UPDATE 1-Shares of EchoStar's spin-off effective Jan. 1

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NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - EchoStar Communications Corp (DISH.O) said on Friday that the distribution of shares of a publicly traded entity that will hold its set-top box business and certain technology and satellite assets, EchoStar Holding Corp, will be effective on Jan. 1, 2008.

EchoStar Holding Corp's Class A common stock will trade under the ticker symbol "SATS" on Nasdaq, the satellite television operator said.

Each EchoStar shareholder will get 0.2 of a share of the same class of common stock of EchoStar Holding Corp for each EchoStar share they own as of business close on Dec. 27, the company said in a statement.

EchoStar said in September that it planned to spin off its technology assets, leaving its satellite TV service as a separate publicly traded unit.

While it plans to change its name to DISH Network Corp after the separation, EchoStar said it will continue to trade under its current symbol.

EchoStar also said it plans to mail a final statement outlining EchoStar Holding's operations and further details on the separation on or about Dec. 31. (Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman; Editing by Gary Hill)