Recently in satellite Category

So DISH Network keeps upgrading my DVR software without my asking. Tonight, I go to record a pay-per-view movie and the dialog box says, "You only have 24 hours to watch this movie before we remove it from your DVR."  Well, that stinks. We used to buy them and watch them at our leisure - usually within a week.

DISH has increased prices across the board. They will lose AT&T as a distribution arm in February of 2009. Will AT&T take its 1M subs to DirecTV? DISH has been  losing subscribers. (Are they the Sprint of TV?) And Echostar lost the patent suit against TIVO. They also have the DTV conversion coming. All this and they add DRM? Do they *want* to chase away subscribers?

Sure, adding MPEG-4 and 1080p content is great. (I just got an HDTV), but I don't want them messing with my DVR. I paid for the movie, what do they care about my time shifting it?  It's time to look at Bright House digital TV packages and save some money.

You really should vet the material that you put in federal filings. Vonage learned that when they explained their technology enough in their IPO paperwork to enlist a patent infringement case from, well, everyone. In the Sirius-XM merger, it seems that neither company was operating within the 1997 FCC rules that established their charter. (How very RBOC of them). (see story)

Now Big Media (in this case Viacom) is yelling because the F agencies decided to approve the merger. It appears that Sirius doesn't compete with XM. Duh?

Consumers pick one or go back to old radio. Not many consumers would buy two different satellite devices. That's while the rule was that every device (satellite receiver) was supposed to be able to work with both broadcasters. -- And they did not. [Actually, according to Y! news, they did develop an inter-operable radio but no manufacturer would make it. It wouldn't be subsidized so who would buy it?

There were other rules ignored, including "You can't merge." Pish posh. Rules are for little people.