Comcast has begun offering its Xfinity brand in 11 different U.S. markets.  The new service promises more HD channels, a faster Internet connection, and the opportunity to watch TV programming online.  Under the new identity Comcast will refer to its services as Xfinity TV, Xfinity Voice, and Xfinity Internet.
Xfinity TV will offer access to 100-plus HD channels, 50 to 70 foreign stations, and a video-on-demand library that should surpass 20,000 titles.  On the issue of Internet, connection speeds should reach 50 Mbps and ultimately grow to 100 Mbps.  The programming available for viewing online will feature programming from 27 networks, including the History Channel, ABC, Travel Planet and premium channels like HBO, Cinemax and Starz. 
Customers in the following locations will have access to Comcast Xfinity: Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Hartford, Augusta, Chattanooga, parts of the Bay area and San Francisco.

Compared to satellite and cable, installing Verizon FiOS can be a lengthy process—up to two days, some in the blogosphere are reporting.  To be accurate, those are from new subscribers who opted for the triple play bundle.  Those instances are considered to be worst-case scenarios and not the norm.  Still, industry reports have FiOS instillation times taking at least five hours to complete, usually more.  A couple major obstacles complicate the picture.  One, FiOS is still relatively new, and Verizon is still improving its installation process.  Two, installing high speed fiber is different than standard cable lines.  The FiOS installer has to complete a thorough inspection of the link between the between the TV and the box.  If any part of the link is off, the entire connection is useless. 

With a customer base of more than 1.5 million and service available in 100 U.S. cities, AT&T has begun preparations to bring its U-Verse TV service to Southeast Louisiana.  U-Verse TV signals run though fiber-optic wires.  This new mode of technology has cast intrigue among consumers and industry circles.  With analog TV a thing of the past, consumers in more and more cities will have an alternative to cable or satellite TV.

Comcast is currently in talks with General Electric to buy a 51% share in NBC Universal.  Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast is the nation’s largest cable provider and is expected to pay between $4 billion to $6 billion to complete the deal.  If the deal goes through, Comcast would pair its current networks alongside NBC Universal’s lineup.

The Wall Street Journal reports that ViaSat Inc is set to buy Satellite Internet Provider Wild Blue Communications for $568 million in stock and cash.  Other than reaching a settlement in principle, the deal makes a lot of sense as both organizations have worked together for more than a decade.  The deal is expected to close sometime between January and April of next year. Wild Blue currently provides high speed service to 400,000 subscribers, mostly in rural areas.  Sometime in 2011, Via Sat plans to launch a new satellite that will greatly expand the number of customers they can serve.

BundledService.com and Dishnetwork

BundledService.com now is offering, and has officially announced to thatDishnetwork is one of its Bundled Services products.

DishNetwork gets more agressive with ESPNU

The word on the Street is that Dish Network may be dropping the Very popular ESPNU sports Channel all the way from one of their most expensive programming packages the Classic Gold 250 down to their very aggressive Classic 100. This is great news for sports fans who enjoy the suite of ESPN channels already included in the Classic 100, but don't want to pay the additional to add 150 channels for the 1 channel they want. Great move by Dish Network if it is indeed true. I will be contacting our Dishnetwork Representative to Confirm and updating shortly.

Stan

California residents who subscribe to Direct TV and Dish network got some good news--at least for a while.  A bill to adda 5 % sales tax to satellite TV providers won't make it to the legislative floor before the final days of the session.  Cable companies currently pay a 5% franchise fee to local governments for the right to run their lines across public land.  Consequently, the cable industry has lobbied hard in California and other states to have similar fees applied to satellite providers. At stake was a $170-million annual tax on 3.6 million satellite useres, a move the cable industry argues would create a more competitive playing field. Representatives of the satellite industry naturally disagree and are prepared to battle against a measure that may resurface sometime next year.  "Satellite companies do not pay franchise fees for one simple reason," stated DirecTV Chief Executive Larry D. Hunter.  "Satellite uses innovative technology that does no disrupt the public rights of way."

NFL lovers get ready!!!

As of September 13 DishNetwork will now offer the NFL networks Redzone Channel. Whether you are a casual football fan or a Fantasy Football Freak you are going to love the redzone channel being available on Dish Tv. For the Fantasy Football player you can watch virtually every scoring drive, and see how many points your star players are earning you real time. For the more casual fan you can watch "the action" and see the amazing plays that could be the difference in a win or a loss! Personally one of my favorite channels and can't wait for it to be available.

Versus Goes Dark on DIRECTV

If you are a sports fan who enjoys watching events like the Tour De France, NHL hockey, IRL racing, and some out of market College Football, and you watch all of those events on Directv. At least for the foreseeable future you are out of luck. According to the LA times Article DIRECTV and Versus are currently disputing whether or not DIRECTV will pay more to carry the versus channel on its platform. See the whole article HERE.