Charles ergen and rupert murdoch have been going at it for five years now. They first faced off in 1998 when Murdoch tried to buy EchoStar. Ergen outfoxed Murdoch's News Corp. and built his Dish Network into the second-largest satellite company in the nation. Three years later it looked like Ergen had Murdoch beat again when DirecTV accepted EchoStar's merger deal over a similar offer from News Corp. But now it's Murdoch who has Ergen on the ropes. The Federal Communications Commission is expected to approve his $6.6 billion purchase of DirecTV this month, putting the rivals in head-to-head competition for the first time. Even without Murdoch's resources, DirecTV is a formidable opponent. With 2002 sales almost double EchoStar's $5 billion, DirecTV boasts 12 million customers to EchoStar's 9 million and revenues per customer of $64 to EchoStar's $51.
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