Dish’s Charlie Ergen: “I think people are cutting the cord”
Pay TV providers tend to argue that cord cutting doesn’t exist. Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen doesn’t agree. Read more »
CBS takes aim at a rival, shoots CNET in the foot
photo: Flickr / Hans Gerwitz
The Hopper from Dish Network was a finalist in CNET’s “Best of CES” awards — until parent company CBS told the tech news-and-reviews site that it couldn’t include the company because CBS is suing it. How can readers trust CNET’s journalism after such a decision? Read more at paidContent »
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Connected consumer third-quarter 2012
The third quarter saw many parts of the traditional media business in flux. Other developments included the rollout of new device-based content ecosystems, red flags and red ink for traditional consumer electronics makers, and a resurgence of consumer purchases of movies. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
A look back at mobile in the third quarter
Apple stole the spotlight in the third quarter with the release of its iPhone 5, Amazon pursued the tablet market aggressively with a new line of tablets, and Microsoft prepped to launch Windows 8 and the highly anticipated Surface tablet. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
Mobile 2012 and beyond
Whether it’s the iPhone 5, the importance of LTE, or BYOD trends disrupting the enterprise, there are always technologies, trends, and companies changing the way we define mobile. Here are some noteworthy segments to watch in the coming months, from location-based shopping to apps to wireless networks. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Pay TV stops growing: Top 4 services all lost video users in Q2
With satellite carrier DirecTV reporting its first-ever net quarterly loss of subscribers, the Big Four pay TV services collectively lost 407,000 U.S. video customers in Q2. This was not offset by gains of 322,000 net video users reported by telco services AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS. Read more at paidContent »
Day 27 of the Dish vs. AMC standoff: Where’s the subscriber revolt?
Are unhappy Dish subscribers turning to iTunes, where Breaking Bad is the No. 1 TV download? Indeed, Dish has dropped a major channel with an Emmy-winning hit, and it’s gotten away with it. Why the pay TV business may never be the same. Read more at paidContent »
Dish’s latest Hopper tweak reeks of legal positioning
As Variety first reported, Dish has quietly been rolling out a software upgrade to its new DVRs that puts the user more in control of the “AutoHop” commercial-skipping feature. Dish says the upgrade “enhances the user experience,” but it seems more legally motivated. Read more at paidContent »
Why Breaking Bad didn’t scare Dish, but Walking Dead will
Sure, the 2.9 million viewers Breaking Bad averaged Sunday was a series record. But it’s might take the more than 7 million viewers who will tune into the Oct. 14 season premiere of The Walking Dead to put AMC back on Dish. Read more at paidContent »
AMC to stream Breaking Bad for blacked-out Dish users
Viacom has its way of dealing with a carriage dispute, and AMC Networks apparently has a very different way. AMC says it’ll stream Sunday night’s anticipated fifth-season premiere of Breaking Bad for the nearly 14 million blacked-out Dish Network subscribers. Read more at paidContent »
Dish facing doom in Voom litigation, analysts say
While the Viacom/DirecTV carriage dispute is commanding the bulk of attention Wednesday, several high-profile media analysts publicly advised Dish Network to end its own carriage war with AMC Networks, and to also bite the bullet and settle its expensive legal dispute with AMC over Voom HD. Read more at paidContent »
AMC: “Dish never even talked rates with us”
With its channels now officially pulled off the programming guides of Dish’s 14 million U.S. subscribers, AMC gets straight to the point: This dispute has nothing to do with ratings or fees and everything to do with unrelated litigation, the programmer said Saturday night. Read more at paidContent »
Dish to replace AMC with Mark Cuban’s HDNet Movies
photo: Flickr / Staci D. Kramer
How serious does Dish look about actually blacking out AMC channels? It just gave away AMC’s primo real estate to Mark Cuban’s HDNet and HDNet Movies. Yes, the No. 3 pay TV service is really ready to live without the most critically acclaimed shows on TV. Read more at paidContent »
Dish’s Ergen: Auto Hop protecting TV from online video barbarism
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen defended his company’s controversial new commercial-skipping feature as a necessary innovation amid a sea change in video delivery. Oh, and he also conceded that it won’t hurt Dish when it comes to broadcast retransmission talks. Read more at paidContent »
Dish/AMC fight breaks bad, channels banished to the 9,000s
As carriage disputes go, Dish Networks’ battle with AMC Networks is shaping up to be particularly nasty. Just how disruptive would it be to have a programmer of Emmy-winning hits cast off the No. 3 pay TV service provider? Read more at paidContent »
Subscriber Content
Who and what to watch in the new era of the living room
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Dish to TV nets: We pay you, so our customers can skip your ads
On Friday, activity around Dish’s highly controversial “AutoHop” feature was, well, hopping. Not only did NBC and CBS join Fox in the court battle against the satellite TV service, but Dish issued a testy response. Oh, and a backlash is forming against the networks. Read more at paidContent »
Dish defends ad-skipping DVR, pay TV peers throw it under bus
As executives for Time Warner Cable and other multi-channel TV service providers also take it to task for its new commercial-skipping DVR, Dish Network defends its new offering, calling it a “win-win” that makes subscribers watch even more broadcast television. Read more at paidContent »
How broadcasters could have stopped Dish’s Hopper
Broadcasters are hopping made at Dish Network and Charlie Ergen about their new commercial-deleting DVR feature. Some might look back on litigation with ReplayTV with some regret. Broadcasters failed to get the anti-commercial-skipping ruling they were seeking at the time. Read more at paidContent »
Analyst: Forget Mad Men, does Dish hate all advertising?
Already locked into a carriage dispute that threatens to keep AMC’s ad-focused hit drama Mad Men away from its 14 million subscribers, Dish Network was taken to task by Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett for new commercial-skipping features in its “Hopper” set-top boxes. Read more at paidContent »
Dish’s Ergen: Streaming on Netflix “devalues” Mad Men
Speaking to investors during Dish Network’s Q1 conference call Monday, Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said the reason his company hasn’t reached a carriage renewal agreement with AMC stems from the fact that the cable programmer has “devalued” its content through its streaming deals. Read more at paidContent »
Despite Q1 profit, Blockbuster keeps on shrinking
The once dying Blockbuster brand generated a profit of nearly $14 million in the first quarter for its new corporate parent, Dish Network, flourishing as a combination streaming/physical movie rental service. Still, Dish plans to close 100 more brick-and-mortar Blockbuster stores in Q2. Read more at paidContent »
Subscriber Content
A look back at mobile in Q1
Smartphone sales surged both in the U.S. and worldwide, carriers struggled to cope with the ever-increasing consumption of mobile data, and the fight for spectrum remained front and center in the first quarter. Our latest quarterly wrap-up analyzes these trends and more. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The Good And Bad News From The Latest Pay TV Subscriber Figures
The good news for the traditional subscription TV industry: subscriber counts across the cable/satellite/telco television services industry… Read more at paidContent »
What The CW's About-Face On Streaming Says About Piracy, Authentication
photo: CW's Gossip Girl
While its relevance in the realm of traditional linear television is more questionable than ever, the CW’s youthful, digitally literate core… Read more at paidContent »
Epix, ABC Family Launch on iOS; So What About Their Hulu, Netflix Deals?
photo: Shutterstock / Angela Waye
Say this about TV Everywhere — it’s not making the complicated world of TV video streaming any easier to figure out. On Tuesday, cable netw… Read more at paidContent »
Hulu Joins Trademark Battle Against Dish's 'TV Everywhere' Claim
Hulu has joined Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Inc. and the nation’s five biggest cable service providers in a fight to stop Dish Network (NSDQ: DI… Read more at paidContent »
Cord Cutting Can Wait: Subscription TV Added 343,000 Subs in Q4
Correction: A previous version of this story reported an increase of 343 million subs. We apologize for the error.
With the rise of Netflix… Read more at paidContent »
Say Goodbye To Blockbuster Stores
photo: Shutterstock / Chris Green
The Blockbuster brand emerged from the ashes of bankruptcy to have an impact on the bottom line of its new owner, Dish Network (NSDQ: DISH).… Read more at paidContent »
AT&T & Dish fight over spectrum, but will either build a network?
Report after report points to AT&T marrying Dish Network after Ma Bell’s forced break up with T-Mobile, but given the companies’ increasing belligerence, you wouldn’t think that was the case. What we’re witnessing here is some very cynical pre-nuptial gamesmanship. Read more »
Cuban Teams With Seacrest, AEG To Relaunch HDNet as 'ESPN For Pop Culture'
photo: Flickr / Staci D. Kramer
Struggling for leverage with cable distributors as the operator of an independent network, Mark Cuban may have found a way forward for one o… Read more at paidContent »
Never Mind Cord Cutters And Dish — DirecTV Raises Rates
Cord-cutting technology was out in force at CES this week, and main rival Dish Network (NSDQ: DISH) just announced a “company relaunch” that… Read more at paidContent »
Will Google buy T-Mobile? Not a chance
SNL reports that Google is bidding on T-Mobile. If the rumor were somehow true, then Google is suffering from hubris. Selling software, services and handsets is fundamentally a different business than selling connectivity. Google buying T-Mobile would be a bigger disaster than AOL-Time Warner. Read more »
Dish Super-Sizes The DVR As Part Of Turnaround Effort
Struggling satellite TV carrier Dish Network (NSDQ: DISH) christened what it called a company “relaunch” with a new digital video recorder t… Read more at paidContent »
Dish’s Blockbuster @Home now streams 25,000 titles
Dish first announced its Blockbuster subscription streaming service three months ago. In that time, it’s been quietly ramping up the amount of content its subscribers can access through the service, boosting the number of choices from just 4,000 streaming titles at launch to more than 25,000 now. Read more »
Dish’s Hopper: a whole-home DVR with a primetime twist
Dish is betting big on the DVR to help it win over more customers and fight off competition. The satellite TV provider is coming out with new and improved recording devices that can be taken advantage of from up to four TVs throughout the home. Read more »
Subscriber Content
2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
The past year in mobile has been even more eventful than most of us would have predicted. Our appetite for mobile data grew dramatically; Google’s Android continued its march to worldwide dominance; Amazon joined the tablet bandwagon; and AT&T tried and failed to acquire T-Mobile USA, among many other things. All of that activity lays the groundwork for a very promising — and very challenging — 2012. This research note serves both as a review of the major trends and events of 2011 as well as a forecast for the coming year. Companies mentioned in this report include Millennial Media, Quattro Wireless and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full research note, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
If Netflix Is In Play, Here's Some Companies That Would Be In The Hunt
Verizon is getting its full turn in the rumor mill. Last week, word had it that Verizon is looking to launch an OTT subscription service. Ne… Read more at paidContent »
What Fox effect? Hulu sees little downside from authentication
There had been some concern that Hulu would see some of its audience disappear due to Fox’s requirement for TV Everywhere-type authentication. But Hulu’s audience over the first few months of the new TV season has remained largely intact, and was actually up in October. Read more »
The Morning Lowdown 11-23-11
» Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Siemens to Cut 17,000 Jobs (WSJ; Press release)
» James Murdoch quits the boards of Sun and Times… Read more at paidContent »
