DirecTV Intro price rockets up $25, or 71%

[Claude Greiner]

You might not be hearing that as something that your customers are specifically telling you but I would definitely bet that the superior feature set of DISH's Hopper helps them somewhat versus DirecTV. AT&T has really let DTV's hardware platform stagnate since taking it over. At this point, I don't know if they'll ever really upgrade it since AT&T's preference is that if a customer has home broadband, they should just opt for AT&T TV instead of DirecTV anyhow. So why bother creating streaming apps for DTV receivers?

But you don’t talk to these people every day, I DO!

Yes I’ll admit it, the Hopper has some nice features. The 13 tuner recording, additional recording capacity, Etc.

If people want to take the Dish Challenge and do a side by side comparison between X1, Genie and the Hopper, Dish might win.

Pepsi tried to do the same thing, but Coke is still and will always win the war.

The only people who care about Dish networks technology are the people on this forum.

People don’t care about the Hopper, a matter of fact most people don’t even ask for a DVR, and then when they realize there is a DVR fee, most decline to pay for it when given the option.

And if your wondering why satellite has such a high DVR penetration rate is for 3 reasons..

#1 It’s a proven fact that DVR reduces customer churn.

#2 The promotions offered by the satellite companies focus around a DVR, and most of the times the DVR fees are hidden from the customer in their package. Or in the case of Dish, customers are charged a fee for not having a DVR.

#3 Sales people who sell satellite are incentivized to sell DVR, and are actually reprimanded for NOT having a high percentage of DVR sales

But let me say it again. People could care less about the Hopper, and I would even argue that people would rather not have a hopper if it meant putting a Dish on their house.

It’s all about who can provide cheap reliable and fast internet these days, Tv is just an after thought.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Also I should mention, there is no comparison between the Genie and the Hopper.

People don’t care about the Apps, recording capacity, number of tuners or the software.

Everyone here says how great the Hopper is, but I see people every day dump Dish Network, get rid of their hoppers and get a basic HD box from the cable company.

If a customer can save money switching providers, they no longer see any value in the technology

 

[Jimbo]

I sell Comcast, people are pissed off at AT&T.

We just had our best month in 4 years due to these disputes going on

SHOCKING ....

People are always pissed at ATT for one thing or another.

I feel bad for the person that has to come to the door and actually Face the sub ...

(Thats me btw)

 

[Jimbo]

Also I should mention, there is no comparison between the Genie and the Hopper.

People don’t care about the Apps, recording capacity, number of tuners or the software.

Everyone here says how great the Hopper is, but I see people every day dump Dish Network, get rid of their hoppers and get a basic HD box from the cable company.

If a customer can save money switching providers, they no longer see any value in the technology

This is what it comes down to with MOST customers ...

Also, like mentioned above, the only people that care about number of tuners and a few other things are those on sites like this .... which is about MAYBE 1%, probably not that much ...

 

[NashGuy]

But you don’t talk to these people every day, I DO!

Have you ever thought that the population you're dealing with is a biased sample that isn't representative of all folks who sign up for satellite TV service? My guess is that the great majority of those customers do NOT go through a dealer like you. Most folks respond to advertisements for DirecTV or DISH that they see on TV, get via direct mail, etc. And then they go to those companies' websites and learn a little more, then sign up directly with the provider, either through the website or by calling their 1-800 number.

I've had both DirecTV and DISH in the past. My parents have had DISH for years. In none of those cases did we go through some kind of seller like you. I'd have no idea where to find someone like you even if I felt like I needed your help anyhow.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Have you ever thought that the population you're dealing with is a biased sample that isn't representative of all folks who sign up for satellite TV service? My guess is that the great majority of those customers do NOT go through a dealer like you. Most folks respond to advertisements for DirecTV or DISH that they see on TV, get via direct mail, etc. And then they go to those companies' websites and learn a little more, then sign up directly with the provider, either through the website or by calling their 1-800 number.

I've had both DirecTV and DISH in the past. My parents have had DISH for years. In none of those cases did we go through some kind of seller like you. I'd have no idea where to find someone like you even if I felt like I needed your help anyhow.

There are roughly 1.3 million calls in my phone system since 2017 from all over the country.

I think that’s a big enough sample.

Many of you don’t realize, I run a decent sized call center for sales. We do Orby, Directv commercial, Comcast, Spectrum, Cox and Viasat.

I’m not your average local retailer. I do more sales in 1 day than a typical retailer will do in 3 months

 

[rapidturtle]

Most people need cable for the internet, and they tend to bundle T.V. together with it for a decent price. I'm tempted to try out optimum.

 

[Don in CT]

Most people need cable for the internet, and they tend to bundle T.V. together with it for a decent price. I'm tempted to try out optimum.

Cables best selling point is you won’t lose the signal when the weather goes to crap.

 

[osu1991]

Cables best selling point is you won’t lose the signal when the weather goes to crap.

Unless lightning fries your TiVo for the 3rd time this year during said storms.

 

[slice1900]

Cables best selling point is you won’t lose the signal when the weather goes to crap.

Outages with cable are much less frequent than with satellite, but they last MUCH longer. I'll bet the total minutes of outage per year is higher for cable than it is for satellite in most locations. So far this year I've had several outages lasting a good part of a day, due to fiber cuts or power loss due to a power outage in another part of town. I don't have any way of knowing, but I'll bet when I lose power at my house I probably lose cable a lot of those times - if I had a generator I could still watch satellite TV but I imagine I'd usually be SOL for cable unless the outage was very localized.

My cable company also was taking everything down at midnight on Wednesday/Thursday once a month for basically all of 2018 and into early this year, usually lasting at least six hours. Been a while since they've done that, hopefully whatever they were doing is done for good. They were "planned outages" (which I never heard about, but I guess they were probably announced somewhere) but you don't see Directv saying "we need to take everything offline for six hours so we can squeegee the solar panels on our satellites".

 

[MitchDeerfield]

My guess is that most people who order cable are people who don't want a satellite dish installed on their roof or are unable to do so. Cable is significantly more expensive than satellite, and I am always getting offers of $300 or $400 gift cards to switch to Dish or DirecTV.

One benefit DTV has with the Genie receiver is you can late tune into a movie or show that is half over and the Genie will allow you to go back to the beginning of the movie. That is pretty amazing. I don't think the Hopper has that feature.

 

[lparsons21]

Uh no Mitch. My TV portion of the bundled bill is around $95/month now. Subscription level is nearly all their channels including the 4 Premiums. Even with new customer deals sat is more expensive.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[MitchDeerfield]

Uh no Mitch. My TV portion of the bundled bill is around $95/month now. Subscription level is nearly all their channels including the 4 Premiums. Even with new customer deals sat is more expensive.

What is the cable company charging? Why don't you switch?

In my market, Comcast is about 10% more expensive and lacks some channels that I like.

 

[lparsons21]

What is the cable company charging? Why don't you switch after all these years?

That was the cable charge. I’m in the 2nd year of the promo with 2 more years to go with no commitment after the end of this 2nd year. Rate will rise $20/month each year.

EDIT: actually may be in 3rd year now as they did some trick to get my internet up to the 200 tier a year ago.

For info, total bill is $196 with taxes and fees for 200/20 internet with a 2TB cap and all their channels including the 4 premiums. Internet alone at that speed/data cap would be $111 with all taxes and fees.

When I shifted from Dish to cable there were channels Dish had in HD that cable didn’t but none that were of interest to me. So that was a wash. When I made the switch cable saved me over $70/month, those savings have declined over the 3 years I’ve been with them, but still cheaper than satellite at the same subscription level. I do miss the Hopper 3 but my TiVo’s are nearly as good and more than good enough for me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[NashGuy]

There are roughly 1.3 million calls in my phone system since 2017 from all over the country.

I think that’s a big enough sample.

Many of you don’t realize, I run a decent sized call center for sales. We do Orby, Directv commercial, Comcast, Spectrum, Cox and Viasat.

I’m not your average local retailer. I do more sales in 1 day than a typical retailer will do in 3 months

Wow. Nope, I didn't realize that, ha! Yes, that's a decent sample size.

Still though, if you're not selling DISH, and therefore not making inbound callers aware of the pluses/minuses of DISH and their Hopper vs. the other options you sell, then it's still hard for you to know whether or not the superior Hopper is a factor in consumers' decision-making. I wouldn't expect that the average caller who calls you up is going to be well-versed in all the hardware that various MVPDs offer. That's what they expect you to help them sort through (along with channel packages, pricing, etc.) in order to make an informed decision. Not criticizing you, of course, for not telling your prospects about the Hopper -- that'd be crazy given that you don't sell DISH! I'm just saying that just because your call-ins aren't specifically asking about the Hopper or pro-actively asking detailed Qs about the feature set of one provider's equipment versus another doesn't mean that they don't CARE about those things when they're made aware of them and therefore factor it into their decision.

 

[Jimbo]

Cables best selling point is you won’t lose the signal when the weather goes to crap.

Is that right ....
And when your drop is pulled down off the house, laying there for days waiting on the company tech to show up .....

 

[Jimbo]

Wow. Nope, I didn't realize that, ha! Yes, that's a decent sample size.

Still though, if you're not selling DISH, and therefore not making inbound callers aware of the pluses/minuses of DISH and their Hopper vs. the other options you sell, then it's still hard for you to know whether or not the superior Hopper is a factor in consumers' decision-making. I wouldn't expect that the average caller who calls you up is going to be well-versed in all the hardware that various MVPDs offer. That's what they expect you to help them sort through (along with channel packages, pricing, etc.) in order to make an informed decision. Not criticizing you, of course, for not telling your prospects about the Hopper -- that'd be crazy given that you don't sell DISH! I'm just saying that just because your call-ins aren't specifically asking about the Hopper or pro-actively asking detailed Qs about the feature set of one provider's equipment versus another doesn't mean that they don't CARE about those things when they're made aware of them and therefore factor it into their decision.

People get thier service for Price and Programming, not equipment ...

Now if they have decided to get X or Y, Then it might come down to equipment.

 

[Marcingak]

When I switched from DirecTV to Optimum I thought outages during storms would go away but I was wrong. It still happens sometimes.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I get asked the question every week from people knowing if it was going to go out.

I tell people, your going to have outages with any provider. They are more frequent and shorter on satellite. Cable is more reliable, but when it goes out, it could be for several hours

 

[EarDemon]

My guess is that most people who order cable are people who don't want a satellite dish installed on their roof or are unable to do so. Cable is significantly more expensive than satellite, and I am always getting offers of $300 or $400 gift cards to switch to Dish or DirecTV.

One benefit DTV has with the Genie receiver is you can late tune into a movie or show that is half over and the Genie will allow you to go back to the beginning of the movie. That is pretty amazing. I don't think the Hopper has that feature.

To provide a different perspective, I have the top of the line TV packages with two DVRs from both DirecTV and Charter with no promos.

Premier @ $167 + Movie Extra Pack @ $5 + $20 for two DVRs + $8.50 RSN fee = $200.50 for DirecTV
TV Gold @ $105 + Epix @ $6 + $35 for two DVRs + $12 Broadcast TV fee = $158 for Charter

Being able to start over an in progress program that you tuned into late is not that amazing anymore and is pretty old. I've been able to do that for over a decade when Time Warner launched the Start Over feature in 2006 in my area.

https://www.multichannel.com/news/time-warner-adds-start-over-markets-332617