Dish Network said it is building Google Assistant into its Hopper family of set-top receivers, allowing customers to use their voice remotes to control smart home devices, provide weather and news updates, display photos and more in the coming months.

Dish officially made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Tuesday (Jan. 8).

This functionality builds on Dish’s deal to integrate Google Assistant into Hopper in July, which required users to pair their Hopper with a Google Assistant device such as speakers and phones to control their TV.

“Our customers love the convenience of voice control, so we’re expanding functionality to make it even more powerful,” said Dish vice president of product management Niraj Desai in a statement. “As a Dish subscriber, you will soon get the Google Assistant and all its incredible features – like adjusting your thermostat, managing your calendar or simply asking for the latest news – for free, right on your TV.”

Customers will be able to use their voice remote to ask the Assistant questions and see answers on the screen like weather forecasts or games scores. Users will also be able to control smart home devices, such as dimming the lights or adjusting the thermostat, and relive favorite memories by pulling up Google Photos on the TV screen – all with their voice.

Customers with a Dish voice remote and broadband-connected Hopper (all generations), Joey (all models) or Wally will have access to the Google Assistant. New Dish customers receive the voice remote with all Hopper family receivers at no extra cost; current customers without a voice remote can upgrade for $20.

Dish Network said its Hopper subscribers can now use Google Assistant to control their TV experience through a series of voice commands.

Dish customers with a Hopper, a Hopper Duo, Joey, or Wally can control their TVs with only their voice when paired with a Google Assistant device, like Google Home, Android phones or iPhones. Dish is the first pay-TV provider to offer direct compatibility with the Assistant.

"Since we first introduced voice control technology, we've seen our customers really embrace the hands-free TV experience," said Dish vice president of product management Niraj Desai in a statement. "Our collaboration with Google is an exciting opportunity for us to continue meeting demand for voice and changing the way we interact with television."

Customers can ask the Assistant to set recordings, adjust volume and launch apps like Game Finder, Netflix and Pandora. Customers can also use the Assistant to navigate, play, pause, fast-forward, rewind and search content based on channel, title, actor or genre. When using search functionality, the results displayed include Dish's live, recorded and on-demand titles, as well as Netflix's selection of TV shows and movies.

"We want to make it easy and fun for people to turn their living room into a smart entertainment center with the Assistant," said Google Smart Home Ecosystem senior director Michele Turner in a statement. "By working closely with Dish, we'll ensure that customers can easily control their TVs through the Assistant, instead of searching for or having to share the remote."

To take advantage of the voice controls, users need to have a broadband-connected Hopper DVR, Hopper Duo, Joey or Wally and must download the Google Assistant app on their smartphones.

For more information about the Google Assistant on Dish set-top boxes, including possible commands and step-by-step set-up instructions, visit Dish's Google Assistant integration page.

According to sources, Washington, D.C.-based NCTA: The Internet & Television Association is looking at April 27 for the event it signaled could be in the offing after the trade group pulled the plug on INTX, its annual trade show, which was to have been held in April in the capital.

April 27 would be the day after the Cable Hall of Fame ceremony in Washington, which features top cable executives from NBCUniversal, Discovery Communications, Cox Communications, HBO, Liberty Global and Scripps Networks Interactive, and those in town to honor them, so it would make sense to capitalize on that concentration of industry executive muscle. The event will be by invitation only, sources said, and NCTA targeted “very high level” guests, which sadly might rule The Wire out.

NCTA had signaled the event would not be a downsized version of INTX, so no convention center or display floor. An NCTA spokesperson had no comment at press time.

The source said NCTA appears to be looking at a mix of speakers and tech demonstrations — as well as a lunch — at a half-day, afternoon conference to be held at the event space at Union Market, which bills itself as a “unique warehouse event venue” with 22-foot tall ceilings and exposed concrete floors. Holding it in the afternoon could be an accommodation to Cable Hall afterparty revelers. This year, the Hall isn’t competing against other INTX-related events, so the afterparty, possibly including cast members from inductee The Sopranos, could be more popular than usual.

A cable-industry source who confirmed the date said it appeared to be targeted primarily at D.C. policymakers. That would certainly make sense for a trade group run by a technology and policy uber-wonk, Michael Powell, whose resume includes commissioner and chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Given the Washington location, and the current industry interest in what the Trump administration and new FCC chair will do about net neutrality, broadband subsidies, privacy, business data services and more, a policy-centric conference would be a good fit.

Assuming the venue is correct — and we have it from multiple well-informed sources — then the conference will be held “directly above the artisanal marketplace, which houses over 30 of the top food producers in the region.”
Count us in, and pass the focaccia.

Google Assistant Wasn’t Much Help At YouTube TV’s Launch Event
Google-owned YouTube put on a technologically glitzy presentation for the media introducing its new YouTube TV streaming service that will at launch offer 40 channels of live cable networks for $35 a month. The March 1 event, held in Los Angeles but simulcast to offices in San Francisco and New York, gave a detailed look at what You- Tube director of product management Christian Oestlien dubbed “a chance to reimagine television for the YouTube generation.”

After successfully showing gathered reporters the various technological features of YouTube TV — including simple search options, ease of recording to the service’s unlimited DVR and the ability to cast YouTube TV to a large screen through Chromecast-enabled devices — executives had less success with a Google Home-driven, voice-based innovation that is expected to debut a few months after the actual YouTube TV launch.

In theory, the Google Home integration will allow consumers to control every aspect of YouTube TV through voice commands, from recording favorite shows to changing channels, Oestlien said. But several attempts to use the feature during the press conference failed, ending with the computerized Google Assistant voice cryptically saying that “something went wrong” or “there was a glitch.”

Attendees politely giggled at the flub, but The Wire suspects YouTube will make sure that feature is purring at launch.
— R. Thomas Umstead

Split in the Ticket? Trump, Pence Differ On Anonymous Sources
The Trump administration has a bifurcated view of journalists and unnamed sources.

President Donald Trump, addressing a conservative conference in Washington, said journalists should not be allowed to use sources unless they name them.

But interestingly, that came while White House officials were planning to brief reporters on the president’s budget on the condition that they be identified as unnamed sources.

Then there is the source-protecting history of Vice President Mike Pence.

As a member of Congress, and as a former radio talk show host, Pence was a strong supporter of a federal shield law to protect reporters against government attempts to make them name unnamed sources.

It may have been an exercise in wishful thinking, but shield law backer Sen. Dick Durbin (DIll.) talked up the Pence connection in a speech to broadcasters in town to lobby the Hill and the Federal Communications Commission.

“Maybe Vice President Pence can persuade President Trump to work with us to finally pass a federal shield law that protects reporters’ sources in all 50 states,” he said.

As we said, wishful thinking.
— John Eggerton

CNBC is stepping further into the world of A.I. as a launch partner for “Actions” for Google Assistant, a feature for products such as the Google Home hub that competes with platforms such as Amazon Alexa, used in smart home products such as the Echo.

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To fuel the feature, the business net has debuted @CNBC, a “Conversation Action” for Google Assistant that lets viewers get information about the markets and shows that are running on CNBC. Per the FAQ, It's free to all U.S. consumers who have Google Home devices. 

CNBC said the new offering will offer market commentary from the network’s on-air stocks editor, Bob Pisani, and real-time market snapshots from the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq, as well as news updates from CNBC Radio.

Users can also use @CNBC to ask Google Assistant specific questions, such as: “Ok, Google, let me talk to CNBC about the markets,” or “Ok, Google, ask CNBC to tell me when The Profit is on next.”

 “As a launch partner for Actions on Google for the Google Assistant, we are very excited to offer users CNBC’s unparalleled content,” Deep Bagchee, SVP of CNBC product and technology, said in a statement. “With @CNBC, we are able to provide consumers with the information they want – from the latest business news to unique insights into the markets.”