Charlie Ergen, 44, CEO of Echostar Communications Corporation, likes to play for an inside straight. Last week Ergen, who got into satellite TV in 1980 on the advice of a poker buddy, drew the perfect card. His cash-short EchoStar--by now a $250 million public company reaching 430,000 homes through pizza-size dishes--inked a deal with Rupert Murdoch's American Sky Broadcasting. ASkyB will pay $1 billion in cash and assets for 50% of EchoStar, creating a new direct-broadcast-satellite alliance called SKY that will be aimed at 75% of American homes.
With the capacity to offer 500 channels of crystal-clear digital TV, Internet services...
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