$150 Mil. Dish Network Reaches Out

LOS ANGELES EchoStar's Dish Network is talking to agencies about its creative account, now at Publicis Groupe's Publicis in Seattle, sources said.

The client last year spent $150 million in measured media, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Publicis Seattle has handled the account for about a year and launched a campaign last summer tagged "Better TV for all" that positioned the brand as an irreverent provider of service that "doesn't suck" [Adweek Online, Aug. 15].

The client is said to have reached out to several agencies recently, thereby throwing into question the status of the incumbent. Publicis Seattle did not return calls, and Englewood, Colo.-based EchoStar declined comment.

Publicis Seattle won the business in January 2005 after a review in which independent DiNoto and Omnicom Group's TBWA\Chiat\Day, both in New York, were the other finalists [Adweek Online, Jan. 28, 2005].

The media business was not in review last year and remains split between Interpublic Group's Cash Plus Media Services (broadcast) and Novus Print Media (print), both in Minneapolis.