Dish Network’s stock dropped to a two-month low Monday before recovering to close down 6% after the company announced it would acquire broadcast satellite assets from EchoStar in an all-stock deal valued at $800 million. The transaction, framed as a follow-though of a 2017 deal for EchoStar assets seen as critical to…

EXCLUSIVE: We hear on good authority that Spanish screenwriter Javier Gullón has sold his sci-fi stories First and Satellite respectively to Kroll & Co. and Legendary TV. Gullón will adapt both projects. First, which we understand is being developed as a feature project, is a youth driven sci-fi thriller about…

EXCLUSIVE: Roughly three years after it began offering movies and other content to theaters via satellite, the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition says it ended 2016 serving about three of every four U.S. screens — up from 62% in 2015. The coalition contracted with 179 exhibitors that have more than 2,650 theaters…

EXCLUSIVE: Theaters with more than 62% of domestic movie screens now look to the skies for the movies and other content they offer, up from about 44% at the end of 2014, according to data out today from the industry group that promotes the cost-reducing satellite technology. This is the first time the Digital Cinema Di…

UPDATES <a title="BSkyB Still Rejects News Corp's Increased Offer But Both Agree to Keep Negotiating & Proceed With Regulatory Process For Deal" rel="bookmark"…

NEW YORK, NY, June 15, 2010 – News Corporation ("News Corp") announces that it approached the Board of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc ("BSkyB") on Thursday, 10 June 2010, and proposed making an offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of BSkyB not already owned by it for 675 pence in cash…

Goodbye SOAPnet, hello Disney Junior. Disney/ABC Television Group just announced that it will launch Disney Junior, a new 24-hour basic cable/satellite channel dedicated to preschool-age children in 2012. The new channel will replace SOAPnet, now available in 75 million homes, which will end its 12-year run at that…

ABC Family has acquired the basic cable TV rights to NBC/DirecTV's high school  drama Friday Night Lights in a deal with NBC Universal Domestic TV Distribution. The deal gives ABC Family the rights to five seasons of the critically praised series whose upcoming fifth season on DirectTV and NBC is expected to be its…

The satellite broadcaster tells me it has delisted from the NYSE to save money. Less than 2% of its shares are traded in New York, yet it costs between $5-10 million annually to comply with NYSE regulations. Instead, BSKyB will now list its shares on the much smaller OTCQX exchange. BSkyB will join other European…

DISH threatened to drop The Weather Channel last week over complaints that the channel doesn’t provide localized weather reports for satellite viewers. DISH had planned to replace TWC with its own weather-themed channel. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. and ATLANTA – May 24, 2010 – DISH Network L.L.C. and The Weather Channel today…

UPDATE: DISH reportedly has agreed to keep The Weather Channel on while the two sides continue to negotiate. PREVIOUS: DISH Network threatened to drop The Weather Channel at midnight tonight over a carriage fee dispute. The satellite provider plans to launch its own weather-centered channel, Weather Cast. "Despite…

NEW YORK, Apr 19, 2010 — EPIX today announced its launch on DISH Network, making its content available to the distributor’s more than 14.1 million customers around the nation. This is the first national distribution deal for EPIX, the pay channel joint venture formed by Viacom Inc, its Paramount Pictures unit…