DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) will likely partner with T-Mobile USA if AT&T’s acquisition deal falls through. DISH acquired additional wireless spectrum earlier this year as part of a deal for buying the bankrupted DBSD North America Inc. and Terrestar Networks Inc. DISH could merge their spectrum assets with T-Mobile or another wireless company to intensify the rivalry against AT&T and Verizon.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has talked to several smaller rivals including MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE:PCS) and Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEAP) to sell spectrum and subscribers. This is in order to save AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA for $39 billion.

Fox has been sticking to its eight-day delay guns for a week now, and the company’s future already looks grim. As anyone with half a brain predicted, when faced with an eight-day delay to popular programming, consumers respond by getting their tv illegally. TorrentFreak reports a 114% increase in downloads for Hell’s Kitchen and a 189% increase in downloads for MasterChef, which had its season finale this week. The episodes used to be available next-day on Hulu, but Fox is now only giving Hulu Plus and Dish Network the next-day privileges.

DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) has revealed that they are planning to shut down 200 more Blockbuster retail stores. Now there are a total of 1,500 total Blockbuster stores open. This past April, DISH Network won an auction to acquire Blockbuster’s assets for $228 million in cash. The employees working at those 200 stores would be able to transfer to other stores. [BGR]

DISH Network and EchoStar have settled a lawsuit with TiVo by paying them $500 million. DISH and EchoStar will be paying TiVo an initial $300 million. The other $200 million will be made in 6 equal payments between 2012 and 2017.

The companies will be ending all pending lawsuits. TiVo will dissolve all injunctions against both EchoStar and DISH. TiVo also granted DISH a license to their Time Warp patent along with several other related patents permanently. Time Warp is a patent that allows people to record one TV show at the same time as watching another.

TiVo will also help DISH Network promote Blockbuster digital video. TiVo sued DISH and EchoStar back in 2004. They had won the lawsuit, but the court decided to reconsider the verdict in May 2010.

[TechCrunch]

DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) has acquired Blockbuster Inc. in a $320 million bankruptcy auction. Dish Network outbid at least 3 other bidders including billionaire investors Carl Icahn. The deal includes over 1,700 Blockbuster stores and the rights to stream BLockbuster’s movies over the Internet.

DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) is going to acquire DBSD North America for $1 billion. Dish Network is also providing DBSD with an $87.5 million loan. This deal is assuming that the FCC and the government gives regulatory approval of the deal.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled in favor of TiVo against EchoStar. TiVo filed a $200 million patent lawsuit against EchoStar for using unauthorized digital video recorder (DVR) technology for their own services. It is expected that EchoStar will take this lawsuit all the way up to the Supreme Court. For the time being this ruling should not affect TiVo or DISH Network customers. Below is the full press release. [Engadget]