U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
FORM 4
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP
Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or
Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940
[x] Check box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations
may continue. See Instruction 1(b).*
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1. Name and Address of Reporting Person**
Vivendi Universal, S.A.
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(Last) (First) (Middle)
42, Avenue de Friedland
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(Street)
75380 Paris Cedex 80 France
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(City) (State) (Zip)
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2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH, Pink Sheets: DISHP)
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3. IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary)
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4. Statement for Month/Year
December, 2002
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5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year)
January, 2002
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6. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer
(Check all applicable)
[_] Director [x] 10% Owner
[_] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below)
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7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check applicable line)
[_] Form filed by one Reporting Person
[x] Form filed by more than one Reporting Person
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Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of,
or Beneficially Owned
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6.
4. 5. Owner-
Securities Acquired (A) or Amount of ship
3. Disposed of (D) Securities Form: 7.
Transaction (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Beneficially Direct Nature of
2. Code ------------------------------- Owned at End (D) or Indirect
1. Transaction (Instr. 8) (A) of Month Indirect Beneficial
Title of Security Date ------------ Amount or Price (Instr. 3 (I) Ownership
(Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) Code V (D) and 4) (Instr.4) (Instr. 4)
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* Applicable to Vivendi Universal, S.A., Groupe Canal + and Financiere de
Videocommunication.
** If the Form is filed by more than one Reporting Person, see Instruction
4(b)(v).
Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially
owned directly or indirectly.
(Print or Type Response) (Over)
FORM 4 (continued)
Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
(e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)
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10.
9. Owner-
Number ship
of Form
2. Deriv- of
Conver- 5. 7. ative Deriv- 11.
sion Number of Title and Amount Secur- ative Nature
or Derivative 6. of Underlying 8. ities Secur- of
Exer- 4. Securities Date Securities Price Bene- ity: In-
cise 3. Trans- Acquired (A) Exercisable and (Instr. 3 and 4) of ficially Direct direct
Price Trans- action or Disposed Expiration Date ---------------- Deriv- Owned (D) or Bene-
1. of action Code of(D) (Month/Day/Year) Amount ative at End In- ficial
Title of Deriv- Date (Instr. (Instr. 3, ---------------- or Secur- of direct Owner-
Derivative ative (Month/ 8) 4 and 5) Date Expira- Number ity Month (I) ship
Security Secur- Day/ ------ ------------ Exer- tion of (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr.
(Instr. 3) ity Year) Code V (A) (D) cisable Date Title Shares 5) 4) 4) 4)
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Series D (1) 12/23/02 J(2) 5,760,479 (1) (1) Class A 57,604,790 (3) 0
Mandatorily Common
Convertible Stock, par
Participating value
Preferred $0.01 per
Stock, par share
value $0.01 per
share
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Explanation of Responses:
(1) Each of the 4,760,479 shares of Series D mandatorily convertible
participating preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share (the "Preferred
Stock"), of EchoStar Communications Corporation, a Nevada corporation (the
"Company") is convertible into 10 shares of Class A common stock, par value
$0.01 per share (the "Common Stock") of the Company upon the election of the
holder that is the owner of record upon the date of such election. In the event
that none of the holders elect to convert shares of Preferred Stock in the
manner described above, each share of Preferred Stock will mandatorily convert
into 10 shares of Common Stock upon the earliest to occur of: (i) the effective
time of the merger contemplated by the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of
October 28, 2001, by and between the Company and Hughes Electronics Corporation,
(ii) Vivendi Universal or its subsidiaries cease to own Preferred Stock or
Common Stock representing, on a fully converted basis, 51% or more of the total
shares of Common Stock underlying the Preferred Stock issued on January 22, 2002
to Financiere De Videocommunication, a societe anonyme organized under the laws
of France ("Financiere") and wholly owned subsidiary of Groupe Canal+, a societe
anonyme organized under the laws of France and wholly owned subsidiary of
Vivendi Universal, (iii) the purported sale, assignment, transfer or other
disposition of such share of Preferred Stock or beneficial ownership thereof to
any person other than Vivendi Universal or any direct or indirect wholly owned
subsidiary of Vivendi Universal, or (iv) January 22, 2007.
(2) Financiere, on behalf of and for the sole benefit of Vivendi Universal, sold
to the Company 5,760,479 shares of Preferred Stock, which, upon transfer,
mandatorily converted into 57,604,790 shares of Common Stock.
(3) On the terms described in Notes (1) and (2), the Preferred Stock was sold at
an aggregate purchase price of $1,065,688,615, representing a purchase price per
share of Common Stock, in cash, of $18.50.
/s/ George E. Bushnell III, Vice President December 23, 2002
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***Signature of Reporting Person Date
*** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal
Criminal Violations.
See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed.
If space is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.
Potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information contained
in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently
valid OMB Number.
Page 2 of 3
FORM 4 (continued)
Additional Reporting Persons:
Name and Address of Reporting Person:
Groupe Canal+
85-89 Quai Andre Citroen
75711 Paris Cedex 15
FRANCE
Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
EchoStar Communications Corporation
(NASDAQ: DISH, Pink Sheets: DISHP)
Statement for Month/Year
December, 2002
/s/ Xavier Couture December 23, 2002
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***Signature of Reporting Person Date
Name and Address of Reporting Person:
Financiere De Videocommunication
85-89 Quai Andre Citroen
75015 Paris
FRANCE
Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
EchoStar Communications Corporation
(NASDAQ: DISH, Pink Sheets: DISHP)
Statement for Month/Year
December, 2002
/s/ Marc-Andre Feffer December 23, 2002
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***Signature of Reporting Person Date
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