Dishing the latest from the satellite TV world.
Coming to a DIRECTV and AT&T TV Now near you, when you pause a video, you’ll now possibly be delivered an ad. According to AT&Ts ad division, Xandr, and confirmed by our tests, the ads are usually motion (non-static), though they thankfully don’t have any sound. Hulu’s experimented with and launched a similar setup but … Read more
After a hotly contested licensing battle that dragged on for months, AT&T and Viacom networks finally reached an agreement in late March to avoid a programming blackout for DIRECTV subscribers. Putting various popular channels at stake (like Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon, MTV, etc), as most of the carriage disputes go, there was plenty of public … Read more
If you’re a weekender high def sports junkie or just want to follow your local team in crystal clear 4k (aka ultra HD), the good news is DISH and DIRECTV are off to a solid start in the 4K TV department. While it’s still early in the adoption cycle, every passing month sees more broadcasters … Read more
All too often, media and programming companies sit on their laurels after the successful launch of a new device or service. In DIRECTV’s case, the stellar roll-out of the Genie a few years back only served to further motivate their tech/media teams to innovate and make the selection process as user-friendly as possible (DISH’s Hopper … Read more
The first real cross-promotional offer since AT&T’s acquisition of DIRECTV, AT&T recently announced that any wireless subscriber with either a DIRECTV or AT&T U-verse plan, now qualifies for unlimited data usage. Coined the “AT&T Unlimited Plan“, it’s a nice little bonus for current or prospective customers (AT&Ts main goal here is to introduce folks to … Read more
Let’s face it, no one really likes commercials, but it’s a necessary part of the TV broadcast biz (to offset production costs, etc). Luckily, commercial-skipping technology like DISH’s Autohop (which only works with NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX) and DIRECTV’s 30-sec skip helps avoid ’em if you’re so inclined. The market implication of that kind … Read more
Another nice benefit of AT&T’s recent acquisition of DIRECTV, it was just announced that the popular Audience Network will be added to U-verse’s channel lineup. Slotted for U-verse channel #1114, it’ll give folks access to plenty of new, original content. The Audience Network, previously exclusive to DIRECTV and first launched in 2011, features both original … Read more
Ever since the Pac-12 Network officially launched in 2012, DIRECTV subscribers and college fans (especially those on the west coast) have been left out in the cold. The root of the problem stems from the per-subscriber fees. License disagreements are all-to-common these days, and, for the most post, difficult to gauge if/when they’ll be resolved. … Read more
Formerly known as mun2 (Telemundo’s 2nd channel), NBC Universo officially launched its new channel and programming lineup on Superbowl Sunday. All part of a brand revamp, it targeted Feb. 1st as it had exclusive rights to broadcast the game in Spanish (not surprisingly, as NBC, their parent company, carried the game). While the all Spanish-language … Read more
Update (12/6/14): after a bitter negotiation, DISH and CBS finally reached an agreement and all CBS programming is back live (it was blacked out for a couple days). In the latest of the recent programming squabbles, DISH could end up losing CBS tomorrow, 12/4/14, at 7 PM EST. There have been numerous phases throughout the … Read more
