Charlie Chat Tonight!

[Tahoerob]

From what Charlie said last night and in the earnings call reported by Scott, it appears that E* will have few or no HD channel additions until about this time next year when the new additions will be MPEG4 encoded and will require a new HD receiver to decode. It also appears that the new 105 satellite (AMC15) will not be used for HD and that HD will be carried on AMC16 at 85 or a later launched satellite. That means that most customers will need a SuperDish plus another dish for 85 with 4 total satellite feeds. This is going to get hairy! Plus it is not clear if the new HD receivers to be announced in January will have MPEG4 capability or can be upgraded.

Totally BAD move on their part. So not only would I have to wait a YEAR for more HD, I have to BUY a new receiver, try to get a few dollars for the $1000 921 I bought in Jan. of THIS YEAR, and ADD MORE dishes to the 2 I already have now on my house (wives will HATE this & force a provider change!!).
With HDTV now in the acceleration phase, DTV transition in 2-3 years, & the skyrocketing HDTV sales, the ability to provide HD content will drive customers to the service that offers the most. Dish will lose 100,000s of customers by dragging their heels. Just this month, I added cable for more HD content. They even have a good HD dual record DVR box that I LEASE with no long term committment.

The VOOM STB is upgradable with a plugin card. If D* and/or VOOM come through with their substantial HD expansions and VOOM adds a number of desirable SD channels that they should have the capacity to add, there will be few E* HD customers left by this time next year.

EXACTLY!!!

I obtained a $149 6000 receiver with the 8VSB and 8SPK modules during the closeout last year, so I'm not complaining yet. I'm just waiting to see how things shake out in the HD world. Also will be checking to see if E* acquires VOOM. I do not see VOOM surviving as they are now.

I did the same thing for a 6000 & sold it for $575 after I got my 921!! So my actual cost of the 921 is similar to the new sale price!
I would not count out Voom. They are doing with DBS & HD what Amazon did with online stores. Run a loss while developing an excellent product, name recognition, preparing for large volume customers when all pieces are in place: HD content, SD content, DVR service, HD locals (with planned 5 new sats!), tweak customer service, tweak install process, etc. They are becoming a very nice option for me with the downfall of Dich coming

 

[NightRyder]

I would not count out Voom. They are doing with DBS & HD what Amazon did with online stores. Run a loss while developing an excellent product, name recognition, preparing for large volume customers when all pieces are in place: HD content, SD content, DVR service, HD locals (with planned 5 new sats!), tweak customer service, tweak install process, etc. They are becoming a very nice option for me with the downfall of Dich coming

I respectfully disagree. VOOM is not Amazon. The only reason Amazon succeeded is was because of the dot com boom and they were the smartest players in a fledgling market. If Amazon tried the same thing today they would fail. The 'build market share while bleeding $" was proven a terrible business model and investors got hammered. Wall Street hates VOOM and Comcast can't seem to get away from it fast enough (unfortunately it's stuck to their finger and they can't shake it off). VOOM will be sold or dead within 18 months and E* will be fine. I'm not saying the poor planning on E* part won't hurt them, but HD is still such a small market that if they can implement MPEG4 and add a competitive amount of HD by the end of next year the loss will be minimal. I'm not happy about the delay but from a business perspective it is hardly the disaster some make it out to be.


NightRyder