Charlie Ergen

Dish Network stock jumped more than 2 percent Wednesday, after the FCC announced late Tuesday that Dish could use wireless broadband spectrum it acquired from TerreStar and DBSD North America to launch a wireless phone and high-speed Internet service.

It may have been coincidence, but Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen last week was somewhere in Asia--perhaps Japan, home of Softbank--on undisclosed business just as a rumor broke indicating that Sprint Nextel ( NYSE:S ) had reached out to Dish regarding a spectrum-sharing partnership to enable mobile broadband development.

Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen is reviving speculation of a possible merger with DirecTV, telling a reporter at Bloomberg that he thinks the satellite TV providers would have a better chance at winning approval of a deal than when the companies attempted to combine assets a decade ago.

Dish Network is better positioned to one day launch a fixed wireless broadband Internet service that could compete with cable operators and other high-speed providers, following an agreement it announced Sunday with Cablevision.

The rising costs of sports programming will likely see a multichannel provider emerge that would look to attract cable and satellite TV subscribers with programming packages that don't include sports networks, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen predicted Wednesday.

Dish Network ( Nasdaq: DISH )  chairman Charlie Ergen warned House members Wednesday of a threat that Verizon ( NYSE: VZ ) and its cable MSO partners could pose to consumers and rivals through their agreements to jointly market cable and wireless phone products, and to develop new innovations.