Dish's Ergen: Video will be 'core' to any wireless offering, open to working with T-Mobile and others

Dish Network wants to use its wireless spectrum to launch an innovative mobile video service, and is willing to partner with companies both in and out of the wireless industry to do so, according to Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen. The key to any teaming would be that Dish and its partner should be able to accomplish more together than they could apart, he said. Ergen said that Dish's Sling TV over-the-top video service is part of a strategy to take video into the mobile realm because that is how "the next generation is going to watch television." Ergen said any Dish wireless offering will include video "at its core" "And if that's going to happen then we have to have the infrastructure to do that," he said.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere praised Dish during the carrier's quarterly conference call with investors, and hinted he would be open to working with Ergen. "I think Dish is a great opportunity, both for the country and for possibly T-Mobile," he said. Ergen returned the compliment. He said T-Mobile "is a company we think highly [of]. I mean it's hard not to be impressed with what they've been able to accomplish in the last couple of years." However, while he praised T-Mobile's focus on the needs of consumers, Ergen made clear Dish is not wedded to working with any one company right now. "Ultimately, companies get strategically aligned and there becomes a will to do something together better than what they can do individually," he said.