CES: Dish Adds iPad Access To Blockbuster Streaming-Movie Service
Satellite Operator Set to Announce ‘Hopper' Multiroom DVR This Week
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 1/8/2012 9:07:42 PM
Dish Network released an iPad app for customers with its Blockbuster @Home service or who subscribe to premium movie packages, including HBO or Cinemax, to watch a selection of movies and TV shows on their tablets over any Internet connection.
On Monday, Dish is scheduled to debut a multiroom DVR -- dubbed Hopper -- along with plans to launch broadband satellite service later this summer.
The updated Dish Remote Access app, now available for iPad, is free to customers. The Blockbuster @Home service -- previously called Blockbuster Movie Pass -- provides DVDs by mail and streaming video over the Internet. The service is free for 12 months to new Dish subscribers and $10 per month for existing customers.
When Dish launched the Blockbuster service last fall, it included 100,000-plus movies, TV shows and videogames available by mail; 3,000 movies available on the TV; and more than 4,000 movies streamed to PCs.
The Dish Remote Access app also lets subscribers watch live TV on the iPad, if they also have ViP 922 Slingloaded DVR or the ViP 722 or 722k DVR with the Sling Adapter accessory.
Also Sunday, Dish announced a partnership with mobile-application developer Thuuz to create an enhanced Google TV application that monitors "excitement levels" in broadcasts of sporting events and then alerts viewers of the best games on TV.
The Thuuz application can also automatically record the most exciting moments of a game for later viewing for Dish subscribers with the Logitech Revue set-top, which runs the Google TV stack.
"Dish partnered with Google TV to spur innovation in TV apps," Dish vice president of product management Vivek Khemka said in a statement. "Thuuz is a great example of an application for the TV that enhances the viewing experience. The power of the Thuuz app comes from its ability to cut through the overload of televised games and take serious sports fans immediately to the best sports action."
All devices with Google TV and Android 3.1 work with the Thuuz app (the name is the second syllable of "enthusiast"). It uses factors such as parity, pace, novelty, momentum and context in the algorithms that automatically assign an excitement rating to each event.
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