(Not So Breaking News: C-Band Losing Subs

[Wholeshoe]

Not So Breaking News: C-Band Losing Subs

Does anything there will ever be an equaliztion point between the subs dropping the the new ones sigin up? I guess that the programmers will quit providing service before that magic number is reached.

Read Below:

(Not So) Breaking News: C-Band Losing Subs
Another month of satellite television business means another month where C-Band subscriptions continue to disappear.

The latest numbers released from Access Control Center, the Motorola group responsible for tracking big dish subscriber numbers, reflect the continuing trend of consumers finding alternative ways to receive their satellite TV signal.

According to ACC, 16 C-Band accounts were authorized during the month of September, while 6,389 subscribers had their service shut off. The total numbers resulted in -6,373 net authorizations.

The total number of net authorizations over the past several months looks like this: August, -7,589; July, -15,935; June, -29,743; May, -8,531; April, -8,306 and -11,160 in March.

 

[Perfesser]

The total number of net authorizations over the past several months looks like this: August, -7,589; July, -15,935; June, -29,743; May, -8,531; April, -8,306 and -11,160 in March.

I just recently got my renewal notice from NPS. In the survey they claimed 99000 C-Band subscribers TOTAL and that they had about 1/2 of those. The numbers from ACC add up to about 80000 dropouts; so if those numbers are correct C-Band is close to being abandoned completely by the ones who pay for it...not good news for the BUD users.
I'm going to be one of the 'dropouts' when this one expires...lost History Channel, Lifetime, Animal Planet, Court TV in the last year and now HGTV and A&E are about to go away. I can't see buying a $400 receiver to get 4DTV to get some of it back with no guarantee that they'll be here in another year...if NPS can't make money on subscriptions they'll get out of the business and we're stuck with useless equipment.
I'll keep the system running...still a lot of feeds and free stuff, and some FTA, but it looks like DirecTV is the next step.
Oh, well...got a lot of use out of what was basically a freebee; the system came with the house and we got 3 years of TV at $15 a month.

 

[tdti1]

Only people who have not upgraded to 4dtv will be losing channels, and people who don't upgrade to 4dtv hurt the numbers when they could actually help, NPS and SRL will be around for a few more years, I have way more than I ever had with 4dtv and DVB.

 

[JerryK]

I got started 6 months ago with my brother's dish and a new 4dtv box. I dumped Directv and won't go back until 4dtv is gone.

NPS better NOT go out of business.

It seems silly to see people who were happy with C-Band for 20 years quitting altogether over a $30 lnb and a receiver.

40/mo = 480/yr. ...are they really saving money?

 

[tdti1]

People seem to get sucked into, the free dish, free install free programming, many who have switched thanks to YSP (aka dish network) never even heard about a 4dtv, it is very sad to see people leave the best system out there, and many people with small yards or no yard at all want the big dish for savings and picture quality.

 

[Perfesser]

It seems silly to see people who were happy with C-Band for 20 years quitting altogether over a $30 lnb and a receiver.

Not quite the whole story...in a lot of cases like mine it becomes a $400 receiver, +the 4DTV package to get that price, + another $200 or so for a dual horn (mine is C Band only), and if I read it right the analog service is separate.
Getting close to $1000 to 'upgrade'.

 

[JerryK]

It seems silly to see people who were happy with C-Band for 20 years quitting altogether over a $30 lnb and a receiver.

Not quite the whole story...in a lot of cases like mine it becomes a $400 receiver, +the 4DTV package to get that price, + another $200 or so for a dual horn (mine is C Band only), and if I read it right the analog service is separate.
Getting close to $1000 to 'upgrade'.

Yeah, I shopped around and got my hardware for about 500. Got the 4dtv box on ebay for 300. As for "separate" service, I'm not sure. I got NPS' digital and it "comes" with the analog counterparts of those stations...where applicable. I also have a couple a'la cartes. My total subs are 220/yr.

For me the biggest bummer is Tivo. Really wish I could do that, but right now I just want to save $.

 

[tdti1]

It seems silly to see people who were happy with C-Band for 20 years quitting altogether over a $30 lnb and a receiver.

Not quite the whole story...in a lot of cases like mine it becomes a $400 receiver, +the 4DTV package to get that price, + another $200 or so for a dual horn (mine is C Band only), and if I read it right the analog service is separate.
Getting close to $1000 to 'upgrade'.

You can always grab a 4dtv and upgrade to c/ku later on, or the other way around.