Hopper Plus new hardware??

Same provider. The issue is (if I understand the way DVB satellite works) is there can only be so many IDs transmitted and DISH does not have enough rom to broadcast all the sub channels guide data.
They were looking into delivering the extra via IP, but the number of DISH customers with OTA setups are so low that its not a high priority.

Also nothing in the works at the moment for ATSC 3.0 tuners. :(
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Wouldn't this be SlingTv? (Only difference - not Android TV interface.)
Eh, not really. Look at the way channels are packaged on Sling. A big difference is that Sling has no locals. Also, the picture quality isn't great. And typically, you use your own equipment with the Sling app, not a dedicated box with a full-featured traditional remote like the Hopper has. (Although Sling does offer its own simple Android TV device, the AirTV Mini, which they'll give you for free if you prepay two months. Otherwise it costs $80.) Basically, Sling is positioned as an inferior, but lower cost, alternative to Dish. It's not a direct replacement for it, the way that DirecTV Stream is for DirecTV satellite.

But I see your point: Sling is a streaming cable TV service from Dish. So if Dish did what I'm proposing and began offering their full channel packages, essentially the same full-featured, full-price service they have now on satellite, but just over streaming, we might see them just dissolve the Sling brand. Maybe Sling's skinny channel packages, or something like them, would become alternate cheaper options for Dish subscribers, whether they get service via satellite or streaming.
 
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Eh, not really. Look at the way channels are packaged on Sling. A big difference is that Sling has no locals. Also, the picture quality isn't great. And typically, you use your own equipment with the Sling app, not a dedicated box with a full-featured traditional remote like the Hopper has. (Although Sling does offer its own simple Android TV device, the AirTV Mini, which they'll give you for free if you prepay two months. Otherwise it costs $80.) Basically, Sling is positioned as an inferior, but lower cost, alternative to Dish. It's not a direct replacement for it, the way that DirecTV Stream is for DirecTV satellite.

But I see your point: Sling is a streaming cable TV service from Dish. So if Dish did what I'm proposing and began offering their full channel packages, essentially the same full-featured, full-price service they have now on satellite, but just over streaming, we might see them just dissolve the Sling brand. Maybe Sling's skinny channel packages, or something like them, would become alternate cheaper options for Dish subscribers, whether they get service via satellite or streaming.
Sling has an AirTv unit that has a hard drive, ota, and multiple tuners. So, yes, it is exists in nearly the same manner you described.
 
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Wonder how long until Dish begins selling service fully via streaming, no satellite dish necessary, and just gives customers a standalone Hopper Plus (no Hopper 3 needed) for each TV? The Hopper Plus obviously already supports Dish's few linear channels that are transmitted only via streaming, not sat, e.g. HBO Signature. I assume the Hopper Plus has enough on-board flash storage to cache live streams of linear channels so that they can be paused and rewound for at least 30 minutes. The Dish VOD platform is already streaming-based, so no work needs to be done there.

The only remaining step, I think, would be for them to take the cloud DVR system that they've already developed for Sling and use that as a back-end system for the Hopper Plus, so that it would rely on cloud DVR in standalone mode rather than using the local DVR in a connected Hopper 3. Probably just a bit of coding would need to be done to connect the Hopper Plus UI to the back-end cloud DVR servers.

My guess is that Dish even has the rights to do this in place with all the channels they carry. Obviously, they have those rights in place for the channels carried on Sling, which is pretty much the entirety of the Dish line-up except for locals.
I'm quite sure that's an end-game objective, to move away from Satellite altogether by becoming an all-in-one provider of Video (Cable/OTA/Streaming Apps)/Audio (Sirius/Streaming Apps)/Wireless (Cell Service)/Security (ADT, Nest, SimpliSafe)/Smart Home services (Google Assistant/Works-with-Google), and providing the internet access to make it all work via 5G, et al and controlled/accessed by one device; The Hopper
 
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Well I figure you could add the Sling tv app to the Hopper Plus ,but who knows who would even want to have both satellite and Sling on the same interface? But the idea of satellite service that streams like DIRECTV Stream does for DISH does interest me. Because then you wouldn't have all the extra fees that come with satellite.

Maybe that will be something DISH does once the satellite service goes away. They might just change Sling tv to DISH Stream and combine the best of Sling tv like the cloud dvr with some of the best features of satellite. As long as there is no extra fees for the extra streams you would need for the average family. Like at least 3 should come standard. One stream at a time like Sling tv orange pack is not enough to me . But the blue pack has 3 standard and that is enough for 3 people to stream at the same time.
 
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I'm quite sure that's an end-game objective, to move away from Satellite altogether by becoming an all-in-one provider of Video (Cable/OTA/Streaming Apps)/Audio (Sirius/Streaming Apps)/Wireless (Cell Service)/Security (ADT, Nest, SimpliSafe)/Smart Home services (Google Assistant/Works-with-Google), and providing the internet access to make it all work via 5G and controlled/accessed by one device; The Hopper

I wouldn’t be so sure of that… stay tuned. :)
 
Sling has an AirTv unit that has a hard drive, ota, and multiple tuners. So, yes, it is exists in nearly the same manner you described.
Still not the same. On Sling with an AirTV, you have to get your locals via OTA and use a local hard drive for the DVR. It's a piecemeal, inelegant solution compared to using, say, DirecTV Stream on their custom Android TV device, where all your channels, including locals, are streamed and all recordings are done on the cloud DVR. So what I'm proposing is Dish doing that same sort of thing as DirecTV Stream, with the Hopper Plus being their answer to DirecTV Stream's Android TV device. As it now stands, Sling is an inferior, low-cost alternative to services like Dish or DirecTV Stream.
 
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Still not the same. On Sling with an AirTV, you have to get your locals via OTA and use a local hard drive for the DVR. It's a piecemeal, inelegant solution compared to using, say, DirecTV Stream on their custom Android TV device, where all your channels, including locals, are streamed and all recordings are done on the cloud DVR. So what I'm proposing is Dish doing that same sort of thing as DirecTV Stream, with the Hopper Plus being their answer to DirecTV Stream's Android TV device. As it now stands, Sling is an inferior, low-cost alternative to services like Dish or DirecTV Stream.
AirTV Anywhere has a 1TB hard drive built in.
 
The channels able to be streamed are on SlingTV. The ones Dish does not have a streaming contract for are on Dish only.

SlingTV has locals. Just not in every DMA.
Can you tell me which channels Dish carries that aren't available on Sling? I'm not saying that there aren't any, but I think there are very few outside of the HBO and Cinemax channels, plus, of course, locals.

As for locals on Sling, it only includes your local NBC or Fox station if you happen to live in one of the few markets where the local station is directly owned by that network. Those are typically very large markets like NYC, LA, Chicago, etc.

 
I'm quite sure that's an end-game objective, to move away from Satellite altogether

I sure hope not. For those of us without access to high speed internet or cable and can't get OTA because of geography that would pretty much put an end to my television viewing. Probably not the worst thing in the world but there are some aspects I will miss if this happens.
 
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I sure hope not. For those of us without access to high speed internet or cable and can't get OTA because of geography that would pretty much put an end to my television viewing. Probably not the worst thing in the world but there are some aspects I will miss if this happens.
My prediction is that we'll see AT&T and Dish announce a merger of their satellite and streaming pay TV services this December or early next year, with the deal closed by the end of 2023. My guess is that they'd continue to operate both satellite brands for at least a few more years, but would just use one brand for all new satellite subscribers.

As for your ability to continue getting pay TV via satellite, I wouldn't worry too much, as the joint company should have enough satellites operational to support nationwide service until at least 2030. (Although towards the end, they may have to shift to just carrying locals from a smattering of cities around the country, e.g. Eastern time zone customers get the ABC from NYC, the CBS from Washington, the NBC from Atlanta and the Fox from Miami.) And by that point, or soon after, I think the entire business model of cable TV will have collapsed, with everything shifting to direct-to-consumer streaming apps owned and operated by a handful of major media companies (e.g. Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple, Amazon, Netflix). Come 2030, I really don't think there will be any meaningful number of US homes that can't access reliable, reasonably priced high-speed broadband service, whether via fiber, cable, fixed 5G, or low earth orbit satellite.
 
Maybe not in the short term but those birds get old, decay, lose orbit and probably cost a lot more to be sustainable long, long term than moving towards newer technologies, IMO
There will be no more DBS sats launched. AT&T was quite clear when they launched their last one in 2019 that it be DirecTV's last one. It just costs too much to build and launch a sat for a type of service that is in irreversible decline. Dish's fleet won't last as long as DirecTV's, which is one reason that Ergen needs to get a merger deal done in the next couple years. Meanwhile, DirecTV is bleeding subs like a stuck pig, and their current 30% owner TPG wants out by Aug. 2023.
 
Satellites are not very expensive.

The new ones run maybe 300 million, after launch and last 20 years.

So if you have say 5 million customers , the annual cost per customer is $3 per satellite. At most, dish needs 4 satellites, maybe three if they can get their hands on the DirecTV transponders not in use.

Combining with direct would get rid of duplicate back office, marketing but customer service would probably stay the same.

The thing hitting satellite is program fees.
The big improvement in combining with direct would be negotiating program fees when they could walk away and not have the other sat company get the business (locals are the best example).

The streamers can cut down to Netflix , prime, or whatever and cut costs. This is the problem area --- programming costs.
 
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