Rename your town, receive free satellite TV
Aug 26, 2005 12:46 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
The dog days of summer have obviously gotten the best of the PR team at Echostar. Someone at the nation’s No. 2 satellite television provider has come up with the idea to dish out free service to the residents of any town willing to rename itself “Dish.”
EchoStar Communications, operator of the Dish Network, announced last week that it would provide 10 years’ worth of free satellite television service for every household in a U.S. town that legally makes the name change.
The service will include a receiver, standard installation and a programming package for every household. In exchange, the municipality must change its name permanently, including on buildings and signs, the Associated Press reported.
The service would cost about $4 million for each 1000 households, EchoStar estimated. Interested cities have until Nov. 1 to submit a proposal.
The promotion comes on the heels of EchoStar’s newest advertising campaign and a contest that will allow the winner to name EchoStar’s next satellite.
Whether it has a point or not, “Dish” would not be the first town named after a television brand. In the 1950s, the New Mexico town of Hot Springs legally changed its name to “Truth or Consequences” after the popular television show.
For more information, visit www.dishnetwork.com.
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