Billions at stake in battle over sports on satellite radio The new world of satellite radio is reshaping an ages-old medium and turning it into the hottest new vehicle for sports fans, no matter how far they roam or what time zone they’re in. Across an ever-expanding universe, a white-hot competition between major players XM […]
Los Angeles Business Journal Online DirecTV Group Inc., said two of its units will take out a new $2 billion secured credit line and will sell nearly $500 million in unsecured bonds to pay off the units’ $1.26 billion credit line and to repay an $875 million promissory note owed to the parent company. The […]
TiVo investors give standing ovation to Comcast deal Investors sent TiVo (TIVO) shares soaring 75% to $6.70 Tuesday after the digital video recorder pioneer unveiled its first deal to provide its widely praised television-recording service to a major cable operator. Comcast (CMCSA), which has 21.5 million basic subscribers, agreed to offer TiVo’s software and programming […]
BMW’s Auto Launch Uses Sirius Satellite Radio For the first time, a major automobile manufacturer is using satellite radio to promote a new vehicle launch. BMW of North America announced Wednesday an innovative promotion with Sirius to celebrate the launch of the new 3 Series vehicle. The promotion, called “3 Across America” and running March […]
Does anyone want TiVo? Shares of TiVo have surged nearly 20 percent in the past month. But some analysts think investors need to hit the rewind button on the stock. TiVo, the company that popularized digital video recording technology, has never reported a profit and analysts are forecasting a loss of 43 cents a share […]
DirecTV Exec Steps Down The president of DirecTV abruptly resigned Monday, a little more than a year after he was handpicked for the job by News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch in the wake of his takeover of the satellite TV leader. DirecTV executives said no replacement would be named for Mitchell Stern, who had been […]
XM Changes Program Structure, Faces New Indecency Standard Proposals XM Satellite Radio made an announcement last week that it is expanding its basic service package, in an effort to counter the fact that their monthly subscription price for said service will increase from $9.99 to $12.99 beginning April 2. To make the price jump an […]
Dish Network Launches TVG Interactive After years of promises and disappointments, true two-way interactivity for horse-race wagering will reach 10 million TV sets nationwide this month through the Dish Network’s launch March 2 of the TVG Interactive Horseracing channel. EchoStar Communications Corp.’s satellite service has begun rolling out the virtual channel to the 90% of […]
DirecTV Files Lawsuit Against 19 Canadians DirecTV, Inc. announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in Ontario against 19 Canadian citizens and five of their businesses that it believes were participating in a scheme to activate fraudulent DirecTV accounts that enabled individuals to receive DirecTV programming without authorization by, or proper payment to DirecTV. […]
DirecTV Unit Chief Quits A top executive at DirecTV left the company as CEO Chase Carey consolidated his control of the satellite television broadcaster. DirecTV said Mitch Stern, who had been president and CEO of its DirecTV Inc. operating subsidiary, left effective today. Carey will take over his roles, and the company won’t replace Stern. […]