Dish Network is experiencing a major outage, one that has crippled its website and stopped employees from working.
According to The Verge, Dish began experiencing issues Thursday morning. The company’s website displays a notice saying it is experiencing problems, and the company’s internal apps and customer support systems are also impacted. What’s more, employees are reportedly being kept in the dark about what is going on.
The outage began around the same time as the company’s Q4 earnings, giving CEO Erik Carlson an opportunity to address the problems. He said that Dish, Sling, and the company’s wireless network are operational, but that “internal communications, customer care functions, Internet sites” are all down.
The Verge also goes on to point out that customers are unable to pay their bills, although company reps are assuring customers they won’t lose service if they can’t pay their bill as a result of the outage:
Hi, William! We are currently experiencing issues with processing payments and making account updates for some customers. If you are affected, you will not lose your service while we resolve this issue. Thanks for being a valued DISH customer. ~ Reyna D
Lowcast has informed subscribers it will be ending its service following an unfavorable court ruling.
Locast takes free, over-the-air local channel broadcasts and streams them over the internet. The solution was popular in many areas, with the company covering 55% of the US population, or more than 179 million people. Streaming service Sling even partnered with Locast to offer subscribers access to local channels, a traditionally weak point for Sling.
While other companies have been shut down for charging a fee for similar services, Locast was free and operated as a non-profit. The company did solicit donations mid-stream, and that appears to be what caused the problem. ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC sued, alleging the donation solicitation still broke the law. Unfortunately, the court sided with the broadcasters.
Although Locast originally planned on continuing to offer the service without the donation solicitations, it appears to have altered plans and has suspended service, effective immediately. The company notified customers in an email:
As a non-profit, Locast was designed from the very beginning to operate in accordance with the strict letter of the law, but in response to the court’s recent rulings, with which we respectfully disagree, we are hereby suspending operations, effective immediately.
The court ruling and Locast’s decision is a major blow to cordcutters and is an unfortunate win for an industry that has a long reputation of ruthlessly squashing anything that challenges the status quo — including things that benefit its customers.
AT&T is reportedly fielding offers to sell its DirecTV satellite service, as the service shrinks due to the rise of streaming options.
AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015 for $66 billion, including debt. Since that time, however, the service has lost millions of subscribers — far more than rival Dish Network — and has increasingly become a lead weight around AT&T’s neck.
According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T is fielding bids in excess of $15 billion, including debt, a far cry from what the company paid five years ago. Among the potential buyers are Churchill Capital Corp. IV and private-equity firm TPG. The WSJ says the auction is already in the late stages, with a completed deal possible in early 2021.
The TV industry has become one of the most hated industries in America in recent years, in terms of customer satisfaction. Many companies charge equipment rental fees, hidden fees and regularly hike prices after brief “introductory prices.”
While satellite TV often scores higher in customer satisfaction than cable options, it has still been heavily impacted by streaming services. Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, fuboTV, Sling and, most recently, T-Mobile’s TVision are often seen as cheaper alternatives that give customers more options and control. When TVision was released, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert specifically emphasized no annual contracts, no exploding plans and half the cost of cable.
AT&T’s divesture of DirecTV is just the latest example of this widespread digital transformation that is occurring.
T-Mobile informed TVision subscribers they will be receiving 30+ channels, normally part of the Vibe plan, for free.
At the end of October, T-Mobile unveiled its TVision streaming service, designed to compete with the likes of YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling and fuboTV. The company unveiled four packages, including Vibe, Live TV, Live TV+ and Live Zone.
The Vibe plan, in particular, was seen as a high-value option, providing 30+ entertainment and lifestyle channels for just $10. It was a good option for customers who were not interested in local channels or sports. Now, T-Mobile is giving away the Vibe plan for free to customers that have one of the TVision Live subscriptions.
T-Mobile Free Channels Email
Behind the scenes, industry experts say the promotion is a result of the legal issues and carriage disputes T-Mobile is facing over TVision. Despite the cable TV industry being one of the most hated industries in America, media companies continue to hold to the very business practices that made them so hated.
One of those practices is channel stuffing, requiring certain packages to contain certain channels, and then forcing customers to pay for channels they don’t want. T-Mobile’s willingness to separate their channel lineup in a way that allowed customers to choose what they wanted to pay for was one of its big selling points.
According to Variety, however, T-Mobile has had to make adjustments to prevent legal action from the media companies. For example, many media companies specify that any of their channels included in a cheaper tier must also be included in more expensive tiers. While T-Mobile viewed their Vibe plan as a standalone option, the media companies are clearly viewing it as the entry-level tier. As a result, because it has channels not included in any TVision Live plans, the media companies are crying foul.
To T-Mobile’s credit—in the same week that Hulu and DirecTV announced price hikes—the company’s solution is simply to include the 30+ Vibe channels for free in the more expensive TVision Live plans. While the company has portrayed it as a limited-time holiday event, given its Un-carrier reputation, it’s hard to imagine T-Mobile will do anything that will be a burden to customers on the other side of its holiday deal.
From the outset, CEO Mike Sievert characterized TVision as a loss-leader to help drive more customers to its cellular and home internet options. Hopefully the company’s holiday deal will become a permanent option, or replaced by some equally value-driven option.
Walmart and Comcast are in talks to partner on smart TVs running Comcast’s software.
Cable companies are under pressure to diversify their income strategies as consumers are cutting the cord in favor of streaming services in record numbers. Sling, fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV and, most recently, T-Mobile’s TVision have increasingly been competing directly with traditional cable and satellite services.
As a result, according to TheStreet, Comcast is looking to position itself as a digital hub for the various streaming services and apps. It’s unclear how well a TV from Comcast would be received, as the market is already relatively crowded.
In addition, like many internet and cable companies, Comcast often charges hidden equipment rental fees that routinely go up in price. While a smart TV would no doubt be an outright purchase, Comcast may find itself struggling to overcome perception problems and negative consumer goodwill.
Google Fiber has been going all-in on streaming services, offing them exclusively as part of its bundled options, with Philo joining the mix.
Many internet providers offer TV packages as part of a bundle deal, and Google Fiber is no different. Originally it offered traditional Tv service before changing gears and offering streaming services exclusively, as part of its bundles.
YouTube TV and fuboTV were the two streaming services Google offered initially, but now the company is offering Philo as well. Unlike YouTube TV, fuboTV, Sling and others, Philo does not try to be a full cable replacement, with local channels and sports. Instead, it offers a lineup of 60 channels, primarily geared around entertainment. It includes channels like A&E, AMC, BBC, BET, Comedy Central, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Paramount Network and more.
“We’re continuing to work to make it easier to find the TV and video content you want with more streaming choices available for our internet customers,” writes Liz Hsu, Director, Product Strategy. “We’re thrilled to welcome Philo as a new streaming partner. Philo offers over 60 channels of live and on-demand TV for just $20 a month, providing yet another affordable way to watch your favorite shows. Philo joins YouTube TV and fuboTV as one of our streaming offerings, and we’re working to make it even easier to get the streaming options our customers want.”
This should be a big boost to Philo, helping it compete with its bigger rivals.
FaceBank Group has announced a definitive agreement to merge with streaming TV provider fubtoTV.
fuboTV started out as a primarily sports-oriented streaming service that later expanded its offerings to compete with more mainstream rivals, such as Hulu, YouTube TV and Sling. FaceBank Group, on the other hand, develops “hyper-realistic digital humans. The company is focused on the development, protection and activation of the personal digital likeness assets of celebrities and consumers, for use in artificial intelligence, entertainment, personal productivity and social networking.”
According to the terms of the deal, “fuboTV will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of FaceBank, and FaceBank will be renamed fuboTV Inc. The combined company is expected to be headquartered in New York and led by fuboTV CEO David Gandler as CEO.”
In an SEC filing, FaceBank disclosed it has managed to secure a revolving credit line from HLEE Finance S.a.r.l., for some $100 million. The first $10 million will be given to fuboTV at either the close of the merger or April 1, whichever comes later.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the globe, and increasing numbers of people are quarantined or shelter-in-place, services like fuboTV will likely experience significant growth rates. The merged company, not to mention its line of credit, should help fuboTV continue to compete with other streaming services, and keep up with the increase in customers.
Comcast and a coalition of cable companies scored a win in Maine, with a judge granting an injunction against a law that would require cable companies to offer à la carte services.
According to Ars Technica, Maine passed the first law of its type in the nation, requiring cable TV companies to offer à la carte options. Comcast and a host of companies challenged the law in court, while also trying to get an injunction until the case could be decided.
In ruling on the injunction, District Judge Nancy Torresen said she would only grant the injunction if the plaintiffs had a reasonable chance of winning their argument on the legal merits. She concluded it was unlikely they would win based on two of their arguments, but the third stood a chance.
Specifically, one of the First Amendment arguments related to cable companies’ rights to bundle channels was deemed viable. “In short, they made the case that the Maine law violated their rights because it applied narrowly, to traditional cable carriers (MVPDs) but not to alternative, Internet-based platforms—such as Dish, Sling, Sony Vue, or YouTube TV—that also provide bundled content.”
With the cable industry recently suffering a legal blow limiting their ability to levy hidden fees and up-charges, this case shows the industry still has plenty of legal teeth—and doesn’t always use them for the benefit of their customers.
Google’s inexpensive Chromecast device keeps getting better and better, and it’s mostly not even by Google’s own hands (though the recent launch of screen mirroring was pretty big). More third-party apps continue to offer support, and today the device gets a big one.
Sling, which lets people watch their own TV set-ups remotely by way of mobile app, now supports Chromecast, meaning users can watch from any TV with a Chromecast (and they’re quite portable) just as if they were in their own living room.
If you’re not familiar with Chromecast, here’s a quick rundown: It’s a dongle (don’t you love that word?) made by Google that you plug into a TV’s HDMI port. It lets you “cast” content onto the big screen wirelessly from apps running on your mobile device. When paired with the Slingplayer app, you’ll be able to watch any of your cable or satellite programming (live or recorded) on any TV that’s been set up with Chromecast. Remember, both the Chromecast device and Slingplayer-equipped mobile device must be on the same network. And when they are, you’ll be able to control your TV with a soft remote interface that shows up on your phone or tablet:
Chromecast, like the other popular Sling-supported video streamers including Roku players and Apple TV, is compact (less than three inches long) and inexpensive ($35). We feel this will present a simple but powerful solution for our Sling customers who want to watch on multiple home TVs without setting up more than one set-top box, or would like to use Sling to watch their home content on a TV in a hotel, vacation home, office or anywhere else.
Chromecast support is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android Phones, with Android tablet support on the way.
The news follows Google’s announcement this week that Chromecast has also gained support from Twitch, Disney’s TV apps, iHeartRadio, and DramaFever. Other recent additions include Watch ABC and NPR One.
