Verizon, Dish lead HD channel charge

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:37:30 -0400

TV providers continue to try to out-do one another in the area of high-definition channel line-ups, and Multichannel News reports that Dish Network and Verizon Communications are leading the way. Both service providers are targeting 150 HD channels by the end of this year. Dish last month launched a new satellite giving its capacity to reach 150 channels, and it recently launched its TurboHD service. DirecTV also is moving to 130 HD channels later this month.

For more:
- ready this story at Multichannel News

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AT&T notifies Dish partnership to end

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:17:06 -0400

Satellite TV player Dish Network reported in an SEC filing Tuesday that AT&T had informed Dish that it is ending the companies resale partnership effective Dec. 31. AT&T has not said much at all about why it is terminating the partnership, only that it is fulfilling contract requirements by providing Dish with six months notice. Still, the move is not too much of a surprise, considering that AT&T recently asked Dish to buy back $500 million of Dish debt the telco owned. Also, while AT&T ended a resale relationship with DirecTV earlier this year--leaving Dish as AT&T's exclusive satellite partner--it was well known that AT&T still was evaluating its overall need for satellite as it continues to have solid success with IPTV.

AT&T's silence on the matter could mean it is still sizing up whether or not it will need a satellite partner in the future. At one point some months ago, there were rumors circulating that AT&T could even acquire Dish Network.

For more:
see this story at Multichannel News

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