XSTreamHD starts to wake up. And What's Up With Dish and AT&T?

Not much has been heard about XStreamHD since their big press conference with famed actor Michael Douglas back in January.  However this week the little company with the big HD idea is starting to wake up.

Late last night the home theater lovers dream service announced that it has licensed and deployed CEVA’s latest generation Enterprise SATA Intellectual Property (IP) into its XstreamHD HD Media Server.

Back in January it was announced that XStreamHD would launch a new on demand satellite service, which would deliver full resolution 1080p movies in full lossless DTS-HD 7.1 digital audio into customers homes.  It appears that XStreamHD’s plans are still on track.

With the new software XStreamHD’s home Media server box will be able to view / record up to 4 simultaneous 1080p resolution HD video streams from its hard drive.

For many techies out there like me, the dream of what XStreamHD is promising is like a kid dreaming what Santa is going to bring them.  I can’t wait to actually test XStreamHD when it is ready for its trials.

Dish and AT&T… what’s going on?

Every year towards the end of the year there seems to be a rumor going around that AT&T wants to buy Dish Network.  I don’t think we will be hearing that rumor this year, as it appears AT&T has thrown a bucket of cold water and any such idea.

It was reported yesterday that AT&T wants Dish Network to repurchase $500 million in convertible debt from AT&T.  These notes were not due until 2010, however Dish said that it has the cash to settle with AT&T without any additional financing.

Could this be the start of a divorce between Dish Network and AT&T?  From where I sit that answer is a big yes.  If you have been following the industry for any length of time you will see a track record that Dish Network does not play well with others. I believe that with the signs that it’s U-VERSE could actually be a viable product the folks at AT&T might be realizing that they don’t need Dish Network and can become a successful pay television provider on their own.

If there is anyone sitting in the catbird seat here, it is definitely DirecTV.  Its going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out.