VOOM Not Getting Satellite Back From EchoStar

EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen told analysts and investors last week that he will keep possession of the Rainbow-1 satellite his company acquired from Cablevision last month for $200 million in cash. There has been much speculation that Chuck Dolan would attempt to buy it back from EchoStar in his quest to keep VOOM alive, but Ergen quashed such notions when he said that "The only thing that would prevent us from acquiring the satellite would be if we don't get FCC approval."

Newsday reports that Ergen did not rule out the possibility of leasing satellite capacity back to VOOM, although he didn't embrace it either.

This development makes Chuck Dolan's job all that more difficult, because he can't very well operate a satellite TV provider without, say, a satellite. He could lease capacity from EchoStar, but the odds that EchoStar would willingly work to ensure the survival of one of its competitors seem fairly slim, even if it were making a few bucks in monthly lease payments off the deal. The Cablevision-imposed March 31st deadline for Chuck Dolan to line up financing is looming large, and Mr. Dolan's options seem to be narrowing...