Dish Bought Blockbuster to Open Wireless Stores

Dish Bought Blockbuster to Open Wireless Stores

When Dish Networks bought Blockbuster, it was hoping to use its stores to sell its wireless products.

“Because we got delayed on wireless, it hasn’t worked out exactly as we planned,” Chairman Charlie Ergen said in an interview at D: Dive Into Media.

Ergen said that Dish assumed a while ago that it needed to be in the wireless business to deliver content outside the home.

That’s not the only thing on which Dish has been a little slow.

“We were too late on the Netflix thing,” Ergen said, noting that the company didn’t have the guts to start its own service, and that it hoped to take advantage of Blockbuster’s business there.

Ergen also had praise for Netflix for launching its own series with “House of Cards.”

“I feel stupid that we didn’t think of it first, but I am a fan,” he said, adding that they have no commercials, and aren’t getting sued (as Dish is by the broadcasters).