Satellite TV News

Dish Network started its local high-definition channel broadcast in Portland - Auburn, Maine and Hartford & New Haven, Conn. market areas. Even though Dish Network’s satellite failed to reach the orbit, the satcaster is expanding its high-definition programming. Dish Network has plans to offer 100 national HD channels and local HD channels in 100 markets by year’s end, with this expansion Dish Network has HD locals in 57 markets, representing more than 66 percent of U.S. television households and now has 76 national high-definition channels. Dish has plans to launch three satellites before the end of the year, with the first being a failure, Dish Network has two more satellites scheduled this year.

St. Petersburg Bowl formed by ESPN Regional Television, which is owned and maintained by ESPN will be officially part of college football’s bowl lineup. NCCA has approved The St. Petersburg Bowl on Wednesday in South Florida. ESPN already has five other postseason college football bowls like the New Mexico Bowl, the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl and the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. St. Petersburg Bowl one of the 34 licensed by the NCAA for next season will debut in Tropicana Field between Dec. 20-23 this season. The bowl will feature teams from the
Big East and Conference USA. After NFL released the schedule, St. Petersburg Bowl organizers has changed the original schedule of Dec. 21 kickoff to Dec. 20.
“The St. Petersburg Bowl is another great bowl opportunity for the Big East,” Commissioner Michael Tranghese said on the Big East Web site. “The game is played in a Big East market and already has generated great interest in the local community. Our coaches are always excited to play a postseason game in the state of Florida.”
Newly formed The St. Petersburg Bowl will join 32 bowls returning from last season and newly approved “Congressional Bowl” in Washington, D.C.

DirecTV group has come up with the First Quarter 2008 results with a revenue increase of 17% to $4.59 billion from $3.91 billion, operating profit before depreciation and amortization increased 27% to $1.18 billion from $930 million and operating profit increased 17% to $657 million from $563 million compared to last year’s first quarter. The satcaster has reported first quarter net income from $336 million to $371 million, an increase of 10 %.

DirecTV with the help of its national HD lineup expansion has added 275,000 subscribers in this quarter with an increase of 17%. Total subscriber for DirecTV has gone to 17.04 million Subscribers, an increase of 5% over the 16.19 million subscribers reported on March 31, 2007.

“DirecTV’s first quarter results highlight the overall operational and financial strength of our company. Our strategy of offering the best television experience to higher quality customers continues to drive superior financial results,” said Chase Carey, president and CEO of The DIRECTV Group, Inc. “DIRECTV U.S. revenues were up 14% to $4.05 billion in the quarter due to a 17% increase in net subscriber additions to 275,000 coupled with an 8.6% increase in ARPU. The increased demand for DIRECTV services was primarily driven by our industry-leading content, HD, DVR and interactive services, as well as strong results from our direct sales channel. These factors along with new dealer incentives and tighter credit policies designed to attain higher quality customers contributed to a ten-year-low first quarter monthly churn rate of 1.36%.

Fox Soccer Channel has announced that the channel will broadcast live and exclusive English-language coverage of the Toulon International Tournament 2008 held on May 20-29. Fox Soccer Channel will start its live coverage with the Netherlands game against Japan to be played on Tuesday, May 20 at 12:00 PM. The Final will be played on Thursday, May 29 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Toulon International Tournament which is held in southern France will feature eight-teams who are Olympic qualifiers of 2008 like Japan, the Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Italy and United States. Peter Nowak, the head coach of U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team will announce the team, which would be a mix of Major League Soccer and European-based players.

Toulon International Tournament 2008 schedule

Teams - Date and Time

Netherlands vs. Japan Tuesday, May 20 - 12:00 p.m. ET

France vs. Chile Tuesday, May 20 - 2:30 p.m. ET

Turkey vs. United States Wednesday, May 21 - 9:30 a.m. ET

Italy vs. Ivory Coast Wednesday, May 21 - 12:00 p.m. ET

France vs. Japan Thursday, May 22 - 12:00 p.m. ET

Netherlands vs. Chile Thursday, May 22 - 2:30 p.m. ET

Ivory Coast vs. United States Friday, May 23 - 12:30 p.m. ET

Italy vs. Turkey Friday, May 23 - 2:30 p.m. ET

France vs. Netherlands Saturday, May 24 - 12:30 p.m. ET

Chile vs. Japan Saturday, May 24 - 2:30 p.m. ET

Italy vs. United States Sunday, May 25 - 12:00 p.m. ET

Ivory Coast vs. Turkey Sunday, May 25 - 2:00 p.m. ET

1st Semifinal Tuesday, May 27 - 12:00 p.m. ET

2nd Semifinal Tuesday, May 27 - 2:30 p.m. ET

Third Place Match Thursday, May 29 - 12:00 p.m. ET

Final Thursday, May 29 - 2:30 p.m. ET

Time Warner Cable launched Outdoor Channel HD and the Travel Channel HD in San Antonio. Time Warner has added both these channels in its HD line-up last week. With this addition the cable operator is offering 57 high-definition channels in the San Antonio area. Time Warner is planning to offer 100 HD channels in certain parts of New York before the year end. Time Warner will soon add these two high-definition channels in its HD line-up in other parts of the country very soon.

The leading satellite television provider in the country Dish Network has announced last Wednesday the launch of “Eurochannel.” The channel is first of its kind to broadcast movies, TV series and original productions from all over Europe. The programming will be aired with original audio with English subtitles.

Eurochannel will be available at no additional cost in Dish Network’s French Bouquet programming package, which is $19.99 a month. And the satellite provider’s customers can also add Eurochannel to any existing foreign-language TV package for an extra $9.99 a month. Dish Network is now offering more than 140 international channels in more than 25 different languages.

“We are delighted to partner with DISH Network in order to introduce the quality European programming of the Eurochannel to U.S. viewers,” said Gustavo Vainstein, President and CEO of the Eurochannel. “From now on, DISH Network customers will be able to enjoy the best of European movies, television shows and documentaries all available on Eurochannel.”

Eurochannel said it has more than 7 million subscribers in Latin America, Canada, in the Caribbean, Africa and in Portugal. Eurochannel is a television channel exclusively dedicated to broadcast European programs, 24 hours a day in subtitled original version.

Time Warner Cable has added Jewish Life Television (JLTV) in San Antonio region. Jewish Life Television is a way to connect to other Jewish community people around the world.
Time Warner Cable says that the channel is to deliver quality programming and first 24/7 Jewish television channel in the U.S targeting Jewish people in U.S.
Jewish Life Television President and CEO Phil Blazer said “We are honored to announce the partnership with Time Warner Cable in the launching of JLTV in the San Antonio area, This is an important step in our network reaching out to the entire community, as Time Warner Cable in San Antonio is one of its largest systems in the entire country.”

Fox News Channel has launched a high-definition simulcast channel on May 1, 2008, and Time Warner Cable carries the channel in Texas and the New York area. Time Warner carries Fox News HD in San Antonio, Texas and in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Hudson Valley in New York areas from last Thursday. Fox network says the viewers will view a display of national and world headlines, the latest in the financial markets, weather updates and sports scores.

“We look forward to Fox News HD further enhancing the overall viewing experience of the number one cable news channel by delivering content through state-of-the-art technology,” Fox News’ Tim Carry said.

Cablevision signed an agreement with Crown Media Holdings to carry the Hallmark Movie Channel in high-definition in the cable operator’s HD line-up. This agreement will allow the cable operator to air the standard-definition of the Hallmark Movie Channel. “We are very happy to announce this renewal of our affiliation agreement with Cablevision which, because of its service area in and around New York City, is a particularly important partner in our ability to showcase our industry-leading, family-friendly programming,” said Henry Schleiff, president and CEO of Crown Media Holdings, which owns the Hallmark networks.

QVC launched a high-definition version of its domestic cable shopping channel on Wednesday, April 30, 2008. QVC is still in negotiations to reach a carriage agreement with television providers and yet to settle. Liberty Media, which owns the QVC, also the parent company of DirecTV and it’s expected the leading satellite provider to carry the channel in high-definition. But the satcaster has some bandwidth problems as they now offer 95 national high-definition channels and the HD channel could be expected to be added once the new satellite DIRECTV 11 starts delivering, and this is expected by August or September.

“As HD programming becomes increasingly more in demand, we’re thrilled to offer our customers an enhanced shopping experience through QVC HD,” said QVC’s Senior Vice President of Affiliate Sales and Marketing Al Ulozas. “We’re presently in negotiations with our affiliates for carriage. QVC HD will be a wonderful addition to any of our affiliates’ HD line-ups.”