Ergen's blockbuster victory: is there a plan behind dish network's latest purchase?(NEWS & ANALYSIS)(Charlie Ergen )

Dish Network emerged last week as the winning bidder for Blockbuster, besting offers from activist investor Carl Icahn and a group of bondholders by agreeing to pay $320 million for the troubled video chain.

But now with the struggling retailer in hand--the deal was approved last Thursday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, and is expected to close in the second quarter--analysts are split on whether to call this one a stud or a dud.

Investors also appeared to be on the fence. Shares in Dish Network gained a penny each last Wednesday (April 6), closing at $24.32, up 0.04%. The stock was down 37 cents each (1.5%) to $23.95 last Thursday.

On one hand, the Blockbuster buy looks like another in a growing line of bargain pickups for Dish--it acquired hybrid satellite and terrestrial communications company DBSD North America in March for $1.5 billion. On the other, it appears like Dish paid a low price for a declining asset that will only drag it down.

Just how low-priced was this deal? Viacom paid $8.4 billion for Blockbuster in 1994, using its substantial cash flow at the time to finance the acquisition of studio Paramount Pictures that same year. Viacom …