Shortly before the AT&T/T-Mobile merger came to its ignominious end, Dish Network CEO Joseph Clayton casually expressed his interest in a partnership with T-Mobile as a means of bringing wireless voice service to Dish customers.

Those plans may not pan out if AT&T has anything to do with it. A new report from Bloomberg indicates that AT&T is apparently so hard up for additional spectrum that they’re considering shelling out “the highest premium in more than a decade” to acquire the satellite TV provider and their spectrum holdings.

Clayton, ever the opportunist, seemed receptive to the possibility of at acquisition — he noted last week in an interview with Bloomberg West that the company is “open to all possible options.”

“We could be acquired, or we could be the acquirer,” he added.

Clayton’s original vision was to create a “national wireless network” comprised of video, voice, and data services. To that end, Clayton made it known that he would consider a partnership with companies like T-Mobile or Sprint to make it happen. They would get Dish’s spectrum holdings, and Dish would get their expertise in managing voice networks.

It’s questionable whether Dish would ever be able to offer those services if AT&T indeed acquires the company, as it would pose a credible threat to AT&T’s own portfolio of network services. Still, it seems clear that AT&T needs Dish more than Dish needs AT&T at this point.

Clayton seemed more than happy to forge partnerships with the smaller carriers in order make his network vision a reality, but without T-Mobile’s network support, AT&T may be facing a bumpy road when it comes to the rollout of their LTE network. It certainly doesn’t help that AT&T has to yield a portion of their spectrum holdings to Deutsche Telekom as a result of their very-public break up.

Meanwhile, rival Verizon’s LTE network continues to expand (albeit with a few hiccups), and Sprint is also preparing to light up their own around June of this year. Competition will only get stiffer for AT&T in the coming months, and it will take some bold moves for them to stay ahead of the curve. While not the most likely bedfellows, a Dish acquisition could nevertheless be just what the doctor ordered.

It looks like AT&T and T-Mobile aren’t the only ones preparing for all contingencies: Dish Network CEO Joseph Clayton said in an interview with Bloomberg that if the pending merger were to fail, he would consider striking up a partnership with T-Mobile.

Strange move, no? Not necessarily — Dish Network picked up some wireless spectrum on the cheap when they acquired DBSD and Terrestar, both of whom had filed for bankruptcy. Instead of flipping their spectrum for some easy revenue, Clayton says that the company has bigger plans for it.

“We want to use it to create a national wireless network, video, voice and data. We’ve got expertise in satellite-TV, and we will in satellite broadband. The voice part, we’ll need some help with.”

That’s where T-Mobile comes in. Dish would get T-Mobile’s expertise in providing voice services while T-Mobile’s network gets a kick in the pants thanks to Dish’s spectrum holdings. A move like that could definitely give T-Mobile a bit more clout when stacked up to the rest of their national rivals, though how much the balance of power would shift is questionable.

Ever the schemer, Clayton seems to have a plan for every possibility. The company can approach T-Mobile regarding a formal partnership if the AT&T merger doesn’t pan out, but Dish will also be there to snatch up network assets that AT&T and T-Mobile may have to divest in order to get the FCC’s blessing. And, failing that, Clayton is also considering Sprint as a potential network partner.

It wouldn’t be the first time a television service provider has expressed an interest in scooping up assets from a mobile operator — Comcast and Time Warner Cable were eyeing Clearwire up as recently as this past August, though Sprint’s recent sign of commitment to its ailing network partner may have put an end to that.

Dish Network has the answer to Netflix: Blockbuster. The company bought the bankrupt Blockbuster six months ago at auction for $228 million and apparently wasted no time integrating Blockbuster’s current streaming service into Dish’s satellite TV plans. The Blockbuster Movie Pass is a complete media rental service and features streaming movies and TV shows along with movies and games-by-mail. But don’t cancel your Netflix streaming account just yet.

This isn’t Blockbuster or Dish Network’s first foray with streaming video. The then-alive (but quickly sinking) Blockbuster launched On Demand back in 2008 complete with its on dedicated player. It’s still up and running and features a robust platform support second only to Netflix. Likewise, Dish Network has long offered on demand video content and was the first to offer 1080p videos.

In fact the Blockbuster Movie Pass is a relaunch of existing Blockbuster products combined with on demand content from Dish Network. The Blockbuster streaming content adds Starz, Epix, Sony Movie Channel, and Encore to Dish’s on demand library that includes Fox, TBS, TNT, Discovery, AMC, CN, DIY, HGTV, FOOD and History. The combined content can be streamed only from DishNetwork.com. Blockbuster.com will continue to stream its On Demand service.

The streaming content can’t compete with Netflix just yet though. Blockbuster announced today that the streaming to TV library includes just 3,000 movies — 4,000 are available if watched via a computer. Of course the DVD mailing service better competes with Qwikster (Netflix) and features 100,000 available titles, which can be returned at Blockbuster location. However, unlike the current Blockbuster By Mail service, you can’t walk out with another title; your next movie will be mailed to you.

Today’s announcement leverages Blockbuster’s name in movie rentals. You don’t rent movies from Dish Network, you rent movies from Blockbuster. That’s at least what Dish Network hope consumers think.

The service launches next Saturday, October 1 and goes head-to-head with Netflix for $10. However, this isn’t for cord cutters. This service requires a Dish Network satellite TV package and is not available separately. New subscribers can opt for one year of Dish’s Top 200 programming package for $39.99 a month. The Blockbuster service will be billed with the Dish Network TV service, resulting in one bill for subscribers.

Blockbuster’s Ira Bahr said , “They [consumers] still need their SpongeBob Squarepants, they still need their Fox News.” However, some people don’t want Fox News or SpongeBob, but for those already subscribed to Dish, this seems like a no-brainer for $10 a month.

Satellite TV and video-on-demand company DISH Network this morning announced today that Joseph P. Clayton has been named the company’s president and chief executive officer and has been appointed to its board of directors, effective June 20, 2011. The company’s iconic co-founder, Charles Ergen, will step down from his operational role at the helm of the company but remain as chairman of DISH Network.

Clayton previously served as chairman of Sirius Satellite Radio, from November 2004 through July 2008, and served as CEO of Sirius from November 2001 through November 2004.

Prior to joining Sirius, Clayton served as president of Global Crossing North America and as president and CEO of Frontier Corporation.

For your further reading pleasure:

DISH And EchoStar Settle Patent Litigation With TiVo, Agree To Pay $500 Million

DISH Wins Bankruptcy Auction, Buys Blockbuster Assets For $228M In Cash

DISH Network and EchoStar this morning announced that they’ve agreed to pay TiVo $500 million to settle all of their ongoing patent litigation with the digital video recorder company.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, DISH and EchoStar will initially cough up $300 million, with the remaining $200 million distributed in six equal annual payments between 2012 and 2017.

The companies have agreed to dismiss all pending litigation with prejudice, and to dissolve all injunctions against DISH and EchoStar.

In addition, TiVo granted DISH a license under its Time Warp patent and certain related patents, for their remaining lives. Time Warp is technology that essentially allows users to record one TV program while watching another.

TiVo says it will also play a role in helping DISH Network promote the Blockbuster digital video service (DISH just acquired substantially all of the assets of Blockbuster, which went belly up in September 2010, for roughly $228 million in cash).

TiVo also granted EchoStar a life-long license under the same patents, to design and make certain DVR-enabled products solely for DISH Network and two international customers.

EchoStar, in turn, granted TiVo a license under certain DVR-related patents for TiVo-branded products.

TiVo originally sued DISH and EchoStar back in 2004 over its patented DVR technology back when the two were still a single company. They won the suit, but the court decided in May 2010 to reconsider its verdict. Two weeks ago, a federal appeals court then moved to uphold the ruling that EchoStar infringed TiVo patents, which ultimately led to today’s announcement. TiVo will hold a conference call at 9:00 AM ET today to discuss the agreement.

In related news, DISH Network this morning reported its first quarter 2011 financial results (net income of $549 million on revenues of $3.22 billion) and announced that Michael Kelly has been named president of its new subsidiary Blockbuster.

EchoStar also announced quarterly earnings this morning: net income of $17 million on revenues of $480 million.

DISH Network this morning announced that it was selected as the winning bidder in the bankruptcy court auction for substantially all of the assets of Blockbuster, which went belly up in September 2010.

DISH’s winning bid was valued at approximately $320 million, but after adjustments for available cash and inventory and others, the company expects to end up paying approximately $228 million in cash to acquire Blockbuster.

Yesterday, DISH Network’s bid was worth $307.1 million (or $308.1 million, depending the source).

Other bidders included billionaire Carl Icahn, a major Blockbuster shareholder and bondholder, and a consortium of existing Blockbuster lenders led by Monarch Alternative Capital. South Korea’s SK Telecom was also a bidder but dropped out earlier.

A sale-approval hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

DISH says the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011, although its completion is contingent upon satisfaction of certain conditions, including bankruptcy court approval.

Here’s how Tom Cullen, EVP of Sales, Marketing and Programming for DISH Network, pitches the deal:

“With its more than 1,700 store locations, a highly recognizable brand and multiple methods of delivery, Blockbuster will complement our existing video offerings while presenting cross-marketing and service extension opportunities for DISH Network.

While Blockbuster’s business faces significant challenges, we look forward to working with its employees to re-establish Blockbuster’s brand as a leader in video entertainment.”

Established in 1998, DISH currently serves more than 14.1 million satellite TV customers.

Batten down the hatches, netizens! At a streaming media conference yesterday, Dish Network Vice-President of Online Content Development and Strategy, Bruce Eisen, said that sites like Hulu, which allow Internet users to watch certain television programming (and sometimes for free), may well destroy the television industry as we know it. That’s a bad thing if you’re Dish Network, but what if you’re the average person?

My guess is that the average person really doesn’t give a toss about how the television business works, so long as he or she gets to see Glee or Dancing With The Stars (or pick-your-favorite-show). Dish Network’s concerns really don’t coincide with the concerns of the American family.

Eisen suggested that certain television episodes should only be made available to TV Everywhere devices, and then only a certain percentage of those episodes would be made available—30 days after their initial viewing.

Didn’t DVR last night’s episode of House? No problem! You merely have to wait a full month to see it on Approved Streaming Site!

Wasn’t the point of online streaming to “head off at the pass” people who’d illegally download programming? If someone downloads a 720p rip of Modern Family, that’s zero revenue for the relevant parties, namely the network, the production studio, and the television provider. But, if you were to offer this program online, you could at least ensure you’d earn advertising revenue. Or, failing that, you could charge a nominal fee. A sort of, if people like this show so much, surely they’d pay $10 per month to keep it on the air, or online?

And if they’re not willing to pay, forget ‘em. These shows do, in fact, cost money to produce. Money has to come from somewhere, right?

But as Matt and I were just discussing, the fear that people will disown their traditional television consumption methods is probably a little bit overstated.

Google TV, the One Product that’s supposed to revolutionize the way we watch TV, namely thanks to search, is very much still in beta. And you may be willing to put up with lack of polish if you’re a techie, but if you’re just a family-man who wants to come home from work and relax for an hour before going to bed? The last thing you want to be doing is fiddling with some newfangled device that really isn’t any more convenient than hitting the On button on your cable company’s remote control.

Devices like Google TV also depend on the kindness of the strangers, namely content providers. Say your Google TV box taps into a Viacom stream of The Daily Show. That’s all well and good—until Viacom decides to limit access to its streams. “Google TV: We’re sorry, but you’re not authorized to watch this stream. Please visit viacom.com for more information.”

You know, just like this!

And let’s not forget that more than one-third of Americans still don’t subscribe to broadband. What happens to ISPs when every single one of their customers is streaming video 24/7? That’s an awful lot of bandwidth, so much so that they may have to charge you for it.

All of a sudden, your scheme of “getting one over” on the cable companies doesn’t quite work out. You either pay Comcast the $100 per month to watch television the “regular” way, or pay more for Internet access in order to keep streaming away.

Never mind that HBO, the premium cable channel, just reported that it has seen zero evidence of so-called cord cutting.

Back to Dish Network’s concern, that Hulu et al. will destroy the television industry.

Well, the television industry holds all the cards here.

If it’s deathly afraid of streaming sites it can simply stop supplying content to them, or be far more selective with who (or what) gets to tap into that content. It can decide not to cooperate with the likes of Google TV, leaving Google (and its partners, like Logitech and Sony) to do what, exactly? And unlike the music industry, which was partially the victim of its own format (that is, music files are small enough to be traded pretty much at-will), streaming video eats up a lot of bandwidth, and you can be sure ISPs aren’t going to be happy watching you stream gigabytes of data every day when you’re paying the same amount for your Internet connection as the grandparents next door who only check out photos of their grandchildren on Facebook once a week.

The television industry has a number of choices to make in the coming years, but it’s probably not going to coming crashing down tonight at midnight.

If anything, the television industry would be better served worrying about the quality of its programming, of which it has total control over, and not freaking out over how people may or may not consume said programming many years hence.

As I said, it’s Logitech’s day today, and now it’s time for other companies to piggyback on all the goodwill. Dish Network has two main bits of info for us this afternoon: one, that it’ll be selling the Logitech Revue, and two, that if you’re a subscriber you’re potentially looking at a nice little discount. Nothing wrong with that.

Should you qualify, Dish Network will let you have the Revue for $179—a full $120 off the retail price.

Yup, that’s it!

If you’ve never heard of the DTVPal DVR – or DTVPal tuner, don’t worry, you’re not alone. The DTVPal DVR was an interesting device that was a cross between a VCR and a DVR. VCR because it could record shows based on time – unlike the better TiVo model, where it records by show – and DVR because it was, well, digital.

It was one of the only OTA ATSC dual-tuning DVRs available at a reasonable price, but that’s right about where the novelty wore off. You see, it was never very buttoned-down in terms of stability. Users often experienced the same issues as with the antiquated video cassette (12:00..12:00..not exclusive). That and only a limited guide was available over-the-air from either PSIP or TVGOS. The kinks were never worked out and DISH’s little pet project got scrapped.

You can still get them – and very cheaply – so look to AVS forums or anywhere on the internet. Normal price was ~$250, but now it wouldn’t be hard to find one for $129.99.

A federal appeals court stated today that it will revisit a digital-video recorder patent dispute between TiVo and both Dish Network and EchoStar. TiVo has sued the companies back in 2004 over its patented DVR technology back when the two were still a single company.

They won the suit, but the court has now decided to reconsider its verdict, which is a bit of a cold shower for the company.

Today’s decision pushed TiVo shares down as much as 36 38 percent.

The company moments ago released a statement on the matter:

“We are disappointed that we do not yet have finality in this case despite years of litigation but we remain confident that the Federal Circuit’s ruling in our favor will be reaffirmed after all of the judges on the Federal Circuit have had the opportunity to review the merits of this case.”

Update: and here’s the Dish / EchoStar statement:

“DISH Network and EchoStar are pleased that the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has granted their petition for rehearing en banc. We believe the issues that will be considered by the full court on rehearing will have a profound impact on innovation in the United States for years to come.”

In March 2010, a panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a trial judge’s decision to hold Dish and EchoStar in contempt for infringing on TiVo’s DVR patent. The companies then urged the court to reconsider, and the appeals court has granted said request earlier this morning. The court said it will take a second look at its March finding.

More details on BusinessWeek.

The market is busy beating TiVo with a stick – let’s see how long that continues.

Jointly backed by Viacom, Lionsgate, Paramount, and MGM, EPIX provides access to over 15,000 movie titles. The company originally signed a deal with Verizon FIOS, which was somewhat limiting considering only some 2 million people use Verizon’s cable service. Epix is getting a much greater userbase with the deal with Dish Network, which has more than 14.1 million customers around the nation. This is also the first national distribution deal for EPIX.

Cox brings more clients to EPIX with its base of 6.2 million customers, which including 2.7 million digital cable subscribers. Mediacom, the 7th largest cable provider in the U.S., will bring with it a base of 1.3 million subscribers in 22 states. And Carter, which is the fourth largest cable provider in the U.S. will bring EPIX to 5.7 million homes by May 2010. With all six distribution deals, the company expects to reach 30 million homes.

One of our main issues with EPIX was that it was tied to Verizon FIOS but it appears that the company is steadily adding more cable providers to distribute its service. Unfortunately, the platform offers a sliver of available movies out there, since it only includes the movies available through the studios that are backing the company. But EPIX is useful because it transcends the TV and your computer and it’s fairly easy to use. EPIX also is creating original content; the company announced earlier this year that it would be creating a comedy series on Silicon Valley, based on Dan Lyons’ Fake Steve Jobs persona.

Now that EPIX has scored deals with Dish, Cox and Charter, I’m sure the company is looking to cross Time Warner and Comcast off the list.

Where are all these people going? It seems that almost every provider has recorded a decline in subscriptions so are more people utilizing free digital signals for their TV addiction? The picture is better than anything cable or satellite can provide, but what do people do without hundreds of stations they never watch?

This isn’t exactly new, in the strictest definition of the word, but why let that stop us? A group of Sirius XM creditors, creditors whose money makes the company hum on a daily basis, have threatened to seek the ouster of chief executive officer Mel Karmazin if the company files for bankruptcy. (Remember: that could happen as early as tomorrow.) The WSJ notes, however, that the odds of this actually happening—adios, Mel!—are fairly low, since bankruptcy judges tend to give management the benefit of the doubt that it’s doing its best for the corporation. If, for some reason, the judge decides in favor of the creditors, Karmazin and a whole host of Sirius XM brass could be out of a job (which, coincidentally, may not be all that bad).

These creditors are upset with the way Karmazin has run the company, especially relating to his handling of this whole debt situation. I guess they see Karmazin as trying to save the company while simultaneously saving his own backside, rather than solely looking out for the interest of the corporation. Remember: that Dish Network deal, while it may help the company, especially in the short term, could well lead to Karmazin’s sacking, since the Dish Network guy and Karmazin aren’t exactly best friends.

But these creditors would have to prove to the bankruptcy judge that Karmazin was not just a bad CEO—Lord knows there’s bad CEOs all over the place—but that he was engaged in “gross mismanagement” or outright fraud. I don’t think anyone has accused Karmazin of that!

The fact is credit, for all intents and purposes, no longer exists, so it’s extraordinarily difficult for someone in Karmazin’s position to right the ship, as it were.

It’s not that Sirius XM is failing, it’s that it’s failing during the worst recession since the Great Depression. That exacerbates the problem, as you might guess.

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.

Man alive! Dish Network will have a DVR with built-in Slingbox tech. It’s the Vip 922 HD DuoDVR; we don’t know when it’ll be available, nor do we have any pics. Later today, I suppose.

It’s the first time that a non-Sligbox box will have Slingbox tech built in. The San Francisco Chronicle says the new DVR is “definitely a high-end product.” Good idea to release such a device in this environment.

I’ll have the boys on the show floor—again, I’m still in New York this week—find out more for y’all.

Call: Barack Obama has so much money…

Response: How much money?

Call: He has so much money that he can buy a channel on Dish Network, where he’ll pump his campaign messages 24/7.

If you’re keen to check out Obama’s channel, tune in to channel 73. It runs through November.

And no, it’s not Dish Network endorsing Obama or anything. It’s merely a paid advertisement. If McCain would pony up the cash, I’m sure Dish would be more than happy to accept it and run his ads on loop.

Off topic, but: is anyone else a little tired of Palin’s “folksy” attitude. We get it: you’re the average American. Good for you.

DTVPal via Twice

The February 17^th, 2009 analog shutoff marks the beginning of the digital age here in America and digital tuners, such as the DTVPal, are going to become a staple in many American households. Thankfully, Congress allocated $140 million to alleviate the personal cost of these boxes, by allowing two, $40 coupons per household. This should cover most, if not all, of the retail price. The DTVPal is one of the first on the market to hit the sweet spot of $40 MSRP, allowing consumers to receive these boxes for free thanks to that coupon.

This low price piqued my interest and so I set out to discover if this DTV tuner was worth the cost of your coupon. I, like most Americans, do not need one of these boxes, thanks to cable TV, but my lovely mother does. So I packed up the DTVPal, along with my camera, and headed over to her place.

Growing up at my mom’s house never involved much TV. She has the same antenna that was built with the house in ’76. When I was lucky, I could tune in FOX, but mostly all I had in my younger years was the big three networks of ABC, NBC, and CBS. When the President was on, my night was shot. It’s the same way still today; three, maybe four snowy stations on a tube TV.

My digital station market includes an ABC, NBC, and a FOX affiliate along with pairs of CBS and PBS stations. When all the digital stations are added up, there are 15 of ‘em. To my mothers utter, abet underwhelming, surprise, the DTVPal added all of ‘em to her available lineup — glorious digital TV had arrived to my mom’s house. The DTVPal did its job, but now my mom had to live with this new contraption.

Now my Mom isn’t exactly a true, technology fearing luddite as one can quickly surmise by her impressive component audio setup, but it can take her a while to warm up to new things. This was another remote to add to the end table and another system to master. Thankfully, the Dish Network-made tuner and remote operates the same way as the company’s satellite tuners so I could easily explain the basic functions, as could anyone that has used the providers equipment before.

The menu, along with the guide function, was easy ‘nough, although I doubt she will ever access either one. The OSD explains what TV show is playing, along with the signal strength and time. The whole setup is nice and clean.

I hooked up the tuner, although with a little reading and hunting, my mom could have connected the colored cables to the appropriate inputs. The tuner, of course, outputs the signal via composite RCA jacks or coax. The RCA jacks give you a higher quality picture, so I went with those for her little Sony TV. Unfortunately, in order to redeem the $40 DTV coupon, the tuner cannot have component outputs giving users access to the even higher quality inputs that most TVs have.

Overall, I am very impressed with the DTVPal and cannot find anything for Dish to improve on. We have tried other tuners at her place and none of them provided a better signal, or an easier operation. Plus, the unit is free with Congress’ generous DTV coupon. I even plan on getting a DTVPal when my coupon is delivered for the occasional Comcast downtime or emergency TV. Seriously, click here for one of the vouchers and then redeem it on a DTVPal. It is well worth the cost of admission and can be ordered of www.DTVpal.com.

Oh, don’t forget to make sure that your ‘rents and grandparents are hook’d by February 17^th,, 2009. Just think, you could redeem one of your vouches and give the DTVPal to one lucky antenna user this Christmas – they don’t’ need to know it was free. CrunchDeal for sure.

Feburary 17, 2009 is right around the corner; are you ready? Digital converter boxes are hovering around the $60 mark but Dish Network with a price drop on their DTVPal from $60 down to $40. (snap!) Take the $40 TV Converter Box voucher courtesy of the U.S. Government, and you have yourself an free DTV tuner. It is as easy as that. Dish even helps you out with getting the coupon with a link on the DTVPal product page. (Only takes 2 minutes — I just signed up for mine and will be shipped in Sep.) 

As for the box itself, CNET and Satellite Guys seem impressed. The tuner is about the size of a paperback book and comes with a nice, little Dish Network-style remote. The back panel sports COAX in and out, along with RCA-type audio/video jacks. Not state-of-art, HD equipment, but we’re still impressed. What more do you want for free?

via TVPredictions

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