Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) is finally following through with the launch of its own voice remote, after a long-gestating research and development process.

Simply branded the "Voice Remote," the device will control the Hopper 3 and 4K Joey set-tops. It will retail for $30 and feature two touchpad modes: a default mode displays a blank touchpad, allowing for navigation tasks, while the numeric mode illuminates a keypad when channel or password entry is preferred.

Dish's deployment comes more than a year after Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) successfully debuted a voice remote for its X1 platform. Comcast says it has now deployed 6 million voice remotes manufactured by Universal Electronics.

Dish began filing trademarks for voice recognition software back in 2013. And it debuted its voice remote at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show — an event that perhaps got lost amid the simultaneous launch of Sling TV.

In April of 2015, Rovi announced that Dish will add its Rovi Conversation Services natural-language interface to its Explorer second-screen app for iPad, the Hopper Voice remote and the Dish Anywhere app.

"Voice Remote is simple to use, affordable and, most impressively, operates with incredible speed and accuracy," said Vivek Khemka, Dish executive VP and CTO. "Leveraging modern navigation paradigms like touch and voice, this remote represents a complete reinvention of the outdated remote control customers have come to expect from cable providers.

For more:

- read this Dish press release

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