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Add Dish, FiOS to TV services offering free preview of CBS College Sports

October 6th, 2009, 11:03 am by

CBS College SportsDish Network and Verizon FiOS are the latest to announce they will offer a free preview of CBS College Sports Network to all customers. Time Warner announced the freebie last week.

Verizon FiOS: Free preview runs through Oct. 10. CBS College Sports is on channel 94 in standard definition. More details HERE.

Dish Network: Free preview runs one week starting Wednesday, Oct. 7, through Wednesday, Oct. 14. The sports channel is on Ch. 152 in standard and high definition. Typically, the CBS College Sports Network is part of Dish’s Classic Silver 200 package for $37.99/month. More details HERE.

Time Warner: This free preview began Monday, Oct. 5, on Channel 261 and ends Sunday, Oct. 11. More details HERE.

The full TV schedule is available on the CBS site,  cbscollegesports.com/schedule

Earlier stories about TV & sports:

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Free preview of NFL RedZone this Sunday for almost everyone

October 1st, 2009, 11:29 am by

New NFL RedZone channel coming Sept. 13, 2009.Looks like Verizon FiOS TV subscribers aren’t the only ones who will get access to the new NFL Channel RedZone  Sunday.

Apparently all TV providers that offer the new football channel will lift the paid barrier for three hours Sunday, Oct. 4, between 10 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., Pacific Time.

In Orange County, those TV providers are:

DISH Network: Channel 155. Dish typically charges $5.99 per month or $49.99 per year for access to the channel.

AT&T U-verse: Channel 1629. AT&T typically charges $5 a month.

Verizon FiOS: Channel 835 for HD,  channel 335 for standard definition. Verizon charges $49.99 for the entire season

Neither Cox nor Time Warner Cable offer the channel.

Recent stories on NFL RedZone:

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Dish must pay TiVo $200 million for infringing on DVR technology

September 4th, 2009, 6:49 pm by

TiVo logoThe ongoing legal dispute between TiVo and Dish Network took a turn in TiVo’s favor, according to late Friday afternoon statements from both companies.

TiVo, which sued EchoStar Communications Corp. and Dish for infringing on its digital-recording patents, has been on the winning end all summer. After Dish appealed the last order by a Texas judge to dismantle all infringing digital video recorders, the Texas court ruled today that Dish must pay TiVo $200 million for the continued violation. (See earlier story: “Dish infringes on TiVo’s patents, ordered to dismantle DVR features.”)

“We are pleased by the Court’s ruling to impose contempt sanctions of approximately $200 million against EchoStar for its continued violation of a Court-ordered permanent injunction, and to award TiVo its attorney fees and costs incurred during the contempt proceedings. This brings total damages and sanctions in this case to approximately $400 million through July 1, 2009, plus attorney fees, and is exclusive of potential further damages and sanctions,” TiVo said in a statement. “We are confident that this ruling brings us closer to final resolution.”

Dish, meanwhile, also praised the order somewhat by saying it was pleased the judge rejected TiVo’s request to levy a $1 billion judgment. In its statement, Dish said:

“We are pleased that the district court rejected Tivo’s request to award a billion dollars in sanctions and that it found that any violation of the injunction was not willful. While we disagree that any amount of sanctions was warranted, the decision confirms our belief that we designed around Tivo’s patent in good faith. We believe that we ultimately will prevail on appeal.”

So, it looks like the case will continue through appeals.

Related: Dish Told to Pay TiVo About $200 Million Over Patent(Bloomberg)

Earlier on TiVos and DVRs:

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More NFL football heading to Verizon FiOS

September 2nd, 2009, 12:05 pm by

New NFL RedZone channel coming Sept. 13, 2009.UPDATE: Added pricing for Dish customers. See below.

So, the National Football League offers full coverage exclusively to DirecTV users. But other TV providers are taking advantage of a simplified option that launches in two weeks, the NFL RedZone.

Verizon today became the latest to offer FiOS TV subscribers the NFL RedZone, a premium sports channel that features some in-depth football content “that will bring fans every touchdown of every game on Sunday afternoons,” says the NFL.

Comcast and Dish Network have previously said they would offer the new channel, too.

The new channel officially launches Sept. 13. Read up on it at redzonetv.nfl.com.

Verizon plans to charge $49.99 for the entire season. Customers can order it two ways:  Turn to the channel and subscribe via the remote control, or call Verizon. No special deals or promotions are expected, so if you want it, pay up.

UPDATE: For Dish customers who want to view the NFL RedZone, Dish charges $5.99 per month as part of its multi-sport package, which can be added on to any Classic Silver 200 or above programming package, says the company. Customers can call 1-800-333-DISH to add the channel. Dish is also taking any customer question via Twitter at @dishnetwork.

More sports TV news:

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Dish Network adds subscribers for first time in 15 months

August 10th, 2009, 2:12 pm by

Dish Network logoDish Network’s turn today to fill us in on its health: It grew for the first time in 15 months.

The company, which admitted to poor customer service last quarter, either made good on its efforts to improve service or offered some hard-to-beat promotions.

Judging from its financial results — net income dropped to $63 million in the second quarter, compared to $336 million a year ago — I’d say the latter. Revenues fell just a tad, 0.4 percent, to $2.9 billion. The company also cited “new sales and marketing initiatives” as a contributing factor to its growth.

Dish spent a cringe-worthy$708 per subscriber on its “subscriber acquisition cost,” up from last year’s $699 per subscriber. At least the company is making more money per customer: $70.73 this year versus $69.38 last year.

During the quarter, Dish added 26,000 net subscribers, ending with 13.610 million subscribers on June 30. As mentioned in its regulatory filing, this was the first time in five quarters that the company added a net number of subscribers. Still, for the year, its total subscriber base is down 68,000 subscribers from the prior year.

The company blamed economic conditions, the end of its partnership with AT&T and competition from Internet-based TV services.

However, Dish’s growth continues the trend that is seeing Internet and satellite TV companies grow while cable TV companies are losing customers. Here are links to second quarter 2009 earnings reports from TV services available in Orange County:

Recent TV news:


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MSNBC HD now on Dish, coming soon for Time Warner

July 10th, 2009, 10:45 am by

Dish Network logoAdd another HD channel to the ring: MSNBC HD, which showed up on channel 209 for Dish Network customers this week.

Dish’s press release says it’s the “first and only pay-TV provider to offer the channel to consumers nationwide.”

Technically true, but Dish isn’t the first to offer the channel. East Coast cable provider Cablevision began offering MSNBC HD in June.

And, according to trade mag Broadcasting & Cable, the newly launched HD channel should show up for Time Warner customers later this month. B&C also reports that by the end of August, MSNBC HD will be available in 11 million homes nationwide.

That brings the Dish’s HD offerings to 140 channels, although I have them at 94. Will have to do more sleuthing to see what those missing channels are. 

TV company Jul-09
Verizon FiOS 127
DirecTV 124
AT&T U-verse 112
Dish Networks 94
Cox Cable 62
Time Warner 55

Recent stories about new HD channels:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 5 Comments »

Cox, FiOS, DirecTV offering free HBO this weekend

June 10th, 2009, 6:52 pm by

HBO free preview coming...UPDATE: DirecTV’s freebie is next weekend. See details below.
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As a customer of Time Warner, some of the most important information (free HBO this weekend!) comes to me via e-mail or snail mail, not as a reporter. For other TV services, I’ve got to hunt around.

Apparently, much of O.C. will get access to free HBO this weekend, starting Friday and ending, for most, on Monday. I’ve checked with the companies themselves, for the most part. See below for details.

YES: Cox Cable. HBO only (updated 6/11/09). Says the company, “All digital cable customers will have access to all HBO channels and HBO OnDemand.  All Cox Digital Cable customers are eligible for the free preview.  The offer runs from Friday, June 12- Monday, June 15. Also, digital cable customers that have HD service will also have access to the two HBO HD channels during this time. (Channel 700 & 701) Channel numbers that are open for viewing this weekend are HBO on 200,201, 206,207,208,209,210,211, 212 and HBO On Demand on channel 1.” Typically, Cox charges $12.99 for HBO, while two premium channels cost $18.50.

YES: Verizon FiOS will be offering the free HBO preview, from June 12 to June 16, or Friday to Tuesday.

Yes: DirectTV, but I haven’t gotten confirmation from the company. According to FreePreview.TV, a good source of what’s coming up for free. The site also says DirecTV users will get free Showtime, Starz and SportsPack channels, in addition to HBO and Cinemax. UPDATE: Commenter Eric Cooper (thanks Eric!), as well as FreePreview.TV, says the HBO promotion will be next weekend, June 18-21. 

Also, FreePreview reports that Comcast subscribers are in luck, although the cable service is not available in Orange County.

And, of course, Time Warner Cable will be offering the free HBO/Cinemax preview. See earlier story.

Not happening: AT&T U-verse and Dish Network. Sorry folks.

More TV news:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

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TiVo has no beef with Cox, Comcast and DirecTV. But everyone else?

June 3rd, 2009, 4:35 pm by

UPDATE, 10 p.m.: The saga continues. Dish wins a stay of a court injunction to disable DVRs as it appeals patent infringement case by TiVo. See Reuters story.
_____________________________________________ 

TiVo

Just to be clear, Dish Network, which lost a patent infringement case (again) to TiVo on Tuesday, was ordered by a federal judge to stop it already, which essentially turns Dish DVRs into plain-ol’ boxes.

U.S. District Judge David Folsom is giving Dish 30 days to “disable the DVR functionality (i.e., disable all storage to and playback from a hard disk drive of television data) in all but 192,708 units of the Infringing products …” according to the court order. The “infringing” DVRs include these models: DP-501, DP-508, DP-510, DP-522, DP-625, DP-721, DP-921, and DP-942.(Read the court order yourself via PDF: TiVo wins (again).)

(Yikes!)

Will this really happen? The same court ordered Dish (when it was part of EchoStar) to dismantle its DVRs 3 years ago and the two companies have been stuck in court sorting things out. Of course, as TiVo continues to win cases, it also collects penalties, plus interest, from Dish. Dish has appealed and the two show up again in court on June 26. 

Could this happen to your non-TiVo DVR? Possibly. 

All a TiVo spokesman would tell me is that TiVo does have license agreements with Comcast, Cox and DirecTV. Some of these range from the companies rebranding  TiVo’s actual software for their own customers to just a license agreement. 

TiVo would love to have similar partnership with all TV companies that have DVRs, he said. Those, presumably, would include Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse plus a plethora of others who offer TV service outside of Orange County. At the moment, no other patent lawsuits are pending between TiVo and other companies.

Based on the original 2006 court order for a permanent injunction against Dish, the patent in question is this one, dealing with ”Multimedia time warping systen.” I’m not a lawyer but the patent #6,233,389 does seem to cover the gist of the whole point of a DVR: to pause, rewind and record live TV.

Thanks to Michael Doss, OCR’s go-to research guy, for tracking down the lawsuit. 

More TV-related stories:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

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