Dish Network Retailer Chat Recap - September 28, 2007

[Scott Greczkowski]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys coverage of today's special retailer chat!

Why is it special? Its special because its a FRIDAY chat. This chat was suppose to be held on Tuesday but was moved to today.

We have no idea what will be covered on today's chat. We are hoping for some new HD announcements (especially since on the last Charlie Chat they announced that they would be carrying the new NHL Network HD channel and this channel launches on Monday!)

As always we will only present the non dealer sensative information. The information you will get here would be the information you get if you called your local retailer and asked them whats new after the chat was over.

We do not cover things such as dealer costs or profits.

Our SatelliteGuys coverage of todays Retailer Chat will start at apporxamately 12:15pm ET. (The reason for the delay is because I now watch the chats via Slingbox, and when I see something of interest I can pause it, rewind it etc so I can get you screen grabs of the information.) This helps me pass along the most accurate information available.

So keep checking back, and thanks for being SatelliteGuys!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

And here we go!

Jim and Erik welcome us to days chat. Erik tells us that they have some exciting announcements.

They will have some standard defintition and high definition channel announcemnts
They will talk about the Sharp Aquos Discount
And my favorite part of the show. Tech News with Leslie Harper!

They start by talking about Dish buyinig Sling. Jim gives us some information on what Sling Media does and some Sling History. Leslie will talk more about Sling later.

Then he talks about Dish looking to split the company into 2 seperate companies. Jim says the idea that all things related to Dish Network (Programming, Customer service) will remain Dish Network, and Echostar operations such as Satellite leasing, equipment manufacturing etc would be in Echostar.

Jim says the board of directors is examining the options.

Jim also states that has no bearing on the retailers at this time.

Next up Jim talks about the upcoming election and he wants retailers to get involved as the election may have a huge impact on Echostar. He says in the future you will hear more of where they want their retailers to focus.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Erik then tells us they recently launched the Big 10 Network in SD and HD.

Jim and Erik mention that most cable companies are not carrying the Big 10 Network. They then so some of the marketing materials that will be available.

They then talk about the new RSN's in HD that launched this week.

They go in and talk about the new HD PPV channels, dish now has 9 HD PPV Channels.

Next they talk about gameplan with a look at ESPN Gameplan PPV Package.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They now go into NHL Center Ice and say it will be back this year. They say some games will be in HD but they dont have a list of that yet. They will be talking more about that when they have more to talk about (no metion to the NHL Network)

Now they change and talk about NBA League Pass. This year the NBA League Pass will include NBA Broadband as well. Select games will be in HD this year.

They then announce that TV Chile will be no longer available on Dish Network.

Now on to the South American FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

(It isn't looking good for any new national HD channel launch news)

On October 3rd Dish will be launching Teleformula, programming from Mexico and it will be a Satellite Exclusive.

Next we see some new DishLATINO promos.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Erik now goes in to HD Promotions. Nothing really to report here, just a rehash of old information.

They then show a DishHD commercial with Carl Edwards.

They go into talking about the Sharp Aquos Promo, where customers can save up to $800 on a Sharp Aquos TV if they buy it from Dish Network.

They then talk about how to use the sharp name in your ads if your a retailer.

Jim and Erik tell us what a great deal this is, especially when you pair it together with a HD DVR.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Now Jim and Erik talk about DishSkinz (.:: DishSkinz ::. Satellite Dish Covers with Style!) some

DishSkinz are available and fit the Dish 500 or the Dish 1000.2

They then give tips on how to sell DishSkinz.

They then go into talking about Dish Pre Paid service.

They then go in to talk about Commercial services and some changes to some of the commercial programs.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Still talking about commercial services... (*Yawn)

Now talking about WildBlue and talking about how they have ran on out space and some beams are now closed or will be closing soon.

They are now talking about DSL sales through Dish Network. Dish Network is now again accepting DSL orders.

They are saying they are getting close to question time. Which means they are almost done, but before they go into questions they want to talk about Pirarcy...

Dish is ORDERING retailers selling FTA receivers to stop within 30 days. (Umm Dish there is nothing illegal about selling Free To Air receivers)

They then talk about changes to Dish'n It Up program, on October 3rd customers can get 2 HD DVR's instead of one. (This is for exisiting customers)

 

[digiblur]

So if you install true FTA on the side for international customers..like 97w or 123w... you have to stop? WOW!

I hate to say it but they are roping all the true FTA folks into the hacking community. I guess you could install receivers that aren't hackable but I bet they are just saying all of them.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They mention that the 612 will be coming soon for new customer and will have an update in the near future.

The announce that the 625 hard drive will be increased from 100 hours to 150 hours effective October 17th (hey didn't I post that here the other day?)

For current customers if they erase everything from their hard drive then their drive will reformat within the next day to give them the extra space.

The price of the 625 will go up in Dish'n it up by $30 since they are getting extra hard drive space.

 

[darrencp22]

I wonder if one of the questions from retailers will be, "why did you waste our time?". This is all known info and I bet these guys were hoping for some substance.

 

[goaliebob99]

maybe if they spent as much money on securing there system as they do going against the pirates, they wouldnt have this problem in the first place.

 

[rogerpl]

I know you're just the messenger but if I had a gun...
No news is NOT good news.

 

[duckydan]

The price of the 625 will go up in Dish'n it up by $30 since they are getting extra hard drive space.

Thats as dumb as saying that since MPEG4 uses less space they will charge more for the 622 since it can store more programs.

 

[RandallA]

"This is all known info and I bet these guys were hoping for some substance."

For us Satelliteguys.us members but maybe not for all retailers.

 

[Bosco10021]

Erik then tells us they recently launched the Big 10 Network in SD and HD.

Jim and Erik mention that most cable companies are not carrying the Big 10 Network. They then so some of the marketing materials that will be available.

They then talk about the new RSN's in HD that launched this week.

They go in and talk about the new HD PPV channels, dish now has 9 HD PPV Channels.

Next they talk about gameplan with a look at ESPN Gameplan PPV Package.

Scott did they mention which RSN's to be launched in HD ?

 

[james_k_p]

So where is the important stuff that couldn't wait till Tuesday?
I don't get it.

 

[tsduke]

Scott did they mention which RSN's to be launched in HD ?

They launched this week.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-ne...activity-report-week-ending-09-29-2007-a.html

 

[MyDogHasFleas]

Maybe someone wanted to take Tuesday off?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They then talk about the 3 months free showtime offer for Existing customers.

They are now talking about Licencing in the state of Connecticut. Dish is urging you to be licensed if you install in the state of Connecticut.

Lots of calls to go through, and then they will go through with Tech News with Leslie Harper.

(I got to admit, I am upset about this FTA stuff. FTA is LEGAL while it can be used illegally out of the box a FTA receiver is a 100% legal satellite receiver, it is the modifcations or software uploads which a user can do that can make a legal FTA receiver and illegal FTA receiver.

I believe that Dish Network should FIX THEIR SECURITY problem instead of telling good honest dealers that they can not sell LEGAL equipment. I am not a lawyer but isn't that some kind of anti trust violation there?)

Anyways back to the show...

Question is should we promote the Big 10 Network when its not a local service for our area? The answer is they don't know.

Question asks about selling Free To Air systems, he sells FTA for internationals. He wants to know if its all FTA receivers or dealers who will aim FTA equipment anywhere the customer wants.

Jim gives a run around non answer. Jim says he knows there is some legal hardware out there, so send him a list of what equipment you are using and he will see what they can do.

Caller is upset that Dish keeps losing Greek Channels and he is losing customers as he has a large greek customer base, what is Dish doing about this?

Jim basically says sorry thats the way it goes sometimes. He says that maybe dish could do a better job of communicating these changes to the retailers. He says sometimes changes happen and they cant give notice.

Another caller on the phone...
Caller does a lot of Fairs and wants to know when Dish Network is going to get Mountain Sports.

Jim says they are still haveing discussions with them and have nothing to report at this time.

(Hey thats 4 non answers in a row!)

Another question wants to know when the retailer web site will work with IE7.

Erik says nothing to report yet, go back to IE 6 (Umm Erik Vista users cant go back to IE 6) He says its 3 to 6 months away.

Another call... Says he cant find the link to the Sharp TV promotion.
(Answer from me is log in to your account on DishNetwork.COM and there is a link on the top right hand of the screen)

Now to Tech News with Leslie!

She talks about the SBE show and tells us the Atlantis has lowered their room rates to $79

Then she tells us that the 50x is getting NBR and shows us a video that customers will get when the upgrade is complete telling them how NBR works. For more details go to DISH Network -- Dish HD (Website is not up yet DOH!)

Now Leslie is talking about Sling Media.
She explains how the Slingbox works...

She shows the Slingbox AV, The Slingbox PRO and the new Slingbox SOLO.
She shows how it is hooked up. You can use the SLingbox Turbo to connect the Slingbox if you dont have wired ethernet in the room with the Slingbox.

For more information go to Sling Media - Home

And thats it for Tech News today.

Retailers will be able to sell Slingbox units in the future.

New PocketDish units are coming The Archos 705 and 605 (in 30gb and 160 gb sizes), they will no longer call them PocketDish units. There will be more details on these units on next months retailer chat. They will be available for the Holiday season.

Now talking about the retailer insentive trip which is a trip to Alaska froM Silver Seas Cruises.

Next Chat is scheduled October 24th at Noon Eastern

And that wraps up this HIGHLY DISAPOINTING chat.

 

[kstuart]

So where is the important stuff that couldn't wait till Tuesday?
I don't get it.

They wanted to remind retailers who carry both E* and D* about Dish's various programs, as a counterpoint to D* additions this past week. The idea would be to prevent retailers from only pushing D* this weekend.