Dish Continues to Lose Pay-TV Subscribers

[MikeD-C05]

Hmm.... Interesting! That makes AT&T's excuse for the loss of subs even less likely any part of it.

Which means that DIRECTV is having trouble attracting new subs , at least enough to keep them in the positive range. I'm betting that with ATT taking over and all the senior management from DIRECTV leaving or gone, that loss number is going to grow.

 

[Yespage]

As for the sports channels being spun off and the costs, the spin off would produce true free market pricing to result.

True free market? Much like the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy?

This would also make the sports channels have to re think their entire pricing structure due to loss of all the subs who would NO longer be Forced to subsidize their channels.

It would require sports providers to think twice about how high they will big for sports programming. That is driving the price of sports channels higher. The irony is that competition is driving up sports pricing. Fox, ESPN, NBC are all bidding on the EPL right now. The competition means higher bids to the EPL. Which oddly results in higher prices for us to pay for it.

They would also have to cut what they are charging to attract new subs and keep what they already have. True free market prices would then result and the consumer would benefit instead of the company.

It is a ton more complicated than that. What seems clear is that ESPN is available for much less (see Slingtv), but they don't want DVR options on it.

Anyone remember the NO fee 501 dvrs?

How could we forget? You bring it up all the time!

 

[MikeD-C05]

So glad that this site offers the IGNORE feature. Makes my day so much nicer.

 

[Lue]

Just to keep you guys informed

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/pa...ality-change-isnt-5-years-away-its/2015-08-10

 

[Claude Greiner]

I think the merger cost Directv all those subscribers.

When comcast announced the merger sales where slow. The day after the merger fell apart, sales took off.

Same for Directv. Ever since the merger closed, business for Directv has been up 400%

 

[bobvick]

I think the merger cost Directv all those subscribers.

When comcast announced the merger sales where slow. The day after the merger fell apart, sales took off.

Same for Directv. Ever since the merger closed, business for Directv has been up 400%

I doubt that very few potential subscribers to Directv even knew about the AT&T merger, so I wouldn't see how it could effect subscriber numbers. Those that were aware, I can't see it making much difference in their decision process.

 

[Lue]

50 to 60 competitors for Dish, times are changing, what must Dish do to break out from the pack?

At the same time, Ergen sees the number of options available to customers continuing to expand. Whether it's more stand-alone OTT services or services offered by competing pay-TV providers, the Dish CEO sees competition continuing to grow. "10 years ago, he had three options," he told analysts. "Today he's got four or five or six options, and he's going to have 50 or 60 options in the future probably."

Sling TV is the company's best hedge against the growing competition, but it's not enough to hedge the losses of its old satellite business.

http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...etworks-total-subscribers-now-include-sl.aspx

 

[ChadT41]

50 to 60 competitors for Dish, times are changing, what must Dish do to break out from the pack?

At the same time, Ergen sees the number of options available to customers continuing to expand. Whether it's more stand-alone OTT services or services offered by competing pay-TV providers, the Dish CEO sees competition continuing to grow. "10 years ago, he had three options," he told analysts. "Today he's got four or five or six options, and he's going to have 50 or 60 options in the future probably."

Sling TV is the company's best hedge against the growing competition, but it's not enough to hedge the losses of its old satellite business.

http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...etworks-total-subscribers-now-include-sl.aspx

Lets try a new approach. What does that mean to you? What do you expect to see, and what would you like to happen and suggest? Do you have any questions about the process taking place? Let's go ahead and discuss this without the need of links dating back to 2003, on the customer based Forum.

 

[bobvick]

I think he might need to talk to a therapist. OCD maybe?

 

[Bobby]

I think we need to ignore him and maybe he will find a different place to post.... He was directed that way already.

 

[darrengs]

Damn, ignore doesn't work in the app.

 

[MikeD-C05]

50 to 60 competitors for Dish, times are changing, what must Dish do to break out from the pack?

At the same time, Ergen sees the number of options available to customers continuing to expand. Whether it's more stand-alone OTT services or services offered by competing pay-TV providers, the Dish CEO sees competition continuing to grow. "10 years ago, he had three options," he told analysts. "Today he's got four or five or six options, and he's going to have 50 or 60 options in the future probably."

Sling TV is the company's best hedge against the growing competition, but it's not enough to hedge the losses of its old satellite business.

http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...etworks-total-subscribers-now-include-sl.aspx

I like this article ,because it shows us where old Charlie's head is at. He sees the market is changing and will keep changing and growing providing us with even more choices as a customer. But with the growth of choices ,there will continue to be less subs for the satellite part of DISH. IF DISH would find a way to provide the satellite sub with a way to watch their service, without all the extra miscellaneous FEEs, like the dvr fee, the additional receiver fees -assigned by different classes of receivers, they might see that more subs would stick around. After all , it hasn't just been the channel providers who have hiked their fees every year, it continues to run neck and neck with old Charlie and their various made up ,charge it because we can DISH fees. You can literally pay almost as much in fees as the lower programming packs if you have the hopper and the super joey and a couple of joeys and the dvr fee.

Imagine if Charlie decided to include the price of one joey at $7.00 with the hopper and did away with the $12.00 dvr fee? That would eliminate about $19.00 worth of fees . Now imagine you lowered the price of the other joeys down to $5.00 OR charge gradual fees that reduce the price as you add more receivers? Think what that would make the customer think about their DISH service. They would really think that they had something of value and what a deal. This is already happening with his latest new customer promo where you lock in the low price of $49.99 a month for two years and no dvr fees , no local fees, no hd fees etc.

IF DISH could add to that value by providing even smaller bundles of channels and eliminate the forced bundling of ESPN and the Regional Sports network in all lower programming packs , they might even keep more customers from cord cutting and trying the many growing alternatives to traditional satellite /cable bundles with all those extra FEES.

Charlie sees the writing on the walls ,but does he really have the vision to make the changes, that will keep customers with his more expensive satellite business. I would hate to think of all the money he has invested in all those satellites in space and all those receivers and the fact he is losing subs every quarter now. Even if he adds the Sling subs into his numbers ,they are still showing losses.

 

[Lue]

We know its coming to Dish, this should create some new customers.

https://www.dslreports.com/shownews...nges-DirecTV-and-UVerse-Users-Will-See-134789

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/at...new-home-architecture-using-direct/2015-08-12

 

[ChadT41]

With both those being about ATT and DTV, shouldn't you post them over there? There is not a single bit about that that is related to Dish. I hate to break the news, but they are two separate companies that have two separate agendas, and have two separate target audiences.

 

[Willh699]

It not just Dish that is losing customers, it's all cable TV and satellite providers. High prices for some channels, newer generations of TV viewers want to watch TV on the networks terms (I call it on demand/DVR generation), cord cutters, and of course disputers over long term carraige of channels where money and the weak link channels in the bundle and ditigal streaming rights are the sticking point. The cable/satellite TV bubble has just burst, the pay TV recession has just getting started.

Maybe the providers will take a hint, it's time to change the models if business, adapt to the times and adapt to A La Carte model to where we decide what channels we want to pay for, not the providers and the networks. And offer new technology and be more customer friendly.

 

[Lue]

It not just Dish that is losing customers, it's all cable TV and satellite providers. High prices for some channels, newer generations of TV viewers want to watch TV on the networks terms (I call it on demand/DVR generation), cord cutters, and of course disputers over long term carraige of channels where money and the weak link channels in the bundle and ditigal streaming rights are the sticking point. The cable/satellite TV bubble has just burst, the pay TV recession has just getting started.

Maybe the providers will take a hint, it's time to change the models if business, adapt to the times and adapt to A La Carte model to where we decide what channels we want to pay for, not the providers and the networks. And offer new technology and be more customer friendly.

It is a great time to be on the consumer end of things!

All of the interconnectivity with the web will be great!

50 to 60 competitors entering the market.

Cable bundle dissolving right before our very eyes.

Dish is needing to release their" thin client" here soon to stay relevant, it appears these units will basically be a cellular receiver(cell phone) and a landline broadband connection with all of the tuners, dvr's and other functions residing in the cloud, (no more set top boxes to install) this will greatly reduce cost for the provider and hopefully trickle down to the consumer.

Will they have to have 2 seperate thin clients for the people that still have no LTE cell or a broadband cable,fiber into their homes? One that would get a signal from the old school Dish mounted on their roof? Or, will they be stuck with the old legacy equipment we have now?

I firmly believe that 39.99 will provide everything I want to watch on TV in the very near future VS. the 80.00 dollars plus I am paying now.

 

[Yespage]

It is a great time to be on the consumer end of things!

Really? SlingTV is the only nationally available option right now for something like this.

Cable bundle dissolving right before our very eyes.

And Cable/FIOS companies being sued by the channel providers.

Dish is needing to release their" thin client" here soon to stay relevant,...

You mean other than SlingTV?

I firmly believe that 39.99 will provide everything I want to watch on TV in the very near future VS. the 80.00 dollars plus I am paying now.

I'm happy for you.

 

[Yespage]

Imagine if Charlie decided to include the price of one joey at $7.00 with the hopper and did away with the $12.00 dvr fee? That would eliminate about $19.00 worth of fees . Now imagine you lowered the price of the other joeys down to $5.00 OR charge gradual fees that reduce the price as you add more receivers?

Personally I like that Dish doesn't force people that only have one receiver to subsidize those that think they should be allowed to have 3 of the best receivers on the market for very little to nothing at all.

IF DISH could add to that value by providing even smaller bundles of channels and eliminate the forced bundling of ESPN and the Regional Sports network in all lower programming packs...

Why is Dish being mentioned there? It isn't Dish who is trying to keep it together. Disney bundling is caused by Disney, not Dish.