A merger between Dish Network and DirecTV won't be a snap.

Byline: Jonathan Takiff

C ONVINCING THE powers in Washington to approve the merger of Echostar's Dish Network and General Motor's DirecTV is just the first hurdle these satellite TV-service providers will have to overcome.

Then, the sticky issue becomes _ how do these two services currently operating with similar, but different, technologies merge their operations to achieve desirable efficiencies, without causing disruptions or expense for millions of customers?

Echostar, the 6-million-subscriber-carrying "David" that last week signed to take over the 10.6 million subscriber-strong DirecTV "Goliath," hasn't worked out all the details. But here's what they're thinking.

COMPATIBLE BOXES: For the short run, so as not to disrupt service sign-ups, the merged company will begin to build and sell satellite boxes that can receive and process both DirecTV and Dish Network signals.

"We'll switch on just the service the customer desires," says Echostar spokesman Marc Lumpkin.

PICKING A STANDARD: Eventually, it makes sense to have all customers on the same service, so that the now-rampant channel duplication between the two systems can be eliminated, and hundreds of new channels and special services (like two-way, high-speed Internet connections via satellite) can be offered.