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DISH Network (DISH) shares have received a boost this morning from Wells Fargo Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker, who raised her rating on the stock to Outperform from Market Perform. She set a revised valuation range of $22-$24, up from $18-$20. The stock closed yesterday at $18.51. Ryvicker trimmed her 2009 EPS estimate to $1.88, from $1.96, but sharply increased her 2010 view, to $1.91, from $1.63.

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In a bold and controversial call, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet this morning proposed a cable industry mega-deal: he thinks Comcast (CMCSA) should buy Time Warner Cable (TWC).

Until last week, that combination would have been impossible; but an FCC rule limiting cable companies to 30% U.S. market share has been struck down by a federal court.

Bazinet sees 7 reasons for the two cable companies to merger:

Goldman Sachs analyst telecom Jason Armstrong this morning assumed coverage of the cable and satellite TV companies, taking a cautious stance on the sector.

Armstrong sees the cable and satellite television companies posting aggregate growth of just 3.2% compounded through 2012. Among the pay TV stocks, Armstrong has just one Buy recommendation: Comcast (CMCSA). (The stock had already been Buy rated at Goldman under the previous analyst.)

Armstrong made two rating changes this morning, downgrading Dish Network (DISH) and upgrading Time Warner Cable (TWC). Here are a few details::

TiVo (TIVO) today said it was awarded $200 million in sanctions against EchoStar (SATS) and Dish Network (DISH) for violation of a permanent injunction against violation of TiVo’s DVR patents. That brings total damages in the long-running case to about $400 million, plus attorneys fees. The company noted that the federal court judge overseeing the case said ruled that he “will entertain the award of enhanced sanctions” if EchoStar and DIsh are unsuccessful on appeal and continue to disregard the court’s orders.

Following up on its litigation against DISH Network (DISH) and Echostar (SATS), TiVo (TIVO) this afternoon announced that it has filed suit against AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) in federal court in Texas for infringement of three patents covering DVR technology. Both companies use DVRs in their digital TV services.

The patents at issue include 6,233,389 B1 (”Multimedia Time Warping System”), 7,529,465 B2 (”System for Time Shifting Multimedia Content Streams”), and 7,493,015 B1 (”Automatic Playback Overshoot Correction System”).