Good news for The Cap”n on the HDTV front. Dish Network is buying the satellite TV operation of Cablevision - which is basically the HD satellite service VOOM.
This is big for a couple of reasons. First, I”m glad I didn”t take the Voom route to getting HD (thankfully, they never rolled out their TiFaux). But more significantly, it gives Dish a new satellite. Hard to argue with the logic behind buying Voom (including its already-deployed satellite) for $200 million when it would cost $250 million to put up a new Dish bird.
So once the deal is finalized, Dish will all of a sudden have an extra satellite to send me programming on. And it sends HD signals [editor"s note: maybe all satellites can send HD. The Cap"n is no satellite technology expert]. So maybe - hopefully - Dish will put local HD channels up on this bird and get me an integrated local HD package sometime this year.
DirecTV is planning to launch local HD on new satellites sometime this year, assuming they can get the gear up to space. And until now, their DirecTV HD DVR was the leading contender for The Cap”n”s HD dollars (on the assumption that they”ll drop the ridiculous $1,000 price tag). Comcast was second, and Dish was third.
And now? We”ll have to see what happens with Dish / VOOM, but with a good strategy and execution (lose the DVR fee, give me local HD for the price of non-HD local), Dish could make its way back into the HD equation.
As for The Cap”n, I”m off to the west coast again today for a full week of hob-nobbing with industry giants. The Wisdom”s policies on work-related pieces prevent more details, but it should be interesting. So look for weird publish schedules through Thursday.
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