EchoStar Won’t Renew Quest Deal

EchoStar Communications Corp. [DISH] won’t pursue an expansion of its marketing relationship with Qwest Corp. In a statement released by the company, EchoStar said it will seek to expand relationships with current and future telecommunications partners that focus on meeting customer demand for single-bill, bundled services, suggesting that Qwest was not bundling the Dish Network subscriptions with its other telecom service offerings. EchoStar said it will honor its current multi-year contract with Qwest, though the company did not say when that agreement would expire.

Given that EchoStar trails rival The DirecTV Group [DTV] in total subscribers, one would assume that it would want to keep every avenue open to boost subscriber numbers. But this move suggests there is a cost savings associated with letting the telecom companies handle the bundled billing options.

In other EchoStar news, the company said its subsidiary EchoStar DBS Corp. is offering approximately $1 billion aggregate principal amount of debt securities. The company did not disclose what it plans to do with the proceeds.