There's a good reason why Ergen would want to pick up the pace: the FCC has a use-it-or-lose-it requirement that would force Dish to launch a service on its spectrum by 2020. He needs a concrete wireless strategy in short order, and dedicating more of his time to that strategy is bound to help.

The shuffle might come at an appropriate time. Ergen talked about there being a "few more options on the table" for partnerships now that Sprint and T-Mobile have called off merger talks. This doesn't mean that Dish will merge with a carrier, but it could start wireless service with the help of a network or license out its airwaves to a provider that wants them for 5G data. No matter what, you can expect Dish to do something -- if just to make those frequency purchases worthwhile.