Dish Network Surpasses 12M Subscriber Mark

EchoStar Communications says its Dish Network satellite broadcast service passed the 12 million subscriber mark at the end of 20005. EchoStar claims its Dish service has been the fastest growing pay TV service in the U.S. for the past five years, adding 6.74 million net new customers since 2000.

DISH Network reached 1 million subscribers in December 1997, approximately a year and a half after launching its DBS service. It reached the 11 million customer milestone a year ago. Its main competitor, DirecTV has more than 15 million subscribers.