Looked at the thread in HDTV Programming, came off with the following speculations. Some of them were also based on the recent rumor about 5000/mods kill-off.
1) If the merger is not approved, they will not roll out 929.
2) Even if the merger is approved, 929 may be delayed until hardware consolidation picture clears.
3) They have got an ear full from HD content providers on the 5000/mod and proposed HDPVR. I have reasons to speculate that continued existence of 5000/mods or mentioning of 929 may be hazardous to Charlie's vision of being an HDTV leader.
While Mark Cuban clearly will not be bothered by the 5000/mods once Dish adds his new channels, other content providers may, including Discovery HD and those who provide contents to Mark.
Charlie is in a very precarious situation for now. If he waits for merger to go through before he add any new HD channels, he will lose much of his HD base, to DirecTV or even cable. If he does not kill 5000/mods, some new HD channels may not want to go on Dishnetwork, but if he kills 5000/mods, he will lose a good number of his hard core HD subs, unless he came out with the HD PVR--unlikely from his latest comment.
1) If the merger is not approved, they will not roll out 929.
2) Even if the merger is approved, 929 may be delayed until hardware consolidation picture clears.
3) They have got an ear full from HD content providers on the 5000/mod and proposed HDPVR. I have reasons to speculate that continued existence of 5000/mods or mentioning of 929 may be hazardous to Charlie's vision of being an HDTV leader.
While Mark Cuban clearly will not be bothered by the 5000/mods once Dish adds his new channels, other content providers may, including Discovery HD and those who provide contents to Mark.
Charlie is in a very precarious situation for now. If he waits for merger to go through before he add any new HD channels, he will lose much of his HD base, to DirecTV or even cable. If he does not kill 5000/mods, some new HD channels may not want to go on Dishnetwork, but if he kills 5000/mods, he will lose a good number of his hard core HD subs, unless he came out with the HD PVR--unlikely from his latest comment.