Yeah. I don’t think that will happen.
At least Cable TV might still be available by the time DIRECTV ceases operations
A new DIRECTV Genie DVR coming soon?
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At least Cable TV might still be available by the time DIRECTV ceases operations
Yes, I expect Cable TV to still be around, as Cable is multiple different companies thruout the USA, where as Sat is D* and DISH.
Even cable is underground, and doesn’t need stuff from the sky, whereas Dish and DIRECTV need satellites from the sky to operate
thank you this is what i am thinking. the gemini box is nothing more than the ospry box. all they would have to do is send a firmware update and cut off the satellite part of it off
i know att still owns 70% of dtv. though i do wonder why they still own a failing asset.. theere have been talks of mergers between dish but who knows
agree withe there need for sat in commerical settings. but what will the bill be. i could almost bet that they would swap over to streaming or a cable plan!!! sat for rual areas everyone's screaming about starlink. but everytime musk runss his moth the cost goes up and now they have data caps just goes to show the system can't handle the load they have until new sats are launched. we will see..Well this thread is a fun read, some forecasting new hardware, some forecasting the end of the company by 2030 as satellites expire, those are far apart predictions
I'll throw out my thoughts - cause this is fun:
There will not be new hardware. The subscriber base is shrinking, no end in sight, and all that reclaimed hardware can be reused. There may be small production runs of a specific piece of hardware as needed, such as H25 for commercial, additional C71KW if they as they use the inventory to rollout Genini for satellite customers, dishes and LNBs of course.
More on that C71KW - this hardware is the same for streaming and satellite, it just uses different firmware. That's intentional. In fact, many people receiving Gemini's are getting used hardware manufactured in 2020 or 2021, with a sticker on the bottom "GEM" - meaning Gemini firmware. The streaming uses the Osprey firmware. Both are Google based, just a different DirecTV primary app - whether streaming or client. That is the only hardware Directv will still be producing, and only when they are out of recycle equipment from cancelled subscribers. Any upgrade to that C71KW will likely just be if a chipset is no longer available from the manufacturer and they need to upgrade to a newer chipset. This is very much about keeping costs low.
Now the tougher prediction - how will the company wind-down as the subscriber base continues to shrink. I agree they won't be adding to the satellite fleet, but I would predict that it is possible that one replacement satellite could happen to replace 101 when the time comes. Here's why:
- MPEG 2 will get shutdown eventually, when it makes financial sense to do so. It may not make financial sense until either the 99 or 103 satellite fail and they have to get serious about bandwidth. Today- they have extra bandwidth. They built capacity for 4K, which to date has not evolved - think reverse band. I feel their strategy has changed, and 4K will remain a highly limited offering of live events only. This capacity will narrow as satellites expire, over the next 10 years or so. That will drive the MPEG 2 shutdown, channel consolidation, and - eventually - possibly even reducing channel counts, depending on capacity. Eventually we could even see reductions in some channel categories - lesser watched national channels, local channels reduced in small markets, lower subscribed international packages, redundant PPV/Paid Programming (remember less subscribers mean less paid programming makes sense to B2B buyers).
- Dish eventually merges or sells to Direct. The government won't block because there isn't enough subscribers to have two firms profitable and it is in the public interest to have a satellite offering. The example is SiriusXM. And after they combine the customer bases, it may look like Sirius XM for multiple years - probably until satellite failure. For a while, possibly years, they'll run both platforms. It will take Dish satellites failing to get them serious about migrating Dish customers into Directv dishes/equipment. The longer they wait, the less subscribers remain that need to be transitioned. The bulk of their investment will be updating firmware to change the logos on the receivers, and possibly, eventually, transitioning to one biller system. But as they've shown with AT&T, they certainly won't be in a rush.
- Long term, eventually, they could get down to one satellite location, as they won't have enough subscribers to maintain a fleet of satellites, it wouldn't be cost effective. But one satellite location (probably with a few satellites to handle spotbeams), would be out to like 2035 or later, and at that point the subscriber base will be much smaller - which leads to my next point...
-Eventually, the service becomes a lifeline service. Following consolidation with Dish, there will still be enough demand to keep one service online. Commercial customers, remote/rural areas, etc - at some point it will likely qualify for government assistance to keep the service going, i.e. tax breaks/credits. We still subsidize landline phones in this country, and will be for a long time to come, this could eventually be in the same boat. Could you see a $40/month limited package for customers that have no other TV service available, and they get tax breaks to offer it - I sure could. When you get down to a few million customers, and congress people hear from their rural constituents - "save my tv - I have no other options", they'll find a way to make it work with lower costs, all while still charging $200/month for customers that want full featured traditional service.
And finally, when does it fail, when does the last receive no longer get a signal and the last bill is paid - I'm going to guess it lingers on until 2040-2045, depending on how long that one replacement satellite lasts, and how long the government subsidies last. Did I mention we are still subsidizing landline phones...and will be for a long while.
Hope that was a good read, all in good fun.
Cable TV still uses satellites for programing they have multiple big ugly dishes in my neck of the woods. You would swear they were ufos
But with station owners raising there rates some cable cos have dropped there video service since there not making profit from it
And what happens when private equity firms get involved??? most of the time if not all of the time they don't care about the customer there just gonna milk every last cent out of there investment before it flops
However, if you have an HR54 and need a C61k to watch 4k, it counts as a separate box as well as a $7 add on.
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