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The judgment is in and TiVo has been declared the winner by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This has been hailed as a potential game winning victory. So why is Dish Network celebrating its so called loss in this long and drawn out battle?
There are a few simple reasons that have led Dish Network to begin declaring a roundabout victory in the fight with TiVo that has been ongoing for the past six years. The first of these is that by losing the court battle, Dish may find itself with the opportunity to bid on being an exclusive provider of DVR technology through a contract with TiVo.
Have you pushed the DVR button on your remote only to see “Error 204 Unable to access this feature at this time Data not available” pop up on your screen?
You’re not alone, others have run their DVR for some time just to suddenly lose signal connection and the picture. You may or may not get an error message but you may see white bars flash on screen. You will typically hear the fan cycling up several times as the DVR hunts for a signal.
As the Internet continues to make its way into our lives, it’s only natural that Google is also making inroads into your living room as well.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google Inc. is working on a project with Dish Network regarding the operation of a set top box. Just what the set top box would actually do remains a mystery, nevertheless the secret project is underway and the public may never see it.
Google has stated that the project may be “discontinued at any time.”
Since the box project is housed at Google and not Dish Network, assumptions have been made that the –hopefully– Internet-ready device would pick up WI-FI signals and run on Google’s operating system Android. Combined with a version of their browser Chrome, the box would allow users search functionality for shows through the use of a keyboard.
After aggressive subscription and package cuts, Dish Network has added just shy of 250,000 new subscribers. While the new customers is a plus, Dish was still marred by a 17.5% drop in net income when compared to a year ago. While the share difference of a year ago was eight cents less, it was still eight cents more than analysts had been forecasting for the fourth quarter. As a result, revenue for the company rose ever so slightly by 1.4% to $2.96B, just slightly ahead of what was projected.
A welcomed increase in the value of shares of Dish Network Corp. comes just in time. This has taken place thanks to an upgrade by a Collins Stewart analyst. The reason given for the boost is that the stocks now include much of the cost of the expensive court defeat from the company’s ongoing battle with TiVo Inc.
This ongoing dispute has seen yet another battle lost by Dish when a federal appeals court helped TiVo to collect more than $300 million in damages, interest, and contempt sanctions from the company. Dish of course has said that it intends to appeal the court’s decision.
There is no question as to the toll that the direct rivalry between DirecTV and its nemesis Dish Network is continuing to take on the company’s stocks. With discounts of up to 50% on certain packages the returns continue to take hit after hit. Much of the problem seems to be coming, not only from the stiff competition DirecTV faces from Dish, but also from the growing churn rate that the company faces.
A company’s churn rate is the rate at which the company loses relatively new subscribers. Many different factors including a poor economy and consumer reluctance at paying higher subscription fees are both playing into the increase in the churn rate that DirecTV is currently experiencing.
Unimpressed by the appeal put forth by Dish Network and EchoStar, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the previous ruling of a lower court which awarded TiVo $300 million or more. The previous ruling had found that the satellite operator was in contempt of a previous order which had demanded that all DVRs that infringed on an important patent held by TiVo be disabled.
EchoStar Communications was taken to court on the grounds of patent infringement by TiVo back in 2004. As of August 2006 Dish found itself having been ordered to disable all of its DVR equipment that violates the TiVo patent.
The patent in question concerned TiVo’s “Time Warp” technology which lies at the heart of its DVR capabilities. Dish Network continued to hold out on disabling its DVRs and by June 2009 found itself in contempt of court. This led to the award of another $103 million and interest to TiVo. Once again, by September 2009 Dish and EchoStar were ordered to pay even more fines to cover additional damages as well as sanctions for the contempt charge. With this new amount the total was now in excess of $300 million.
Don’t get too comfortable with your low, low price on that Dish Network package you have. During a call with reporters earlier this week, Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen said that cable companies are really hitting the No.2 satellite TV provider with large license fee increases. Ergen was frank and revealed that Dish may be passing on the expenses to subscribers.
“I think we have room to do it later in the year. It depends on getting ourselves in a position to do that,” says Ergen regarding fee increases. “I think we’re under-indexed [on rates for programming packages] compared to the rest of the industry.” In laymen’s speak: Dish customers have had it good for too long.
Why have Dish’s TV packages been so low? Ergen blames the war with DirecTV, who has stumbled in fourth quarter earnings. The two satellite giants have engaged in discounting battles that have entranced consumers but left both companies feeling the pinch.
I know all of us would love to get satellite subscriptions so we can watch a ton of shows, especially for the upcoming winter. But during these penny-pinching times, we want the most bang for the buck as well as to take advantage of any good deals. Here is some information about the two big satellite television companies, Dish Network and DirecTV.
Dish Network
Receivers vary in prices due to their DVR memory capacity, HD capacity, and dual tuners starting at around $100. Right now, Dish Network is offering their standard professional installation for free. This is a savings of $199 but be advised that this is a limited time offer.
DirecTV
DirecTV offers four types of receivers. The bottom standard receiver is $69 while its HD equivalent is $99. If you’re looking for a DVR, standard DVR receivers are $99 while HD DVR receivers jump to $199. While all of these sounds affordable, installation is usually free installation in most but not all cases.
If you subscribe to either Dish Network orDirecTV, there’s always a concern of which games one might be able to watch from the four major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL). Here’s a breakdown of both Dish Network and DirecTV, their sports packages, and if you can watch your local games on satellite. Both Dish Network and DirecTV have their pros and cons and depending on which sports you are a fan of, the following information will help you decide which to go with.
NFL- Dish Network introduces NFL RedZone, claiming that it will change Sundays forever. You get access to all the games on Sundays via every regional sports network. NFL RedZone is in HD so you get the utmost clarity while watching the games. Now you will never get stuck watching an AFC pillowfight between Oakland and Kansas City on CBS regional coverage when you could jump over to the Patriots vs. Ravens.
