echostar

A federal court upheld Thursday an earlier ruling that EchoStar Communications infringed on a digital video recording software patent owned by TiVo.

The Washington, D.C., court of appeals also agreed with the lower court's award of $89.6 million in damages to be paid to TiVo by EchoStar, which recently changed its name to Dish Network.

Dish plans to appeal the award for damages, the company said Thursday.

The court's decision "will have no effect on our current or future customers because EchoStar's engineers have developed and deployed next-generation DVR software to our customers' DVRs,&… Read more

If you think everybody has cable or satellite, you couldn't be more wrong. In fact, if you live in an area that's well-served by digital broadcasters, now's a better time than ever to get your TV over the air (or "OTA," as the cool kids say): yeah, you get only a handful of channels, but they're in crystal-clear digital quality--DVD quality at "worst," uncompressed high-definition at best. The problem--as we're reminded by many an e-mailer--is that there just isn't a good DVR solution for the rabbit-ears crowd, especially if you prefer high-def. (You can opt for a TiVo HD, but you'd still have to pay a monthly fee for their programming guide.) But that may finally be changing, thanks to the EchoStar TR-50. For all intents and purposes, the TR-50 takes many of the features found on Dish Networks' excellent satellite DVRs (such as the ViP622 and 722) and brings them to antenna-based TV viewers. … Read more

One of the largest satellite TV providers is slicing itself into smaller pieces.

Formerly called EchoStar, it will be split into two businesses: the satellite broadcast service will be called Dish Network, and its fixed satellite services and set-top box business will be called EchoStar Holding Co., according to SEC filings dug up by GigaOm.

Current chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen will retain both titles as head of both companies.

EchoStar Holding Co. (EHC) will include Sling Media, which was bought by EchoStar in October for $380 million. The Slingbox is now one of several set-top boxes that EHC could … Read more

Dish TV satellite company Echostar is buying Sling Media, makers of the innovative Slingbox, for $380m in a classic corporate behemoth acquires startup story. Will Sling be able to maintain its quirky, innovative persona?

The Slingbox is one of those devices that is rather difficult to explain what it does and how it does it to someone unfamiliar with the concept. It's a convergent device - a tight integration of hardware and software - which has been very well executed right from the get-go. Like TiVo before it, it immediately nailed the user experience for a brand new product … Read more

Blake Krikorian can't be blamed for using surfer slang to describe his elation at being acquired by Echostar Communications on Monday.

The co-founder and CEO of Sling Media, maker of the Slingbox set-top device, along with his brother Jason, came up with a game-changing idea for the mobilization of TV content and now seven years later, they've finally cashed in. A day after EchoStar Communications, which owns satellite provider Dish Network, announced it would acquire Sling for $380 million, Krikorian spoke to CNET News.com about what it means for the company, future products and relationships with content … Read more

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--Some of Sling Media's peers and competitors applauded the company a day after word came that it had been acquired by EchoStar Commmunications for $380 million.

At the IPTV World conference here, attendees said they were happy to see a fellow Silicon Valley company striking pay dirt. Many of them also said they owned a Slingbox, the hardware that beams shows from a home TV to anywhere in the world an owner might be.

"This is an excellent outcome for the Sling Media guys who really executed well," said Ward Williams, vice president of … Read more