Well it has all come down to this, the game is tied 2 to 2, with only one more vote to go.  Except this is not a game this is the decision on the merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.

 

The ball is now entirely in the court of Deborah Taylor Tate who with one decision will make or break these two companies.

Earlier today FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein pulled his support for the merger voting no.  He was quoted that he did not want to support “a monopoly with window dressing.”

&n...Read More

Comments (8)

Last night Dish Network updated it’s website to let the world know that TurboHD is coming soon to Dish Network.  This new website didn't stay online long, but it sure had some interesting information that had me going hmmm!  

 

It appears as though the site was put up by mistake as by mid morning today the new site was gone. One of the most telling (and to me exciting) things on this special page was an announcement that Dish Network will s...Read More

Comments (0)

The Boeing Corporation this morning announced that it has transferred control of the DirecTV 11 satellite over to DirecTV.  This means that the DirecTV satellite is now parked in its final orbital location and will soon be turned on to deliver customers more high definition, including new HD locals for many cities.

 

The DirecTV 11 satellite blasted off on March 19^th and has been in testing at various orbital locations in space.  The satellite has been moved to 99.2 degrees and is now basically ready for DirecTV to use.

 

...Read More

Comments (0)

Last May at Dish Network’s annual retailer convention “Team Summit” event Charlie announced his dream of launching an all MPEG4 service where Dish could expand their offerings by using its existing capacity.

 

It was a great idea and it well received by all the retailers in attendance.  Since the announcement was made last year in Dallas this MPEG4 project became known as the “Eastern Arc” project.

 

For this years Team Summit conference retailers heard more details on the Eastern Arc project, including the orbital locat...Read More

Comments (5)

Yesterday was a strange day for me, it was strange because I knew something that I felt was true, but no one would verify if what I knew was true or not.  It was because of what I knew I went into last’s night launch of Echostar XI with an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach.

 

I set my alarm clock last night for 12:45 am so I could wake up and catch the launch of the new Echostar 11 satellite.  I am glad I woke up, as it was an amazing launch to watch and I was able to enjoy the launch with about 100 readers and friends who were online in a chat room watching the launch together.

...Read More

Comments (2)

DirecTV, XM & the iPhone

 

DirecTV customers are waking up today finding that four of the XM Satellite Radio channels have been removed from their lineups. Overnight XM Satellite Radio cut a total of 7 channels from its online service found at http://listen.xmradio.com of those 7 4 of them were also on DirecTV.

The channels removed last night were as follows:

 

Left XM and DirecTV:
- The Torch (829)
- Special X (848)
- Fuego (870)
...Read More

Comments (2)

Today in the Satellite world a lot of folks are not talking about the new iPhone but they are talking about yesterdays big announcement of the new 17 HD channels announced and the new TurboHD packages from Dish Network.

 

Yesterday’s press release seemed to create as much confusion as it did excitement.  Since the press release came out I have been flooded with emails from readers asking me if their bill is going up.  I am going to try to answer with what I know, I know if I am wrong someone from Dish Network will contact me and correct me.

 

...Read More

Comments (9)

Satellite Radio Waves

 

Not much going on today in the satellite television world, but there is some news out there in the world of satellite radio.

 

XM’s Executive Vice President of Programming Eric Logan is leaving the company to go to work for Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions Company in Chicago.   Logan will oversee several division of the company including Harpo Radio & Harpo Print.  Not a bad gig for a guy who started his career at the age of 16 at KXXY in Oklahoma City....Read More

Comments (1)

As I was getting ready to work on today’s edition of The Satellite Dish here at MultiChannel.COM a PDF appeared in my email that spelled good news for Dish Network and their customers who subscribe to Distant Networks from National Programming Service.

 

As you might remember back in October 20, 2006 a permanent injunction was issued against Dish Network for carrying Distant Network signals to their customers who could not receive their networks (ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC) via an off air antenna.  This injunction would have shut off networks for many Dish Network custom...Read More

Comments (1)

It was just a few weeks ago I saw the writing on the wall with the relationship between Dish Network and AT&T, but I didn’t expect things to get blown out of wack so quickly between the two.

I think the daydreams folks were having about AT&T buying out Dish Network are now just that daydreams.

It was just last week that Dish announced that they had to pay back AT&T $500 million as AT&T demanded early payment on its bonds with this

It was announced today that AT&T is terminating their agreement with Dish Network and will no longer be selling or marketing Dish Network to their customers.

One has to think about what is the reasoning by AT&T to breaking the ties to Dish Network.  Is it so they can focus on their UVERSE IPTV based television service?  Is it because they might have their eye on...Read More

Comments (4)

Greetings from the Island of Roatan, Honduras, (actually I am exactly at 16 18.73 N 086 32.66 W) going to an island like this gives a satellite guy like me a new respect for the power of satellite.  And it also makes me happy that I live in the United States.  We don’t know how good we have got things here, especially when you come to some of the places I have visited so far this week.

It was amazing driving around the island and seeing how much the natives here rely on satellite technology.  The natives actually did not have much at all but most of them did have satellite dishes attached to what they called houses.

It was amazing to see how these folks live with dogs running around on the loose, chickens running around in the yard and a satellite dish’s aimed in the sky.

Most of the dishes were not branded, although...Read More

Comments (4)

The FCC still hasn’t given their decision to the satellite radio companies on their plan to merge their operations, but it appears that the satellite radio companies are growing tired of sitting on their hands waiting for the FCC’s decision.

 

 As I mentioned in the past when XM and Sirius announced their plans for the merger it seemed like someone let all of the air out of the programming departments at both satellite companies.  Both companies programming has gotten stale over the past year, so stale that a lot of folks online wondered if they were getting anything for their money.

...Read More

Comments (1)