With DirecTV’s DirecTV 11 satellite now up in orbit around the planet and Dish Network’s bird… Well, in a state of shock, it’s time for a little “Haha!” from DirecTV. DirecTV’s new satellite will allow them to have up to 150 nationwide HD channels and also allow more local channels provided in HD. Currently, DirecTV has 92 national channels and 77 cities broadcasting HD local channels, while Dish Network only has 70 national HD channels and 34 HD local networks.
“We are well ahead of them now on both counts — national and local HD — and with the successful launch …read more

So, while DirecTV was doing good in the eyes of some by launching another satellite successfully to add channels, they have also made an adjustment in their methods of how customers watch pay-per-view on their DVRs, one that I believe is for the worse. While DirecTV DVR owners in the past have been able to purchase a movie on PPV and then record it on their DVRs for future viewing (however long you chose, I believe), starting April 15, you will only have 24 hours to watch your movie.
This is a similar step as to what Apple has done with …read more

Well, after a long hiatus due to illness on my end (and no, it’s not SxSARS), we are back and going to be blogging again. I am sorry for the delays, but I have been in no shape to do anything productive. Anyways, onto more happy news.
DirecTV’s new satellite, DirecTV 11, has successfully launched and is heading to orbit the Earth in the Northern Hemisphere at 99.2W longitude. The new satellite will allow DirecTV to add more HD capacity for more channels, which I think we can all use, because you can never have too much HD.
DIRECTV 11 is one …read more

A while back, talk of John Malone and his company, Liberty Media, started to grow as they were going to purchase the majority stock of DirecTV from its previous owner, Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Well, the day has finally come and Malone can finally roll around in all the air that is freed up by his $12 billion purchase of 41% of DirecTV. His first order of business? Making sure that the company’s main goal is video, which, conveniently, is the main business of DirecTV.
What does this mean for you, the people on the other end of the spectrum …read more

Live in a rural area where DirecTV doesn’t provide your local channels over satellite, yet you can get them over the air? DirecTV has now decided to do something about it. The satellite mega-company is now making ATSC boxes to go with their current satellite boxes, which will be available by the end of March. Granted, ATSC doesn’t always mean HD signal (it just means a digital signal), but it would be quite stupid on DirecTV’s part if they didn’t make them HD-capable. The cost of the box is expected to be around $50, which is “15% less than …read more

Your DirecTV service that you love (even though they missed their target of 100 HD channels by the end of 2007) and you wouldn’t get rid of for anything? Well, it’s going up in prices, and it’s affecting most everybody. Here’s a breakdown of the price increases from Satelliteguys.us:

Choice $52.99 (up $3.00)
Choice xtra $57.99 (up $3.00)
Plus DVR $62.99 (up $3.00)
Plus HD DVR $72.99 (up $3.00)
Premier 104.99 (up $5.00)
HBO $14 (up $1.00)

So are we paying more for their screw-ups and a sign of them bringing new channels (even though they already increased the price of the HD pack earlier), or perhaps …read more

 Oh, DirecTV, it’s quite a love-hate relationship anymore, isn’t it? What with announcing 100 HD channels by the end of the year, but still coming up short (which will be an essay in itself), yet providing (most) of the necessary HD channels, we really don’t know what to do with ourselves. Well, DirecTV has launch the Tennis Channel in HD for fans of the sport who miss out on their sport being in HD. All documentaries, series, and specials will be in HD, as well as a number of tennis events. 
Broadcasting & Cable

So as we are just 3 days from the end of the year as of 12/28/07, DirecTV is looking like they’ll be coming up short on their promise of 100 new HD channels by the end of 2007. While 70 new HD channels isn’t bad at all, it’s still a bad move on DirecTV’s part because they have been promoting this since the beginning of the year, saying they’ll have this done and our new satellites will have more capacity to bring these channels to us. They’ve got a short amount of time and I can actually see them going, …read more

With ReplayTV units fading away from our memories and being replaced by TiVos, Motorolas, and other DVRs, they’ve come out of the woodwork to announce that they’ve been bought by DirecTV. D&M Holdings, a Japan-based holding company, has said that it has sold the ReplayTV business to DirecTV for “an undisclosed sum.” Random fact thrown in the Reuters report, D&M also bought Rio in 2003 for $36 million, and then proceeded to sell it two years later. As of now, ReplayTV does not make physical hardware DVR boxes as in the past, but do provide TV recording software that hasn’t …read more

No, this isn’t something from Star Wars, although it does sound an awful lot like it. Tampa, Orlando, and St. Petersburg, Florida residents who subscribe to Comcast, Bright House, or Time Warner Cable may have been unable to watch games broadcasted on the NFL Network due to having the channel on a premium package, blacking out the games, or just simply not carrying the channel on their network. Well, for those who live in these affected neighborhoods, you’ll now be able to look to the sky and watch the games. DirecTV, in a issued statement, said that their DirecTV HD …read more