dishnetwork
Latest
Some Dish subscribers will miss NBA and NHL playoff games
There's bad news for some folks hoping to catch the NBA or NHL finals today. The Tribune network, which owns WGN and affiliates for FOX, CBS and other networks, is no longer available on Dish. As usual with such disputes (which often involve Dish), the reason for the blackout is money. Tribune says that Dish "refuses to reach an agreement based on fair-market value" for its stations, while Dish says "Tribune is demanding an unreasonable rate increase for channels that are available for free over the air."
Sling TV tests a multi-stream service with catches
As helpful as Sling TV might be for cutting the cord, its one-stream-at-a-time model has its limits. It rules out your family watching across multiple TVs, for instance, or (gasp) sharing with friends. Thankfully, the Dish-owned service isn't deaf to your requests: it's beta testing a $20 per month multi-stream option that lets up to three people watch at once. Besides giving you more freedom, the move also brings Fox channels that aren't available with a single stream, such as Fox Locals, Fox Sports and FX. You'll also get a few other channels that were either previously unavailable or limited to add-on packages, like Univision (normally an extra).
Dish customers can stream Netflix in 4K with the Hopper 3
Dish took a major leap forward at CES 2016, introducing its first 4K receiver and DVR. But, as great as it is for customers to have that option, Hopper 3 needs compatible content in order to show true value. With this in mind, Dish has announced support for Netflix's 4K repertoire, which will let users watch some movies and series in Ultra HD. That includes most of the streaming service's latest original shows, including the acclaimed Daredevil and House of Cards, among others.
Dish's Hopper 3 DVR uses 4K to watch four HD games at once
Dish has been pushing its placeshifting and ad-skipping Hopper DVR for a few years now, and now it's ready to unleash the biggest upgrade yet. The Hopper 3 is ready for 4K -- there's already a Joey 4K, introduced last year -- and it has 16 tuners, which should be enough to end channel conflicts forever. Its 4K support is not just there for watching video on-demand downloads, as it also has a "Sports Bar Mode" that lets owners watch four regular HD channels at once on their Ultra HD TV. That way they don't have to reduce resolution at all, and on game day it could come in handy.
TiVo sues Samsung before its money-making patents expire
TiVo is back in the litigation game with a new lawsuit against Samsung, according to its latest earnings report. The company has avoided such disputes since it settled with Dish Network, Verizon and other companies for over $1 billion. However, its Time Warp patent (which allows you to record one program while watching another) is what helped it win those sums, and it's set to expire in 2018. As a result, CEO Tom Rogers said that TiVo will assert its newer IP. "People know that we have quite a track record when it comes to our litigation and they also know that we don't pursue these things unless we believe there is significant damage opportunity."
Lawsuit claims Sling tricked viewers by introducing ads
Don't like that your Slingbox setup is dishing out ads when it wasn't before? You're not alone. Two viewers have sued Sling Media for allegedly pulling a "bait and switch" on existing customers, serving them ads that they hadn't actually agreed to see. It's tantamount to fraud, according to the lawsuit, and it's particularly egregious when many viewers paid $300 or more for their set-top boxes.
Buying a Slingbox finally gets you free TV streaming apps
As handy as a Slingbox can be for watching TV away from home, it's not as good a deal as it sounds. You usually have to shell out another $15 or more just to get the Slingplayer streaming app for your phone or tablet. Sling is starting to see the light, however. It's shipping a $200 Slingbox M2 bundle that lets you download the Slingplayer Android and iOS apps for free, not just the desktop versions. While this kit costs $50 more than what you'd pay for the M1, it's potentially less expensive if you want apps for multiple mobile devices -- especially if you're not the only one that wants to watch. You'll have to endure "seamlessly integrated" ads for the privilege, but that could be a small price to pay for viewing your favorite shows on every possible screen.
Virgin's new in-flight WiFi is strong enough to stream video
Virgin America has announced that it's teaming up with satellite internet company ViaSat to provide the fastest in-flight WiFi of any commercial carrier. The new system uses a hybrid Ku-/Ka-band receiver to deliver an internet pipeline eight to 10 times faster than anything else on the market. The Ka-band alone offers a whopping 140 gigabits-per-second throughput. It's being installed on the company's new fleet of A320 airliners and will be put into service on Hawaii-bound routes starting next year. That alone is a big accomplishment as the rest of the airline's fleet have to rely on ground-based WiFi connections, which don't work over the ocean's expanse. Virgin touts that this in-flight connection will be equivalent to an average home broadband link and users are expected to use it as such, streaming videos, watching the carrier's 18 channels of DishNetwork and surfing the internet with abandon -- just at 35,000 feet.
WSJ: Dish Network and T-Mobile are talking merger
Add one more (potential) communications company deal to the pile: T-Mobile and Dish Network. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two are in "close agreement" about the structure of a combined company, with Dish CEO Charlie Ergen taking over as Chairman and T-Mobile leader John Legere serving as CEO for the two companies. Dish tried and failed to acquire Sprint a couple of years ago, while T-Mobile has made its own passes at joining with AT&T and Sprint. There's nothing final about the talks so maybe nothing will happen, but Verizon/AOL and AT&T/DirecTV could have company very soon. [Image credit: Steve Sands via Getty Images]
Dish makes it easy to watch Netflix in every room
Netflix became available on Dish set-top boxes back in December of last year. Now, as a way to make the experience better for subscribers, the satellite provider is improving the integration between its platform and the video-streaming service. As of today, Dish customers who have a Hopper with Sling and Joey receiver in their home can start watching Netflix content across different rooms. So, say you start an episode of the award-winning House of Cards in your living room, you can pause it and continue enjoying it in your bedroom, seamlessly -- so long as there's a Joey device in there. In addition to that, Dish added Vevo, which lets people check out on-demand music videos, to the growing list of Hopper apps.
'Tron'-like headphones, virtual reality at Sundance and other stories you might've missed this week!
We get it. It's been a busy week. Luckily, we're here to catch you up on the release date of the Apple Watch, VR headsets in Hollywood and all the other cool stuff you may have accidentally glossed over during five days on the daily grind.
AT&T and Dish were the big spenders in the FCC's wireless auction
There's no doubt that companies spent a ton of money in the FCC's latest wireless auction -- $44.9 billion of it, to be precise. But who was it that was so eager to part with their cash? You don't have to wonder for much longer. The FCC has revealed the winning bidders, and there's little doubt as to who the frontrunners are. AT&T was by far the biggest spender. It shelled out almost $18.2 billion for 251 licenses to use that coveted AWS-3 spectrum, or nearly three times what it spent on 700MHz frequencies back in 2008. Dish, meanwhile, made its broadband ambitions pretty clear by snapping up a sizable $13.3 billion in airwaves.
Sling TV preview: Does this $20-a-month cord-cutter service work as promised?
Sling TV, a $20-a-month service for cord-cutters, made quite the debut earlier this month, winning our Best of CES award amid a flood of attention from press and customers alike. But can the app really live up to its promise to "Take Back TV"? I've had access to the beta for a few days, allowing me to get an early look before the first batch of invitations for pre-registered customers goes out tonight at midnight ET. As far as I can tell, the answer is both yes and no. Internet TV is finally real, but it has a lot of strings left over from the old days of pay-TV, and not just because it's coming from the folks at Dish Network. Getting must-have content from the likes of ESPN has its costs, and those might make the $20 entry fee higher than you're willing to pay.
CES 2015: The secret to Sling TV's success
At first glance Sling TV's hype is all about the business model: no onerous contracts, a low entry price and access across a slew of devices, all with a bundle of content viewers have usually needed a cable TV package to get. But the truth about our Best of the Best CES winner is that while it's smaller and travels better -- this is still the same old pay-TV bundle, and constructed by the same old companies to repeat the model many have grown tired of. So why am I still leaving Las Vegas thinking I've had my first good look at TV's future? It's the experience. Sling is hardly the first built-from-the-ground-up service for watching video on the internet -- Netflix, Hulu and all the rest have been doing it with TV-quality content for quite some time. This is different because it feels like the live TV experience I'm used to, but designed in the internet age. Unlike others that tried (and have mostly failed) to execute this combo by building a foundation on the shifting sands of existing cable TV and IR blasters -- we mean you, Google TV and Xbox One -- Sling TV doesn't have or need channel numbers hanging on like vestigial limbs. It's all right here: Your live TV is an app; it's organized like one; and in all of the demos I saw, it responded like one.
Dish Network will have 4K this summer for every UHD TV
Dish Network is ready to tread new ground with its internet-only Sling TV service, but what about folks who want the highest quality video and are willing to pay for it? It will join the 4K party this summer with an upgraded Joey extender that not only tosses Ultra HD video around, but is also so slim it can be wall-mounted behind compatible TVs. The dual-core ARM processor inside is even powerful enough that it can toss up two HD streams side by side. Sure, Dish is coming in later than competitors Comcast and DirecTV, but so far those two are only working with a limited set of TVs, like Samsung and LG. The 4K Joey works with any UHD TV with HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2.
Dish goes after cord-cutters with Sling TV, a $20-per-month service
According to a Bloomberg report earlier this year, Dish was said to be preparing to launch an online television service last summer. But, as we now know, nothing ever came from that -- at least not until today. The satellite company has taken to CES 2015 to reveal Sling TV, its long-rumored internet TV service, and it wants all current and would-be cord-cutters to know that this is designed specifically for them. Dish says that Sling TV has been years in the making, pointing out that it was born out of learning from Dish Anywhere and DishWorld, a US-only, internet-based TV package that offers access to about 200 international channels.
Dish Network's latest squabble turns off Fox News, Business channels
Stop us if you've heard this one before: Dish Network is without a couple of channels tonight because it couldn't reach a deal with major media company. After Turner and CBS, this time it's Fox. The dispute between the two is only affecting the Fox News and Fox Business channels, although Dish Network says the problem is that Fox wanted to bring some of its other channels into renewal negotiations, and blames the broadcaster for the blackout. Specifically called out are sports and entertainment channels (Fox Sports, FX, FXX?) Dish claims Fox wanted to triple its rates on. Of course, Fox has its own version of the events, claiming Dish is the one doing the blocking, and lauding the news channel's "nearly two decades without a blackout. For now, we'll just call this one a weekend break from the drone of cable news (the truly concerned can check out each side's propaganda websites -- Fox, Dish) and will let you know if anything changes.
Netflix comes to Dish's TV set-top boxes
Not all conventional TV providers are at odds with Netflix. Dish just announced that its second-generation Hopper DVRs (and eventually Joeys) are getting an integrated Netflix app starting today. Yes, you can now jump from satellite broadcasts to internet streaming without switching devices. The interface will be familiar if you've used Netflix elsewhere, but Dish hopes to one day integrate Netflix's library into search results -- you could find House of Cards sitting next to recordings and Dish's own internet services. The app may not make the biggest difference when you probably have at least one living room device that already does subscription internet video. Nonetheless, it's good to see at least one TV giant treating Netflix as a complement to its own services, rather than a mortal enemy.
Dish finally lets you restart live content on your Hopper
Yes, Dish went through a tough time recently with certain TV networks, but this didn't stop it from working to make the experience better for subscribers in the meantime. Today, the satellite provider announced a few new features that'll likely be welcomed with open arms by its customers. The main highlight is that the Hopper receiver now gives viewers the option to start watching live shows and movies from the beginning, so long as the content is part of Dish's video on-demand catalog -- this is similar to Time Warner Cable's "Start Over" feature, which is only available on some programming.
CBS and Dish reach TV deal that includes Showtime streaming
That was fast. Just half a day after CBS yanked its programming from Dish Network in some large cities, the two companies have reached a deal that puts those channels back in action. They're not revealing the financial side of things, but it's apparent that Dish made some concessions to both get CBS back and bolster its internet streaming plans. The satellite TV provider now has numerous Showtime rights that include Anytime access, TV Everywhere and eventual "over-the-top" (read: internet-only) service, but it also has to turn off AutoHop ad skipping on CBS shows for the first week after they air. That's not so hot if you diligently record The Good Wife on your DVR, but it's good news if you prefer to watch Showtime on your own terms. [Image credit: AP Photo/Julie Jacobson]
