Echostar adds TCI movie nets
The deal gives the feevee channels the potential to reach another 1 million subscribers. Echostar's Dish Network is expected to pass the 1 million subscriber mark early next year.
At present, the 7-year-old Encore channel has a subscriber base of just over 10 million, while sibling Starz!, launched in 1994, has about 6 million subs. Encore and Starz!, run by a subsidiary of cable giant Tele-Communications Inc., are not carried by the leading domestic DBS service, the DirecTV/U.S. Satellite Broadcasting partnership.
TCI is a part owner of the nation's second largest DBS service, Primestar, which does carry Encore and Starz!
