EchoStar’s Dish Network on Tuesday rolled out a new “home channel” that offers simultaneous views of six channels, including CNN, E! and The Weather Channel.
The channel is similar to three “mix” channels launched in January by competitor DirecTV that each offer a side- by-side mosaic of six news, sports and children’s programs. Comcast hopes to launch a similar mosaic channel next year.
But EchoStar’s offering, available to most of its 11.4 million subscribers, allows viewers to use their remote control to highlight a particular channel to listen to the sound or expand the picture.
By clicking on icons at the bottom of the screen, viewers also can shop, bet on horse races, play video games, check the weather in one of 1,400 U.S. cities or view their bill.
The six channels, which were selected by Douglas County- based EchoStar and cannot be changed by viewers, also include MSNBC, Bloomberg and Court TV.
“You can grab your news in the morning and also look up the weather for the town you live in,” EchoStar spokeswoman Kelley Baca said.
But Loveland resident Cindy Dockstader said her family members are unlikely to use the new page because they click directly to programs on The History Channel or Cartoon Network.
“This sounds like a service for couch potatoes,” Dockstader said. “I’ll probably go home and look at it and say, ‘That’s nice,’ and then go on with what I have to do.”
The software behind EchoStar’s mosaic channel and other interactive features is provided by San Francisco-based OpenTV, a tech company that is majority-owned by Douglas County-based Liberty Media.
The spate of mosaic channels seems most useful for news junkies or sports fanatics. DirecTV’s “Sunday Ticket” subscribers already pay $239 for access to hundreds of National Football League games, but a $99 “SuperFan” add-on allows them to watch eight games on a single screen.
“This is one baby step for interactive television, with many more to come,” said Sean Badding, senior analyst with the Carmel Group.
Interactive television is most advanced in the United Kingdom, where subscribers to British Sky Broadcasting satellite television can use their remotes to send e-mail or toggle between different camera angles while viewing a soccer game.
Interactive television in the United States has been talked about since the late 1980s but has been rolled out slowly by the major cable and satellite companies that control the U.S. television market.
But as telephone companies such as SBC and Verizon prepare to start their own Internet-based television services, companies such as EchoStar are racing to retain customers with new features.
Staff writer Ross Wehner can be reached at 303-820-1503 or rwehner@denverpost.com.
