Englewood, Colo. —
Dish Network is offering subscribers
access to more than
150,000 video clips, full-length
episodes and movies through
DishOnline.com, the portal for
“TV Everywhere” content and
other services that launched
publicly on Aug. 24.
Programming partners initially
participating in DishOnline.
com include Discovery
Communications, Scripps
Networks, Viacom’s MTV and
Nickelodeon, Epix,
Starz Entertainment,
Ovation and
Encore.
“It’s an ongoing
process of adding
more networks,”
Bruce Eisen, Dish’s
vice president of online
content development
and strategy,
said. “When a
Dish customer pays
us for content, they
should be able to
watch it wherever
they are and whenever
they want.”
Like other pay TV
operators pursuing
a “TV Everywhere”
strategy, Dish is
aiming to keep subscribers
paying for
video services by
extending access to
TV content across
mobile and Web screens. Comcast,
Verizon Communications’
FiOS TV and AT&T’s U-Verse
TV have launched their own
fl avors of TV Everywhere.
DishOnline.com has been
in a private beta test with a few
thousand users for the past several
months.
Of the 150,000-plus pieces
of video content on the site at
launch, about half are free to
anyone to access, according to
Eisen. “It’s a customer-acquisition
tool,” he said. “I’m hoping
Cablevision and Comcast customers
come to the site and say,
‘Look at all this other great stuff
Dish offers.’”
In addition to video, Dish
customers who log in to the
site can remotely manage their
broadband-connected DVRs to
set or delete recordings, as well
as browse and search TV listings
and 5,000 on-demand titles.
DishOnline.com also lets subscribers
with a ViP 922 “Sling-
Loaded” DVR or Slingbox watch
live or recorded TV programs.
The site delivers video using
Adobe Systems’ Flash multimedia
platform and uses Widevine
Technologies’ security and
adaptive-streaming technology.
Dish and EchoStar built
the entire content-management
system and the software
to manage DVRs.
Currently, Dish is not selling
ads for DishOnline.com but “at
some point we’ll look at that,”
Eisen said.
Dish filed to trademark the
term “TV Everywhere” in September
2009, but last month
the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office suspended the application.
The agency cited Time
Warner Inc.’s prior application
to trademark “On Demand Everywhere”
as potentially nullifying
the satellite operator’s
claim on the term.
