DirecTV

Dow Has Its First Close Above 15,000 Points

The Dow Jones industrial average is punching through another milestone: its first close above 15,000. The Dow rose 87 points to 15,056 points Tuesday, a gain of 0.6 percent.

5 Best and Worst Moves in Business This Week

From a new Taco Bell menu item sure to soar, to a short-sighted activist taking aim at the Dell deal, here's a rundown of this week's best and worst moves in the business world.

The Cost of Fox's Upcoming 24/7 Cable Sports Network

Fox announced this week that it will launch a new 24-hour cable sports network, a direct challenge to ESPN. Sports programming is one of the main reasons many people pay big monthly fees to cable and satellite companies, even those who aren't sports fans.

5 Things to Watch on Wall Street This Week

Among the many events that will move the markets this week, we'll see an earnings parade for makers of luxury goods and a showdown between leading pay TV providers. Here are five things sure to help shape the week ahead on Wall Street.

How the Hopper Went from 'Best of CES' to a Mess for CBS

CBS's reputation for integrity took a big hit at the Consumer Electronics Show after it told subsidiary CNET not to give Dish Network a "Best of CES" award for its revolutionary Hopper DVR. Why? Because CBS is suing Dish over the Hopper's commercial skipping features.

Why Viacom Will Never Be Great Again

If you've been noticing a little bit less of SpongeBob on Nickelodeon, Snooki on MTV, or Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central, it's by design: Viacom is squeezing more commercials into every hour of programming. That's the bad news. The worse news is that it's not working.

NFL Live Games Go High Tech

How do you keep fans paying top dollar to attend live gridiron contests in an era when DIRECTV's NFL Sunday Ticket broadcasts every single game into living rooms? Make attendance more entertaining, that's how.

JetBlue Pilot Freaked Out: Why Its Investors Should Too

A JetBlue flight was diverted Tuesday after the pilot had a mental meltdown and had to be subdued by passengers. If this were an isolated event, the cheap airline with the fancy frills might be flying high. But the carrier keeps finding itself at the wrong end of the headlines.

Google May Be Your Next Cable Television Provider

If you're fed up with escalating cable bills, fuzzy satellite TV reception, and unresponsive customer service, Google is starting to think inside the box: The world's leading search engine may be ready to launch a broadband television service as early as next year.

Can Comcast Cope With All the Cable Cord-Cutters?

Don't look now, but the cord-cutting trend continues for Comcast. Though the country's largest cable provider tried to mask its woes with upbeat spin in its quarterly report, Comcast is serving 577,000 fewer households than it was a year ago.

U.S. Workers Lost $38 Billion in Wages Waiting for the Cable Guy Last Year

Waiting for the cable guy, the Internet guy, or the air conditioner guy are tedious life necessities, like doing laundry or visiting the in-laws. But they are vastly more expensive. According to a new poll, American workers lost a total of $37.7 billion waiting around for in-house appointments in 2011.

Rabbit Ears Redux: Free Antenna TV Makes a Comeback

Millions of TV lovers hit by the weak economy and fat cable bills are going old-school: They're using antennas. That's right: The rabbit ears your grandmother jiggled to tune in "I Love Lucy" can still receive dozens of digital channels on HDTVs. Here's how you can rule the free airwaves.

Satellite Wars: DIRECTV is Defeating DISH

Everything is right in the universe for DIRECTV, given this weekend's successful kickoff of the new pro football season. DIRECTV subscribers know that there are alternatives out there, but that's not going to sway the couch potatoes, all 30 million of them. Not even rival DISH can eclipse our largest entertainment subscription service.

What Was Wall St. Thinking? (Last Week Ed.)

Last week's puzzling developments on the Street included: Bank of New York alienating its richest depositors; Microsoft and Google fighting like middle-schoolers; DirecTV's CFO making an embarrassing disclosure; and Netflix slowing down as it approached the millionth Canadian milestone.

Next Week's Big News: Cable TV, China.com, More

Plenty of big names are set to report their earnings in August, including the country's largest cable and satellite television providers, several of China's leading dot-coms, radio giant Sirius XM, car rental companies Zipcar and Avis, and the two biggest video game developers.

This Week's Five Dumbest Stock Moves

Sometimes stock movements are the result of thoughtful, well-reasoned decisions, and sometimes...well, you just have to scratch your head. Here's a roundup of five of the most foolish stock moves from the past week.

Comcast's Next Big Battle May Be in Its Backyard

Comcast has a tight grip on Philadelphia sports fans with its SportsNet Philadelphia channel, which has been the exclusive carrier of games from the Phillies, Flyers and 76ers. But now Comcast will have to make the channel available to satellite-TV providers, thanks to FCC-approved terms of its deal for NBC Universal.

Personalized Ads: Not Just for the Web Anymore

Soon, the Internet won't be the only medium to offer advertisers the ability to closely target specific types of customers. Starting in August or September, DirecTV plans to launch a new personalized advertising service for television. Can it bring the scope of TV to highly targeted ads?

Undercover Boss Gives DirecTV CEO a Job Orientation

This week's episode of Undercover Boss will explore the recurring theme of disconnect between frontline worker and front office at America's large companies. With his newly acquired scruffy beard, DirecTV CEO Mike White will go on service calls, work in one of the company's call centers, and spend some time in its warehouse.

An Emmy Win: It's More Than Just a Golden Statue

Prestige means a lot in Hollywood. TV companies use a show's Emmy Award to help sell commercials, and advertisers enjoy being linked with hot shows. Sometimes, an Emmy can even help a program avoid the ax.