Comparing the two are as relevant as it gets. When I worked for DirecTV they were always looking at the subscriber numbers, the gains and the churn for each company. If they had any gain in customers we wanted to know why. If our churn increased and theirs didn't we researched why. I'm sure by the late 90s they had many things figured out for seasonal churn, promotional spikes, bad customer service experiences, etc.
DirecTV was a larger company than Dish with an incredible research and development team, some borrowed from the old Hughes Aircraft aerospace side. The early days of DIrecTV under Eddy Hartenstein were glorious and we had a money didn't matter type of attitude and had the best of everything you could ever need to do your job. Charlie seemed to run his company on a shoe string budget and skimp on a lot of things. You have to give Charlie credit for the stiff competition considering his penny pinching ways.
Yeah, no question that the old Hughes/GM days management viewed Dish as more of an irritant and believed DirecTV vastly superior to little Echostar/Dish and cheapskate Charlie. They would not even talk to Ergen involving industry issues about which both companies agreed. It was Dish who saw the value of local channels and was trying to get local channels allowed on sat while DirecTV didn't seem to care--until later in the game, DirecTV decided it was important, and it was their involvement in Washington, as a much larger company and relationships in Congress as a legacy defense contractor, did Congress start to really move on making it possible. But that management nearly allowed Dish to overtake DirecTV in subscriber count. No doubt, the old original DirecTV had a "defense contractor" mentality when it came to costs and a
"money didn't matter" defense contractor way of doing business. Even Charlie Ergen let it slip when he said,
". . . they [DirecTV] have a very expensive network," after having seen the DTV real numbers for himself. Even Ergen's plan for the Murdoch thwarted Dish/DirecTV merger was to keep the DirecTV brand and not the Dish brand. But, when Rupert Murdoch finally got his hands on DirecTV, management change was greatly needed as the original management was slow to adopt the model of providing equipment at very low or no cost after Dish having grown tremendously with this model for years because Dish/Echostar made the vast majority of Dish equipment, with JVC and one other company making much smaller numbers of Dish equipment, while DircTV was still requiring subscribers to buy the hardware from 3rd parties, and at FULL RETAIL PRICE, up until (a few years?) before sale to Rupert Murdoch.
Under Rupert (who took Dish as a very serious threat and even praised Charlie Ergen as the man he would hire to run DirecTV and calling Ergen
". . . the best in the business, but he's not for hire, is he" referring to Ergen as an owner who was not about to leave his own sat company to run DirecTV
), Chase Carey did a magnificent job of, frankly, turning things around at DirecTV and added subscribers at such a pace to keep Dish from overcoming DirecTV in subscriber numbers. Also, it seemed to me that Chase Carey maintained the DirecTV premium brand even though by this time (the early 2000's) Dish, who started out with some really sad GUI, IMHO had surpassed DirecTV as far as DVR home systems technology, features, and GUI including picture in guide before DirecTV (I can't recall even the vaunted Sony boxes offering it, but their GUI was probably the best for DirecTV for some time). Even Rupert Murdoch, just after purchase of DirecTV, openly worried about DirecTV's offerings in systems and value by stating,
"We can't have them [Dish] offering a superior product." Chase Carey seemed to meet every mark set by Rupert Murdoch and all while putting what were viewed as past management's excessive costs in line while still offering NFL Sunday Ticket.
When DirecTV changed hands again, this time to long-time Rupert Murdoch partner in corporate adventures John Malone, after turning on Rupert and Malone attempting to take control NewsCorp forcing Murdoch to sell DirecTV to Malone's Liberty Media (even the LA Dodgers were sold by Murdoch to raise the desperately needed cash to keep NewsCorp under his control) the somewhat unctuous Mike White maintained DirecTV's brand and superior subscription numbers and still offering NFL Sunday Ticket (although he seemed to want to ditch it near the end, but NFL Sunday Ticket was a MUST for AT&T if it were to buy DirecTV) that made it seem to AT&T as the better choice of sat company to buy. AT&T paid for the DirecTV brand, as per public comments of AT&T, and NFL Sunday Ticket. I always thought that was a foolish expense for brand and even NFL Sunday Ticket. They would have been better off paying less for Dish (and yes, Ergen had publicly stated that he would be willing to sell) with its lower costs of operation and gotten what they wanted: an IN to the MVPD business to modify or transform as they wish and also get RESALE VALUE because AT&T made it clear from the very beginning that they were NOT buying AT&T for the satellites or the satellite MVPD model. So, it was clear that AT&T would have to unload DirecTV satellite business at some point soon enough. AT&T overpaid for the brand and NFL Sunday Ticket that came with purchase, and no they are having buyer's remorse for having in sexy looking sports car with overpriced extras that guzzles gas instead of the base model that get the same job done with greater fuel efficiency.
Now AT&T is stuck with a really expensive car that no dealer will offer more than $200 to take off of AT&T's hands. Unless AT&T is willing to take a real bath on the sale of DirecTV, the only situation that seems to make any sense is the eventual merge or arrangement that involves Dish because who else would even want this legacy dinasour MVPD satellite business except another legacy MVPD satellite business that brings "synergy" and cost reductions along with the purchase. None of that exists for any potential buyer I can think of. And, Yes, the government will allow it because such a merge will come with conditions--just like ALL the other mergers that reduced competition have come with--and because AT&T will bend Congress (and the Justice Department) to make it happen because it is the ONLY way for AT&T to get any money for this overpriced diamond ring that lost is value the moment after leaving the jewelry store because diamonds are a common stone owned by one company controlling the price. Even if AT&T finds a buyer today, DirecTV will eventually have to be part of Dish in the end because that is the only way it makes any sense.
), a smartphone, but I still enjoy the local paper, even though it’s two days out of date before we get it, not just one. Plus, I’m still working, but your dad’s a year older than me, so that’s fair.
