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.

Streaming content may also be a feature since Google-Owned YouTube is readily available on countless Blu-ray players and other devices.

The big question: what’s in it for Google and what’s in it for Dish Network? For Google, the search giant will be making more strides to grow an already huge customer base for its mammoth advertising scheme via its “nascent TV ad-brokering business.” That’s great news for advertisers.

A major problem for Madison Avenue is how to get their products in front of DVR-using audiences who routinely bypass ads. With the Google box, ads may be played in its guide or every “white space” that may be shown through its GUI.

For Dish, having a set top box capable of Android-based Google goodness opens a realm of possibilities for Internet applications with third party developers continuing to make apps for the OS. Also, if viewers like the features of a proposed Google box but hate the ads, I’m willing to bet a premium package will be offered to consumers for a price.

Dish Network could also be looking for more opportunities to enhance its boxes on the heels of their long-running court battle with Tivo regarding their DVR functionality. A case Tivo ultimately won, which may impact millions of Dish DVR users.

Personally, I’m not sure how appetizing a set top box that forces users to use a keyboard is. Will consumers go ga-ga for keyword searches? The guide on DirecTV and Dish Network works great along with online DVR programming. Similar to Tivo’s existing functionality of actor searches, perhaps Google’s Dish box might offer a superior version. I’d rather see a set up similar to Roku with Netflix streaming, Amazon purchases and Pandora’s custom music stations.

But, like all of us, we’ll have to wait and see.

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.

After posting four straight quarters of subscriber declines, things are seem to slowly be turning around for Dish.  It seems as though maybe the aggressive marketing and financing strategies are working.  Sure, they might’ve gotten down and dirty with the smear campaign wagered against DirecTV.  But drastic times call for drastic measures.  It should be said that most of pay TV providers reported less-than-impressive subscriber additions, and Dish was the only real winner when it came to attracting new subscribers.  Comcast, Time Warner, and Cablevision Systems all lost video customers in the fourth quarter.

If you were a stockholder in Dish, you lost $1.98 per share, a loss of about 30% per share.  But there are always ups and downs in the financial market.  I’m no Wall street analyst but it could be a great time to invest in Dish, both as a subscriber and a stockholder.  The old adage of “buy low, sell high” is in effect here.  The positive turnaround, no matter how small, is a great sign for Dish Network.

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.

This dispute over patents concerning certain digital video recorder technologies has been going on since 2004 when TiVo first initiated the lawsuit. Regardless of this Thomas W. Egan, an analyst with Collins Stewart, said that the most current ruling should represent a major step in the right direction.

This in turn should help to ease the fears of investors. In a letter to investors Eagan stated that most of the negative impact from the judgment should be rolled into the stock. As such Eagan changed the status of the stocks from “Hold” to “Buy” and placed the target price at $30.

In Eagan’s letter to the company’s investors he stated that the current court ruling should be the last big obstacle facing Dish as the company has its turnaround well in hand. Perhaps as a nod to the decision to upgrade to “Buy” shares of Dish Network stock rose a full 3.5 percent, or 72 cents.

This rise brought the price of stocks up to $21.31 by time for afternoon trading. For the past 52 weeks shares of Dish Network stock have been trading anywhere between $8.79 and $22.18. With the upgraded status it is hoped that this price will now begin to increase once more.

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’ve been befuddled a little bit that DirecTV, who had a very nice brand position, actually started discounting that brand a couple of years ago with heavy discounting. It took us a while to figure out that they turned our business into more of a commodity by discounting a brand,” Ergen said.

Ergen also announced his company’s intention to lure in future customers with huge discounts, but raise prices once they are under contract.

“If this is going to be a commodity business, I like where we’re positioned,” said Ergen. “If it’s a branding business, we’re certainly not at that level with DirecTV today. But it looks like if it’s a ‘have a big discount to bring you in, raise your prices later’ [business] — we’re very comfortable in that kind of environment.”

Ergen relinquished his position as CEO of sister company EchoStar Corp. during the fourth quarter. Now he feels a bit saner:

“I had two CEO roles, and I wasn’t very good at either one of them. … Now I get to find out if I am a good CEO with Dish or whether somebody else would be better.

I will give myself a little more time to do it, but as people here can attest to, I was a bit schizophrenic last year, so I am obviously … much, much more focused now on Dish.”

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.

For both Dish Network and DirecTV, dishes can be bought via the company themselves or through websites like Amazon or Google.  Pricing has DirecTV’s around $125-150 while Dish Networks’s is $100-$130.  Strangely, both Dish Network and DirecTV do not give information about purchasing dishes as accessories.  We all know that you need the dish in order to watch satellite television.  While it is a bonus that both throw in free installation for receivers and the dishes, it is strange how prices (if any) aren’t listed for dishes.  If you do decide to purchase dishes that aren’t directly from the two companies, just make sure to get a new one.  You never know what has happened to a used one and don’t want to get short-changed on that type of investment.

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.

Dish Network

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.

MLB- Dish Network did not carry its MLB Extra Innings package this year because Dish Network and the MLB could not come to terms financially.  Viewers can still receive games on the regular channels like ESPN, FOX, and local regional stations.

NBA- League Pass takes you courtside every week allowing you to watch up to 40 live games from around the league.  You can follow your favorite team when you subscribe to League Pass since it comes with subscriptions to local television sports markets.

NHL- Dish Network offers their Center Ice package that allows you to watch your favorite team(s) throughout the season while also offering 40 out of town games each week.  Some select games are broadcast in HD.

While all four sports follow the normal national and regional blackout rules (they have to by law), you can watch all games via pay-per-view packages.  As long as you subscribe to the MultiSport Package that basically gives you every channel both national and regional, you should be able to find the game you’re looking for.  Dish Network does on occasion have to black out certain games due to extenuating circumstances.  They release a schedule every week of games that are to be blacked out.

DirecTV

NFL-NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV features all 14 games each week and allows you to watch any one you want.  For fantasy geeks, you can track players’ stats throughout the day as well as see other scores and rankings at the touch of a button.  Each game is broadcasted in HD and if you’re somehow away from home, you can stream it to your computer.

MLB- MLB Extra Innings package allows viewers to watch your home team from wherever you might be in the States.  Along with that, you can watch up to 80 other games a week, 40 of which are in HD.  DirecTV also has an interface where you can watch eight games on one screen called the Game Mix.

NBA- NBA League pass allows subscribers to watch up to  40 games per week, even the one in your region.  Half of the games are guaranteed to be in stunning HD so there’s really no need to go a buy a ticket.  You can even watch multiple out-of-market games at once.

NHL-In the NHL Center Ice package, not only can you watch the hockey team in your local town but you can also listen to your local color commentators as well.  By instituting what DirecTV is calling Dual Feeds, you can choose whether you listen to the home or away broadcast.  Along with that, you get 40 other games per week, some of which are in HD.

DirecTV’s Sports Pack is an all-inclusive package that features every regional channel that you would want.  On the off chance that the game is blacked out, your DirecTV receiver automatically scans The Guide to see if it’s airing on any other channel.

If you are looking to get Direct TV or Dish Network, most folks will simply need to give their credit card information and their social security number. However, some of you may have bad credit and sometimes, you can actually be turned down! But there is always a way to get around this. For example, Dish Network offers a prepaid plan.

With a prepaid plan, you simply prepay and you won’t have to pay a bill every month. You could get a prepaid card from Radio Shack or any local electronic stores that sells Dish Network.

This allows you to pre-pay for the Dish Network packages like :

• DishFAMILY
• Americaís Top 250
• DishLATINO

While this solution may be ideal for folks with a second home and are only there a couple of months a year, it is not ideal for regular folks who watch their TVs all the time. So what if you have bad credit and wish to improve your credit score quickly? Here are some steps that you can take.

Step 1. Check your credit report for errors – Your credit report may contain incorrect information that may negatively affect your credit scores. You can dispute any incorrect information with the credit bureau. The creditor that has the incorrect information has 30 days to respond and if they not respond, the information will be removed.

Step 2. Pay Your Bills On time – Your credit report contains information about whether you pay your bills on time. This could be your loans, your gym membership, your utility bills. Paying your bills on time is a very important factor in determining your credit score. Make sure you pay your bills on time.

Step 3. Improve your debt utilization ratio – One of the most important factor in your credit score is how much credit (or balance) you have versus how much credit lines you have. If you utilization is high, that will negatively impact your credit score. As a rough guide, a utilization score of 30% is OK. There are several ways to improve your credit score. You can pay down your debt. And you can also open new lines (but not really use them). One of the easiest ways is to simply get a new credit card. For those with poor credit, I would recommend getting a secured credit card. A secured credit card requires a deposit with the credit card issuer and that deposit acts as a collateral and becomes your credit line. The larger the deposit, the larger your new credit line. When you have bad credit, chances are that you will be bombarded with mails from sub prime credit card issuers. These credit cards for people with bad credit have ridiculous fees and low credit limits that they will almost never really help you in your debt utilization ratio.

But what if you have no credit (because you never had a credit card or taken any loan or perhaps you are new to this country), there are credit cards for people with no credit. They are chiefly secured credit cards (as mentioned before) and they are a good way to start building a credit history.

Remember, even something like getting a satellite TV or even a cell phone plan requires a decent credit history. If not, you will be stuck with a prepaid plan, which may or may not be ideal.

AllSat is a DISH Network authorized retailer and was named one of the Top Five Dish Network retailers in 2007. AllSat has proven they can be trusted since they have already met all of the rigorous requirements necessary to sell DISH Network service and schedule installations. They are not just another affiliate of a retailer. AllSat actually began as a brick and mortar store back in 1995 installing PRIMESTAR and then DIRECTV and then DISH Network. Then, in 1997, they quickly adopted the internet and became the premier online satellite retailer on the web. There are other sites selling satellite service but most have not been in business as long. Their website is so easy to use, there is no second guessing.

One cool feature on their website is that they will design the perfect Dish Network system for you. All you have to do is answer a few simple questions. Then you can order that service right from their website. You can choose your package and any premium programming, give them the installation information they will need to deliver and install the equipment and that is it, you’re done. One of the reasons I always put off changing or adding any phone, cable, satellite, or mobile phone service is because it is so dreadful to have to call and sit in a queue to talk to a representative. I tried out AllSat’s online ordering system and had all of the order information completed in less than five minutes.

Not only is AllSat’s site easy to use, they also offer free professional equipment installation. Right now, in addition to offering the usual free installation, they are also offering a special DishDVR Advantage program that gives you 100 favorite channels, local channels, a two-room DVR that allows access the programs you have recorded from two different TVs, and there is no equipment to buy. All of this is only $39.99 a month. You can also upgrade and receive 200 channels a month for $49.99 or 250 channels a month for $59.99.

One question people often have when considering satellite TV over cable is whether or not they will have to buy the equipment needed to receive service. The first thing you will need is a small satellite dish that is mounted on your home or apartment building. You will need to have an unobstructed view of the southern sky where the dish can be installed. You will also need a receiver for the service. Both DirecTV and the Dish Network offer a variety of receivers, some with HD service, DVRs built in, and various other features. The type of receiver you get is up to you and part of the package you choose.

Unusually, you do not have to pay for any of the equipment needed to receive your satellite service. Dish Network offers free equipment and installation with all of their packages. The equipment is leased so it is not yours to keep. If you choose to discontinue service after your lease agreement is up, you will have to return the equipment. One advantage to the Dish Network is they offer a free DVR built into their standard or HD receivers for free. This is a huge advantage for those who are paying a monthly DVR fee to Tivo or their cable provider. It is important to note that this is based on your credit score. I spoke to a sales representative at Dish Network who explained that they run a credit check on all new customers and if your credit score is low they may charge a minimal fee for the equipment and installation.

DirectTV has several offers that include free equipment and installation as well. Right now they are even offering 3 months free HD and an advanced receiver upgrade that includes HD or DVR with any of their premium packages (after an online rebate). DirecTV does charge a lease fee $of 4.99/mo. for the 2nd and each additional receiver.

Some people mistakenly believe they won’t be able to get local channels with satellite service. But that’s not the case, in fact, Dish Network provides local channels in most regions with most of their channel packages.

For an additional $5.00 a month you will receive local news, weather, and sports when you subscribe to local channel programming coupled with any of their standard programming packages. You will receive the major networks-ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, and PBS. This way you can have the best of both worlds, the premium satellite service you want and all of the local news and weather you need.

It’s easy to find out how. You can perform a search on Dish Network’s website to find out what local channels are available in your area and then just give them a call to subscribe.