Free Republic

Washington, D.C. (August 5, 2008) -- Dish Network is considering merging with rival satcaster DIRECTV, The Wall Street Journal reported today. The newspaper reports that the companies have not discussed a formal proposal, but have had "general discussions" about the idea. The two satcasters attempted to merge several years ago, but the FCC rejected the plan in 2002 on grounds that it would be anti-competitive. However, in the years since, other video competition has emerged, including TV services from telco giants AT&T and Verizon and set-top Net TV services from Apple TV, Amazon, TiVo and Netflix. WSJ reports that Dish...

Dish Network today announced that it will add 17 national HDTV channels on August 1, saying the additions will give it 100 national HD channels overall. The satcaster promised in January that it would offer 100 national HD channels by year's end. DIRECTV, Dish's top satellite rival, now offers around 95 national HD channels, but has promised to deliver up to 150 national HD channels by year's end. “In January, we promised our customers that DISH Network would boost our national HD channel lineup to 100 by year’s end. Today, we are proud to say that in less than one...

Among the international broadcasters that will cover the Democratic National Convention in Denver is al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite news network based in Qatar. Al-Jazeera English (launched in 2006) and al-Jazeera Arabic, separate but collaborative networks, will send two dozen staffers each. "This presidential election is the biggest story of the year, even on the international level," according to Camille El Hassani, senior producer for al-Jazeera English, based in Washington. "The next president's ideologies and his philosophies affect our viewers. Al-Jazeera is making a commitment to be at all the big events, including the conventions, Democratic and Republican." Al-Jazeera English will...

In the very real war on terror, a nosy squabble over “fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here” clouds a simple truth: namely, that “they” are here already. Indeed, Islamists are busy constructing a wing of jihad in America’s backyard. A potential audience of one million Arab-speaking cable subscribers of Time Warner in the greater New York area can feast on the Arabic Channel known as TAC to choose a menu that includes: A daily dose of Islamic jurisprudence from a sheik — most often Egyptian Amr Khaled, who wears a suit instead of a robe,...

Dish Network today added Sci-Fi Channel HD and USA Network HD to its High-Definition lineup. Rumors have circulated for weeks that the satcaster was about to add the two channels. With today's additions, Dish now has 79 national HD channels. Dish's high-def expansion plans suffered a setback this month when a satellite it planned to use to increase its HD capacity was declared a failure. But Dish said yesterday in a regulatory filing that it's still "on track" to offer 100 national HD channels by year's end, which it promised in January. Dish said there are still two more satellite...

SEDALIA, Mo. -- Prosecutors are not expected to file charges against a Missouri man who fatally shot his wife while he was trying to install a satellite TV system in their home. Henry County investigators ruled that Patsy Long's March 22 death was accidental. Her husband, Ronald Long, fired his .22 caliber pistol from inside their Deepwater home after he couldn't punch a hole through the exterior wall using other means.

Dish Network's new satellite designed to expand its High-Definition programming capacity failed last night. The AMC-14 satellite, which Dish was leasing from SES Americom, lifted off successfully yesterday morning. But International Launch Services, which was conducting the launch, reports that an "anomaly" occurred during the second burn of the Breeze M upper stage. The satellite then failed to reach its planned orbit. Once operational, the satellite was expected to enable Dish to begin adding high-def channels, increasing its current total to roughly 70 to 100 by year's end. The satcaster has said it would launch three new satellites in 2008...

LONDON — A new Arabic-language television news channel from the British Broadcasting Corporation will cover events in the Arab world “without fear or favor,” as it seeks to set itself apart from other government-financed broadcasters in the region, Nigel Chapman, director of the BBC World Service, said Monday. The channel, BBC Arabic TV, plans to start broadcasting 12 hours a day of news and current affairs programs to the Middle East, the Persian Gulf region and North Africa on March 11, followed by round-the-clock programming by the end of the year, the BBC said. It will have a $50 million...

Washington, D.C. (February 24, 2008) -- A law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against DIRECTV charging the satcaster with failing to tell customers they must eventually return their receivers -- even if they paid hundreds of dollars for them at retail. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Los Angeles by the Chicago-based Wexler Toriseva Wallace LLP, also includes CE retailer Best Buy. The law firm says the companies have not "adequately disclosed" that a customer can not keep his DIRECTV receiver even after paying for it. At BestBuy.com, the satcaster's receivers now range in price...

DIRECTV and Comcast have settled their lawsuit over High-Definition picture quality. That's according to an article by Multichannel News. DIRECTV filed the lawsuit in May, charging Comcast with false advertising for an campaign that claimed it had a better HDTV picture than satellite. Comcast cited a Frank N. Magid Associates study conducted in March 2007 that said respondents were shown high-def signals from Comcast, DIRECTV and EchoStar.and asked to rate each screen. According to the Magid study, Comcast was the preferred choice of the three. While the settlement terms are confidential, says Multichannel News, the agreement allows Comcast to continue...

AUSTIN — Cable companies and the NFL Network are competing for Texas lawmakers' support in their national fight over whether cable customers should be charged extra for the football channel. While some cable companies have agreed to carry the network's eight regular-season games, Time Warner Cable, the largest in Texas, has not come to terms with the network. Pressure has been mounting on all parties as the Dallas Cowboys' Nov. 29 matchup with the Green Bay Packers approaches. The game will only be shown on the NFL Network. "I've had a lot more people contact me about NFL football the...

Washington, D.C. (October 15, 2007) -- DIRECTV today added six new national High-Definition channels to its rapidly expanding lineup. The new channels are: Fox Business Network (channel 359); HGTV HD (channel 229-1); FX HD (channel 248); Speed Network HD (channel 607); Fuel HD (channel 612) and The Cartoon Network (channel 296). DIRECTV's launch today now gives the satcaster 47 national HD channels (51 if you include the four broadcast networks, available in most markets.) The company says it will offer 70 HD channels by month's end and up to 100 high-def channels by the end of the year. DIRECTV today...

Washington, D.C. (October 10, 2007) -- DIRECTV today added four High-Definition channels, bringing its national HD channel total to 45 (including the four local networks). The new channels are: MGM HD (channel 255); Food Network HD (231-1); National Geographic HD (276) and CNBC HD+ (355) DIRECTV says it will offer 70 HD channels by month's end and up to 100 high-def channels by the end of the year. The satcaster started the HD expansion in September with the addition of 21 new High-Definition channels. EchoStar, the nation's second leading satellite service, this week claimed that it's still the HD leader...

Washington, D.C. (September 27, 2007) -- AT&T has offered to buy EchoStar, the nation's second largest satellite TV service. That's according to an article today from TheStreet.com. The web site reports that AT&T has offered $55 a share, while the satcaster may be holding out for $65 a share. The deal would seem to make sense for both companies. EchoStar is under pressure to increase spending on several initiatives, including High-Definition TV, to keep pace with rival DIRECTV and the cable operators. AT&T could supply the financing, for instance, for EchoStar to launch new satellite to expand high-def capacity. Meanwhile,...

Daystar will air part II Friday Sep 21st on the "Joni" show of interview with General Sada, one of Sadam's generals who witnessed Sadam's intention of use WMD. God bless Daystar! God bless President Bush and PM Blair!

Christianity Spreading in Iran via Multimedia By Jennifer Riley Christian Post Reporter Christianity is expanding in the closed, heavily Muslim country of Iran through multimedia technology, according to a Christian persecution watch group. Iranian Muslims in growing numbers are coming to know and accept Jesus Christ through satellite-TV, internet and other media outlet, reported Open Doors Middle East field worker Stefan De Groot. “New media is becoming increasingly important in the future to strengthen the church,” De Groot said, according to Open Doors. Formerly, Muslims in restricted countries such as Iran usually only come to Christianity through miraculous experiences such...

I'd like to ask for your help. I'm a Directv subscriber. Have been since 1998. Back then, I couldn't get local programming via Directv, so i subscribed to their network feeds from NY & LA. Since then, Directv has expandd it's capacity, and now carries signals from virtually every local market in the U.S. Directv now has the ability to deliver local television programming from any market in the country. The probelm is the FCC. Under the Satellite Home Viewer Act, and it's subsequent revisions, Directv can provide "local-to-local" programming. That means, if they carry the signals from your local...

We got the Dish installed today and all was fine. Then the kids started manually inputting different channels using the remote. As a result, the entire satellite programming was lost. We have what looks like the blue screen of death. I called customer service twice and they have no clue as to how to fix this. We have to wait two days for a tech. to come out and fix this. Have any of you had this happen where the kids did this and your entire programming disappeared. If so, I would appreciate some pointers. The way the people set...

Colorado's two U.S. senators have asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate a dispute between DIRECTV and EchoStar over network channels. News Corp., DIRECTV's parent, last week asked a federal court to stop EchoStar from providing 'distant' network signals to nearly one million subscribers. The signals, which originate from New York and Los Angeles, include both analog and High-Definition TV feeds. EchoStar says it will pay $100 million to local stations to settle the nine-year-old legal battle over 'distant' network TV signals. The local stations are concerned that EchoStar's subscribers will watch the national signals instead of their feeds. However,...

Teheran (dpa) - Teheran's police commander said Tuesday that the removal of satellite dishes in the capital Teheran and the crackdown on satellite television have been resumed, the news agency ISNA reported. General Morteza Talaei said that the residents should dismantle their satellite equipment voluntarily, and not "force police" to remove them. The general termed reception of satellite programmes as a "clear legal offence" and said that the illegal status of satellite reception has during the recent years been totally ignored in the Iranian capital where most of the almost 12 million residents watch foreign programmes via satellite. The Iranian...

Shares of America’s #2 satellite television provider, EchoStar Communications, have hit 17-month highs in recent days amid speculation that leading rival, DirecTV Group Inc., could try to purchase the company. Such a merger would likely face regulatory and antitrust hurdles, but many analysts believe that these problems would be relatively easy to overcome. After all, the combined entity could be a strong competitor in the triple play communications industry, now increasingly polarized between cable and telecom carriers. The decision to merge with DirecTV would rest solely with Charlie Ergen, EchoStar’s Chairman, CEO, and co-founder, who currently controls more than...

ABU DHABI — Iran has forced the United Arab Emirates of Dubai to halt live Persian-language television broadcasts. Western diplomatic sources said the broadcasts contained Western programming and discussed democracy. They said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his advisers regarded these broadcasts as part of a U.S.-led effort to foment unrest in Iran. Iran also pressured Holland to end support for the Persian-language broadcasts. The sources said Teheran awarded several major projects to the Netherlands in wake of its decision to withdraw support for the broadcasts.

A U.S. evangelist who has been declared an “enemy of the state” by Iran has unveiled plans to broadcast special Christmas television programmes into the predominantly Muslim country. “We received word here in our office from within the country, that in the public media inside Iran I have been declared an enemy of the state,” said evangelist Sammy Tippit. “Their view of me, I don't think it can get any worse." According to Tippit, the topic of discussion in the new special programming, which is also to be beamed into India, will be suicide. The programme will combine a scene...

XM Satellite Radio has reached an agreement with satellite television provider DirecTV to offer 72 channels of music, children's, and talk programming to DirecTV users, nearly doubling its current audio programming at no additional cost. In addition to music channels and children's programming, XM will provide its Major League Baseball Home Plate talk channel, and its High Voltage channel, featuring Opie & Anthony. XM will be available on DirecTV as of November 15. "This marks the beginning of a natural partnership between the nation's leading satellite radio company and the leading satellite television company," said Patricia Kesling, SVP/Marketing and Operations...

MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's first 24-hour English-language news channel will begin broadcasting on Saturday, December 10. "We have several satellites, and we will broadcast to the United States and Canada via IA-5 and to Europe via Hotbird-6," Margarita Simonyan, the 26-year-old chief editor of Russia Today, said. "The Taicom-3 satellite will transmit our programs to Asia, Africa and Australia." She said people in Russia would be able to watch the channel as part of the NTV-plus basic package. "Broadcasting will start at 4 p.m. Moscow time [1 p.m. GMT] tomorrow," Simonyan said. The launch of Russia Today...

Dishing it out Man beams 5,000 radio, TV channels with a dozen satellite receiversBy Amelia A. PridemoreRegister-Herald Reporter Are 20 movie channels on demand just not enough? Do constant reruns of “I Love the ’80s” on VH1 have you ready to gouge out your eyeballs? Then come to Al Jessup’s house — where his 5,000-plus radio and television stations from around the world beamed in by his 12 satellite dishes are bound to keep you entertained somehow. Since 1998, the Beckley resident has amassed a collection of 12 dishes around his James Street home. He said he first just began...

Saudi state-run Channel One TV broadcasted the first episode of a new series aimed at dissuading young Saudis from following in the footsteps of many of their contemporaries to join the jihad (holy war) earlier this week. “Jihad Experiences, the Deceit” is a five part series which will tell the stories of several young Saudis who left to Iraq to fight alongside Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Zayd Asfan, Abdullah Khoja and Walid Khan narrated their journey from ordinary Saudi youth to mujahideen and discussed the recruitment and brainwashing techniques used by al Qaeda. At the end of the program, Channel...

WASHINGTON -- Trying to preserve their electronic pulpits, the nation's religious broadcasters find themselves in the unusual position of fighting an effort by anti-indecency groups to thwart channels offering racy programming. The issue involves a debate over whether cable companies should continue offering subscribers mainstream and niche channels in bundles, or let them buy what they want on an "a la carte" basis.

WASHINGTON – Sexed-up, profanity-laced shows on cable and satellite TV should be for adult eyes only, and providers must do more to shield children or could find themselves facing indecency fines, the nation's top communications regulator says. "Parents need better and more tools to help them navigate the entertainment waters, particularly on cable and satellite TV," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin told Congress on Tuesday. Martin suggested several options, including a "family-friendly" tier of channels that would offer shows suitable for kids, such as the programs shown on the Nickelodeon channel. He also said cable and satellite providers could...

The founder of the nation's first Arabic Christian TV channel says the programming is attracting phone inquiries from curious Muslims. The Southern California-based channel Alkarma, whose name means "the vineyard" in Arabic, premiered Oct. 17. It is the brainchild of Samuel Estefanos, an Egyptian-born businessman. The channel gets 10 to 15 calls a day from Arabic speakers with Muslim surnames who are intrigued that Alkarma would give away a movie known as the "Jesus Film" and other materials. "Some of them call and say they are Muslims and need to know more about Christ," Mr. Estefanos said. "Other people are...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A House Commerce Committee draft bill sets a Dec. 31, 2008, deadline for the transition to digital from analog television signals - three months earlier than legislation approved by the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday. The House Commerce Committee is expected to mark up its version of the digital-TV bill later this month. The legislation, details of which were obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, also sets aside nearly $1 billion to conduct a consumer education campaign and fund a subsidy program for consumers with analog TV sets to purchase digital converters so that they don't lose...

The owner of The Dish Network said Thursday it pulled the Outdoor Life Network from its system after the cable channel failed to provide NHL games to the nation's second-largest satellite television provider. EchoStar Communications Corp. spokesman Marc Lumpkin said the network did not show games on Oct. 10-11 and on Monday and Tuesday as advertised. "We were not given advance notice that they would not show the programming," he said. Although best known for broadcasting the Tour de France and cyclist Lance Armstrong, OLN this fall took over broadcasting National Hockey League games on cable from ESPN, a unit...

A privately funded television channel, which has received the endorsement of the Russian Orthodox Church, will begin broadcasting in Moscow, Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church has embraced the new channel, which it hopes will offer a distinct alternative to secular television. A Moscow Patriarchate spokesman, ArchPriest Vsevolod Chaplin called current programming on Russian Television “stupid entertainment, spiritual fast food,” and “intellectual cud,” according to Interfax. “The most important thing is that an alternative is offered to the dulling and drowsing television,” he added. The new channel, which will reach 1.2 million people in the capital city has been endorsed by...

Halloween scares have come early to South America, and one knocking on the front door right now is Telesur, a new satellite TV network funded largely by Venezuela’s authoritarian president Hugo Chávez. According to its director, Aram Aharonian, the purpose is to disseminate “a truthful view of the social and cultural diversity of Latin America and the Caribbean to the world.” But rattling Venezuela’s democratic neighbors and legitimizing the region’s leftist terror movements seems to be its real mission. Promotional broadcasts in early July featured flattering video of Colombian guerrilla commander Manuel “Sureshot” Marulanda, who is trying to overthrow his...

Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy is Destroying the Church When over four thousand people gathered for the Lead Like Jesus Conference in Louisville, Kentucky last year and thousands more watched by satellite in churches across the country, there was nothing but approval and applause from Christian leaders and the media. These events are being held several times a year and are attended by nationally known Christian speakers like Max Lucado, Rick Warren and Henry Blackaby. In fact, Rick Warren is on the board of Ken Blanchard's Lead Like Jesus organization. The stated purpose of the conferences is to help people...

The Colombian National Television Commission (CNTV) blocked satellite access to Telecapital, a government channel that rebroadcasts Telesur signal. The hemispheric news system boosted by Venezuela started operations last July 24th, with programming including documentary films, news coverage and a number of journalist works that highlight the Latin American people, as explained in the Monday edition of Semana magazine.

American actor Danny Glover on Tuesday defended a new TV station financed by Venezuela's government as a way to bring Latin America together, denying claims by critics that it will be used to demonize the United States. The channel Telesur, which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has promoted as an alternative to foreign media giants, began regular broadcasts Sunday and is transmitting news, documentaries and other programs to various Latin countries. "Certainly the television station itself is not a tool that would be used to demonize the north," said Glover, a member of the station's advisory board. "It is a tool...

MORE than any other industry, America's multi-billion-dollar entertainment business is caught in the crossfire of the country's culture war. Media firms have always had to walk a fine line between giving adults realistic shows and shielding children from sex and bad language. But thanks to the current political clout of social conservatives, TV and radio firms are under more attack than ever for allegedly corrupting America's youth. Congress is threatening to increase sharply fines for airing indecent material, and some politicians want to regulate cable and satellite TV for indecency for the first time. Over 80% of American homes subscribe...

With a star-studded team of certified, dyed-in-the-wool progressive nutbars of every flavor, including Medea Benjamin, Tony Benn, Helen Caldicott, Linda Foley (yes!), Janeane Garofalo, Naomi Klein, Gore Vidal, and Howard Zinn, Independent World Television is poised to capture the enormous, heretofore-untapped global market for demented leftist raving. (Hat tip: Chrenkoff.) The network is raising a $7 million start-up budget from individual donors and foundations. The MacArthur, Ford and Phoebe Haas Trust foundations and the Canadian Auto Workers Union have contributed to a planning study. In its next phase, IWTnews will build the online community necessary for an international mass fundraising...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A new TV station backed by Venezuela's government began transmitting Sunday in various countries across Latin America, carrying praise by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the American actor Danny Glover and others. The Telesur network, which organizers call a Latin alternative to large media outlets like CNN, was being seen in Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil and Cuba as well as Venezuela, Chavez said. "This is part of an awakening of our peoples," Chavez said by phone to a televised inaugural ceremony in Caracas. Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, called the channel a key...

London, Jul. 13 – The Iranian government has jammed the signals of a major Persian-language satellite television, a spokesman for the channel, Simaye Azadi, said. “In Blatant violation of ITU [International Telecommunication Union] regulations, the Iranian regime is sending out illegal jamming signals to censor our broadcasts from Iranians inside and outside Iran”, spokesman Behruz Pirhosseini said. “This new wave of satellite disturbance started on July 9, which was the day of the sixth anniversary of the student uprising in Iran”, Pirhosseini added. He was referring to the student-led anti-government protests in 1999 which were violently suppressed by the clerical...

DOHA, Qatar -- Al-Jazeera is nothing if not bold. It has fought repeatedly with Washington, which says its exclusive broadcasts of Osama bin Laden speeches show an anti-American, pro-terrorist bias. Its freewheeling broadcasts have decimated state-run TV stations across much of the Arab world, leading some countries to close its bureaus down. So what does such a network do next? Plan a massive expansion. By March, the network will launch Al-Jazeera International, a satellite channel that will beam English-language news to the United States - and much of the rest of the world - from its base in tiny Qatar....

LOS ANGELES - Nearly half the country's Hispanics, Asian Americans and other minorities prefer ethnic newspapers, television and radio to mainstream media, according to a poll released Tuesday. Outlets from Korean-language dailies to Spanish-broadcasting powerhouse Univision Communications Inc. attract 45 percent of adults in major minority groups, or about 29 million people nationwide, at least several times a week over their mainstream counterparts, a poll commissioned by the nonprofit New California Media shows. Overall, ethnic media reach approximately 80 percent the groups studied — about 51 million people, or a quarter of the U.S. adult population. "This is something that...

SWITCH on your satellite television receiver in Tehran nowadays and something is amiss - "No Signal", the otherwise fuzzy television screen says for much of the day and night. With presidential elections just over a week away, Islamic Iran's technological guardians appear to be waging a war against enemies in the airwaves - opposition-run television channels. However, the problem is that they may also be frying people's brains. "Microwaves," explained an Iranian satellite television technician, who earns his keep by installing dishes even though they are technically banned. "They're jamming, and these signals used to block the satellites have never...

What’s happening in Central and South America? Argentina’s President Hugo Chavez has launched (Telesur) a state run international news organization along the lines of Al-Jazeera. Argentina, Uruguay, and Cuba are all investors in the project. What are the implications of this? Can we expect huge doses of anti-American propaganda from this news outlet in South America? Will the US media immediately embrace Telesur as a peer and member of the international media even if it is state run? Will feeds aired on Telesur be broadcast on American TV without scrutiny like al-Jazeera? I have my suspicions, but I guess we...

The violence -- and casualties -- in Iraq continue to mount and many in the Arab world continue to view America as an imperialist power. But the US-based television station Al-Hurra is trying to change that. After all, there is some good news in Iraq, isn't there? The scenes of destruction have become a daily staple in Iraq: car bombs exploding in Baghdad, mutilated victims, the horrified faces of the survivors. And new footage from the Iraqi capital, it seems, is constantly flickering across television screens. Recently, it was graphic pictures showing newly discovered bodies of Iraqi security personnel. They...

Via Paxety Pages, The Miami Herald reports on Hugo's version of Al-Jazeera for Latin America, His government is bankrolling a new television network, Telesur, that has plans to broadcast news, sports and educational programs across Latin America beginning this summer. Its organizers say it will not be a Venezuelan government mouthpiece, but Chávez is providing 70 percent of its funding, fueling concerns that the organizers of the network may not have a choice in the matter. Not that it comes as a surprise, considering how Fidel hosted Hugo and Sheik Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, vice-president of Qatar, in charge of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - Oprah has a fan base in Iraq. Iraqi mothers fret about the amount of time their teenagers spend watching "Star Academy," an Arabic-language cross between "American Idol" and "The Real World." And an ad for the satellite channel MBC's new lineup - which includes "Inside Edition," "Jeopardy!" and "60 Minutes" - declares: "So you can watch what THEY watch." Satellite dishes, which Saddam Hussein and his coterie withheld from ordinary Iraqis, have sprouted everywhere since his regime fell. They sit on the roofs of mansions and sidewalk vendors' stalls, pulling in hundreds of channels from...

Radical Afghan clerics Tuesday unveiled plans to launch the country's first Islamic television channel since the fall of the fundamentalist Taliban regime more than three years ago. A group of hard-line religious scholars, or mullahs, based in the capital Kabul said the station would counter what they say are immoral and un-Islamic programs being broadcast by other channels. "We plan to launch our own TV channel and through this channel we will broadcast Islamic programs," said Qyamuddin Kashaf, a spokesman for the Ulema Council, the group behind the plans. Afghanistan has witnessed a rapid growth in television stations since the...

The anchors and reporters wear uniforms instead of neckties and suits, and the commercials promote the military, not laundry soap and cutlery sets. But otherwise, the Pentagon Channel - which is on the cusp of its first anniversary - looks and sounds a lot like CNN and C-SPAN. To the people who run the Department of Defense television network, that's exactly the point. To critics, that's exactly the problem. When the government creates a cable channel that reminds viewers of a news network, down to the live Pentagon briefings and interviews with Washington big shots, is it a form of...