SBC Communications and Echostar Communications Corp. agreed to continue marketing co-branded SBC/Dish Network direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television services but modified the original agreement signed in July 2003.

Under the new agreement, the companies will operate the service along a more traditional sales agency approach that provides motivation to drive subscriber growth. SBC and Echostar plan to implement operational changes in early October, but these will be transparent to customers, the companies said.

The combination of SBC and Echostar is one of the most interesting ones on the U.S. communications landscape. The initial deal in 2003 represented SBC’s first real foray into the television space and the partnership enabled it to integrate television entertainment into bundled offerings for customers. SBC intends to be aggressive in the television space in the United States, underlining its intentions with the announcement of Project Lightspeed. The $4 billion capital initiative calls for the development of an advanced, Internet protocol (IP)-based network to deliver IP-based TV, super high-speed broadband and IP voice services by deploying fiber-to-the-neighborhood and fiber-to-the-premises technologies. SBC expects the initial deployment of the network to reach 18 million households by the end of 2007.

The deal also is key for Echostar, as SBC is one of the largest telcos in the United States. Echostar hopes to tap further into SBC’s customer base of 51 million access lines nationwide. At the end of June, Echostar has nearly 11.5 million DTH customers. It added approximately 225,000 net new subscribers during the second quarter of 2005.