Some people think the world owes them. Unfortunately, this attitude is growing.
Some people are very obtuse in their thought processes and can't see the big picture . I am negative about the new Fees announced for the hopper because of the following:
1. DISH once again has chosen to price their new Joeys higher than they need to ,in order to make more profits. IF they chose to price them at $5.00 per Joey and maybe the first one FREE or included in the price of the Hopper, this would make the hopper system attractive to existing subs and attract new ones too.
2. Attracting more subs is essential if DISH is to Grow as a company and stay viable as a future provider of our continued satellite service. I care about DISH staying in business and growing their base of subs.
3. This system could of been the turn around in growing their sub count past the 13million or so they have been stuck at for the last 4 - 5 years. If it was priced at a more reasonable price ,it would of been just what they needed to do that.
I may seem negative because I have been with DISH over 15 years and seen them go from a company that did anything they could to grow their business to one that seems to be only obsessed with growing their profits by charging an ever increasing group of made up , charge it because we can, FEES. Go back to 2000 when Charlie would brag about DISH allowing you to make recordings on their pvrs for FREE compared to the other guys (Directv) who charged over $9.00 a month to do the same thing. This was the biggest growth period in DISH 's history. They added more subs back then ,than any other time in their history. Their additional receiver fees were $5.00 or $4.99 , regardless of what you had. They had NO DVR fees of any kind on the 501/508/721 pvrs. AEP was the best deal in town. Then Charlie started to get greedy or hired some accounting bean counters who started to fool with the FEE structure a bit. We got Dvr FEEs PER Dvr receiver. WE got $6.00 additional receiver fees on SD and $7.00 on HD additional receiver fees. Then you could escape the dvr fees on the additional receiver fees by subbing to AEP. Good deal and you even got a $5.00 discount. Then that deal was done away with and it was followed by the infamous Additional Receiver HIke of Feb. of 2010. Anywhere from $7.00 - $17.00 for different receivers on your account. Then to top off it all off the 922 debacle that we are all to familiar with . Rushed to market with all it's promised features not working. Then the Sling extender that was promised to work with it, never comes to market. The cherry on top , the 922 is removed from the market entirely for "software problems" with the blockbuster@home app .
Now I have invested in DISH for years. I bought EVERY receiver I have on all 3 of my DISH accounts. I install the dishes myself on all 3 accounts. I have paid to upgrade to the latest and greatest receivers all these 15 years. I am simply tired of this company putting their profits before their customer's needs . Yes it is wonderful that they are making increasing profits as a company ,but on a continuing decreasing amount of subs every quarter. I want to see DISH grow and add subs so they can have more bargaining power in terms of contracts for carriage of channels we all want. The more subs you have the more power have to get the best deal. As I have said before DISH has stayed under the 14 million mark for years , losing and gaining the same million or so subs. This is not sustainable over the long term. Now if DISH is only interested in short term profits and is interested in selling the company to the highest bidder, it makes perfect sense to keep creating and hiking the price of their made up , charge it because we can , DISH FEES. Then you can sell your company for the highest price.
I had hoped Charlie was dedicated to growing his company and being in business and long time, in fact changing and adapting to the needs of their subs and keeping the company viable. This latest move on the hopper /joey system pricing proves to me that once again they are putting short term profits over the need for growth for long term viability. And if you look at this in the bigger economic picture, we are looking at $5.00 gallon gas by this summer and next year the Tax cuts we have had in place for over 10 years ,and the pay roll tax cut we have been enjoying for the last year and will continue through this year, ALL END at the end of this year. This will feel like a large tax hike all at one time come January 1st of 2013. Do you really think people will keep paying up to $31.00 a month in equipment FEES a month BEFORE programming is factored in ,when the giant tax hike hits their pocket books? Bad timing on DISH's part and once again will end in a debacle like the 922. I don't think DISH will recover from this gamble on putting their short term profits over their long term growth strategy.
That is why I am negative about the FEES that DISH continues to add and increase on their equipment. I see the big picture and how it all relates to the customers pocket books and to the economic climate we all live in. Can you see the big picture now too?
