Charlie Ergen is stepping down as president and chief executive officer of Dish Network next month.
Remaining as chairman, Ergen, the co-founder of the nation's No. DBS satellite provider, will be succeeded in the aforementioned operational roles by former Sirius Satellite Radio chairman Joseph Clayton, effective June 20. Clayton has also been named to Dish's board of directors.
Clayton previously served as chairman of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. from November 2004 through July 2008 and served as CEO of Sirius from 2001 through 2004. Prior to joining Sirius, Clayton served as president of Global Crossing North America, as president and CEO of Frontier Corp. and as executive vice president of Marketing and Sales for the Americas and Asia of Thomson S.A.
"Joe is a 38-year veteran of the consumer electronics, telecommunications and satellite communications industries and I am pleased to have him lead Dish Network as president and CEO," said Ergen in a statement. "Joe brings an enormous amount of executive-level experience in the satellite and consumer electronics industries, including positions at RCA, General Electric and Thomson, and we look forward to his leadership as we continue to deliver video entertainment into the future."
"I am very excited to take on this new challenge," noted Clayton. "My working relationship with Charlie spans nearly 20 years, and I look forward to building on Dish Network's legacy of innovation and value in TV entertainment."
Ergen, according to the company's proxy with the Securities and Exchange Commission, earned total compensation of $797, 909-- a base salary of $600,000 and $197,909 -- in 2010 down from $999,913 in 2009 and $4.8 million in 2008.
Dish, ending a three-quarter skein of losses, added 58,000 subscribers during the first quarter. The nation's No. 3 video distributor behind Comcast and DirecTV counts some 14.1 million customers
The announcement comes just two weeks after Dish and EchoStar agreed to pay TiVo $500 million to settle a seven-year legal battle and all of their ongoing patent litigation over the latter's Time Warp patent. Under the agreement, TiVo also will promote Dish's Blockbuster digital video service, which it acquired out of bankruptcy for $320 million.
