Founded 1980 by Charlie Ergan; launched first satelite 1995; technology company that owns and maintains satellite fleet for closely affiliated Dish Network; company also designs and manufactures set-top boxes to receive the Freeview broadcasts in the United Kingdom, as well as receivers for Bell TV in Canada; EchoStar also owns Sling Media, which designs and builds the Slingbox TV streaming device; EchoStar formerly parent company of Dish Network, which was spun off as a seperate company in December 2007.