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Dish in Talks to Stream TV Channels Online
Likely For Tie-In to Looming LTE Network

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.
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Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

Dish will get backstabbed

at least in licensing costs. Content owners still hate the internet and the whole idea of viewing their content via any method but a TV set in one room of the house.
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

Re: Dish will get backstabbed

Doubtful. While the content owners DO NOT care about the delivery pipe - only the cable industry and TelcoTV do, Dish isn't going to sabotage its own subscription sales and offer streaming for less.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

slippery slope

just a matter of time before the slippery slop into "piracy" of the streams will be full blown and (almost) unstoppable. one good side effect is this will lead to evolution of the catv business model. maybe it will put "unlimited" internet access at a crossroads as well, but doubtful.