Dish Said to Plan Blockbuster Rival to Netflix Dish TV and the Holidays 2011

This ought to begin changing the way investors think about Dish,” said Ryan Vineyard, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York. “It goes from being an old-school pay-TV company to launching what could be a really high-growth business Attention all you Baseball Fans out there, DISH Network has just added the MLB Network in HD to its High-Definition lineup, just in time for the final month of the 2011 baseball season. This channel will be available on 153 for all subscribers who have DISH Network’s America’s Top 200, DISH Latino Dos or Multisport packages. It features a mix of live baseball games, studio analysis shows and documentaries.

“With the pennant races heating up, DISH Network brings our customers wall-to-wall baseball coverage and MLB games in HD on MLB Network,” said Dave Shull, senior vice president of Programming for DISH Network. “The addition of MLB Network makes DISH Network the place for fans to follow their favorite teams into the Postseason and keep up with the latest information on all 30 Major League Baseball clubs.”

DISH Network adding their HD service has been a long time coming. The two sides have been in a power struggle for the past few years and had trouble coming to an agreement. The tension rose before this season when every other major TV provider had added MLB Network HD except for DISH. The MLB Network premiered a game last night featuring two powerhouse clubs competing for the American League pennant: The New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox’s. Order the MLB Network today and you will receive access to all 30 MLB clubs year-round, with more than 100 live regular season games, over 80 Spring Training Games, original programming, coverage of baseball events, like the National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and live studio programming, including its Emmy Award winning signature daily show “MLB Tonight.” To add this to your programming lineup visit us at DISH-Systems or call (888)566-3979. What is your favorite Baseball team? Favorite Player? Let us know

Dish Network Corp. (DISH), the second largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, will introduce a Blockbuster streaming-movie service to compete with Netflix Inc. (NFLX) next month, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans.

The timing is designed to coincide with price increases being implemented by Netflix, according to the person, who declined to be named because Dish’s new offering isn’t public. Starting this month, Netflix said it will charge separate fees for mail-order and streaming videos, raising the price by 60 percent to $15.98 for customers who want both options. Dish hasn’t set a price for its rival service, the person said.

Dish acquired almost all of Blockbuster’s assets in April for $320 million out of bankruptcy. The company is trying to transform Blockbuster into a business that can compete online with Netflix, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Hulu LLC. U.S. residents watched an average 4 hours 33 minutes of video on the Internet monthly in the first quarter, a 35 percent increase from a year earlier, according to a Nielsen Holdings NV report.

“This ought to begin changing the way investors think about Dish,” said Ryan Vineyard, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York. “It goes from being an old-school pay-TV company to launching what could be a really high-growth business.

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