Whoa, whoa, whoa, back it up… beep… beep… beep. So DirecTV and TiVo have run back into each other’s loving arms despite a pretty ugly separation back in 2005.

Back in the day, you could get DirecTV service with the very-excellent TiVo interface loaded into a pretty powerful dual-tuner box. Then all hell broke loose as DirecTV abruptly announced that it would be making its own DVR boxes, leaving TiVo scrambling to make up for more than half of its 3+ million subscriptions it’d be losing.

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Listen. We’re not in the game of financial advisory — even though we do know the game — but when Dish Network drops like an Olympic weightlifter, we take notice. 

Shares of Dish Network Corp. fell sharply Wednesday after an analyst downgraded the stock due to concerns about the satellite TV operator’s weakening business.

It’s worse…

In the second quarter, Englewood, Colo.-based Dish reported a net loss of 25,000 subscribers, the first in the company’s history.

Oh boy, and worse.

Dish also faces risk from its ongoing litigation with Tivo Inc. Tivo has accused Dish of infringing patents for its digital video recorders. Dish lost the initial case and an appeal but it is countersuing.

There was a time when Dish Network led the race to HD, had the very good hardware, and simply a rock’n price. What’s happened since then? Dish still has a great lineup, good hardware, and a competitive price.

So what is it then? Really, we are asking. What’s Dish Network doing that simply isn’t keeping subs around anymore? Lineup, price, hardware, logo, availability….let us know in the comments. 

Forbes

Tough times for Los Angelenos wanting to watch HDTV. Apartment dwellers in the city are, apparently, fed up with Time Warner’s foot-dragging when it comes to expanding HD content, especially those who aren’t allowed to install a DirecTV or Dish Network satellite dish. Right now, Los Angeles ranks dead last in HD channel availability in the top five TV markets in the country. (LA has 16. Compare that to San Antonio with 38.) Charlotte, NC has more HD channels than it!

I think Los Angelenos need to calm down a bit. Lots of those HD channels they’re missing out on are merely upconverted hotbeds of junk that you’d never want to watch anyway. Yes, it’s the principle of the matter, but they’re really not missing much. Aside from ESPN in HD and the occasional nature show, there’s not too much in the way of quality HD on cable.

In the coming months, DirecTV subscribers will finally have access to on-demand content. Popular movies will automatically get pushed to set-top DVR boxes via satellite and everything else will be downloaded as it’s requested using the boxes’ built-in Ethernet ports.

It’s not a perfect solution, as automatically pushed content can take up precious hard drive space that’d otherwise be used for recording the programs that users actually want to see but it’s a step in the right direction since DirecTV has had no answer to cable’s on-demand offerings for quite some time now. It’ll also be interesting to see how quickly an internet-downloaded TV show or movie will be able to start playing back. Analysts believe that if users have to wait too long to start watching what they’ve ordered, the service could ultimately falter (especially with bandwidth-intensive high definition content).

At the outset, DirecTV will have about 3,000 movies and TV shows available and will be adding more over the coming months. There’s no hard and fast date yet for when the on-demand features will become available but DirecTV’s apparently been testing it and has said that it’ll come to fruition sometime in the second quarter.

DirecTV to Start On-Demand [WSJ.com]

If you’re a DirecTV subscriber and you’re prepared to cough up the $368 it’ll cost you to get the NFL Sunday Ticket package plus the SuperFan upgrade, you’ll be able to stream every game to your computer (Windows only) this season.

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Not a lot of info here, but the WSJ is reporting that DirecTV will FINALLY start offering broadband Internet access via power line distribution. The service is possible through a deal with Current Group, who provides broadband communications over power lines.

How much would you pay for broadband ‘net from DirecTV? With $20 satellite TV available, this could make up part of a wicked package deal.

DirecTV, Current to offer Net service over power lines: WSJ [Marketwatch]

Launching in 2008 are software enhancements that will give DirecTV DVR users with built-in Series 2 TiVo a Recently Deleted Folder and Overlap Protection as well as Remote Booking. No need to upgrade now is there?

Press Release

Believe it or not, some people in this country still don’t have access to broadband. Combine that with the fact that DirecTV is in a bit of a financial pickle and you’ll understand why the satellite TV provider is toying with the idea of starting a broadband over power line service in the near future. It’s currently deciding whether or not to go into formal testing, using a “top 50″ U.S. city as its guinea pig. It’s even thinking about looking into Wi-Max technology to deliver broadband. The move is seen as a way for DirecTV to diversify its services and offerings, which go head to head with digital cable. My main beef with DirectTV is that it compresses the hell out of high definition broadcasts, but that’s a rant for another day.

DirecTV may try broadband on power lines [Reuters]

I live in an apartment. It is a nice apartment with great views of most of Seattle, from the Downtown all the way up to the U-District and even the Freemont Bridge. Sadly, like many apartment dwellers, I’m limited to cable TV. My building has strict rules against DirecTV-style mini dishes. The manager says it’s about decor, we think it’s more to do with the heft discount Comcast gives him for his own TV.

The Sat-Go might be an alternative. Sure, it’s price at $1,499, and I’d still have to pay for service, but I can take this portable dish with me anywhere, which I like. The unit isn’t just a dish, but also a receiver, tuner, and 17-inch LCD monitor, and the whole shebang runs on internal Li-Ion batteries. That’s very awesome.

No word on how long the charge lasts, but as it has no moving parts and is a passive receiver, we’re guessing longer than a laptop. And as it comes with a cigarette plug adapter, you can really take it anywhere you wanna watch TV, so long as you’re in line of sight. I could be very popular in many bars around here, I should think.

Sat-Go [product page, via MobileMag]