Dish Network co-founder, James DeFranco, has bought 800,000 company shares, valued at USD8.06m, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. News of the sale comes days after the satellite TV and DVR firm's share price hit a year low of USD8.34 per share.
At the same time, a new hearing has been set for February 2009 for Dish's ongoing legal dispute with DVR rival TiVo. An east Texas federal court judge made the decision, delaying a ruling on whether Dish is in violation of a previous patent injunction.
In 2006, Dish was found guilty of breaching TiVo's patent for its "multimedia time warping system", a piece of software used to simultaneously watch and record programmes. The ruling was upheld in October with Dish ordered to pay USD104m in damages. However, TiVo is seeking sales restrictions and damages, claiming Dish's replacement "design-around" DVR technology continues to breach its patent.
With Dish free to continue offering its services into next year, TiVo's shares closed 10% down on Friday. In contrast Dish's shares finished 8% up.
Dish provides satellite TV and DVR services to more than 13m customers in the US. The firm, formerly known as EchoStar Communications, changed its name to Dish Network and spun off its technology unit under the EchoStar brand in 2005.
StrategyEye's related companies: EchoStar Communications, TiVo, DISH Network
