Back in September Dish network unveiled what they've done with the Blockbuster brand since buying it for $320 million -- and it wasn't much. After hyping the launch of an innovative new "Netflix killer," Dish wound up simply relaunching the existing tepid Blockbuster services -- but bundling them only for Dish customers willing to pay an additional $10 a month. Dish has stated that eventually they'll open the service to non-Dish subscribers, but they haven't gotten specific.
It's pretty clear that Dish was rushing to take advantage of consumer anger about recent Netflix price hikes, and that they've got more planned for the Blockbuster brand down the road. According to stories in both the
New York Post and
Wall Street Journal, Dish is in talks with broadcasters to offer live TV channels streamed via the Internet:
quote:
Charlie Ergen is weighing a move to offer live cable channels via the Web, likely under his Blockbuster brand name, The Post has learned. Ergen, who runs satellite provider Dish Network Corp., is talking to program providers about their interest in supporting a service delivered exclusively via broadband and separate from authentication deals that give consumers online access to content with their Dish password, sources familiar with the plan said.
By "separate from existing authentication deals," the
Post means the service will allow users to stream TV services to mobile devices, something existing licensing doesn't cover. That's of particular interest to Dish as they're supposedly planning to offer
their own LTE service, likely in conjunction with Sprint, LightSquared, or Clearwire. Whether Dish will offer a real subscription TV service to non-Dish subscribers, or whether this will just be another extension of the TV Everywhere mindset isn't yet clear.