EchoStar to help U.S. go to digital TV
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EchoStar Holding Corp., the set-top box maker that sells the Slingbox, introduced a digital-analog TV converter that U.S. consumers can get for free and use to view watch older sets after the country moves to all-digital broadcasting in February 2009.
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AM and FM radio broadcasters are set to convert to HD, their reply to satellite. Also: Sirius plans with Microsoft to make video channels for backseat passengers & hellip;.  HP jumps on the home-entertainment bandwagon & hellip;. and more.
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The switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts will be complete in just one year, on Feb. 17, 2009, and many consumers are puzzling over how the shift will affect them. What exactly do they need to make the transition?
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In an early move to corner the high-definition television market in the United States, DirecTV said Wednesday that it will spend more than &#36;1 billion to launch four satellites with the capacity to offer every home in America more than 1,500 local and 150 national HD channels.
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It's not too early to start thinking about how to ensure your television won't go dark when analog broadcasts shut down in 2009.Photos: Converting from analog to digital TV
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The U.S. Federal Communications  Commission on Tuesday set a roadmap for making airwaves between  television channels available for other services by early 2009,  when broadcasters are due to switch to digital signals.
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Satellite television provider EchoStar  Communications Corp. on Monday said it will pay $100 million to  settle a nine-year long legal battle over the retransmission of  distant TV stations to subscribers.
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All U.S. households with televisions  that use analog technology will be eligible for $40 discount  coupons to buy digital converter boxes, the Commerce Department  said on Monday.
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- EchoStar (DISH) and CenturyTel (CTL) said Thursday they&#39;ve agreed to a deal which calls for CenturyTel to offer co-branded satellite TV services in 22 states.
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A satellite due to launch in three years promises to expand high-speed Internet services to rural Americans who cannot get access through cable or phone companies.
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Brushing aside  congressional suggestions that the nation is ill-prepared for  the conversion to digital TV in 2009, the Department of  Commerce on Monday unveiled its plan to help subsidize the  switchover from analog.
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(InfoWorld) - A group of broadcasters, consumer electronics vendors, and civil rights groups pledged Wednesday to leave no television viewers behind as the U.S. transitions to digital over-the-air broadcasts by February 2009. The groups, collectively known as the Digital Television Transition Coalition, will use a variety of means, including public service announcements and community-based campaigns,Â to educate TV viewers about the transition from analog broadcasts. An estimated 20 million U.S. homes, containing 90 million TV sets, that don't have cable or satellite service will need to buy converter boxes or new TV sets to continue to receive over-the-air digital broadcasts. People with analog TV sets will no longer receive over-the-air signals after the Feb. 17, 2009, deadline. Congress has approved $1.5 billion for vouchers for residents to buy converter boxes in a bill passed last year. The bill requires U.S. TV stations to move off radio spectrum in the upper 700MHz band with that highly coveted spectrum going to public safety agencies and commercial bidders. Cable and satellite viewers will not need to buy converter boxes or new TVs. Starting this week, all television sets shipped across state lines in the U.S. must be capable of receiving a digital signal. "Part of our job ... will to be to help many people understand that, while they may think they have a problem, in reality, they are already well equipped to deal with the transition and enjoy the benefits," said Marc Pearl, executive director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition. "It is essential that nobody loses a TV signal due to a lack of accurate information." Many of the people affected by the transition will be poor or elderly people, said Nancy Zirkin, vice president and director of public policy at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. The coalition needs to "make sure that this audience knows before the switch that they are eligible for federal vouchers," she said. The coalition launched a Web site to help educate TV viewers on the switch to DTV. In a recent survey of over-the-air viewers, the National Association of Broadcasters found that 56 percent of respondents reported that they have "seen, read, or heard nothing" about the transition to digital television, and only 10 percent were able to pinpoint 2009 as the year. The upper 700MHz band would allow wireless signals to travel four to five times as far as existing mobile phone signals, advocates of the digital televisionÂ transition say. That makes the spectrum valuable for mobile broadband providers and for police and fire departments that want to communicate with regional counterparts. Among the coalition members are the Association of Public Television Stations, the Consumer Electronics Association, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.
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No. 1 US satellite television provider DirecTV Inc. says it will launch four new satellites to expand programming capacity, particularly for high-definition channels and interactive services.
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Some within IPTV sector hope EchoStar's $380 million purchase of SlingMedia is only the first big deal.
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After Feb. 17, 2009, full-power television stations will broadcast a digital signal only, meaning people who do not have a digital-ready TV and watch programs with an antenna will need a special converter box.
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Satellite TV giant EchoStar Communications Corp. on Tuesday reported its third-quarter earnings nearly tripled as the parent company of Dish Network, the nation&#39;s second largest satelite TV service, added about 350,000 new subscribers.
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The first converter boxes to help consumers cope when over-the-air TV signals switch from analog to digital broadcasting will debut next week at the International Consumer Electronics Show.