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Lounge0101, your source of news and information on North American Digital Satellite TV and Satellite Radio.
Our free discussion forum is the most popular area of the website allowing you to discuss your favorite topics and get your questions answered quickly and easily. So pull up a chair, sit back and relax.
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Satellite Radio Articles
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Sirius XM Radio assumes some “Sirius” debt
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Posted by : RiseStar , Lounge0101 Administrator
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 Now that the post merger confetti and party hats have been swept up and the smoke is beginning to clear, its become painfully obvious that the combined companies have some serious debt management issues to take care of if the new satellite radio powerhouse is to swing to profitability anytime soon.
Upon merging, Sirius XM Radio Inc. now faces a substantial $3.4 Billion debt, of which nearly a third ($1.1 Billion) will become due in 2009. Sirius Radio, as a standalone company was making headway towards eventual profitability, showing solid subscriber growth of nearly 25% over the previous year, moving from 7.1 million subscribers to nearly 8,9 million, as well as an increase in per subscriber revenue. Additionally, its quarterly losses and subscriber acquisition costs were also down from the previous year.
XM Radio had finished off the quarter, adding a little over 322 000 new subscribers, bringing them up to 9.7 million customers in total, an increase o ...
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 Posted on Sat 9 Aug 2008, 9:53 PM
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Digital Satellite TV Articles
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Dish Network's new "TurboHD" in a netshell
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Posted by : RiseStar , Lounge0101 Administrator
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 Earlier this week Dish Network rolled out their new “TurboHD” service promising to become the first satellite broadcaster to transmit high definition programming in true 1080p resolution.
The current standard for normal and high action high definition channels is limited to 720p.
The upgrade will only be available to customers using the Dish Networks’ newest MPEG-4 HD receivers and will only require a user initialized software download to the receiver from the satellite to activate the feature.
The TurboHD service utilizes the new Echo XI satellite and Echostar proprietary technology (8PSK-Turbo) which allows them to increase the data transmission and frame rates in order to accommodate the 1080p signal.
The TurboHD service will require a programming package change if you wish to receive it as Dish Network has recently restructured their HD packages. Dish has announced that current HD customers can add the turbo feature to ...
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Posted on Fri 8 Aug 2008, 10:11 PM
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Digital Satellite TV Articles
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Ergen's Dish Network eyes XM-Sirius Merger as positive sign for merger
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Posted by : RiseStar , Lounge0101 Administrator
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 Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen has been keeping his ears to the ground and eyes closely on the XM Radio/Sirius Merger as a sign that the political landscape may be changing enough to make another attempt to merge with rival satcaster Directv Inc.
The last attempt to get past the FCC and Justice department in 2002 ended badly with both regulators deciding it was not going to happen and would not be in the public’s best interests.
Since then however a number of things have changed, chiefly the successful merger of XM Radio and Sirius, which Echostar could use as a loose blueprint to clear the federal regulators in Washington and become the leading satellite broadcaster in America. The political landscape in America is also changing, with Democrats likely to make some significant strides this fall in both the house and senate and possibly even the white house.
Technology has also changed since 2002 as well, with increased video competition ...
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Posted on Wed 6 Aug 2008, 5:45 PM
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Satellite Radio Articles
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Sirius XM Radio Inc Complete Deal
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Posted by : RiseStar , Lounge0101 Administrator
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 With this week’s news that the FCC had given its blessing to the XM Radio/Sirius Radio merger, the two companies wasted little time in completing the long awaited deal. The merger was completed this week, creating a new entity, known as Sirius XM Radio Inc., which will continue to trade using Sirius Radio’s “SIRI” ticker. The company has indicated that they expect the merger will net them an expected $400 million savings in 2009 as they will no longer need to inter-compete.
The company has indicated that current subscribers will still be able to continue to receive their programming using their existing equipment and will retain their current programming package, however new dual service equipment will be available in the near future allowing customers a broader range of choice and flexibility in programming. "The company is expected to offer “à la carte” pricing and programming within 3 months, as well as the introduction of a dual service radio within that same time ...
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Posted on Thu 31 Jul 2008, 7:26 PM
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Satellite Radio Articles
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DOJ gives Sirius/XM merger the green light
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Posted by : RiseStar , Lounge0101 Administrator
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 The XM Radio/Sirius Radio mega-merger, proposed more than a year ago as cleared a major hurdle as the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that they have given the proposed merger the nod of approval.
The DOJ had been carefully scrutinizing the proposed merger, to ensure that it would offer benefits to consumers, rather than creating an abusive monopoly. Opponents of the merger, including other broadcasting entities and politicians had weighed in, claiming the merger would ultimately be harmful to consumers. However, in its decision, the DOJ determined that the merger was not anti-competitive, citing a multitude of alternatives available to the consumer, including conventional radio, Apple iTunes and iPods as well as cellular phone music services. Other factors, including low attrition rates showed that the two companies were not overly competitive with one another, with both focusing on attracting customers from conventional radio mediums, rather that from one ...
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Posted on Mon 24 Mar 2008, 8:15 PM
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Digital Satellite TV Articles
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Directv to limit pay per view viewing time
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Posted by : RiseStar , Lounge0101 Administrator
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 In a move that can be interpreted as a cave in to major movie studios, DirecTV has recently announced that they will begin limiting pay per view movies recorded to the Directv DVR. Effective April 15, 2008 all pay per view movies recorded by the DirecTV DVR will automatically be deleted 24 hours after initial recording.
"Major movie studios have required that satellite and cable providers alike may no longer allow their customers to view these recordings for longer than 24 hours” reads the DirecTV announcement.
This move will eliminate the ability to view a PPV recording several times, or even the ability to view a recording made more than a day after recording, which will force consumers to pay for each viewing, or go out and purchase the movie from a retailer. For example, a customer may record a pay per view movie on a Sunday night, intending to watch it the next day, but does not have the opportunity until Tuesday. The recording that has been paid f ...
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Posted on Thu 20 Mar 2008, 11:30 PM
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Digital Satellite TV Articles
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Bell Expressvu dishes out new signal security upgrade
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Posted by : RiseStar , Lounge0101 Administrator
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 Similar to its security upgrade in July 2005, Canada’s leading satellite broadcaster, Bell Expressvu is in the process of a new signal security upgrade in an effort to curtail its’ rampant piracy problem.
Bell Expressvu utilizes equipment and signal encryption technology manufactured by Echostar, the U.S.’s second largest digital satellite broadcaster. Echostar’s Dish Network has been plagued by piracy issues for many years, despite numerous expensive attempts to resolve the problem. This has lead to widespread piracy issues for Bell Expressvu due to the similarity in technology. Recent estimates peg more than 2 million pirates are currently receiving Dish Network and Bell Expressvu programming without payment.
The Bell Expressvu satellite signal is encrypted, allowing only authorized users, such as subscribers to decode the signal and allow them to view the channels that they are subscribing to. Signal pirates exploit vulnerabilities in the encrypti ...
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Posted on Thu 28 Feb 2008, 6:12 PM
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Archive
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08/04/2008 11:20 AM
In order to give the website a better focus, we are phasing out the less popular areas of the site, including the high definition and digital video recorder areas and forums. This will leave the site focused on digital satellite television and satellite radio.
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