Dish Network In Cuba?

Dish Network is looking to get into the satellite television business in Cuba, and yesterday filed with the FCC seeking permission to broadcast into Cuba.

Under new changes made by the Obama administration on April 13th, a policy was changed that would allow satellite services to Cuba by services such as Dish Network, subject to a number of restrictions.

Echostar built the Echostar 10 back in 2006 with an extra spot beam on the satellite that was pointed towards Cuba. In addition Dish Networks main CONUS beams also reach into the island nation.

Dish Network feel that this move will fall in the public interest to the people of Cuba and falls in line with President Obama’s plan to reach out to the Cuban people.

Dish needs approval from the FCC to activate and use the spot beam at the 110 orbital location before they can move ahead and request a permit from the Treasury Department.

Dish Network has asked the FCC to “promptly” grant their request as they feel it is in the public interest, convenience and necessity.

NFL Kick Off

While the NFL season officially kicks off tonight with the Titans taking on the Steelers for satellite customers the season really kicks off this weekend.

For once customers of both satellite services will have something to cheer about.

DirecTV will be kicking off another season of its “crown jewel” in the NFL Sunday Ticket package. To celebrate the new season DirecTV is giving all of its customers a free preview of the package and the Superfan add on this Sunday. Unfortunately the free preview does not allow DirecTV customers who are not Sunday Ticket subscribers to try out their new mobile phone based “Supercast” service, which lets customers watch the games on their smart phones.

And for the first time Dish Network will not be sitting idly on the sidelines, as they will be launching the NFL’s new RedZone channel. RedZone promises to bring viewers every exciting play, every touchdown, and every score of every game to its viewers. While not the same caliber of the Sunday Ticket package this channel should be enough to make many Dish Network football fans happy. For fans to enjoy the RedZone channel they must subscribe to any Dish Network programming package of AT200 or higher plus the $5.99 a month Multi-Sports add on package.

The new NFL RedZone can also be found on select Comcast and Verizon FIOS systems.