Charlie Ergen’s Management Theory: Dumb & Dumber and Seinfeld
Some executives quote philosophers like Plato or legendary coaches such as Vince Lombardi. But not Charlie Ergen; that’s far too high-brow for him. The Dish Network chairman seems to get his theories on management from television and movie comedies.
Just a few quarters after he described Dish’s wireless situation as a “Seinfeld Strategy” (it may not seem clear now but it’ll make sense in the end), the Dish chairman gave a shout out to the Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels 1994 classic comedy “Dumb and Dumber” on Thursday. When asked by an analyst whether Dish would receive government approval to use its wireless assets, Ergen said:
“I’m hoping. You know that Dumb and Dumber line? I think there is a chance.”
The scene he is referring to is posted above.
Ergen, who has played poker and blackjack professionally, also made some analogies to wagering on Thursday. When asked about the odds of the FCC approving the company’s application for wireless spectrum he said:
“I would go broke betting on Washington. I’m about 0-for-100 in Washington.”
But here’s something for Ergen can count on: the Farrelly Brothers are planning a “Dumb and Dumber” sequel that will reunite Carrey and Daniels in their roles as Lloyd and Harry.
Dish’s kangaroo pitchman doesn’t cooperate
Dish Network went kangaroo-crazy at this year’s CES. Not only did a mascot in a kangaroo suit greet attendees at its press conference, but CEO Joe Clayton took to the stage cradling a wallaby, which resembles a small kangaroo.
Whilst Clayton cuddled the marsupial, someone whispered in the audience: “Does PETA know about this?”
The kangaroo schtick promotes the company’s new set-top box, the Hopper, and its smaller counterpart, the Joey. Together, the devices will let Dish customers record six shows at once that can then be watched in four rooms.
Clayton told me after the show he spent his Sunday at a photo shoot at a farm outside of Las Vegas, posing with kangaroos. He said it was hard to keep the animal still and he had to be careful not to step in kangaroo dung.
Meanwhile, Dish hired trainers and photographers to snap photos of attendees with a live kangaroo and wallaby on Monday. The lines proved longer for the wallaby — the kangaroo was jumpy and looked like he’d rather be anywhere than the Venetian at lunchtime during CES.
Check out this video of the kangaroo “model” to see what we mean by “jumpy”:
DISH’s Ergen won’t give in to TiVo: ‘I’m just stubborn’
You can think what you like about the management of DISH Network Corp, the second largest U.S. satellite TV operator, but they’re nothing if not refreshingly frank about the economy, the state of the market and their competitors’ tactics.
Of course, a lot of that has to do with the disarming candor of founder and Chief Executive Charlie Ergen, whose conference calls tend to avoid the sort of obfuscation and Orwellian double-speak the media and investors have to come expect from C-level executives in corporate America.
Ergen had to be especially blunt today on a day his company announced a loss 0f 25,000 subscribers, which according to Bernstein Research’s Craig Moffett, was its first ever loss of subscribers.
On competition:
(There are) really competitive offerings in the marketplace, as the biggest being probably the phone companies and FiOS and U-verse, where there are a lot of introductory offers out there that I think they had about close to 350,000 net additions in the second quarter so they’re taking those some from us and some customers from others. Obviously in the Hi-Definition front we haven’t been as competitive as we would have liked in the second quarter, particularly versus DirecTV.
On AT&T ending a joint marketing partnership and calling for the repayment of a $500 million investment:
They contractually were allowed to do that. Our loan from them was at 3 percent interest, probably their (AT&T) CFO looked at that and made a very logical decision to say ‘we can probably do better with that money’. Their operations people probably said that we’re probably in a better position to have flexibility going forward in video, if we want to stay with a satellite partner, it would be better to talk to multiple partners than one and see what the best deal out there is. So we have to be ready as a company.
DISH Network was ordered recently to pay $460,000,000. to TiVo. Ouch! I like DISH Network as a company and am a subscriber myself; but I will admit that lately DISH has been taking a lot of incoming hits. I don’t have any idea what DISH’s financial situation is; but too many more rulings like the TiVo one could really hurt and no doubt they will lose even more customers now over the DVR flap.
