3-D TV is another new technology that seems to be breaking out, and will gradually begin to take hold as prices for the new sets come down and programming providers offer more 3-D content for viewers.

The TV of Tomorrow show is an event that brings key players in the television industry together to share their vision of the future and showcase future plans for their perspective industries.

The 4th annual TV of Tomorrow show took place in San Francisco at the beginning of this month and featured industry leaders from A&E TV, Panasonic, Comcast, DISH Network, DirecTV, NBC, Microsoft, Twitter and others.

Among the items on the agenda at the show were Twitter’s plans to interact with television, social media and TV, interactive advertising, TV over IP and a lot more.

It looks like we are entering an exciting time in the industry, as new technologies exert influence on how consumers have their entertainment delivered to their homes. For couch potatoes, it looks like things can only get better.

For more in the TV of Tomorrow show, see their official website.

The lawsuit filed by DirecTV against DISH Network was a result of DirecTV’s reported belief that the ads were misleading. U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty denied DirecTV’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have halted the advertisements that DirecTV did not like.

Apparently, the judge left the door open for DirecTV to renew their request and better explain what exactly it is about the “Why Pay More?” ads that has DirecTV execs crying foul.

I would think that instead of running to court like a little kid running to mommy after skinning his knee, DirecTV would just come up with some ads of their own that even the score with DISH Network. That seems to be the way it usually goes. My earlier example of how Verizon and AT&T have been ripping each other to shreds is something that I think consumers are accustomed to.

As you might expect, company lawyers presented their cases in court and for now at least, DirecTV was told to pick up all their toys and go home. Perhaps they’ll prepare a better case, or if they smarten up, hire an advertising agency to come up with some ads that target DISH Network.

It’s nice to see a little common sense come from a case like this. It would be nice to see more silly lawsuits get thrown out like this, even if it is just for the time being.

It’s being reported that DirecTV, the largest satellite TV provider in the country, is suing DISH Network for “false advertising.”

It’s all due to some commercial advertisements that DISH Network has been using that claim they are offering the same programming that DirecTV does for $24 less per month. At least that’s what the suit claims. The DISH ads feature a slogan that asks, “Why pay more?”

I’m a little surprised by this news, since I constantly see competing advertisements on TV for various products and services that tell completely different stories. An excellent example would be the latest Verizon Wireless vs.. AT&T commercials.

If I am not mistaken, Verizon started the battle by featuring a map of their wireless coverage compared to AT&T’s, which, if the Verizon ads were to be believed, looked pretty pathetic compared to how they depicted their own network.

It didn’t take AT&T too long to fire back, claiming that their wireless network was much better than Verizon was claiming, and if course, while they were at it, they declared that AT&T’s wireless network was better.

Well, obviously someone is not telling the truth. These two companies are tearing each other up with claims that are completely contradictory, yet I am not hearing any reports of AT&T suing Verizon or vice versa.

As far back as I can remember, competing companies have used advertising that oftentimes shed a rather unflattering light on on another, but I don’t think they spent a lot of time suing each other. It seemed that was just the way the advertising game was played.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Who would do such a thing? Not surprisingly, it’s the feds. Sticking their noses in where they don’t belong as usual. Seems that Congress  passed a law back in 2004 which mandated the local programming that satellite broadcasters could provide to all of the counties in the country and left it up to Nielsen Media Research to figure out which local channels each county should be allowed to receive.

For whatever reason, now is the time that DirecTV is being forced to act in Adams County and a lot of the residents do not agree with Nielsen’s conclusion. It appears that Adams County lies pretty close to being in between Madison and Wausau, but I don’t live in Wisconsin and don’t pretend to know what’s best for viewers in Adams County.

It’s not as if these subscribers are asking to receive local channels from Los Angeles or something, so why should they not be able to choose which market they want to receive local channels from? It appears that they are local to both market.

I presume the government, in their infinite wisdom, had the answer. I just don’t expect it to make much sense.

For more details, see WiscNews.

The DTV transition, as I expected, is not working out all that well for some consumers. I began noticing a while back that the digital TV signals seemed more susceptible to interference from bad weather and other atmospheric events. Digital signals have little tolerance for being interfered with. Since it is essentially a torrent of ones and zeros that makes up the digital signal that is ultimately shown on your TV screen, a good picture depends upon virtually all of those ones and zeros making it from the broadcast location to your home. If some of them are missing, you’re picture will suffer from smudge-like distortions at best and a lost signal at worst.

Unlike the old analog TV signals where a weak signal was more easily tolerated and would often result in a “snowy” or otherwise poor-quality picture, digital TV is just not as forgiving. For some viewers, a snowy picture was better than no picture at all.

I noticed some rather strange fluctuations in the quality of the digital signals I was receiving at my house before the DTV conversion. Many TV stations have been broadcasting both a digital and analog signal for quite some time, so those equipped with a digital-capable TV or an analog TV with a converter box were able to watch digital programming in many areas.

What I noticed in the time leading up to the transition date that finally occurred this month, was that I could receive some stations digital signal fine on one day and then worse on another. At times it seemed like bad weather may have been causing the problem and at other times it did not seem to be a factor at all.

The good news is that things have improved after the transition and I am now receiving virtually all of my local TV stations quite well. In some cases, the signal strength has improved from a reading in the 60′s to a reading in the 90′s. I’m not sure what the broadcasters did on the day of the transition, but it is clear to me that they did something.

Perhaps turning off their analog transmissions made it possible to boost the power output of their digital signals. Perhaps it had something to do with FCC regulations or something of that nature. All I am sure of is that my experience viewing over-the-air digital television signals has improved significantly since the transition.

There are others, however, who have lost most, if not all of the local TV stations they used to watch. This is particularly true for those using indoor antennas, like “rabbit ears.” In these cases, mounting a good-quality outdoor TV antenna on the roof of the house or in some other elevated location may solve the problem. That’s certainly no guarantee, and it might be an expensive experiment.

Some have decided to switch to cable to cable or satellite TV, which will solve all the digital TV problems. Just make sure that whatever provider you sign up with offers the local channels that you want.

I’ve been a satisfied DISH Network customer for more than 10 years, so I do not hesitate to recommend that solution as long as you have access to an area where the satellite dish antenna can be mounted in line with the satellites. That’s something the DISH Network people can help you with if you contact them. You can call the number at the top of the page or click the “Learn More” link if you need contact information.

According to the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index, the two big satellite TV broadcasters, Dish Network and DirecTV are outscoring their cable TV rivals.

The latest data reveals that DirecTV’s rating was up 1.5% to 68 and Dish Network was came in second with a rating of 65, which was down from 67 last year.

Although some of the smaller cable companies like Cablevision and RCN helped drive the overall ratings for cable TV up a bit, the cable giants like Comcast and Charter Communications held cable’s rating back.

Be Sure To Check Out Dish Network’s Latest Deals

As a satisfied Dish Network customer myself, I have few gripes about the service. I guess the biggest gripe I have is being connected to an overseas call center when I call Dish Network. I’d much rather talk to someone who is a native English speaker and who understands the culture here. Talking to someone half a world away about a problem with my service or equipment can be very frustrating when it is difficult to understand the person who is supposed to be helping you.

So many of these big companies are using these overseas call centers these days that it’s kind of hard to avoid the situation. If Dish Network would go back to using U.S.-based call centers, I guess I’d have to say that I really don’t have any gripes with the service whatsoever.

It’s no secret that blogging has exploded in popularity in the last few years and that is showing no sign of slowing down. There are blogs that cover just about any subject you can possibly imagine.

Although many people read blogs, many are not aware of something that is offered by almost every blog that can make reading it easier and faster. RSS feeds offer a great way to combine all your blog reading into one simple interface that allows you to see which blogs have been updated since you last read them.

Using an RSS feed reader can make your blog reading a lot more efficient than visiting all the blogs you like to read individually through your web browser.

rssHugger is an interesting new idea that makes finding RSS feeds for various blogs a snap. It benefits the blogger by introducing more readers to their blog and benefits the reader by allowing them to locate blogs on a wide variety of topics in one place. rssHugger is worth checking out for bloggers as well as those who enjoy reading blogs.

Virgin America will offer 18 channels of Dish Network programming at every seat on every flight. The included channels are: The Independent Film Channel, CNBC, Arts & Entertainment, Black Entertainment Television, Cable News Network, The Discovery Channel, Entertainment Television, FX, The Food Network, The Travel Channel, Bravo, ESPN, ESPN NEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPN2, SiTV, USA Network, and Cartoon Network.

Those planning to fly Virgin with small children will probably be happy to learn about that last channel in the list.

I must admit that I am baffled about how they are able to receive satellite TV signals on a plane traveling along at 500 or so miles per hour. Getting the satellite dish that’s firmly attached to my very stationary house lined up right can be a bit tricky, so I’d like to hear more about how they do it.

“We are pleased Guest-Tek recognizes that DISH Network offers the best
choice and value for hoteliers,” said Brian Yohn, vice president of Commercial Services for EchoStar, Dish Network’s parent company. “We look forward to providing hotel guests with a selection of all-digital quality channels from our programming line-up.”

Guest-Tek is a major provider technology solutions for the hospitality industry. Guest-Tek’s OneView platform provides hotels with data, video and telephone services.

Now you’re talking my language! As anyone who has visited this site before should know, I dumped cable more than eight years ago and have never looked back. I’ve had Dish Network ever since and I love it.

Getting back to our NFL-Comcast feud, apparently, the NFL once even tried to sue Comcast over this issue but lost in court. I guess it could be a while before this battle comes to an end.

If you ask me, these are typical cable TV shenanigans — always looking for a new excuse to jack prices up again. I was a cable customer for years before getting Dish, so I know how it goes.

If you are thinking about dumping cable in favor of satellite, you should check out my Dish Network Deals page.