It must be an absolute nightmare being a Hollywood executive in 2011. Four big studios (20th Century Fox, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.) have announced plans to introduce a premium video-on-demand service, to debut on DirecTV next month as “Home Premiere,” that will screen movies a mere 60 days after their theatrical debut. Renting such a movie will set you back $30. And if you think you’re angry about that, just imagine how theater owners must feel.

AllThingsD already has a scenario where the $30 price tag probably isn’t as high as you might initially think, particularly if you’re trying to have a “moment and daddy need to go to the movies alone for once” night. Once you pay for a baby-sitter, parking, movie tickets, a little popcorn and maybe a soda you’re well past the $30 barrier.

The studios made the announcement at an industry convention in Las Vegas. Oh: they never bothered to tell movie theater owners about this ahead of the big announcement.

The National Association of Theater Owners, or NATO (wow…), called the premium video-on-demand model a “misguided adventure,” and that “[i]n the end, the entire motion picture community will have a say in how the industry moves forward.”

Sounds to me like the movie theater owners feel like they’re being pushed out. Keep reducing the window between theatrical release and home consumption (Blu-ray releases are sometimes available only three months after hitting the theaters) and sooner or later people will stop going to the movies altogether. “That Adam Sandler movie looks funny. We’ll catch it next month when it hits premium VOD.”

That’s the fear, at least.

The very first 24/7 3D television network will launch on February 13. It’s called 3net, and it’ll debut on DirecTV channel 107. It’s a joint venture between Sony, Discovery Communications, and IMAX. Very, very exciting news for the 15 people in the audience who bought a 3DTV.

The channel launches with two “one-hour, native 3D original programs.” They are China Revealed and Forgotten Planet. Another bit of programming, Into The Deep 3D, makes its television debut that same night.

DirecTV makes in seem that everything is great:

Quality 3D programming is vital to the success and increased adoption of the technology, and with industry leaders like Discovery, Sony and IMAX making a commitment to this category, it is clear that 3D is here to stay and is only going to get better.

Sure it will. Well, actually, it’s hard for 3DTV to get any worse.

Comcast, America’s worst company, just announced that it will have indeed have ESPN 3D in time for this year’s World Cup. Comcast is the first cable provider to commit to carrying the network (while DirecTV announced the same thing several weeks ago).

As you know, ESPN 3D is to be the first big 3D network here in the U.S. ESPN went HD just in time for last year’s World Cup—I bought my very first HDTV, some 26-inch Samsung that’s probably now worth 75 cents, for the tournament—so I guess it makes sense to launch 3D with this next World Cup, which Spain will win. (Have you seen the squads? Poor Messi is surrounded by players not even sports reporters in Argentina have ever heard of! If Spain doesn’t win this year it never will.)

ESPN 3D will carry other, non-soccer programming in 3D as the year marches forward. The X-Games will get the 3D treatment (July 28-August 1), as will the BCS National Championship game in January, 2011. I honestly can’t believe the BCS is still around. You’d think they would have developed a better system by now…

So yeah, those of you with Comcast can get in on the ESPN 3D fun. You just need one of those TVs and enough glasses to hand out to your friends. Not cumbersome at all!

Listen, it’s all well and good that DirecTV gets to make these grandiloquent announcements that it’s going to offer this or that sport in 3D—today’s news is that DirecTV will be the first TV provider to show a Major League Baseball game in 3D with this July 10 and July 11′s Yankees-Mariners clash on the YES Network—but I have one question: why in God’s name is Fox Soccer Channel still shown in standard definition? That’s right, four years after I purchased my first HDTV specifically so I could watch ESPN-HD and ESPN2-HD coverage of the World Cup, I’m still staring at SD coverage on FSC with DirecTV. It’s all a little bit stupid.

It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even watch SD games on Fox Soccer Channel anymore. Why bother? Instead I’ll play Team Fortress 2 in windowed mode, then have Sopcast or one of those P2P stream applications off to the side. I’m all but convinced that an illegal stream of any random Premiership game will actually look better than the official broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel.

So, why should I be paying for this channel when the free alternatives are better?

I’m not even sure if I should be mad at DirecTV or Fox Soccer Channel, but I’m mad at someone, that’s for sure.

Not that it even matters now, now that the Premiership and Serie A are winding down, and the Champions League concludes in a few weeks. (Other channels show other leagues.) Once I see Mourinho’s team win the Champions League trophy on May 22, there will be no reason to watch Fox Soccer Channel till mid-August when the domestic leagues begin anew.

All I’m saying is that it sure would be nice to have THE MOST POPULAR SPORT IN THE WORLD in HD before we start showing random MLB games in 3D. And really, how exciting will a mid-July two-game series between the Yankees and Mariners be? Oh boy, only 800 more games till the playoffs start, these games are vital.

And we all know that cricket is more exciting than baseball.

Nuts to this, I’m moving to Brazil.

In a press release issued today, DirecTV took the rather predatory approach of pointing out that while Netflix and RedBox won’t have movies like Avatar on the release date, you will be able to rent them using DirecTV. Of course, that’ll cost you between $4.99 and $5.99 per title, which ironically is nearly the same cost of a month of Netflix. DirecTV also stated that they were really really sorry, but due to their deal with the movie studios, they can’t offer a subscription model like Netflix does. So there.

DirecTV will be among the first television providers to offer ESPN 3D. The channel launches this June, and DirecTV will place it alongside two other 3D channels, a 24/7 pay-per-view channel and a movies on-demand channel.

This is a markedly different approach from, say, Verizon’s FIOS, which said that it will only add 3D channels when it feels like it. If I can find an extra $2,000+ (spoiler: I can’t) then it’s good news for me, being a DirecTV subscriber. (I only get Internet service via Cablevision, which already broadcast the country’s first 3D sports event last week in the Islanders v. Rangers at the Garden.)

And as much as it sounds like a broken record, the defining 3D TV moment will be this year’s World Cup. I fully expect people who have zero interest in the sport to at least be curious to check out what it looks like. Hopefully Best Buy and so forth will have the 3D matches on display.

As an aside, I will say how hilarious it is that DirecTV has announced 3D channels before it decides to carry Fox Soccer Channel in HD. Sorta lame.

All this talk started when Verizon’s CEO indicated that he wanted to “make video the company’s core product for its fixed-line business.” The Wall Street Journal then kindly points out the obvious that the best way to do that is to scoop up a satellite company. DirecTV would be the logical choice over Dish Network as it’s better performing and has a larger subscriber base.

Of course DirecTV or Verizon haven’t indicated that this is currently in the works, but the WSJ does have a point. Verizon’s fiber optic service, FiOS, is almost universally loved for its fast Internet, wide range of high-def stations and modest price. However, it’s been slow to roll out to new markets because fiber optic cable has to be ran to each home, which is a timely and costly endeavor. Verizon probably doesn’t have any plans to scale back its FiOS expansion plans, but it will take the company a while to be a national player at the current rate. Buying DirecTV – or Dish Network – is the fastest way to the top.

No word was given what caused the delay, but it probably has something to do with the company lossing $4.1 million over the last three months. That same call also featured talk about TiVo’s tru2way partnership with Comcast. But that service is still a bit out so don’t expect that anytime soon either.

Is this a trick? IT FEELS LIKE A TRICK! I’m either dead or dreaming because not only did Comcast and NFL Network just reach an agreement to make NFL Network part of Comcast’s Digital Classic package, but Comcast subscribers will also get access to the Red Zone Channel that’s usually shown only on DirecTV as part of the insanely expensive Sunday Ticket package.

The Red Zone Channel, for those of you who have never witnessed it in all its glory, is a single channel that flips between live NFL games any time a particular team gets inside the 20 yard line (or “the red zone,” as it were). So if you play fantasy football or Pick’em like I do, you want to watch every minute of every game. The Red Zone Channel is the next best thing.

This still seems way too good to be true. If the season rolls around and I’m watching NFL Network as part of my regular cable package and have access to the Red Zone Channel at no extra charge, I’ll be absolutely elated.

Oh, and the actual news. Comcast and NFL Network agreed to a fee of somewhere between 40 and 50 cents per month, per subscriber, according to the New York Times. NFL Network previously wanted 70 cents, which Comcast said was way too expensive.

Ultimately, it seems, NFL Network wants eyeballs and four years of not-a-lot-of-eyeballs apparently convinced it to ease up on pricing. It’ll be truly interesting to see if DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket drops in price now, too.

[via Consumerist]

Put away your pitchforks, angry investors, for Sirius XM has been saved by Liberty Media, the company that has a sizable stake in DirecTV. A deal was reached that sees Liberty Media invest (via loans) $530 million in the satellite radio operation, some of which will go straight to paying off that $170ish million in debt the company had until today to come up with. Mel Karmazin stays on as CEO, but Liberty Media gets a boatload of stocks and a few seats on the board of directors.

The deal with Liberty Media, which some had characterized as Sirius XM’s “white knight,” means the satellite radio company doesn’t have to deal with Charles Ergen (the Dish Network guy), who, some had speculated, didn’t exactly see eye to eye with Karmazin; any potential deal between Ergen and Sirius XM placed Karmazin’s future in doubt.

This is probably the best outcome that Sirius XM could have hoped for, the worst of which, obviously, would have been bankruptcy (and, ipso-facto, Karmazin’s possible sacking). That Karmazin managed to secure the loan in this hellish environment should be applauded.

Our long national nightmare is over.

This Sirius XM bankruptcy story is starting to read like some trashy novel. There’s now word that DirecTV is getting involved, with the CEO of parent company Liberty Media, one John C. Malone, offering to bail out the troubled satellite radio company. Some see it as a genuine offer, while others see it merely as a ploy to jack up the price for Malone’s rival at EchoStar (Dish Network), Charles W. Ergen. Wonderful.

So the Times today says that Malone’s Liberty Media is in talks with Sirius XM to help out in some capacity; it’s not clear just year if they’re discussing a complete takeover, or something less dramatic, like helping out to service the company’s debt. (Remember: Sirius XM has until Tuesday to come up with $175 million; another $400 is due in December.) As you might expect, given the shape the world economy is in, it’s quite difficult to find people willing to buy Sirius XM debt.

And this is where it gets silly. Malone (remember, he’s in charge of the parent company of DirecTV) could well be offering to help out Sirius XM merely to make Ergen’s (the head of Dish Network’s parent company) life a little harder. “You wanna buy Sirius XM, you’ll have to put a whole lot more money on the table, jerk, because we’re interested, too!” Of course, since EchoStar already has a good chunk of Sirius XM debt on its books, it has the upper hand in any sort of open bidding/negotiating with Sirius XM. That Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazindoesn’t get along with Ergen—if Ergen “took over,” Karmazin may well have to step aside from the company—shouldn’t be ignored.

Keep in mind, worried subscribers, that it’s not like, if Sirius XM files for Chapter 11 next week, the company automatically closes up shop. Chapter 11 is basically a legal method for the company to, pardon my French, get its act together, financially. Should the company indeed file for Chapter 11, you, the everyday subscriber, aren’t necessarily going to see any difference in your day-to-day use of the service. (I think people just hear the word “bankruptcy” and they freak out.) The fact is, the company has plenty of paying subscribers that any competent executive or shareholder would want to do business with. It’s just that Sirius XM ran into the perfect storm with its debt obligations vis-à-vis capitalism completely falling apart in the last few months.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, back it up… beep… beep… beep. So DirecTV and TiVo have run back into each other’s loving arms despite a pretty ugly separation back in 2005.

Back in the day, you could get DirecTV service with the very-excellent TiVo interface loaded into a pretty powerful dual-tuner box. Then all hell broke loose as DirecTV abruptly announced that it would be making its own DVR boxes, leaving TiVo scrambling to make up for more than half of its 3+ million subscriptions it’d be losing.

Anyway, it seems that TiVo and DirecTV bumped into each other late-night at a bar somewhere and started making out in the corner. Some of their friends gasped, while most of them had lovestruck tears in their eyes.

So the deal is that DirecTV and TiVo are developing a broadband-enabled HD DVR box that’ll use DirecTV service. Unlike TiVo’s current arrangement with Comcast, you’ll actually be able to hook this DirecTV box up to your home network and use TiVo’s online features and services. DirecTV, too, will include its services on the box as well. I’m guessing that means the on-demand over broadband stuff that we heard about back in March. The new DVR box is slated for release in the second half of 2009.

Listen. We’re not in the game of financial advisory — even though we do know the game — but when Dish Network drops like an Olympic weightlifter, we take notice. 

Shares of Dish Network Corp. fell sharply Wednesday after an analyst downgraded the stock due to concerns about the satellite TV operator’s weakening business.

It’s worse…

In the second quarter, Englewood, Colo.-based Dish reported a net loss of 25,000 subscribers, the first in the company’s history.

Oh boy, and worse.

Dish also faces risk from its ongoing litigation with Tivo Inc. Tivo has accused Dish of infringing patents for its digital video recorders. Dish lost the initial case and an appeal but it is countersuing.

There was a time when Dish Network led the race to HD, had the very good hardware, and simply a rock’n price. What’s happened since then? Dish still has a great lineup, good hardware, and a competitive price.

So what is it then? Really, we are asking. What’s Dish Network doing that simply isn’t keeping subs around anymore? Lineup, price, hardware, logo, availability….let us know in the comments. 

Forbes

Tough times for Los Angelenos wanting to watch HDTV. Apartment dwellers in the city are, apparently, fed up with Time Warner’s foot-dragging when it comes to expanding HD content, especially those who aren’t allowed to install a DirecTV or Dish Network satellite dish. Right now, Los Angeles ranks dead last in HD channel availability in the top five TV markets in the country. (LA has 16. Compare that to San Antonio with 38.) Charlotte, NC has more HD channels than it!

I think Los Angelenos need to calm down a bit. Lots of those HD channels they’re missing out on are merely upconverted hotbeds of junk that you’d never want to watch anyway. Yes, it’s the principle of the matter, but they’re really not missing much. Aside from ESPN in HD and the occasional nature show, there’s not too much in the way of quality HD on cable.

It’s not a perfect solution, as automatically pushed content can take up precious hard drive space that’d otherwise be used for recording the programs that users actually want to see but it’s a step in the right direction since DirecTV has had no answer to cable’s on-demand offerings for quite some time now. It’ll also be interesting to see how quickly an internet-downloaded TV show or movie will be able to start playing back. Analysts believe that if users have to wait too long to start watching what they’ve ordered, the service could ultimately falter (especially with bandwidth-intensive high definition content).

At the outset, DirecTV will have about 3,000 movies and TV shows available and will be adding more over the coming months. There’s no hard and fast date yet for when the on-demand features will become available but DirecTV’s apparently been testing it and has said that it’ll come to fruition sometime in the second quarter.

DirecTV to Start On-Demand [WSJ.com]

If you’re a DirecTV subscriber and you’re prepared to cough up the $368 it’ll cost you to get the NFL Sunday Ticket package plus the SuperFan upgrade, you’ll be able to stream every game to your computer (Windows only) this season.

It’s called DirecTV SUPERCAST and it’s a step in the right direction for the National Football League which, compared to other professional sports leagues, has historically been about as digitally inviting as a very old man using a typewriter, rotary phone, and #2 pencil to conduct business.

I hope this goes well and that Old Man NFL realizes the profit potential here. If something like this were available to non-DirecTV people, would you use it and what’s the most you’d pay for computer-only access? I think I’d pay $199 for the entire season, although I think that $99 or $149 would be a much nicer gesture. Also, an option to watch one certain game for, say, $4.99 or one particular week for, say, $19.99 would be a consumer-friendly business model. I don’t want to get Old Man NFL all riled up, though.

NFL to stream live games over the Internet [Ars Technica]

Not a lot of info here, but the WSJ is reporting that DirecTV will FINALLY start offering broadband Internet access via power line distribution. The service is possible through a deal with Current Group, who provides broadband communications over power lines.

How much would you pay for broadband ‘net from DirecTV? With $20 satellite TV available, this could make up part of a wicked package deal.

DirecTV, Current to offer Net service over power lines: WSJ [Marketwatch]

Press Release

Believe it or not, some people in this country still don’t have access to broadband. Combine that with the fact that DirecTV is in a bit of a financial pickle and you’ll understand why the satellite TV provider is toying with the idea of starting a broadband over power line service in the near future. It’s currently deciding whether or not to go into formal testing, using a “top 50″ U.S. city as its guinea pig. It’s even thinking about looking into Wi-Max technology to deliver broadband. The move is seen as a way for DirecTV to diversify its services and offerings, which go head to head with digital cable. My main beef with DirectTV is that it compresses the hell out of high definition broadcasts, but that’s a rant for another day.

DirecTV may try broadband on power lines [Reuters]