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Hands-on with Dish's Hopper multi-room DVR

01/13, 7:30pm

Dish Hopper gets our run-through at CES

Dish Network had an unusually strong presence at CES this year and gave us time to try its new Hopper DVR system. The three-tuner box is one of the more aggressive recorders we've seen and can record as many as six shows at once through a unique trick: it loads the four major US TV networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) on one tuner during prime time hours. It's hard to tell if there's any compression artifacts from the recorded shows on those networks, but it looked good in the controlled conditions of the CES floor.

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Details on Dish Network's Hopper home DVR leak early

01/05, 4:55pm

Dish Network to reveal Hopper home DVR at CES

Early details on Dish Network's planned CES unveiling of a home DVR dubbed Hopper have been revealed. It will be a rebrand of EchoStar's next-generation XiP satellite whole home DVR hardware (XiP 813), which gets extender units called Joeys (XiP 110). It's said to have three tuners and a built-in 2TB hard drive.

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Broadcom signs deals with SlingBox, Myriad for chip tech

01/05, 3:50pm

Broadcom makes deal with SlingBox, Myriad

Chipmaker Broadcom has made a few significant deals this week, partnering with Sling Media for its EchoStar set-top technology and with Myriad for the Alien Vue solution. The deals could result in a Broadcom system-on-chip that may allow set-top boxes for TVs that run Android apps and aren't limited to home Wi-Fi networks. Thus far, only Dish Network allows place-shifting in Sling's Slingbox set-tops.

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AT&T attempts to sell assets stall, suggest merger at an end

12/18, 7:55pm

ATT makes no progress on T-Mo asset sale offers

AT&T isn't making any progress in its attempts to sell T-Mobile assets to rescue its attempted buyout of T-Mobile, insiders uncovered Sunday. Discussions with smaller carriers have reportedly "gone cold," the Wall Street Journal heard. Among other problems, attempts to sell assets to Leap for its Cricket service fell as doubts existed that even this could salvage AT&T's proposed T-Mobile merger.

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Dish Network open to T-Mobile deal if AT&T takeover fails

12/12, 3:40pm

Would also want assets if divestiture required

Dish Network has indicated that it might be interested in acquiring assets from either AT&T or T-Mobile if their proposed $39 billion merger fails to go through. This insight came from Dish's CEO Joseph Clayton in an interview with Bloomberg. Dish has already expressed interest in acquiring customers and spectrum if US regulators require AT&T to divest any such assets in order to allow the deal to be completed.

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Dish talking prospects of paid live, streaming TV service

11/08, 3:45pm

Dish may use streaming to cut expensive TV

Dish is contemplating a TV streaming service that could be an end-run around costs for traditional TV, according to possible new leaks. The strategy as explained to the Wall Street Journal would see channels from "several" studios licensed for paid streaming online to help make it cheaper to adopt Dish's TV service. Some of the cost would come from excising sports channels it's normally required to carry from the cheapest Internet pricing plans, as they often cost disproportionately much more than other stations.

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Yahoo supposedly out of Hulu bidding, Google still in

10/09, 11:55pm

Yahoo rumored jumping ship from Hulu deals

Yahoo is reportedly out of the increasingly uncertain bidding process for Hulu, a claimed leak said late Sunday. The search engine has allegedly been identified by the WSJ sources as the original mystery bidder but also to have exited entirely. The internal turmoil following Carol Bartz' firing and the possibility of a sell-off were attributed to the departure.

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Sprint aims to push FCC into blocking AT&T-T-Mobile deal

10/03, 1:25pm

Sprint ex parte letter asking FCC to block merger

Wireless carrier Sprint has filed an ex parte letter (PDF) with the FCC, asking it to bring the proposed AT&T buyout of T-Mobile to a hearing overseen by an administrative law judge. While the FCC is still deliberating a final decision on the matter, its objection would result in just such a hearing. Sprint is trying to speed up the process and ask the FCC to deny the merger.

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Dish said to be highest bidder for Hulu

09/27, 7:45am

Google bid higher, but wanted special conditions

Sources say that Dish Network is the frontrunner in the bid to buy Hulu, beating out Google, Amazon, and Yahoo. Its offer is reportedly in the range $1.9 billion. Other bidders may have been put off by Hulu's plans to move away from its free, ad-supported model or the lack of certainty about the availability of content. For instance Google's bid was in the $4 billion range according to sources, but came with the demand that the networks continue to provide programming after their current contracts expire in a few years.

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Dish considering buying Sprint or Clearwire, CEO says

09/26, 10:20am

Dish looking for mobile carrier partner: CEO

The CEO of Dish Network, Joseph Clayton, said in an interview on Monday that the company could be looking into partnering or acquiring a wireless carrier. He floated to Bloomberg the prospect of getting either Sprint or Clearwire. The Dish executive admitted, however, that his company also need to secure wireless infrastructure, more technological capabilities, and distribution.

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Blockbuster Movie Pass comes October 1 with TV, streaming

09/23, 2:00pm

Blockbuster Movie Pass gives perks for satellite

Dish Network made a bet on Internet video Friday with Blockbuster Movie Pass. The service bundles satellite TV with mailed movie, TV, and game rentals as well as Internet streaming. Pitched as a rival to Netflix and Qwikster, it takes advantage of the Blockbuster rights and TV streaming to give a wider catalog of Internet video; 10,000 movies in total will stream to TVs and computers, including from Starz and others who have held out on Netflix to shelter their TV business.

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Dish, Blockbuster tease 'stream come true' event Friday

09/19, 11:50pm

Dish and Blockbuster hint big movie bundle Sept 23

Dish's ambitions for a major Internet movie service were confirmed late Monday after the company sent invitations to a special event for Friday, September 23. The "stream come true" gathering in San Francisco will be broadcast online from 1PM Eastern that day. Little is known about the exact details, but the satellite TV provider was confident it would have the "most comprehensive home entertainment package ever."

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Google may have much more ambitious Hulu bid

09/06, 4:30pm

Google may try for very special Hulu bid

Google's bid for Hulu may involve a much more elaborate prospect than anyone else, insiders gave out Tuesday. Amazon, Dish, and Yahoo are all offering conventional bids of up to $2 billion, but Google is now thought to have said "there's enough money" for a much more involved deal. Tips to AllThingsD didn't identify what the intentions were, but the amount was enough that Hulu would have normally thrown it out were it not for the cash involved.

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Dish a frontrunner to buy Hulu, plans rival to Netflix

09/02, 8:10pm

Dish plans Internet video push with Hulu, more

Dish Network is planning a big push into direct competition with Apple, Netflix, and other big Internet video services through its acquisitions, two leaks showed Friday. One scoop had it one of just three companies clearing the

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Dish Network outs Tailgater HDTV satellite dish, receiver

08/30, 3:05pm

Dish Tailgater lets users bring TV on the go

The Dish Network has just revealed some details on an upcoming product for TV watchers on the move such as campers or football fans, theself-contained Tailgater. It contains an HDTV satellite dish and receiver and will retail for $350. The dish inside the enclosure will automatically align itself as needed to pick up signals.

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Dish plans LTE Advanced network using satellite-land hybrid

08/23, 2:15pm

Dish asks FCC to grant hybrid network permission

Dish Network is asking the FCC to allow it to combine the S-Band spectrum licenses it acquired with its $1.38 billion purchase of TerreStar Networks and DBSD North America to offer terrestrial-only devices. This is part of a larger goal of offering a satellite-terrestrial 4G network that uses LTE-Advanced. Dish claims this hybrid network that will use the 40MHz spectrum under a subsidiary called Gamma will help meet the FCC's goal of expanding broadband access. Dish cited the conditional waiver the FCC gave to LightSquared as a reason it should get its request granted.

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Fox slows down Hulu with 8-day delay on free viewers

07/26, 7:45pm

Fox demands 8-day delay on Hulu shows

Fox on Tuesday night set out to shelter traditional TV with a long hinted-at plan to delay TV shows on Hulu for non-subscribers. Free viewers will face an eight-day delay for access to Fox TV shows unless they either pay for Hulu Plus or can prove they subscribe to a conventional TV service. Only satellite provider Dish Network is so far cleared to give users same-day access in the strategy, which starts up August 15.

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Court approves Dish's $1.38b buyout of TerreStar

07/08, 5:55pm

4th deal this year for Dish founder Charlie Ergen

A US Bankruptcy Court in NY has approved Dish Network's proposed purchase of TerreStar. The deal has been valued at $1.38 billion. The main asset that Dish will be getting is the bankrupt satellite communications provider's 20MHz of wireless spectrum.

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Dish the only bidder for TerreStar as MetroPCS gives up

06/28, 1:25pm

Dish now near certain buyer for TerreStar

Dish Network's hopes to buy out TerreStar may have come true as reports have surfaced Tuesday that it's now the only bidder for the satellite smartphone creator. A deadline Monday night has passed with only a nearly $1.38 billion bid from Dish still around, giving it a near-certain win. Cellular carrier MetroPCS had considered a bid to get much-needed wireless spectrum, Reuters says, but has since backed out for unknown reasons.

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Terrestar near taking $1.2 billion-plus bid from Dish

06/14, 7:10pm

Outbids MetroPCS and others

Dish Networks is close to reaching an agreement to purchase bankrupt satellite smartphone provider Terrestar Networks for $1.2 to $1.4 billion, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday. Terrestar declared bankruptcy in October of last year and its assets include wireless spectrum.

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Dish to take on 500 of Blockbuster's retail shops

04/19, 11:45am

Dish will leave 500 Blockbuster stores open

Dish Network, which has recently announced the purchase of Blockbuster, has now said it would take on leases for about 500 of the video-rental's stores as of Tuesday. The papers were filed this past weekend with the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, with a hearing planned for Thursday. After recent store closings, Blockbuster now has nearly 1,700 stores operating in the US.

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Dish buys Blockbuster for $320 million

04/06, 7:30am

Dish snaps up Blockbuster for 320m

Dish said Wednesday that it had won an auction to buy Blockbuster. The satellite TV provider said it had offered $320 million, about $228 million of which was in cash, to beat out competitors like investor Carl Icahn and SK Telecom. Bids had gotten as high as $310.6 million, from Icahn, before Dish landed the final price.

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Dish, activist investor in running to buy Blockbuster

04/01, 4:00pm

Dish and Icahn part of bidding for Blockbuster

The bidding to buy out Blockbuster now includes Dish Network and well-known activist investor Carl Icahn, insiders claimed Friday. The two are both supposedly making just the minimum bid, around $290 million, to qualify for the auction before it starts in earnest on Monday. The WSJ in scraping information was warned that new bidders could come into play or make unions with each other.

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Dish begins selling Google TV packages

11/10, 11:10pm

$179 for existing customers, with $4/month DVR

Dish Network has announced that it is now selling Google TV packages based on Logitech's Revue set-top box. Confirming an earlier leak, the company will subsidize the device to bring the price down to $179 for Dish customers who pay for the $4/month DVR service.

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Dish axes DTVPal DVR

07/23, 1:00pm

Dish discontinues low-cost DTVPal DVR

Dish Network has stopped selling its DTVPal DVR, after weeks of offering it at discounted prices. There are no plans to replace it, according to the company. The device was championed as the only affordable over-the-air ATSC dual-turning DVR on the market, with prices running no higher than $250.

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Google TV may avoid scaring TV providers, cost $299

03/26, 9:55am

Google TV set-top may be secondary device

Google's increasingly rumored Google TV media hub may be consciously designed to avoid frightening cable and satellite providers if a new leak bears fruit. Rather than serve as a complete replacement for a TV set-top box, it would have its own HDMI input and daisy-chain from an existing piece of equipment. The Android device would take information from the TV provider's own device but would be marketed as a way of bringing the Internet and apps to an existing setup that could carry a subscription premium.

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TiVo wins contempt against Dish in DVR ban

03/04, 4:20pm

TiVo awarded contempt ruling against Dish, Echo

A US District Court for Eastern Texas on Thursday affirmed a contempt ruling against Dish Network and sister company EchoStar Corp in their long-term patent case versus DVR maker TiVo. The verdict maintains that Dish and EchoStar failed to comply with an earlier court-ordered permanent ruling that had the two cease the production and sale of DVRs. TiVo sued EchoStar in 2004, where a jury found in favor of the former.

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Sling adds touch remote, TV and receivers to mix

01/06, 12:00pm

Sling Touch Control, Monitor, Receiver, more

Sling today caught up to its absence from the remote streaming world with four new devices. Unique among these is the Touch Control 100; the handheld serves as a 4.3-inch touchscreen remote to steer DVRs and Slingboxes either through infrared or through the local network with Wi-Fi. When linked to a DVR, it can show a cable or satellite provider's programming guide and use that for picking channels.

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TiVo seeks $1 billion from DISH/EchoStar

07/14, 3:15pm

TiVo seeks $1 billion

Despite recently being awarded some $190 million in the long-standing legal battle against DISH Network and EchoStar over patents in DVRs, TiVo is seeking nearly $1 billion in contempt sanctions, according to a filing disclosed by TiVo with a US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. While EchoStar was ordered by the federal judge in Texas to disable the functions on the majority of its recorders in subscribers' hands, EchoStar instead claims it built a "design-around" that avoids the patents in question.

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EchoStar intros T2200S set-top DVR cable box

03/30, 10:45pm

EchoStar T2200S settop DVR

EchoStar has introduced the T2200S, a cable version of its SlingLoaded DVR that was designed to work with Dish Network. The new device is compatible with any Tru2way cable system and provides standard DVR features in addition to integrated Slingbox functionality. The box features a 1TB hard drive, dual-tuner and Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) support, a built-in DOCSIS cable modem and a SlingGuide search engine.

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EchoStar eying takeover of Sirius XM?

02/05, 9:50am

EchoStar Eying Sirius XM

Sources allegedly familiar with the situation tell the Wall Street Journal that EchoStar is taking steps that may lead to a buyout of Sirius XM. The satellite TV provider has reportedly bought up some of about $300 million of Sirius XM debt that must be paid back on February 17th, with the possibility of buying out more debt that would be owed in May. EchoStar would potentially use the sudden influence to either get equity in the target company or else sit in a position of power that lets it force a deal should Sirius XM go bankrupt or otherwise need help from its bank.

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Apricorn boosts DVR Xpander to 1.5TB

01/22, 4:00pm

Apricorn DVR Xpander 1 5TB

Apricorn today ramped up its DVR Xpander to include a new 1.5TB model. The practical capacity is about 50 percent more than before and lets owners of recorders with active eSATA or USB 2 ports store as much as 843 hours of additional standard definition TV or 187.5 hours of typical HDTV programming. The company vows a quiet drive but also uses active fan cooling to keep the hard drive inside cool even in tight areas where passive cooling isn't enough.

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DISH first to broadcast live 1080p TV

07/31, 10:35am

DISH 1080p TV

Satellite TV provider DISH Network today became the first known TV broadcaster to put out video in a full 1080p (1920x1080 progressive) resolution. Starting with an August 1st Video On Demand option for the movie I Am Legend, DISH says it will start offering 1080p whenever the content is available rather than the lower-resolution 1080i (interlaced) or 720p HD normally aired on DISH and other TV services. Using VOD effectively gives the image quality of Blu-ray but at a lower price than renting a disc, the satellite firm claims.

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WD intros My DVR Expander with USB interface

05/15, 1:40pm

WD intros My DVR Expander

Western Digital on Thursday released its My DVR Expander External Hard Drive USB Edition made to work with DISH Network ViP-series HD DVRs to more than double their recording capacity. The 500GB drive is capable of storing up to 60 hours of HD programming or 300 hours in standard definition. The drives connect to the DVRs via a USB 2.0 connection, unlike WD's previous Expander, which featured an eSATA interface.

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Dish "disappointed" about Tivo ruling

04/11, 8:40pm

Ruling disappoints Dish

In response to the ruling against the Dish Network, the company writes that it is disappointed with the court's rejection for an appeal, but that it will not affect current or future customers. According to the note, EchoStar has already developed and deployed a new version of the DVR software to customers as an automatic download. Dish claims the new software does not infringe on patents held by Tivo Inc.

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TiVo ruling stands in patent fight

04/11, 4:15pm

TiVo vs. Dish resolved

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has once again denied an appeal by the Dish Network in light of a legal victory by TiVo, filings show. TiVo contends that Dish DVRs violate a software patent it holds, connected to split recording and viewing; the latter company has protested this however, and fought not only the initial verdict of a lower court, but also the outcome of its first federal appeal. In the wake of this second appeal, the Federal Circuit's decision is final and Dish has little to no legal recourse.

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Ruling on TiVo threatens Dish DVRs

01/31, 4:25pm

TiVo vs. Dish Network

A federal court has upheld a ruling in favor of TiVo in its case against the Dish Network, the Associated Press writes. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is supporting a lower court's verdict, which holds that the Dish Network violated one of TiVo's software patents. Specifically the patent addresses split recording and viewing, one of TiVo's signature features, although neither TiVo nor Dish are the sole users of the concept.

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