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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...