Call the cable TV provider in your area, because you’re going to want broadband Internet for the upcoming “Streaming Wars”.

When Dish Network satellite TV bought the failing Blockbuster video, many wondered how Dish would turn it into a money maker.   Well, the first attempt is being made as we speak.  After Netflix announced significant price hikes to come, Dish Network saw an opportunity to grab new customers.

Netflix took its single disc/streaming video product and broke it into two products.  What was once $9.99 a month for both is now $7.99 a month per product.  Obviously, Netflix users are miffed.  Dish Network offers a one disc rental package for $9.99, but the Blockbuster package does not include streaming video.  At least not yet.
However, according to a BizJournals.com article, Dish Network satellite TV / Blockbuster video feels customers would switch from Netflix for early access to new releases and video game rentals.  The Blockbuster package is $2 more a month than the single disc package from Netflix, so only time will tell.  What’s more important, saving $2 or having access to newer new releases and video games?

It looks like Dish Network satellite TV is heading in the direction of the other satellite Internet providers.

According to a story on Multichannel, “A U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge approved Dish Network’s proposal to purchase TerreStar Networks for $1.375 billion Thursday, giving the satellite giant access to wireless spectrum for a possible broadband play.”  That looks pretty cut and dry.  Dish Network satellite TV appears to be moving into satellite Internet territory and why wouldn’t they?  People need broadband all over the world, even if cable lines can’t get to their houses.

Is Allconnect a trend setter?  Perhaps. For a while now, Allconnect has offered you a way to bundle and save with the choices you want^SM .  That simply means you can choose your providers and services based on your needs, not the available bundles, and it looks like we were on to something.

A recent Nielsen study shows consumers are in favor making their own bundles.  While cable TV providers are still the majority in paid TV subscriptions, satellite TV providers are closing the gap.  One reason satellite TV subscriptions are on the rise is the recent trend in creating your own bundle.  With services like Allconnect, consumers can choose a satellite TV package and pair it with cable Internet service.  It offers choice and, in some cases, the best of both worlds.

Let’s say you prefer your local satellite TV package over your local cable TV package, but you would rather have the higher speed of a cable Internet connection.  Well, now you can.  With Allconnect, you can create your own bundle.

Enter your address in the “Find Savings” widget to see what’s available in your area.

“How can I find cable companies in my area?”  ”What’s the best plan for me and my family?”

Sound familiar?  Prices are going up on everything from groceries to gas and entertainment costs have been steadily rising for years.  With that in mind, many of us are taking a serious look at our finances.  What services are more of a necessity these days?

Cable TV providers were once thought to be more of a luxury than a necessity.  Anynore, that’s changed.  Broadband Internet and cable TV are the norm for a lot of the country and many find it hard to cut off either.  So what do you do?  You take a long, hard look at your finances and make an honest assessment of what you can afford.

Maybe you don’t really need to subscribe to every movie channel.  Or maybe you could do better with a cable TV plan from another provider.  But there’s that question again.  ”How can I find cable companies in my area?”  That’s the easy part.  Just enter your address into the “Find Savings” widget at the top of the page.  We’ll show you which cable TV providers offer service at your specific address.  Then it’s up to you to compare plans and prices to find the plan best suited to your family and budget.

Many were wondering what Dish Network dish TV would do with Blockbuster video after the purchase.  Well, one idea quickly came to surface and has already been put into place by Dish Network.

The assumption that Dish Network would somehow loop customers into a bi-company experience was a no-brainer.  We just didn’t know how they would do it.  The Boston Herald recently posted a story about the first steps into satellite TV and home movie rentals.  According to the Herald, “Dish Network said Thursday that new customers who sign up for its satellite television service through Aug. 10 will receive three months of free Blockbuster by Mail DVDs. The offer includes access to 100,000 movies, TV shows and games that can be exchanged by mail or at Blockbuster stores. The offer includes Blu-ray movies and new releases that Blockbuster gets 28 days earlier than Netflix and Redbox.”

Having a four week head start on the movie rental competition is pretty solid no matter how you look at it.  Now we’ll just wait to see how well the promotion goes.

You may remember a story we discussed a while back concerning Dish Network and DIRECTV.  It was about the two dominant satellite TV providers teaming up with a subscriber to sue the state of Utah over what they claim is a tax break given only to cable TV providers.

Well, according to Multichannel News, “Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and two co-sponsors have introduced the State Video Fairness Act of 2011, which is being celebrated by DISH and DIRECTV as a bill to ‘protect consumers and promote competition by preventing the imposition of discriminatory taxes on satellite television and other innovative competitors to cable television.’”

Of course, the cable TV providers feel slighted.  Cable TV operators claim the 1996 Telecommunications Act contains a huge loophole that allows the satellite TV providers to bypass local taxes – taxes cable TV operators have to pay.

Although it may feel like progress for the satellite TV providers, the battle is sure to continue.

In recent years, we have seen a slow, but steady increase in available broadband Internet speeds.  It wasn’t that long ago that dial-up Internet access was all the rage.  Now, we’re talking about Internet download speeds of 50mbps or more.

A lot has changed with the ever increasing capability of high speed Internet.  Businesses have been made and businesses have been scuttled, all on the power of the Internet.  The latest make or break market appears to be online TV, or “TV Everywhere” as it is known.  While companies like Netflix are busy streaming thousands of movies and TV shows from multiple sources, networks like HBO are using broadband Internet to deliver their own shows to their subscribers.  It seems slow at times, but all of this happening at a rather rapid pace.

The latest company to attempt the TV Everywhere model appears to be You Tube.  According to an article on CNBC, You Tube will begin renting newer, big budget movie titles.  You Tube has been renting for a while now, but the selection has been slim and dated.  While Google has not turned You Tube into the money maker we all thought it would become,  this new online renting plan aims to add money to the bank.  CNBC claims “Google sees a problem with the fact that people spend an average of just 15 minutes on YouTube each day and five hours watching TV. So, it’s populating its movie rentals with behind-the-scenes movie extras and links to reviews, so its users don’t click away to IMDB.com or Rotten Tomatoes.com.”  The plan is to keep visitors on You Tube, increasing exposure to valuable advertising dollars.

Competition seems to offer the best products for consumers, so expect online movies and TV shows to only get better as the competition increases.

It would appear that Dish Network satellite TV is in a bit of a tussle with Disney.

According to a story on AdWeek, Disney is suing the satellite TV provider in a Manhattan court.  The suit claims Disney is losing money by Dish Network offering free access to its movies through their current Starz network promotion.  The promotion offers free Starz programming in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

The AdWeek article goes on to publish a Dish Network statement on the matter.  In that statement, Dish Network states that it pays “hundreds of millions of dollars” to distribute Starz content.  The statement also proclaims that Dish Network isn’t involved in the contract agreements between Disney and Starz, so the company will defend its customers right to watch the content Diosh Network pays to provide.

Everyone looking into Verizon bundles is likely seeing a few news items mixed in with their results today.  There’s a more product oriented story floating around focused on Verizon FiOS.  However, there’s another story about Verizon’s beloved advertising symbol, “Test Man”.

First, Connected Planet reports Verizon FiOS is increasing the size of its On Demand library to “about 24,000″ titles.  Apparently, there will be 15,000 additional free titles and almost 4,000 will be available in HD.  Plans were also announced to try and sign several more content providers to the ever expanding On Demand library in the coming months.

Then, TV Week posted a story about what ever happened to “Test Man”.  For years, Verizon bundles and cell service were synonymous with, “Can you hear me now?”  Everyone immediately recognized the jacketed, bespectacled “network guy” as the symbol of Verizon’s sturdy, reliable service.   But, as the TV Week article points out, he seems to have been replaced by lightning bolts and radio wave towers.

Well, Verizon has come out and said he didn’t get the axe.  According to TV Week, “Test Man” is still under contract, but he’s all but served his purpose.  Verizon is thought to be reliable and “Can you hear me now?” was a big part of that campaign.  Now, Verizon is all about speed and the lightning does a good job capturing that image.

Suddenlink cable TV and high speed Internet has made a couple of big announcements over recent days.  While it certainly doesn’t affect a far reaching audience, it is good news to the local communities and a glimmer of hope for other rural areas.

First, according to Victor Godinez on the Dallas News Tech Blog, Suddenlink announced plans to roll out faster broadband Internet to a few rural communities outside Dallas, Texas.  The new areas could see speeds up to 50mbps in the next month or so with cheaper Internet plans in the 20, 10 and 15mbps range.  While the new speed doesn’t cover the nation, or even all of Texas, it is good to see a cable Internet provider reaching out to the more rural areas.  Perhaps we will see braodband Internet nationwide in the near future.

In other news, A post from Todd Spangler at Broadcast & Cable reports Suddenlink has also announced plans to offer HBO GO, the TV everywhere service from HBO, to all of its HBO subscribing customers.   Even better, the HBO GO service is free for current HBO subscribers on any high speed Internet connection.