Sprint is upping the wireless service ante for DirecTV customers, as the carrier said Thursday it would offer several tiers of plans for DirecTV customers who switch wireless service to Sprint. Previously, Sprint had offered a year of free wireless service -- unlimited talk and text and 2 GB of data per line per month -- for DirecTV customers or for Sprint customers adding a line of service. Now, the company is offering 4 GB and 6 GB monthly plans at $10 and $20 per line, respectively. The offer follows AT&T's completion in July of its acquisition of DirecTV.
Blacked-out Washington state ABC affiliates KVEW Kennewick and KXLY-TV Spokane are back on Dish Network during the wildfire emergency in that state, Dish said Thursday. The stations were among four owned by Morgan Murphy Media that have been blacked out on Dish since Aug. 13 while the two companies are at loggerheads in retransmission consent talks (see 1508180065). In a statement, Warren Schlichting, Dish senior vice president-programming, said, "Now is the time to set aside business and give Dish customers access to local news and information as Washington battles fires in many parts of the state."
Dish Network finished integration of its Hopper DVR with control modules put out by AMX, Crestron, Pro Control and RTI, the company said in a news release. They follow Control4, which released an IP module for Hopper to dealers in 2014. Dish said Tuesday the integration speeds up installation and lets dealers add IP control to the system. Dish opened its third-party application programming interface in 2013, allowing Hopper to be tied into home environmental and security control systems, with a single interface operating all of them.
A federal judge will hear arguments Sept. 18 on a motion by AT&T and DirecTV to have a $10 billion civil lawsuit claiming racial discrimination in program carriage and contracting decisions dismissed. African-American owned Entertainment Studios Networks and the National Association of African-American Owned Media sued the companies in 2014 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleging racial animus behind the decision to carry only ESN's Justice Central channel (see 1412040060) -- for example, paying no license fees for the content but instead charging ESN to carry it. ESN and NAAAOM similarly sued Comcast and Time Warner Cable earlier this year, making similar charges, though that suit was dismissed earlier this month (see 1508100017) and those companies ended their deal unlike AT&T and DirecTV, which have combined in the suit. "This is a commercial disagreement, not a discrimination case, which explains why [ESN's and NAAAOM's] complaint is so bereft of any facts that could state such a claim," AT&T and DirecTV said as part of their motion to dismiss filed in July. AT&T's argument to have the suit dismissed "prematurely raises the question of whether [it] has a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for its refusal to contract with ESN," the programmer and NAAAOM said Friday in a filing in opposition to the motion to dismiss, adding that at trial they "will prove that AT&T's purported reasons for refusing to contract are pretextual excuses for discrimination." The hearing will be before U.S. District Judge Patrick Walsh.
DirecTV is expanding the footprint of NFLSundayTicket.TV to noncustomers. The NFL Sunday Ticket streaming service now is available to apartment, condominium and townhouse residents not now receiving DirecTV, and to consumers unable to install a DirecTV dishes at home due to obstructions or other restrictions, AT&T said in a Monday news release. It's also offering it to students at four-year schools at student pricing, AT&T said. The Sunday Ticket online streaming packages start at $49.99 a month for four months, or $24.99 a month for four months for students. The second product announcement since AT&T bought DirecTV extends the package to all connected devices, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors. Last week, AT&T unveiled a triple-play lineup (see 1508030030).
AT&T launched its first triple play set of products, days after its acquisition of DirecTV got FCC approval (see 1507240055). Its video/wireless/broadband service will be available starting Aug. 10, AT&T said in a Monday news release. The company indicated other combo packages are in the works, with Brad Bentley, chief marketing officer, AT&T Entertainment and Internet Services, calling the triple play package "the first of many planned moves to enable our customers to enjoy a premium entertainment experience almost anywhere." The AT&T offerings include a variety of DirecTV or AT&T U-verse packages bundled with wireless phone service, available for monthly prices starting at $200, with different high-speed Internet services available atop that.
Don't expect to see Sirius XM enter the streaming audio marketplace anytime soon, Sirius executives said Tuesday. While Sirius has looked into Internet-based music streaming services, "None of them are making money," Chief Financial Officer David Frear said Tuesday during a conference call with analysts on its financial results. While Sirius has better relationships with record labels after its $210 million settlement last month on unpaid royalties (see 1506260048), the company isn't interested in trying to leverage that into global streaming licenses, CEO Jim Meyer said. "Just going global is not worth doing if you cannot make money on it," Frear said.
Fox News Headlines 24/7, a full-time satellite radio news channel, will launch this fall on SiriusXM, the satellite company and Fox News said Wednesday. The channel is part of a multiyear agreement between the two, and will be broadcast on SiriusXM Channel 115. SiriusXM already broadcasts audio simulcasts of cable channels Fox Business Network and Fox News on channels 113 and 114, respectively, as well as Fox News Talk radio programming on Channel 450.
DirecTV launched its Kids App to help parents make the Internet safe for their children, said a company news release Thursday. The app, designed for ages 5-10, offers hundreds of popular children’s shows and kid-friendly movies, available to watch instantly from Cartoon Network, HBO, Nickelodeon, Starz, Sprout and others, based on the customer’s DirecTV programming package.
Correction: The number of volt-ampere-hours Hughes Network Systems recommends there be in modem backup batteries is 3000 (see 1505070054).