Chairman of NBC no fan of auto hop
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Dish does plenty of stuff that is legitimately complaint-worthy. But, skipping commercials? If a customer complains about that, there is something wrong with them. (Unless they work in broadcasting or advertising, of course. Then, it's understandable, even if they are wrong.)
Generally speaking, if I were to buy a product and was summarily told it had a particular feature and then realized after the fact that I could use that feature less than 1% of the time, then I would have a good reason to be upset.
They exaggerate about the entire PTAT feature, actually.
As I mentioned in another thread, they do have the technology to expand autohop from PTAT to almost all recordings. So, it may happen. But, I imagine there will be a lot of pressure from the providers to see this feature go away. And, I think they have a decent chance of succeeding this time, unlike trying to prevent 30sec skip. (Do Comcast DVR's still require a cheat code to get 30sec skip to work? Or, was that DirecTV or Tivo? That was bowing to pressure from providers.)
Except that prime time network TV viewing is 90+% of viewing so PTAT and this are great features for the majority of consumers.
Besides, it's very clear that Autohop is tied to PTAT. If a consumer can't be bothered to research the miniscule amount needed to uncover that, then they should only be upset with themselves.
Is there really documented evidence of this? I'm not saying it isn't true. But, even though the Big Four obviously have more viewers than cable nets, it just seems improbable that 4 networks out of a 100 have 90% of the viewership.
They might have 90% of the prime time viewing among local networks, but look at the AMC thread where the top cable network numbers are listed.
Anyway, I derived my 1% by taking 3 hours out of a 24 hour day times 4 channels divided by at least 100 channels with commercials, which is 0.5%.
Anyway, I derived my 1% by taking 3 hours out of a 24 hour day times 4 channels divided by at least 100 channels with commercials, which is 0.5%.
i don't think he's even remotely close with 90%. maybe back in the 60s and 70s it was that high, but people have spread out to cable.
The ad that Dish had on the Speedtest net web page was headlined in 1/2" high headlines "Watch Commercial Free TV". The footnote explaining what that meant was in tiny type, reading glasses required.
No doubt that autohop is a nice feature, but it is evolutionary for people currently using a DVR, but how many TV viewers use all the current features of their DVRs or for that matter use their DVR?
No doubt that autohop is a nice feature, but it is evolutionary for people currently using a DVR, but how many TV viewers use all the current features of their DVRs or for that matter use their DVR?
My number is based on the various Dish press releases touting PTAT saying that 90+% of their subs PT viewing the big four. But now the only number I can find is that 60% of DVR recordings during prime time on Dish are from the big four.
I'll keep looking, but I swear I saw a press release with a 95% number being bandied about.
EDIT TO ADD: I can't seem to find the article/press release that I am apparently misremembering. So I retract my previous statement about viewership numbers.
I'll keep looking, but I swear I saw a press release with a 95% number being bandied about.
EDIT TO ADD: I can't seem to find the article/press release that I am apparently misremembering. So I retract my previous statement about viewership numbers.
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Cable Captures 55% Of Total TV Viewing In The First Three Weeks of New Season: Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau
More like 45%. Still a huge chunk for 4 channels vs how many others.
Still, PTAT could mean the difference between lots of frustrated customers (with 1 Hopper not having enough tuners) and happy customers. On the other hand, it allows Dish to claim that you can "record 6 at once" as if you can do that at any time.
Yep, and these numbers are only referring to primetime, which is only 3 hours out of the 24 hour day, the only time that PTAT is active. The only variable is how much programming is DVR'd outside of primetime compared to inside primetime.
3HaloODST said:
They say "UP TO" six programs at once. And then explain what that means in the fine print. This is factually accurate, your portrayal of how they describe it makes it seem like they are saying something factually incorrect. They aren't. PTAT is an innovative feature that will benefit those who watch a lot of PTAT programming. It's not meant to be a 24 hour service, and is not being marketed as such. To expect Dish to explain all the details of the system in a commercial is unreasonable, no companies do that in commercials, it's impractical. As always, consumers should do their own homework, judge the product objectively based on their research and then decide whether to purchase it or not.
Some want all commercials to be frank and honest like the drug ones; describe every possible side effect out there, including the ones that are worse than what you're taking the medication for in the first place....
