Anyone else tired of the silence?

[JoeSp]

I have been following with great interest the VOOM saga along with DirecTV's new advertising and direction. There is alot here to get excited and exasperated about.

However, what happened to Dish? They have thrown up two satellites. They have purchased Rainbow One -- just waiting for FCC approval which should happen in the next 6 to 8 weeks. But what is being said --NOTHING!

Maybe it is time we flood their e-mail and jam up the phone on Monday for Charlie's No-Talk and see if we can get them to give us something -- anything -- even if they can't deliver on time. At least give us Universal HD! They have got the room. I also want to know why they have given a slot to the Dallas Mavericks and unless you live in Dallas you can not view it? What's up with that!

I am done ranting -- I will now go back to 'trolling' as some of you like to say for information on what interest me.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Your rant is fine - and the view is shared by many.

I think you meant you were going back to "lurking", which is just listening.

"Trolling" is posting off-topic inflammatory stuff just to bother people.

 

[Juan]

Maybe the SEC has hit them with a gag order :dev :dev

 

[JJSerrano]

The slot for the Mavericks is for all basketball games in hd, just seems that the mavericks are the only ones with alot of hd games because of Cuban and HDNet. If you get nba league pass you could watch all of those games in HD too.

 

[mdonnelly]

... Maybe it is time we flood their e-mail and jam up the phone on Monday for Charlie's No-Talk and see if we can get them to give us something -- anything -- even if they can't deliver on time. At least give us Universal HD! ...

Excellent point. Charlie said in November (I think) that Dish might add one or two more HD channels before MPEG-4 is operational. Let's find out if he was serious.

 

[DarrellP]

Charlie's notorious for not saying anything. When DiscoveryHD went up, just 2 days before he said there was no new HD on the horizon, so go figure, he's a salesman, whenever his lips move, he's telling a lie.

 

[MustangLX89]

All you ever needed to know about Dish Network and what Charlie says...

??????​

 

[korsjs]

dish network = cable from the sky.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Sounds of silence...

Yep, Charlie has pretty much scorched any credibility he ever had. 4-5 years ago, the chats were interesting, as you could actually SEE new channels being added, locals popping up, etc. Now it's stagnation-alley and broken promises.

As korsjs said, it's essentially cable from the sky, only thing is, cable has more HD than dish does now. I would like to hear something, anything, from E* concerning what E* intends to do with all this bandwidth that's just hanging around out there, and the potential bandwidth from Rainbow 1 (assuming the FCC says okay), even if it's just ideas they're thinking about, at least that'd be better than silence.

 

[Pils]

I have been trying to speak to some of the customer resolution dept about many issues, they are a very inept department to say the least. Anyways, I am about to call it quits, if I can ever get a hold of these people. When I spoke to one, I explained how other providers have plans set forth or have locals in HD and how dish has nothing set. He continued to say there is a very thorough plan indeed and I told him to elaborate and he said he is not aware of the details. C'mon, then nothing is set. The company from top to bottom is clueless.

 

[HokieEngineer]

I believe it was right around the Superdish plans that this company started to implode. Charlie promised capacity for 50 HD channels. He delivered a broken sat that barely covers "most" of conus. He then filled it up with local markets that could get coverage from 105. Right around this time the 811 was offered, and more promises were made. Fast foward to the 921, repeat.

Do you really want Dish to tell you something? Whatever they say either wont happen or will happen 6 months late and wont have 1/2 the features they promise. Basically, just dont get your hopes up. Dont expect any new HD channels until 2006. Dont expect to be able to buy your own hardware anymore. Dont expect any new channels that D*/cable add. Expect the same old same old, and another 3598725983 local markets added, included bumfudge, NE.

Something major happened within that company during the superdish fiasco. If only some disgruntled employee would write a book about it

 

[chevyN8]

Is there a problem with having locals in NE (or Nebraska in general)? I'm not familiar with the location of bumfudge, NE. OTA simply isn't possible in many places, cable was the only answer. As far as the silence, I'd rather have silence than false promises.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Is there a problem with having locals in NE (or Nebraska in general)?

Yes - there IS a problem. Locals chew up an enormous amount of bandwidth for no reason other than te preservation of an obsolete industry.

Distant network feeds are just fine.

 

[MustangLX89]

Is there a problem with having locals in NE (or Nebraska in general)?

Naaaa, you know the tabacky spittin contest and greased pig catch is compelling television.

 

[NightRyder]

Setting aside for a moment E* receiver quality control issues, what they are doing makes perfect sense, from a business perspective. I believe E* is is looking at the numbers and choosing to add the programming that gives them the most return for $ invested. Locals = x number of potential new customers. International = high $ profit per channel. They can put about 3 times the number of SD channels per transponder vs HD. It's almost a no brainier. Currently HD is a money losing proposition. Don't think so? Take one look at the V*, from a strictly business perspective, its been a spectacular failure.

Recent estimates put the number of US household's with a HDTV compatible display at about 12M, of those 12M only 4.6M are actually receiving HD programming via OTA, cable or satellite, and these are the most optimistic numbers I've seen. HD is the future, but a future that is still 3 to 5 years away from really taking off.

Having said all that, I'm still in the same boat as the rest of you......

CHARLIE, I WANT MORE HD NOW!!!


NightRyder

 

[mike123abc]

Internationals do not take away from other services. They are kept on separate satellites, so it does not really make a difference to the other viewers of Dish. LIL takes up national channel viewing space, spot beam satellites help to limit the consumption, but they still do it.

My personal theory is that Dish is waiting to be sure E10 makes it up ok before adding new programming. That way they can be sure they are going to have a LIL single dish solution before the deadline.

 

[MustangLX89]

If you build it they will come. If you wait for them to get the equipment they won't give you the time of day. Hell, I never heard of Voom untill I came to this forum. Must have been the lack of advertisement.

 

[Frank Solich]

Is there a problem with having locals in NE (or Nebraska in general)? I'm not familiar with the location of bumfudge, NE. OTA simply isn't possible in many places, cable was the only answer. As far as the silence, I'd rather have silence than false promises.

Hell yes there's a problem with having locals in Nebraska.
Central Nebraska locals show the same damn thing. This weekend, with my 811, I was able to get the Nebraska boys state basketball tournament on 6 different channels. YES!! SIX!! All showing the same feed. I could get the same game on 4 channels of PBS (2 digital and 2 analog) and the local CBS (KGIN/KOLN) was showing it on analog and HD. If that wasn't bad enough, my local CBS had to broadcast the the big twelve basketball tournament at the same time the game was on ESPN2 and ESPN FullCourt.
Now if that don't get your bib overalls in a bunch.

 

[Fredinva]

Charlie's notorious for not saying anything. When DiscoveryHD went up, just 2 days before he said there was no new HD on the horizon, so go figure, he's a salesman, whenever his lips move, he's telling a lie.

Okay, let's say YOU are Charlie: ESPN2HD is announced - how much are you going to pay to delver ESPN2HD when all your customers will get 90 percent sidebars????

Okay, now you are a programmer - if you have a channel that is broadcasting 100% HD, go talk to Charlie!!!!!!!!!!

In addition to DiscHD, TNTHD just automatically appeared w/o an announcement - wasn't that pretty darn good?
And then, a coupe months later, 60-some Sirius music channels were added. I enjoy them when I'm glued to this dang personal confuser!!!!!

If Mark Cuban announced tomorrow, an HDSCIENCE (100 percent HD channel), that would rival DISCHD, I bet Charlie would be first to offer it.
It all takes TIME and MONEY. And most of all, it takes programmers with HD content and HD equipment. Tell us all where it is????

Charlie doesn't make promises he can't keep.

If you don't like it, go back to pricey DTV or CABLE. I'm getting tired of all you complainers. Most of you don't understand business at all.

fred

 

[SimpleSimon]

Charlie doesn't make promises he can't keep.

You really are a newbie aren't you? Can you say "721 Internet"? How about "921 Firewire"?

I've got a hundred more, but what's the use?

You're either brainwashed, a plant, or (hopefully) just ignorant. At least ignorance can be cured.