DISH Network might attempt DirecTV merger again?
[Thanks, Adam]
Posts with tag DishNetwork
The timeshifting DVR patent that's been at the core of TiVo's closed-but-not-quite-closed lawsuit with DISH / EchoStar is being contested yet again by the very same company. Not content just appealing to the Supreme Court regarding the Federal Circuit's ruling against a rehearing for the last case, DISH / EchoStar has started up a whole new lawsuit against TiVo, requesting a Delaware court find the new version of their DVR software does not infringe TiVo's patents -- presumably as an embittered and pre-emptive measure before TiVo could kick off its inevitable next suit. Don't worry if you're confused as all hell, so are we -- the point is, despite the fact that decisions have been made and rulings handed down, these two companies are still managing to sue, re-sue, and counter-re-sue one another.
DISH Network and News Corp's satellite subsidiary NDS Group in California have been involved in an industrial espionage lawsuit for years now, but there was some big drama in court today: a hacker by the name of Christopher Tarnovsky (who used the handle "Big Gun," among others) testified that NDS hired him to create a device called "the stinger" that could reprogram DISH Network access cards. DISH lawyers say the plan was to flood the market with hacked cards, which would cost the satellite company $900M in revenue and repair costs. Unsurprisingly, NDS (which supplies DirecTV, among others), says that it hired Tarovsky only to reverse-engineer DISH's cards for competitive reasons, and Tarnovsky himself says that he believes "someone is trying to set him up." Sure, sure -- but no one's explaining why he was mailed mobile electronics from Canada with $20K in cash stashed inside, or why he was officially on the payroll of HarperCollins, a totally different NewCorp subsidiary, for more than 10 years. Sketchy sketchy -- and we thought satellite hacking was dead.
DISH Network hasn't taken "no" "denied" or "not yours" for an answer before in its battle against TiVo, and it's not going to start now. In a statement, the company expressed its plans to appeal the Federal Circuit's ruling against a rehearing to the Supreme Court. No matter how it ends, customers don't have to worry about jackbooted government agents (or software updates, whatever) stealing their precious DISH DVR functionality, because its "next generation" DVR software has already been downloaded to your box, and does not infringe on any patents. We'll leave this up to the lawyers to fight out (and write amusing disclaimers about), but in the meantime hit the read link to hear DISH's side of things.
Although we're still waiting to start our live coverage of the DISH Network press event on Engadget (not to be confused with Engadget HD) at 11am PST, the releases are already starting to flow. With DirecTV stealing all the limelight at last year's show, many have great expectations for DISH this year and it appears DISH is up for the challenge. According to the release, DISH has plans to launch three new birds in 2008, which will help it maintain the status as the "top HD provider." Marketing department wars aside, DISH plans to extend the national HD channel count from 76 to 100 and expand the local HD service from 65 markets to 100. The first eleven local markets to get HD includes: Austin, TX; Baltimore; Cleveland; Columbia, S.C.; Flint, Mich.; Greenville, S.C.; Huntsville, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Orlando, Fla.; and Richmond, Va. After these are online, DISH will be providing local HD to 80% of the US. Unfortunately, it's not all good news, as there will be changes to the pricing structure as well, with the HD packages starting at $10 a month.
We've always had an inkling that Archos was making some content moves around its Generation 5 PMPs, and the latest is pretty sweet: a plug-in download from Archos.com now enables the 605 and 705 to transfer shows and movies directly from Dish VIP622 and VIP722 DVRs over USB 2.0. There's no mention of pricing in the press release, so we're assuming it'll be a free download, and the plug-in should be available "today," although we're not currently seeing it. You know, with the Sling relationship and now this deal with Archos, it kind of seems like Dish actually wants customers to view its content as they see fit -- any of the other satellite or cable companies paying attention here?







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