News, DirecTV Eye Wireless Data

[cablewithaview]

News Corp. and DirecTV Inc. are getting ready to enter the wireless high-speed-Internet market, Rupert Murdoch told analysts at a conference Monday.

The News Corp. chairman said the companies have been studying wireless technology and will likely unveil their game plan in the next few months. DirecTV, a direct-broadcast satellite provider, is controlled by News Corp. and would be its vehicle for wireless-Internet service.

“We are looking, from the Direct point of view, at various alternatives -- partnerships, going it alone and, of course, the different technologies,” Murdoch said at Citigroup Inc.’s 16th Annual Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix.

“We have a lot of people on this full-time at the moment,” he added. “You’ll be hearing from us, within probably two months, a very clear plan of what will happen. It’s not as expensive as you might think.”

Right now, DirecTV and EchoStar Communications Corp. don’t offer high-speed Internet to households, but WiMax technology could be an avenue for them to provide such service.

DirecTV would only have to invest $1 billion or so to enter the high-speed wireless market, according to Murdoch.

“Direct is extremely liquid: It’s got $4 billion in the bank,” he said. “We’re certainly not talking about spending that kind of money -- maybe an investment of around $1 billion by Direct. But first, we have to be certain of the technology and its ability to be expanded … Whatever system we go for is going to be something that can be upgraded and stay with public demand.”

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6298166.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP&nid=2226

 

[satjay]

My High Speed access is through comcast right now. It would be nice if Directv had access, so I could move on from comcast. I have to pay for limited basic (which I dont use) to get the their regular price. If you dont, it shoots to like 70.00 a month.

 

[LonghornXP]

All I can say is in two months you all will be hearing some big news on this front. Maybe just maybe you will also hear about future true two-way VOD plans as well but I won't get ahead of myself because that might take a little while longer.

 

[tmbstone]

My High Speed access is through comcast right now. It would be nice if Directv had access, so I could move on from comcast. I have to pay for limited basic (which I dont use) to get the their regular price. If you dont, it shoots to like 70.00 a month.

Im with you there. I pay for basic Comcast just to get decent price on high speed

 

[Stargazer]

Would they be able to offer it to all of their customers or only the ones in larger cities? Is DirecTv going to use some of that spectrum that they bought that uses their satellites to use a different frequency?

 

[LonghornXP]

Would they be able to offer it to all of their customers or only the ones in larger cities? Is DirecTv going to use some of that spectrum that they bought that uses their satellites to use a different frequency?

If they do VOD it would be done as an internet download. They plan to charge extra for VOD services like cable. So if you pay the extra 6.95/month for example you would get all the on demand offerings for the premium channels you subscribe to. So if you get HBO and Showtime only for that 6.95/month you would only get HBO On Demand and Showtime On Demand. I also am hearing that Starz On Demand will be the only On Demand offering that will stay free for Starz subscribers. Now I'm hearing that you will get a USB wireless device that would be plugged into the master box on the account. This would allow all other boxes to get VOD access via Moca. Now these boxes must be one of the SD or HD DVR boxes as these will be the only ones that will support MOCA. If you have more than one HDTV set it will be nice to have a rental option on the HD DVR that is for sure. Now nothing is perfect but that is how they would handle this. Also if you want VOD services you will get a discount on it if you get high speed internet but I don't know if that discount would be for the internet or the VOD services though.

Now I've also been told that they might have a special box that would connect to their multiswitch instead of the wireless USB dongle but that is unknown. I just don't know which is true at this point. Just rest assured that they are looking at VOD and true two-way VOD that will have nothing todo with the satellites.