated consistently by different companies in the same or similar businesses. Our SAC is calculated as "Subscriber acquisition costs," plus the value of equipment capitalized under our lease program for new subscribers, divided by gross subscriber additions. We include all the costs of acquiring subscribers (e.g., subsidized and capitalized equipment) as our management believes it is a more comprehensive measure of how much we are spending to acquire subscribers. We also include all new DISH Network subscribers in our calculation, including DISH Network subscribers added with little or no subscriber acquisition costs.
General and administrative expenses. "General and administrative expenses" consists primarily of employee-related costs associated with administrative services such as legal, information systems, accounting and finance, including non-cash, stock-based compensation expense. It also includes outside professional fees (e.g., legal, information systems and accounting services) and other items associated with facilities and administration.
Interest expense, net of amounts capitalized. "Interest expense, net of amounts capitalized" primarily includes interest expense, prepayment premiums and amortization of debt issuance costs associated with our senior debt and convertible subordinated debt securities (net of capitalized interest) and interest expense associated with our capital lease obligations.
Other, net. The main components of "Other, net" are unrealized gains and losses from changes in fair value of non-marketable strategic investments accounted for at fair value, equity in earnings and losses of our affiliates, gains and losses realized on the sale of investments, and impairment of marketable and non-marketable investment securities.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA"). EBITDA is defined as "Net income (loss) attributable to DISH Network common shareholders" plus "Interest expense" net of "Interest income," "Taxes" and "Depreciation and amortization." This "non-GAAP measure" is reconciled to "Net income (loss) attributable to DISH Network common shareholders" in our discussion of "Results of Operations" below.
DISH Network subscribers. We include customers obtained through direct sales, and third-party retailers and other distribution relationships in our DISH Network subscriber count. We also provide DISH Network service to hotels, motels and other commercial accounts. For certain of these commercial accounts, we divide our total revenue for these commercial accounts by an amount approximately equal to the retail price of our Classic Bronze 100 programming package (but taking into account, periodically, price changes and other factors), and include the resulting number, which is substantially smaller than the actual number of commercial units served, in our DISH

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Network subscriber count. Previously, our end of period DISH Network subscriber count was rounded down to the nearest five thousand. However, beginning December 31, 2008, we round to the nearest one thousand.
Average monthly revenue per subscriber ("ARPU"). We are not aware of any uniform standards for calculating ARPU and believe presentations of ARPU may not be calculated consistently by other companies in the same or similar businesses. We calculate average monthly revenue per subscriber, or ARPU, by dividing average monthly "Subscriber-related revenue" for the period (total "Subscriber-related revenue" during the period divided by the number of months in the period) by our average DISH Network subscribers for the period. Average DISH Network subscribers are calculated for the period by adding the average DISH Network subscribers for each month and dividing by the number of months in the period. Average DISH Network subscribers for each month are calculated by adding the beginning and ending DISH Network subscribers for the month and dividing by two. Average monthly subscriber churn rate. We are not aware of any uniform standards for calculating subscriber churn rate and believe presentations of subscriber churn rates may not be calculated consistently by different companies in the same or similar businesses. We calculate subscriber churn rate for any period by dividing the number of DISH Network subscribers who terminated service during the period by the average monthly DISH Network subscribers during the period, and further dividing by the number of months in the period. When calculating subscriber churn, as is the case when calculating ARPU, the number of subscribers in a given month is based on the average of the beginning-of-month and the end-of-month subscriber counts.
Free cash flow. We define free cash flow as "Net cash flows from operating activities" less "Purchases of property and equipment," as shown on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

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RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Three Months Ended September 30, 2009 Compared to the Three Months Ended
September 30, 2008.

                                                   For the Three Months
                                                   Ended September 30,                       Variance
. . .