Dish Loses 94,000 Subs In 1Q

With Roku, Fire TV, and the rest, it is just a matter of time until cable & satellite really get hit. I have high speed (100), but it is not always dependable.I have some OTA, but I stay with Dish, because it is always there and many channels I cannot get streaming. Since by 211k does not offer On Demand, the Roku does, so the Roku just adds to what I am missing with Dish.Would I drop Dish if there was an alternative service that was less expensive and offers the channels I watch? Sure, but all "locals" are not on any the streaming services as yet. Some markets one or two, other markets none. Streaming services still have a ways to go before I look at one seriously. But in 5 years down the road, with 3.0 OTA and other internet choices, and better streaming packages, I will look at it then. To cut down on cost, I have only the one 211k, so no extra fees. Even though programming continues to increase in price, we still have a lot of great channels with Dish. Several diginets, I could not see without Dish, as even cable doesn't offer them or OTA. But Satellite & Cable will continue to lose regular subscribers to streaming/OTA options. There is Sling & Direct Now, so satellite is cashing in on the streaming. Plus a bunch of other competitors. As those streaming packages get better, more and more will flock to those. Entertainment is great in this era with so many options.
 
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Streaming definitely has to improve in several ways before it will be a significant option for us. 5.1 Audio, full DVR functionality (can skip commercials), local channels are all weak points depending on which service you have.
 
Another thing you have to remember about DirecTV Now, if your an AT&T wireless or internet customer there is a $15 bundling discount on many plans.

And free HBO

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!
And depending on your wireless plan any DIRECTV/DIRECTV Now usage doesn't count against your package.
 
The biggest expense is programming

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!
The second biggest expense is the made up ,charge it because we can FEES that tv providers charge their subs. The biggest expense on programming is beyond the provider’s control & the subs control, and the second one is totally up to the provider to control and one they only continue to hike at will.
 
If things continue to go this way i could see dish getting to the point where customers would need to pay for equipment like the dish, wiring, and lnb and/or switches in order for dish to save money as well as being able to advertise their packages at lower more competitive prices. Although im sure at some point things will leverage out.(but that’s probably false hope)
 
The way I see it, Dish has a smart business plan. Before streaming TV services, Dish satellite TV was the low-cost competitor to cable and Directv. Today, that low-cost competitor is Sling TV, while Dish satellite TV is more of a premium service for households who's needs aren't served by streaming TV services. Large families for example who can't have everyone in the family streaming all their TV content. Or customers who have the TV on all the time, for news, sports or whatever, these customers couldn't rely on streaming TV because their internet providers would be unhappy with their high data usage. Dish now has two services to compete with on two fronts.
Which is why I will be returning to dish as soon as I can. They understand that there are people that don't want streaming and will pay to have pay TV while D* is planning an eventual forced migration to a 5G broadband home service. You can't get any worse than AT&T
 
That's why they were dumb to name the service Sling TV, instead of Dish Now.
But the point of streaming is that you don't need a dish. It would have made more sense to re-brand the satellite service as Sling Television years ago, around the time that the Hopper with Sling was introduced. Dish was still advertising the heck out of the Hopper at that time, so it just would have taken a slight shift in advertising to emphasize the new Hopper with Sling, and then change the name of the service to Sling once the Sling brand was more widely recognized as a household name. Then the streaming service could have been branded Sling Now.
 
But the point of streaming is that you don't need a dish. It would have made more sense to re-brand the satellite service as Sling Television years ago, around the time that the Hopper with Sling was introduced. Dish was still advertising the heck out of the Hopper at that time, so it just would have taken a slight shift in advertising to emphasize the new Hopper with Sling, and then change the name of the service to Sling once the Sling brand was more widely recognized as a household name. Then the streaming service could have been branded Sling Now.
Now this, Now that, everyone is so impatient these days.
 
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Dish lost 185.000 subscribers. Sling TV gained 91,000.

DirecTV lost 188,000 subscribers. DirecTV Now gained 312,000

Uverse gained 1,000 subscribers.


DirecTV Now is really kicking ass.

Yea only because they are pushing it on all their wireless cellular subscribers.

Dish has no customer base to offer sling to besides their current satellite subs, which would be stupid to market to.
 
That's why they were dumb to name the service Sling TV, instead of Dish Now. Sling TV draws a blank for most people, or they remember the old Slingbox, which I still use.

Sling TV doesn't even carry cable's most popular channel, Fox News or Fox Business Network. Kind of strange to eliminate a lot of subscribers right off the bat.

I heard they didn’t want dish networks name associated with it, incase it failed.
 
But the point of streaming is that you don't need a dish. It would have made more sense to re-brand the satellite service as Sling Television years ago, around the time that the Hopper with Sling was introduced. Dish was still advertising the heck out of the Hopper at that time, so it just would have taken a slight shift in advertising to emphasize the new Hopper with Sling, and then change the name of the service to Sling once the Sling brand was more widely recognized as a household name. Then the streaming service could have been branded Sling Now.

As much as I hate Dish, you don’t change a name that has good name recognition in the market place.

It’s just as bad as Comcast/xfinity. Can’t tell you how many people think xfinity is different than Comcast.
 
As much as I hate Dish, you don’t change a name that has good name recognition in the market place.
I don't know about that. After heavily marketing "Time Warner Cable is now Spectrum" it only took them about a year to feel comfortable removing the "Time Warner Cable is now" from their logo, and now the Spectrum ads are heavily attacking Directv.

Has anyone else noticed that the stylized "i" from the Dish logo, turned sideways, is incorporated as the dot over the "i" in the Sling logo? It wouldn't take much imagination to come up with an animated graphic that morphs the Dish logo into the Sling logo, to catch people's eyes and get them to remember the new brand, while still associating it with the old company that they are already familiar with. Such a campaign, combined with heavy print advertising and radio ads, would likely get people used to the new brand in less time than it took Spectrum.

Also, in this day and age, when people are looking for brand new, cheaper alternatives to the traditional providers, it might work to Dish's advantage to create brand confusion, to trick people (who are unaware of the re-brand) into thinking that they are a new upstart entering the arena, instead of the established company that these same people used to subscribe to.
 
Yeah, it seems like a re-brand is in order to increase growth at this point. Of course, they could keep Sling TV and just add another "brand" called Dish NOW or Dish Vue or whatever with the exact same apps/interface/back-end as Sling, just different logos. That way they don't destroy the Sling brand while bringing the Dish name to the OTT market.
 
Yeah, it seems like a re-brand is in order to increase growth at this point. Of course, they could keep Sling TV and just add another "brand" called Dish NOW or Dish Vue or whatever with the exact same apps/interface/back-end as Sling, just different logos. That way they don't destroy the Sling brand while bringing the Dish name to the OTT market.
Yeah, AT&T is doing the same thing, launching their own AT&T-branded streaming service, while also keeping Directv Now.
 
I think he was trying to say it was cheaper, and there were no additional fees. I am pretty certain there are also dramatically reduced margins for Dish.

It's also nowhere close to the service I have from my Hopper. Until someone can come out with a product that can do everything my Hopper system is doing for cheaper I don't plan to change anything.
 
As much as I hate Dish, you don’t change a name that has good name recognition in the market place.

It’s just as bad as Comcast/xfinity. Can’t tell you how many people think xfinity is different than Comcast.

Sure you can, how many of us remember that Nissan was Datsun, probably only us gearheads that still lust after a pristine 240Z. Yeah right, a 240Z without giant rust holes in the floorboards and rear quarter panels.
 

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