DISH continues with their generous monthly free previews of channels, giving all DISH subscribers a chance to check out channels that are not included in their programming package.

Free preview channels this month include:

GAC (Great American Country) – Channel 165 – March 1st through March 27th.

WFN (World Fishing Network) – Channel 394 – March 1st through March 27th.

Rural TV – Channel 232 – March 1st through March 27th.

Sony Movie Channel – Channel 386 – March 1st through March 27th.

Universal Sports Network – Channel 402 – February 23rd through April 24th.

Fox Business Network – Channel 206 – March 1st through March 19th.

DISH continues to offer free preview channels to subscribers, giving them an opportunity to check out channels that are not part of their programming package.

This month, the following channels are available to all DISH Network subscribers. DISH has been offering pretty generous free previews in recent months, with many of them lasting for the entire month. Some free previews are significantly shorter with some being offered just for a weekend.

The following are the free preview channels available during the month of February along with the dates that each free preview channel is available.

WE tv: February 2 – 28

GSN (Game Show Network): February 2 – 28 (available in high definition)

NHL Center Ice: February 13 – 19

The Military Channel: February 2 – 28

The Travel Channel: February 2 – 28 (available in high definition)

Existing customers should contact DISH Network if they want to upgrade their programming package.

DISH Network has significantly increased its Indian programming offerings with a new agreement that gives them the rights to broadcast the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, including playoffs and finals in high definition, for the next four seasons.

The satellite broadcaster has also just completed agreements to begin carrying the NEO Cricket channel, as well as the TEN Cricket channel, giving DISH Network bragging rights as the exclusive U.S. provider offering the channel.

These agreements give DISH Network subscribers access to a total of nine cricket boards, a development that positions DISH as the carrier of the largest line-up of cricket programming in the U.S.

"DISH Network’s carriage of the IPL and the launch of our Cricket Pack will offer our customers an anticipated 300 or more days of live cricket over the next year," according to Chris Kuelling, V.P. of International Programming for DISH Network. "Nowhere else can customers access more than 75 South Asian channels, watch every heart-stopping play in the IPL, and get year round coverage of their favorite cricket teams."

In addition, DISH Network has recently added two more Indian channels to its international line-up. Both Aastha TV and Aastha Bhajan carry religious or spiritually-oriented programming, with Aastha TV being the advertised as India’s top religious network.

Aastha TV carries a diverse variety of programming including yoga with Swami Ramdev, as well as programming on subjects centered around spiritual discourse, cultural ceremonies and religious events. With a focus on the discovery of holy places of pilgrimage, education regarding traditional festivals, and vedic science, ayurveda, astrology, crystal therapy and aromatherapy, Aastha TV offers a wide range of religious content.

Aastha Bhajan is the only Hindi-language TV network that carries programming that features Asian-Indian temple music as well as spiritual and devotional songs sung by the most popular saints, seers and singers from India. The channel is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Long-recognized as a leader in providing international television programming for its subscribers, DISH Network has bolstered their international programming offers with two new Tamil channels.

Kalaignar TV and Siripolli are now both available on DISH Network and have given bragging rights to the company as the first provider of three Southern India channels in the United States.

Kalaignar  is a popular Tamil channel offering movies, entertainment industry events, television series, game shows and talk shows 24 hours a day. Kalaignar is known for programming that includes reality dance series Manada Mayalada as well as other series-oriented programming like Azhaghia Thamizh Magal, Manada Mayalada and Thekithi Ponnu.

Siripolli is a top-rated Tamil comedy channel what has garnered a reputation as a network that provides viewers with unique comedy shows like Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai and Ivenga Ippadithan. In addition, Siripolli offers comedy movies and live interactive programming like Jolly-a-Kadinga – a program hosted by noted comedians.

Kalaignar TV and be found on DISH Network channel 779 and Siripolli can be found at channel 778.

Up, up and away! The successful launch of a new satellite from Russia’s Baikonur space center means that more channels will soon be coming for DISH Network subscribers.

The satellite officially known as EchoStar 14 was placed in orbit on Sunday morning at 6:36 a.m. Moscow time.

Russian space agency Roscosmos reported that the launch was a success and that their “contract to launch the EchoStar 14 has been concluded.”

The new satellite is equipped to bring more HD programming to DISH Network subscribers in the future, but it may be a while before they become available. There is often extensive testing performed on newly-launched satellites to ensure that they are working properly before they are used to send programming content to DISH Network’s 14 millions or so subscribers.

The satellite, weighing in at around 6 metric tons was the heaviest object yet boosted into orbit by the ILS Proton rocket.

DISH Network Expects the new satellite to boost the company’s HD channel offerings to over 200 channels and they may be available sooner than usual, since the company is anxious to get new HD channels online and cement their lead ahead of their competitors.

While the war of words, and the courtrooms (more on that later) continues between the nation’s two largest satellite TV broadcasters, the smaller of the two, DISH Network has launched 9 new HD channels.

While none of these new channels are particularly exciting to me, it’s good to see that DISH is continuing to roll out new HD channels.

The new channels that have been introduced are Fox Soccer Channel HD, Sportsman HD, Hallmark Channel HD, IndiePlex HD and RetroPlex HD, truTV HD, E! HD, BBC America HD and ShowTime HD. The first five on the list are available only on DISH Network as of this writing.

On second thought, I might actually take a look at the Sportsman HD channel from time-to-time, so I guess I am not completely uninterested in these latest editions to DISH Network’s high definition offerings.

On Thursday DISH Network announced that they are now offering local high definition channels in 70 market around the country by adding addition new markets to its existing lineup.

The new markets being offered include Florence – Myrtle Beach, SC; Fort Myers – Naples, FL; Greenville – New Bern – Washington, NC; Madison, WI; and Wilkes-Barre – Scranton, PA.

DISH Network says this new development allows them to bring local HD programming to 71% of the households in the United States and is planning to offer local high definition programming in 100 markets by year’s end.

DISH competitor DirecTV says they currently offer local HD channels in 100 markets, which means they are offering the local programming to 83% of U.S. households. DirecTV plans to offer local HD channels in 121 markets by years end.

It will be interesting with the local HD offerings actually look like at year’s end and see if both companies meet their goals.

They’re at it again. This time, in an effort to make up for their lack of HD programming content, Comcast once again resorts to some clever deception to make it appear that they have more HD channels than DirecTV, which actually has more HD channels than Comcast. They don’t mention DISH Network, but they also have more HD channels than Comcast.

The key word here is “channels.” That word is never mentioned during the commercial, because that is not what they are comparing. You’ll notice that the first thing they say is simply “You might think DirecTV has more HD than Comcast…” Not more HD channels. Then they ask who has more HD programs, again not channels.

They then switch to using the phrase “HD options,” and once again avoid using the word channels.

This clever phrasing is used to give viewers the impression that Comcast has more HD channels than DirecTV, but since that is not true, they don’t actually use the word channels.

There is a grain of truth in these commercials. The key is that Comcast is including all their on-demand programming when they count up all the HD programming that is available. Due to the technical differences between how cable TV delivers programming versus how satellite does, cable has always been able to offer more on-demand programming than satellite.

On-demand programming offered by cable TV companies is programming that is stored on servers and can be accessed by customers whenever they choose to watch it. It is one advantage that cable TV has when compared to satellite. DISH Network has already begun work on offering more on-demand content and DirecTV will probably follow suit, so this may diminish that advantage for cable in the future.

Anyway, with hundreds of HD programs stored on Comcast’s servers that customers can access when they want, that is how they give the impression that Comcast has more HD channels than DirecTV during this commercial.

This is not the first misleading commercial I have seen from Comcast, and I suppose more can be expected in the future as they face increased competition from services like FiOS, which probably blows cable away when comparing both TV picture quality and internet speed.

Comcast and DirecTV have been engaged in a war of words for a while now, even involving a lawsuit a while ago. I suspect there is a bit of misleading language used by both sides when it comes to HD programming claims.

I readily admit that I am not fan of Comcast, and since I still have to rely on their service for my high-speed internet (the only choice where I live) and they are charging me $72 a month just for internet access, they certainly aren’t doing anything to change my mind regarding my long-standing complaint that cable TV companies charge too much and raise prices too often. I was paying about $62 to Adelphia for internet before Comcast took over that bankrupt cable company’s customers in this area, and of course, Comcast saw this as an opportunity to raise the prices.

I wish both sides would simply stick to counting actual channels when they brag about their HD content. From my personal experience, I know that DISH Network has more actual HD channels than Comcast. When I last visited my parents a couple of months ago (who have Comcast cable TV), I checked for myself and found that Comcast had fewer actual HD channels than my DISH Network service here at home.

I have personally seen this particular Comcast commercial a number of times, although I do not see many for DirecTV in my area. If and when I see the kind of misleading language used in this commercial in a commercial from DirecTV or DISH Network, you’ll see it here.

I did spend some time perusing YouTube and watching quite a few DirecTV commercials, but I did not find anything particularly misleading. If you know of any, feel free to leave a comment.

There are a few more details coming to light regarding Dish Network’s plans to increase the number of HD channels available on their service.

The launch of three new satellites will make this improvement possible. The first launches will begin with 11 local markets which are set to include Austin, TX; Baltimore; Cleveland; Columbia, SC; Flint, MI; Greenville, SC; Huntsville, AL; Jackson, MS; Knoxville, TN; Orlando, FL; and Richmond, VA

Dish Network is also planning to introduce some new programming choices for HD customers, including packages as low as $10 per month. The new HD packages will be available starting on February 1.

Sounds to me like Dish is wasting no time leveling the playing field in response to DirecTV’s move to increase their available HD channels to around 100 channels not long ago.