Charlie Ergen, chairman of satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp., made a $2 billion bid for radio frequencies from LightSquared Inc., the bankrupt wireless-broadband company owned by Philip Falcone’s hedge-fund firm, according to people familiar with the offer.
The commission reversed the conditional approval for a network that would use frequencies once reserved for satellite-telephone transmissions. The news appears to squash the near-term hopes for the network pushed by LightSquared, a Virginia company that is majority-owned by Philip Falcone, a New York hedge fund manager.
