Noticed something

[hazmat626]

Just got back from spending a week in Boise Idaho. What I noticed were all the D satellite dishes on peoples homes. I saw very few E dishes. I live in SE Texas and when I got satellite service back in 96 E seemed to dominate the local market here. Now when you drive around you see more and more D dishes. Are certain parts of the country prone to favor one over the other?

 

[theoak]

Direct has a call center in Boise (or is it Meridian ... in the Boise area at least).

Also, Direct got Boise HD locals before Dish which probably played a part.

 

[MLBurks]

It's that way here is West TN as well. It wasn't that way about 5 years ago. E* dishes were dominant then. I think domination comes in tides. It will probably swing back to E* in the next couple of years.

 

[theoak]

Direct has also been adding subscribers where Dish has been losing them (actually, I think Dish last quarter had a gain ... but for the past good while, Dish has been losing).

 

[wkomorow]

In New England, it seems more evenly divided between the two. Directs spot beam does not reach the entire DMA (south west Berkshires is out of the beam).

 

[Jim5506]

Direct does not have locals here, very few DirecTV dishes seen.

More antennas sprouting up all the time.

 

[johnwadams]

My part of Arkansas has no locals. Everybody that wanted HD switched to D*. I almost did, but All American came along and saved the day last month with a set of HD networks out of Chicago. Plus we take a E* dish with our RV. We get networks anywhere. Friends on spot beams are usually out of luck.

 

[bebop]

Notice that most of those D* dishes aren't active, because people couldn't afford to keep the service, nor take them down.

I'd be interested to see the actual subscriber number comparison in the Boise area for example. I noticed the same thing living around Boise - but I hardly know anyone who has D*. The businesses around seem to favor D* over E* though.

It probably started with all the folks from CA moving here and getting D*. "Why pay more?"

 

[Lkr]

there are a few people with E* dishes(multiple dishes on the houses that have E*) and everyone else has D*. Comcast just recently became available here.

 

[Claude Greiner]

It really depends on the area as to the types of Dishes you will see. For example if you go to an ethnic area with Arab people, you will see mostly DISH Network systems on every other home. You go to a Latino area, and its about 75% DISH Network and 25% Directv. You go to some of the poor neighborhoods, and you'll see mostly 18 inch Directv Dishes, where some of the more middle to upper class neighborhoods will have the Directv 5 LNB Dishes.

Just on my side of the street on my block alone there is 5 houses with Dishes. 3 Homes including mine have 1000 Plus DISH Network Dishes to get the HD Detroit locals, my next door neighbor has a 2 Dish, Dish Network setup due to some line of site issues and one lady on the corner house has an older Directv 3 LNB system. Just the 4 DISH Network accounts on my street have HD Equipment!

 

[whatchel1]

MIdland/Odessa TX

This is a strange area most likely 60/40% E*. Part of the reason is that E* is the better service for LIL butD* tells people that they have the locals. Only 1 minor problem: The don't carry either CBS or NBC. Get calls all the time about when is D* going to carry. Can't give them an answer due to the fact it was not either NBC or CBS's choice. D* won't carry them due to the fact that D* will not carry Telemundo for that comes out of the NBC facility (know for sure) and won't carry CBS since they want D* to carry MyTV (I think). Have been told by customers that D* straight out lied to them and said that they carried both CBS & NBC. Had one today say it asked them that question directly and was told with out a doubt both were carried. Seem just a little bit bigoted to not carry a major Spanish in an area that is around 30+% Hispanic.

 

[DishSubLA]

I agree, it depends upon where you are. Here in the Los Angeles area for standard def dishes it is about even between Dish and Direct, although, as pointed out in an earlier post, Dish rules International households and many Spanish speaking areas.

However, I do see far more Direct TV HD dishes than Dish HD dishes. I think this is due to the loss of AMC14. Direct was able to just swoop in at the start and grab all the HD-philes and and those desperate for more HD. Direct HD dishes seemed to pop-up everywhere around here just after Direct added a lot of HD channels. As of late I have been seeing more Dish HD dishes, but they have to catch up to Direct's HD presence around here. Before that, it seemed Dish dominated just a bit.

 

[Juan]

This is a strange area most likely 60/40% E*. Part of the reason is that E* is the better service for LIL butD* tells people that they have the locals. Only 1 minor problem: The don't carry either CBS or NBC. Get calls all the time about when is D* going to carry. Can't give them an answer due to the fact it was not either NBC or CBS's choice. D* won't carry them due to the fact that D* will not carry Telemundo for that comes out of the NBC facility (know for sure) and won't carry CBS since they want D* to carry MyTV (I think). Have been told by customers that D* straight out lied to them and said that they carried both CBS & NBC. Had one today say it asked them that question directly and was told with out a doubt both were carried. Seem just a little bit bigoted to not carry a major Spanish in an area that is around 30+% Hispanic.

Not for nuthin but the "projects" in newark,nj have pleanty of 5 LNB D* dishes hanging of the balconies