EchoStar Corp., the wireless and pay-TV operator controlled by billionaire Charlie Ergen, has decided to skip interest payments on three bonds after a similar act late last week.
A total of $183 million interest payments due Monday on several bonds related to its pay-TV operator unit Dish Network Corp. will not be paid, according to a regulatory filing. The company cited “uncertainty” raised by the Federal Communications Commission review. The company has been tied up in a regulatory probe over its compliance with obligations to build a nationwide 5G network.
EchoStar’s shares fell 3.6% in postmarket trading on Monday. Dish’s 7.75% note due 2026 dropped over 1 cent to 84 cents on the dollar, according to Trace data.
The company has a 30-day grace period to make the interest payment. The company is skipping the payment to “allow time for the FCC to provide the relief requested,” it said.
Ergen was locked in a dispute with Dish’s bondholders last year, after a group of creditors rejected a bond-exchange offer that would have helped facilitate a proposed acquisition by rival DirecTV. The deal would have required lenders to take a steep haircut on the debt that they owned. Bloomberg