3D technology is coming one step closer to home with the development of a new set-top box system that will allow consumers to browse through and access 3D offerings from their cable or satellite TV company.

The prototype, developed by digital content security company Nagravision SA, based in Cheseaux, Switzerland, and 3D company 3ality Digital LLC, Burbank, Calif., will be shown at the 3D Entertainment Summit this week in Los Angeles. It’s called the Nagra Media Guide for 3D.

Although no cable company has yet committed to the set-top technology, the prototype offers a window into the evolution of 3D home technology, which is getting much closer to what is available in movie theaters. Consumers will be able to access 3D programming using today’s set-top boxes, but the Nagra Media version will show the information using 3D graphics.

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In The New York Times (NYT) last Sunday, Frank Rich became the latest to argue that cable- and satellite-TV subscriptions should give hope to the newspaper industry, which has decided during this steep ad downturn that it wants to charge for some content it puts online.

“It’s all a matter of priorities,” Mr. Rich wrote. “Not long ago, we laughed at the idea of pay TV.”

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During a long career as a television and technology executive, Mitch Berman has tried to sell several different iterations of TV, often in their formative stages. These included premium cable networks (at HBO), original cable programming (E! Entertainment Television), satellite TV (Sky and Foxtel), interactivity (OpenTV), and video on demand (Arris). Now, Berman is onto the next new thing, delivering TV through the Internet. His company, ZillionTV, faces long odds but has at least three advantages over the increasingly crowded field of online TV players: It brings DVD-quality programming straight to the TV set. It has a remote control that sets a new standard for ease of use. And its advertising model actually encourages people to watch commercials, rather than undermining their value to advertisers and programmers. Berman is positioning it as a service that offers unique benefits to consumers, advertisers, content companies and broadband providers. Here’s hoping the Hollywood studios that own a piece of Zillion don’t strangle it in its crib, which they could easily do….

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DISH Network (DISH) shares are down sharply this morning after the satellite TV company reported some disturbing subscriber data for Q2.

For the quarter, the company posted revenue of $2.91 billion, right in line with expectations, and profits of 75 cents a share, nicely above the Street consensus at 60 cents.

But the company also noted that it lost 25,000 net subscribers in the quarter. In a 10-Q filing with the SEC this morning, the company blamed the surprise drop in subscribers on “weak economic conditions, aggressive promotional offerings by our competition, the heavy marketing of HD service by our competition, the growth of fiber-based pay TV providers, signal theft and other forms of fraud, and operational inefficiencies at DISH Network.”

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