DIRECTV Needs a CEO -- Now!

[vurbano]

I wish they did as I only have ST to watch one team.

That kind of stagnation on ST is one reason I left. If they had a Team ticket then it really would have been more difficult to leave. But I aint paying 400 dollars a year for ST in HD let alone 300. Thats an equipment price in my book not a programming price. It is utterly ridiculous.

 

[SpaethCo]

Swanni is wrong about Versus. The only reason that you haven't heard any problems with anyone else is because their contract is not about up. I also remember someone saying Dish had a problem with Comcast about carrying Versus.

Dish did run into issues with Comcast with regard to the placement of Versus, largely because they didn't want to be put in the Classic 250 package. Versus is trying to expand their subscriber base, so every move into a more restrictive package is a setback.

I also don't believe that the Versus dispute is just a standard programming dispute. DirecTV has been running into issues restructuring its debt with Liberty Media, which is why there are all these rumors about D* being acquired. As more details about that dispute come out, it's starting to look pretty obvious what this is all about: DirecTV is trying to boost profitability to either help in their negotiations for debt restructuring or to improve their positioning for possible acquisition.

How I believe DirecTV wanted this to work out was:

1) Remove Vs from the Choice Xtra package, thus reducing their programming spend on that package.
2) Add Vs to the $13 Sports Pack, a plan which has significantly higher margins.

DirecTV knows that Vs has a loyal following by a non-trivial number of subscribers, and I honestly believe they were counting on those folks to spring for the $13 Sports pack once the channel was moved into that package.

I do like the inconsistency in their stories they are giving to customers though. Two guys at work called in about Vs being removed and they were both told that if DirecTV were to agree to the terms their bills would go up $3/mo. Really? The current costs for Vs are about $0.30/mo per subscriber, and DirecTV has publicly stated that Comcast is seeking a 20% increase -- if that's true then the delta is only 6 cents per month per subscriber.

DirecTV isn't looking out for you, and the actions of the company over the last few months should show that. They're trying to improve their bottom line, and they're now resorting to cutting service (or at least not growing the service) and deceptively locking people into contract extensions to do so.

 

[JAG72]

That kind of stagnation on ST is one reason I left. If they had a Team ticket then it really would have been more difficult to leave. But I aint paying 400 dollars a year for ST in HD let alone 300. Thats an equipment price in my book not a programming price. It is utterly ridiculous.

I only have it because of getting the new sub deal of $59 for 5 months + the premier package. I could not justify it for the one team if I did not get that deal. I would have sent my sling box to my sister and dealt with the black outs.

 

[bamaweather]

Yeah but now its all snowballing.

Look at the media that DirecTV has gotten over the past few weeks. Have you seen anything POSITIVE about DirecTV?

Something is broken at DirecTV and needs to be fixed.

Ignoring the issues and pretending that they are not happening does not make things better.

Don't you want to see DirecTV get better again?

This is what is so frustrating. I've said nothing about the state of DirecTV as a whole or my opinion of it. However, because I criticized this article that criticizes DirecTV, it must mean that I'm oblivious to any recent issues DirecTV has had with customer service and I'm just a drone fanboy.

Let's try this again. The article makes an argument that DirecTV needs a CEO. I happen to agree wholeheartedly with that, in fact. However, the article then proceeds to list things that would be resolved simply if there was a CEO. The vast majority of the things listed were issues that existed even when DirecTV had a CEO. Therefore, I believe it is a poorly-written article, that doesn't really do a good job of supporting the argument it makes. It makes the same tired argument about the lack of recent national HD, even though it's little secret that national bandwidth is an issue for DirecTV until D12 is launched.

The reality is most satellite subscribers don't read satellite chatter in Internet land, and unless something directly affects them, they don't care about it. In their mind, it's not snowballing, because they are largely oblivious. People in my neck of the woods who get HD programming from DirecTV are probably pretty happy right now, because we just got HD local channels last week. A lot of NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers are probably a bit edgy with DirecTV after the big gaffe last weekend.

And since you asked, this news story seems pretty positive:

The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia - DIRECTV offers local channels

 

[DJ Rob]

So...I just found out they extended my contract because I bought a NFL remote and a AM21 OTA module. I know, I'll be able to get that reversed. But it's something I shouldn't have to deal with in the first place.

I've had DirecTV for 15 months now. I've seen the quality of the service go down lately when I've had to call them. And I've heard more complaints from friends and family about their service. These were people that sang their praises and convinced me to signup. People that are not members of the forums.

I think they have a big problem that could be easily fixed. It's probably not caused by Carey leaving. But whoever is in there now should notice all of the bad press, the amount of customers trying to escalate issues and take some action before it does really snowball.

 

[wildbill129]

Let's try this again. The article makes an argument that DirecTV needs a CEO. I happen to agree wholeheartedly with that, in fact. However, the article then proceeds to list things that would be resolved simply if there was a CEO. The vast majority of the things listed were issues that existed even when DirecTV had a CEO.

The buck stops and starts with the CEO. The current shift in problems with D* is the CEO's fault. Plain and simple. That's called leadership.

I am not giving up on them. I hope that a new CEO can come in and fix the issues before they get really bad. Obviously some of the issues can't be fixed overnight. But some of the CSR and ETF issues could, and that would be a shift in the right direction.

 

[beast37799]

hell ill do the job !

 

[bamaweather]

The buck stops and starts with the CEO. The current shift in problems with D* is the CEO's fault. Plain and simple. That's called leadership.

I don't disagree with that at all. I'm just wondering where all of the outrage was before.

 

[Van]

Thinking about this while I was at the hospital with my wife and daughter I entertained the thought that maybe the rise in complaints about the cancellation fee has to do with budgets tightening and jobs lost while people are on decreasing financial resources such as myself and my father. We are both in a situation where income has dropped, mine with my move to care for him and his with Obama's decision to increase the tax on retirement accounts within the auto industry ( I am not making this political and just stating a fact so lets not go there ). If I could drop directv now it would save me $90 a month and my father needs to drop cox to save $165 a month. Take this scenario and change it around a bit and you have what allot of people are going through right now which could be the reason for the complaints, aside from my financial situation I have had nothing but a bad run of luck with directvs equipment and their installer base and the customer service end.

 

[Van]

Now like others I had signed on with direct based on the hd media campaign and after seeing the addition of so many channels I decided to join up. Since joining direct added another 20 or so channels in hd and then it dropped out with what little has been added going to nonsensical fodder like news and weather in hd ( anyone else notice that the weather channel has been struggling lately with show content and anchors? ) so for me this is also another albeit minor complaint about the company.

 

[stonecold]

Directv has a CEO - Larry Hunter

who might end up being the final pick.

 

[Van]

Directv has a CEO - Larry Hunter

who might end up being the final pick.

Stock holders don't like bad news about their company.

 

[iwc5893]

DirecTV already has CEO's

(Kind of ironic when you think about what Scott posted here)

The background: We had an R15-500 go bad last week, with the notorious HDD click o' death. Since we have the protection plan, we called and had a replacement receiver shipped to us at no charge/no contract extension. No biggie, it happens.

Replacement shows up yesterday and it's a refurbed R15-500. Get it hooked up, download the latest national release, and call to activate it. No problems so far. During the night, the receiver rebooted 3 more times completely on it's own and for no apparent reason. So we call DTV at 0830 Pacific time today, and the CSR refuses to replace this defective receiver, refuses to transfer us to a supervisor, and states, "There is nobody higher than her working at DirecTV at this time."

After going round and round with her, we finally get transferred to Retention. This guy is absolutely floored that a first level CSR is the highest ranking person working at DirecTV during business hours. He offers to ship us a replacement R16, and guarantees that it will be an R16 because he can pick and chose what receiver from what warehouse he will send to us.

Needless to say, somebody at the executive offices of DirecTV will be getting a rather lengthy email detailing our latest experience with their CSR's.

But based upon our experience, I'm happy to announce that DirecTV has several hundred first level CSR's that are doing the CEO's job.

 

[wildbill129]

I don't disagree with that at all. I'm just wondering where all of the outrage was before.

I am sure economics is playing a huge role. People have less disposable income, so they canceling the extras, like Sat tv and finding out they are under contract. So the ETF's are more prominent than before.

It also seems like D* changed the rules for CSR's. It seems to me they used to have more power to please the customer and that has changed. Maybe StoneCold can chime in here.....

The lack of new HD has just exacerbated the image problem. Had they been able to continue offering new HD channels, some of these other issues might have been overlooked.

Then you add the Versus issue....

And finally....the silence...I have yet to hear them acknowledge any of the reported issues except through attorneys in response to the California lawsuit. They really need a PR person to do some damage control. Fix a couple of the customer service issues, speed up D12 as much as possible...and things would be a whole lot better.

 

[vurbano]

I only have it because of getting the new sub deal of $59 for 5 months + the premier package. I could not justify it for the one team if I did not get that deal. I would have sent my sling box to my sister and dealt with the black outs.

Its a 2 year hook you bit onto though. Will you pay for ST in HD next year? So I guess you will be sending your sis your singbox next september.

 

[stonecold]

(Kind of ironic when you think about what Scott posted here)

The background: We had an R15-500 go bad last week, with the notorious HDD click o' death. Since we have the protection plan, we called and had a replacement receiver shipped to us at no charge/no contract extension. No biggie, it happens.

Replacement shows up yesterday and it's a refurbed R15-500. Get it hooked up, download the latest national release, and call to activate it. No problems so far. During the night, the receiver rebooted 3 more times completely on it's own and for no apparent reason. So we call DTV at 0830 Pacific time today, and the CSR refuses to replace this defective receiver, refuses to transfer us to a supervisor, and states, "There is nobody higher than her working at DirecTV at this time."

After going round and round with her, we finally get transferred to Retention. This guy is absolutely floored that a first level CSR is the highest ranking person working at DirecTV during business hours. He offers to ship us a replacement R16, and guarantees that it will be an R16 because he can pick and chose what receiver from what warehouse he will send to us.

Needless to say, somebody at the executive offices of DirecTV will be getting a rather lengthy email detailing our latest experience with their CSR's.

But based upon our experience, I'm happy to announce that DirecTV has several hundred first level CSR's that are doing the CEO's job.

Normally if a reciever that was replaced via protection plan needs to be replaced again with in the first month normal tech csr cant do it, they need to tell that you get a call from a Case Management manager and they will handle it from there.

 

[JAG72]

Its a 2 year hook you bit onto though. Will you pay for ST in HD next year? So I guess you will be sending your sis your singbox next september.

No it isn't. I called a few weeks after and found that my contract was not extended. And yes next year I will be sending my sis the slingbox as I won't pay the full price to watch my team.

 

[Jhon69]

I believe the next CEO for DirecTV has to share John Malone's ideas something I believe Chase Carey did not agree with.I also believe that now John Malone is" pulling the strings" at DirecTV which is why we are starting to see "problems" with programmers.The faster that John Malone unloads DirecTV the better we as DirecTV subscribers will be and hopefully the next"owner" for DirecTV will share the same visions for DirecTV that Chase Carey had.

 

[stonecold]

Carey left because he did so well with the company that Murdoch gave him a huge raise to come to News corp.

Everyone keeps ranting on about john malone yet when you look at the companies corp filing very little does he get invovled with board votes.

 

[Jhon69]

Carey left because he did so well with the company that Murdoch gave him a huge raise to come to News corp.

Everyone keeps ranting on about john malone yet when you look at the companies corp filing very little does he get invovled with board votes.

Very interesting wouldn't you think? considering John Malone's the largest stockholder?.

I believe there's more going on than what's being reported.

Now all Chase has to do is convince Rupert to reaquire DirecTV and bring us back to our glory years!.