TiVo has long suffered from competitors using the television pause and rewind technology for which TiVo became famous. Now, though, the struggling DVR maker has managed to convince a federal judge that Dish Network and its sister firm, EchoStar, have violated an injunction against copying the technology, forcing the latter two companies to pay a total of $200 million to TiVo.
While Dish Network plans to appeal the case, it will be forced to pay the $110 million in damages, $90 million in sanctions, and additional attorney fees, as well as additional sanctions if it loses its appeal. This ruling comes …read more

In the second quarter, Dish Network posted a profit that was 81% less than the profit posted in the second quarter of 2008. Dish Network is known as a low-cost satellite provider for those looking for a budget friendly television provider.
Dish Network’s second quarter profit was $63.4 million. Last year, the profit was $335.9 million — a drop of more than $270 million.
Dish Network says that the two main reasons why their profits are down are rising expenses and rising legal costs associated with TiVo.
The good news is that Dish Network revenue was unchanged in the year over year comparison. …read more

Dish Network has reportedly settled a lawsuit that the company improperly promoted, marketed, advertised and sold their services and products. The lawsuit was brought on by attorney generals in more than 45 states.
It’s believed that the amount of money Dish Network will pay in this settlement is between $5.5 million and $6 million. In addition, Dish Network agreed to be more open in terms of disclosing their fees and terms of service when they are advertising and distributing written contracts.
Although Dish Network has settled, they did not admit to any wrongdoing. According to the satellite television company, all of their …read more

TiVo, one of the pioneers in the digital video recorder industry, won an important court battle against Dish Network on Tuesday. Due to patent infringement, Dish Network was ordered by a federal judge in Texas to pay TiVo $103 million. Dish Network must also pay TiVo interest through April 2008.
At the time of this controversy, Dish Network was known as EchoStar. As could be expected, TiVo was thrilled with the ruling.
Said TiVo in a press release: “We are extremely gratified by the Court’s well reasoned and thorough decision, in which it rejected EchoStar’s attempted workaround claim regarding the TiVo patent, …read more

Dish Network, which only trails DirecTV as the largest satellite television company in the United States, posted impressive profits in the first quarter of 2009. In total, Dish Network now has more than 13.5 million subscribers across the nation.
With profits of more than $312 million in the first quarter, Dish Network easily beat most predictions by industry experts. Last year, Dish Network’s first quarter profits totaled less than $260 million. From last year to this year revenue also rose — from about $2.85 billion to approximately $2.9 billion.
This good news was well received on the stock market. Dish Network stock …read more

The Federal Trade Commission announced today that both DirecTV and Comcast are being fined today for making phone calls to people who has asked them not to call back. This violates the do-not-call law, called the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
DirecTV has faces such fines in the past. In 2005, DirecTV paid a $5.3 million settlement for violating FTC’s rules regarding the Do Not Call registry. This time, both DirecTV and Comcast are facing fines for calling people who specifically requested to be put on the companies’ internal do not call lists. DirecTV has agreed to pay a $2.3 million settlement, while …read more

The NFL Network had been suing Dish Network to force the satellite television provider to honor a contract agreement. Dish Network’s position was that the contracted was void because the NFL Network had breached the conditions of the agreement. Over the weekend, the two companies agreed to settle and drop the lawsuit.
Although the details of the settlement agreement between the two companies are not known, Dish Network will continue to career the NFL Network for many years to come.
“We are very pleased that our NFL Network will continue to be distributed in millions of homes on Dish Network,” said Roger …read more

The federal government is apparently serious about the Do Not Call Registry. Nearly 170 million phone numbers are on the national DNC registry, which works as a list of numbers that telemarketers aren’t allowed to contact. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Dish Network doesn’t have much respect for that list.
The FTC says that in excess of 20,000 complaints have been recorded that say Dish Network is in violation of the law. While other companies have paid fines due to violations, Dish Network is the first company to get sued.
Dish Network, which is one of the top two satellite television …read more