• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 24, 2012

Media disruption. Some have it; more are looking for it. Consumers and marketers might like it, but perhaps not all the time.

Dish Network would like to pile on to the media disruption by launching its own wireless broadband business -- which would be a welcome addition to Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

"We have a history of being very disruptive in the video business. I think we would be disruptive in the wireless business," said Charles Ergen, chairman of Dish Network.

Dish Network would also be a good continuing independent operator -- much as it has been with its satellite TV service. In an earnings call, Ergin was full of bravado: "It would transform not only our company but transform the way people use wireless in the United States."

Big media companies can transform themselves. Dish Network’s traditional business has seemingly hit a certain level, even with its acquisition of Blockbuster and starting Blockbuster’s streaming video business. Dish hovers at around 14 million subscribers -- down around 160,000 in 2011.

Dish wants what traditional cable operators have had for the last decade or so -- a way out of its mostly single business of delivering video into the home. With their growing Internet and phone businesses, cable operators have saved the day for shareholders -- while maintaining their more or less aging video business with new digital components.

Media disruption continues to be a term loved by media analysts -- especially when it comes from established players who can move into new businesses with a certain degree of consumer loyalty and marketplace heft. So Ergen and Dish continue to keep their mystery going.

The trouble is that everybody is looking to affixed the disruption moniker. Consumers can grow weary of the all the entertainment entropy.  Business-wise?  Disruption can mean more options for marketers. But it usually comes with an iffy period of business development, including questionable metrics, post=analysis, and service.

Sure, we savvy media entertainment consumers and marketers all want to rebel. But it’s a media rebellion that never seems to end. There is no rest. Is this the state in which big media companies want to keep their consumers -- and their marketing/advertising partners?