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Liberty Media buys DirecTV shares from Bank of America

Bank of America sold Liberty Media Corp. nearly $2 billion worth of shares in DirecTV Group Inc., taking the media conglomerate up on its offer to provide the bank stock options in exchange for increasing Liberty’s stake in the satellite television company.

The April 2 financial transaction, detailed in a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, leaves Liberty Media owning 548.7 million shares, nearly 48 percent, of El Segundo-based DirecTV. Englewood-based Liberty (NASDAQ: LCAPA, LCAPB) acquired a controlling 41 percent stake in DirecTV earlier this year from News Corp.

Liberty acquired the additional 73.8 million shares from Bank of America at a value of $25.25 per-share in return for committing buy and sell options to the bank on 110 million of DirecTV’s shares.

The arrangement could net Bank of America between $2.4 billion and $3.4 billion, depending on the price of the “>DirecTV shares (NASDAQ: DTV) when the options expire over the course of three years starting in 2009.

TiVo Wins Patent Dispute over Dish Network

Just off the wire, Dish Network has failed to convince an appeals court to overturn TiVo’s earlier patent win against the company. TiVo’s earlier win is upheld.

This means that you very well may be screwed if you use Dish Network and may be seeing your DVR go away very soon. It also means that TiVo gets to keep at least $94 million in damages from Dish and possibly up to $200 million depending on the judge.

Today’s courts decision is the final decision and means that Dish Network can no longer appeal their loss to TiVo.

It is unlikely that TiVo would negotiate with Dish going forward to allow them to use TiVo’s patented DVR technology. Instead TiVo will enjoy the windfall from the company as well as be able to use Dish as an example when negotiating with other companies.

Two weeks ago on an analysts conference call TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said as much:

“I would say based on our experience with litigation, the cost of litigation are far less than the returns that we are seeing just from the cap side of this equation and I don’t think people have seen the end of what the cap side of that equation is, but just on the basis of damage award, what we’ve spent versus what we’ve gotten back, its been a great business move.

But again, my hope would be that the perception of what we’ve achieved and the value of our intellectual property and the enforcement of an injunction and what the implications of that are will help us significantly to drive forward broader distribution deals than do so without having to litigate.”

An updated statment released by TiVo (source):

“We are extremely pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today denied EchoStar’s petition for a rehearing en banc, upholding the Court’s unanimous ruling in our favor on January 31, 2008, in EchoStar’s appeal of the district court judgment of patent infringement, full award of damages and an order for the injunction to be reinstated.

Today’s ruling brings us closer to resolution of EchoStar’s infringement and reconfirms the strength of TiVo’s Time Warp patent, which is in addition to the other benefits TiVo has to offer. We look forward to full enforcement of our rights in the near term.”

Liberty Media Boosts DirecTV Stake

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Liberty Media Corp., a diversified media holding company, said Thursday it has purchased 78.3 million shares of DirecTV to increase its stake in the No. 1 satellite television provider to 48 percent.

Liberty Media (nasdaq: LCAPA - news - people ), controlled by media entrepreneur John Malone, financed the private transaction by borrowing $1.98 billion against a new equity collar on 110 million shares of DirecTV Group Inc. (nyse: DTV - news - people )

“The additional shares and equity collar each increase our exposure to DirecTV’s equity and further align Liberty’s interests with those of the DirecTV shareholders,” Greg Maffei, chief executive of Liberty Media, said in a statement…read more at Forbes.

Dish Network to employ 440 at Ahwatukee service center

Survey shows Dish Network’s one of the satellite TV provider with best customer service. Well, no wonder we are seeing more and more Dish service center being opened around the States.

On April 2, 2008, Dish Network announced that they will open a new customer care center in Phoenix, AZ. The facility will offer DISH Network customers the expertise of seasoned agents, including approximately 400 technical support representatives and 40 support staff. This is yet another way in which DISH Network continues to demonstrate its commitment to providing the highest level of customer care.

The center is scheduled to open in June 2008, but will start hiring staff in April and begin training in May. Agents must have at least two to three years of experience in a customer-facing or technical support role.

“We chose Phoenix for this customer care center because the region has an abundant and quality workforce,” said Erik Carlson, Executive Vice President of Operations for DISH Network. “We received top ranking from the American Customer Satisfaction Index last year and the rich resource of talent in Greater Phoenix will help us continue to strive towards achieving that same high level of service again this year.”

“DISH Network’s decision to expand its operations to Greater Phoenix is a reflection of the continued strength of our workforce,” said Greater Phoenix Economic Council President and CEO, Barry Broome. “We congratulate the City of Phoenix on bringing several hundred jobs to the region.”

Dish Network Corp. said Wednesday it would open a customer service center in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix.

Colorado-based Dish said the center will employ 400 technical support representatives and 40 support staff. The center is located off of Interstate 10 near Ray Road. It will open in June with hirings starting this month. Dish Network is a satellite television provider. The Greater Phoenix Economic Council and city of Phoenix recruited the company to the region. Up to the time of writing, it has 11 other service centers in the U.S.

Dish Network Adds Local HD In 4 Cities

Dish Network (March 27, 2008) today began broadcasting local HDTV channels in four new markets.

The new HD cities are: Austin, Texas, Flint, Michigan, Orlando, Florida and West Palm Beach, Florida.

With the additions, Dish now provides HD locals in 39 markets, which represents more than 54 percent of U.S. television households.

“We announced earlier this year that we would reach our goal of 100 local HD markets…by the end of 2008, and over the next two months we will continue toward this goal by increasing our local HD offerings by more than 60 percent,” said Eric Sahl, senior vice president of programming for Dish Network.

Dish Network, which now has 76 national HD channels, also plans to offer 100 national HD channels by year’s end. However, the satcaster’s first of three satellites to expand its HD capacity has failed to reach its orbit.

No Red Sox-Athletics game for certain DirecTV viewers

March 25th is an unlucky day for Red Sox fans.

Some Red Sox fans who got up early to watch the team’s season opener against Oakland ended up seeing nothing at all because of problems at DirecTV. Technical difficulties at DirecTV blanked out NESN, the cable network that carries the Red Sox and ESPN2.

A spokesman for El Segundo, Calif.-based DirectTV would not specify what the problem was or how many people were affected. He said NESN was back up by the seventh inning. Boston won 6-5 in 10 innings.

But ESPN2 wasn’t back until after the game ended. The Comcast cable company also had a problem at its Rehoboth facility that affected “a small percentage” of subscribers for much of the game.

About DirecTV

With more than 18 millions subscribers, DirecTV is not just the first, but also the largest, satellite company in United States.

DirecTV (often abbreviated as DTV) went live in 1994, and their service currently covers more than 93% of the United States including Hawaii and Alaska. In combination with massive publicity and marketing campaign by its dealers, DirecTV is now a house well-known household name…more.

Quick Updates: ESPNews HD Launches on 30th March

ESPNews HD launched today (March 30, 2008) at 8 a.m. ET and will be simulcast at various times today on ESPN and ESPN 2 HD.

DIRECTV, Comcast and Time Warner have all said they will carry the new high-def channel, but it appears they have not added it at launch. DIRECTV spokesman Robert Mercer on Friday reiterated past company statements, saying it would be added in “early 2008.” He would not elaborate on the actual launch day. (ESPNews HD was not available on DIRECTV on Sunday morning.)

Both DIRECTV and Comcast subscribers today could see the high-def version of ESPNews during the simulcasts on ESPN HD and ESPN HD 2.

ESPNews HD has launched with a new look, including an “HD Sideline” graphic that wraps around the top, left and bottom of the screen for HD viewers. The wrap can not be seen in the SD version. The network said the sideline graphic will provide additional real-time information, such as news, scores, stats, headshots and league standings.