Three-Tuner Dish Receiver/DVR Bows With 750-GB Hard Drive
LAS VEGAS - Dish Network took the wraps off its Hopper satellite/receiver DVR that boasts a two terabyte hard drive and three satellite tuners as part of a brand-building campaign to raise its profile, CEO Joe Clayton said at CES.
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The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA)-equipped device also features SlingMedia software and 750 MHZ Broadcom processor for recording of up to six HD channels simultaneously. The hard drive will be partitioned to allow for recording of up 250 hours of HD content, Dish Unplugged featuring 500 movies/TV shows and new releases on demand for up 70 titles, company officials said.
About 250 GB of the 7,200-rpm Seagate drive will be dedicated to Dish’s new PrimeTime Anywhere that allows for the automatic recording of up to eight days of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC shows during the 8-11 pm time slots Monday to Saturday, 7-11 pm Sundays. There will be on-demand access to the recorded content for eight days from a program’s initial air date, company officials said. A single tuner can be used to record all four networks uncompressed said Vivek Khemka, vice president of product management. Hopper also will contain Bluetooth and Zigbee technologies, the latter allowing for remote control locator feature. It also will have HD graphics and electronic program guide that allows for creating a favorites segment. The Hopper will allow for remote access via access to connected Sling product.
The Hopper will be paired with Joey HD- and 3D-capable client receivers that use MoCA to get content from the main receiver, company officials said. The client set-top boxes also support DVR functions including play, fast-forward, rewind and pause of live and recorded programming. The Joey won’t have a hard drive, but will contain the same 750 MHz processor as Hopper. Up to four rooms can be networked with Joey clients, company officials said. The Hopper will eventually replace Dish ViP 922, Khemek said.
The new product comes as Clayton starts to put his stamp on the company, having appointed product managers for a range of categories including broadband, SD and HD, Clayton said. Dish also is making a push behind satellite-based Internet access services, starting with Viasat’s WildBlue, whose new satellite is scheduled to go into service in Q1, delivering 3 mbps/12Mbps upload/download speeds. The Viasat bundle, which includes the satellite, modem will include either 55-channel Dish Family Pack ($79) or 120-channel America’s Top 120 ($89), company officials said. Minus the modem Dish Family and Top 120 carry $19.99 and $29.99 monthly fees.
Dish also will bundle its service with EchoStar’s HughesNet starting in August when Hughes Communications’ new Jupiter satellite becomes operational. Pricing and packaging haven’t been set, Khemka said. Outside of broadband, Dish will repackage its SiriusXM offering, introducing 73 channels, including nine with Latino music. Among the other Sirius channels will be Bluegrass Junction, 80s on 8 and Classic Vinyl. The Hopper also will have Pandora.
Seeking to capitalize on last year’s acquisition of Blockbuster, Dish will introduce a promotion offering its Blockbuster@Home service free with the purchase of a two-year subscription to the satellite service. The Blockbuster package includes 1,000 DVDs delivered by mail, 20 HD channels and the ability to stream 10,000 movies and TV programs, company officials said. To beef up its content library, Blockbuster will add 3,000 children’s titles including VeggieTales. It also will add 3,000 Spanish novellas through an agreement with Univision. HBO Go also will be available.
As it readies new hardware strategy, Dish is still awaiting an FCC decision on its proposed acquisition of TerreStar and DBSD, that could help it in building out a national wireless network. Sprint last fall withdrew its petitions to deny Dish efforts to relocate broadcast auxiliary spectrum from the GHz band. Bankrupt TerreStar and DBSD control a combined 40 MHZ of S-band spectrum and Dish plans to use the 2 GHz band for a terrestrial-only service. Dish also acquired 700 MHZ licenses in 2008 for $712 million. Dish is having “on-going” discussions with the FCC, but no decision has been made Clayton told us. The FCC is expected to make a decision by March, industry officials have said.
Dish has partnered with Thuuz to develop an enhanced Google TV application that helps users find live and upcoming sporting events. The Thuuz Android application for Google TV monitors “excitement levels” during Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, soccer, cricket and rugby games, pro and college football and basketball. The Thuuz algorithm uses factors such as parity, pace, novelty and momentum to automatically assign an excitement rating to each event. Google TV- and Android 3.1-equipped devices will work with Thuuz. Dish is selling off the remaining inventory of Logitech’s Google TV-based Revue STB, which is available to its customers for $99. Logitech dropped the Revue last year.
Dish also has released a new version of its remote access software for iPad that allows its customers to watch thousands of on-demand streaming movies and TV shows. Dish customers who get the Blockbuster@Home package or select premium programming, including HBO and Cinemax can use the update applications, company officials said. To stream movies, users must have a Dish log-in ID and broadband connected iPad. The application is available through the iTunes store. Customers will need a Dish Sling adapter and broadband-equipped HD DVR receiver to watch live TV.