Yes, most people like Charlie. They just don't want him running a monopoly, because he plays rough.

"People who have built industries rom the ground up tend not to play by the rules," says !teve "erman, an e#ecutive at the $ational %ural Telecommunications Cooperative, a reseller o &irecT'. "(veryone respects Charlie. (veryone's also a raid o Charlie." !hrewd, passionate, and determined to win, (rgen pushes the limits o acceptable business conduct to advance (chostar's interests. ")e is brilliant, relentless, and merciless in business," says "ob !cherman, the iconoclastic editor and publisher o !atellite "usiness $ews, the industry trade paper. *n just the past ive years (chostar has sued, or been sued by, all the major T' networks, )ughes, $ews Corp., &isney, +icroso t, Comcast, ,emstar-T' ,uide, the insurers o a satellite that mal unctioned, and a Chicago law irm that won a major lawsuit or (rgen, a ter which he re used or a time to pay a large contingency ee. ".itigation is a sport to these guys," !cherman says. "(chostar will push the proverbial legal envelope until it tears."

*n /011, 2.!. Customs agents raided (chostar o ices in +iami, &allas, and Tempe, 3ri4., and charged the company with illegally e#porting set-top bo#es. (rgen admitted la# supervision, settled the case by giving 5166,666 worth o dishes to schools, and says he learned a lesson. "ut has he7 (chostar still has a reputation or thumbing its nose at regulators8 in 3pril the 9CC admonished the company or "disingenuous behavior and a lack o candor." (rgen studied inance at the 2niversity o Tennessee, became a CP3, and worked or 9rito.ay be ore striking out on his own. )e ound his calling in /016, when he and &e9ranco bought a ranchise to distribute C-band satellites in three :estern states. They were in what was called the "2& business-- or big, ugly dishes, which cost up to 5;6,666 apiece but were the only way to receive cable channels in much o rural 3merica. <=ne wag called them the state lower o !outh &akota.> (rgen and &e9ranco moved to &enver and began delivering and installing dishes themselves. "* was an accountant, digging holes and pouring concrete," (rgen says. <&e9ranco says, "3 ter the irst two installations, * tried to leave him back at the o ice."> (chostar e#panded rapidly, eventually wholesaling the big dishes to thousands o retailers worldwide. )ughes, meanwhile, was preparing to launch &irecT'. 3 de ense contractor stocked with satellite engineers, )ughes came at the business rom the sky down8 its technology made possible the /1-inch dishes that brought satellite T' to cities and suburbs or the irst time. The &irecT' product o ering was superior to cable, with more channels and higher-?uality pictures and sound. "ut the economics were unpredictable, and )ughes had no e#perience with consumers, so launching the service was a "big gamble," recalls (ddy )artenstein, &irecT''s chairman. $ews Corp., $"C, and Cablevision, all original partners with )ughes, opted out be ore &irecT''s debut in /00@, much to their subse?uent regret. %eali4ing that its oversi4ed dishes were obsolescent, (chostar scrambled to launch its own small-dish network in /00A. (rgen couldn't a ord to get into a marketing war with &irecT', even a ter raising 5B66 million in junk bonds and taking the company public in /00C. <(chostar actually distributed the &irecT' service or /1 months to help pay the bills.> "ut in

contrast with )ughes, (rgen came at satellite T' rom the ground up--he knew the customers, he had a network o loyal retailers, and it was a sa e bet that (chostar could operate its service, called &*!), more nimbly and e iciently than a company that had lived o government contracts. ":e built the company to be the low-cost producer, soup to nuts, in every way," (rgen says. That's indisputable. (chostar licensed technology rom startups rather than established players, designed its own program guide, used a generic set-top bo# maker, ran its own customer service operation, and built its uplink acility in :yoming, where electricity is cheap. <&irecT''s uplink is in ..3.> (rgen even hired the China ,reat :all *ndustry Corp., a Chinese rocket company with an unnerving C6D ailure rate, to send his irst satellite into orbit because he couldn't a ord 2.!. rockets. :hile the (chostar launch went o without a hitch, si# weeks later a Chinese rocket carrying a T' satellite or a .atin 3merican venture backed by +urdoch and +C* crashed into a village. !o Charlie has been lucky as well as smart. The (chostar culture remains rugal. )ead?uarters are a ormer shopping mall in .ittleton, Colo., that (rgen bought when the developers went bankrupt. $o e#ecutive was paid more than 5;C6,666 last year, though all get stock option grants. 3nd even today (rgen personally signs every check or more than 5/6,666, a task that takes him three or our hours each week. Yet he's no !crooge. )is employees seem to like him because he o ers them opportunity and un8 the company's irst ive satellite launches were marked with big parties and stock grants o ten shares or each worker. )e also seems to care about his subscribers, negotiating tough deals with programmers like &isney to keep prices down. 3nd how many C(=s go on T' to take calls rom customers7 !o, ew people e#pected (chostar to ac?uire )ughes when ,+ put its pri4e asset on the market late in ;666. +urdoch, the leading suitor, put a comple# merger o er on the table in conjunction with +icroso t and +alone's .iberty +edia. <3=., 9=%T2$('s parent, had already bought a minority stake in )ughes. 3=. isn't taking a public position on the merger, and it would own less than CD o the combined company.> ,+ and its investment bankers struggled to value the deal and worried that $ews Corp., .iberty, and +icroso t would milk its shareholders. "(verybody wanted more than their share," says a )ughes insider. +urdoch hurt his own cause by badmouthing &irecT''s management and re using to pay a premium or )ughes stock. 3s the process dragged on or more than a year, )ughes's valuation plunged. 3t irst (rgen couldn't even get a hearing rom ,+. People thought he was just trying to muck up a deal with +urdoch. Then they ignored him because o the antitrust concerns. = course (rgen persisted. )e argued that the merger made sense because the companies could save billions on in rastructure and use combined limited spectrum to deliver more services. )e o ered a premium or )ughes shares and hired lawyer &avid "oies to convince ,+ that the deal could be sold in :ashington. 3nd when one o (chostar's investment banks got cold eet at the last moment, (rgen pledged 5;.C billion o his

personal stockholdings to guarantee the deal. ")e put his own stake on the line to make this happen," a ,+ e#ecutive says admiringly. =ne person who wasn't surprised by the outcome was !tephen Eetchum, an investment banker with 2"! :arburg who has worked with (chostar since its ounding. "Charlie's been talking about buying &irecT' or years," he says. "* would never, ever bet against him." $o matter the outcome, (rgen's in good shape. "y most accounts he has ro4en the rest o the industry or a year. )e has demorali4ed people at &irecT' and learned their secrets. <The )ughes people say they have also gotten inside (chostar.> )e broke the lock that &irecT' had on the chain stores, doing deals that got (chostar into %adio!hack and :al+art. *n 3ugust, as speculation heated up about the merger and this story went to press, (rgen was climbing /0,666- oot +ount Eilimanjaro in Tan4ania with his amily and riends. )e got into hiking a ter moving to Colorado and approached the activity with his usual determination. .ast spring he became one o a small number o hikers to have scaled all C@ o the /@,666- oot peaks in the state. Yes, he likes the outdoors and spending time with his amily and riends, but there's more to it than that. ":hat * really like," he says, "is that at the end o ;@ hours, you've accomplished something." There you have itF (ven on his days o Charlie (rgen can't help reaching or the skies.

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