Retailer Chat Recap: January 14, 2010

[dvrexpander]

I'm rather curious on the other side of this as a installer how this will hurt the amount of work we are doing. This is bound to slow down sales unless they keep on pumping out promo's which I do believe they are starting a new one in about 2 weeks just in time for this change.

 

[Frank Jr.]

I'm rather curious on the other side of this as a installer how this will hurt the amount of work we are doing. This is bound to slow down sales unless they keep on pumping out promo's which I do believe they are starting a new one in about 2 weeks just in time for this change.

Down road in my opinion it will hurt everyone. When most people go to work they plan for the long haul, not for 1 or 2 years.... Those specials will dry up faster than your career or maybe not...................

 

[JTBenson]

As I have said on other threads, this will actually save me money. My bill will go up $19, but I will be dropping AEP which will then drop my bill $40. So my net savings will be $21.

If I get Netflix, I will have still save $12 a month over what I am paying now and have access to most movies.

 

[Frank Jr.]

It all simply boils down to greed.

I very sadly could not agree more.

 

[Bob Haller]

since most of what i watch are repeats anyway, worlds toughest fixes, breakdown, dirty jobs and other shows like this I have been thinking about buying a media server or some such with many terrabithes of storage like a 722 fed by rca cables. i coud sub to any provider and put all the shows in inventory.

use my dish pal dvr for ota shows and save over a 100 bucks a month.

no one at best buy has a clue to what i am taking about. if anyone knows please post a link......

 

[Frank Jr.]

Dish like so many other companies have learned that even with churn offering incentives to new subs creates profits. Makes the stock holders happy. This effects all dbs providers. The cable industry is having a good time with this.

 

[EdZackery]

I'm rather curious on the other side of this as a installer how this will hurt the amount of work we are doing. This is bound to slow down sales unless they keep on pumping out promo's which I do believe they are starting a new one in about 2 weeks just in time for this change.

As a 12 yr. customer I am glad we did our upgrade 6 months ago, I will never do another upgrade or purchase that requires any contract or commitment again for any reason. I would not recommend this provider to anyone, or any other provider. This just woke me up to what a company can do to a consumer in a two year period, and I signed a paper saying here am for all you can get. Sure cannot see how with as many customers as they have there is a need to stick it to the higher paying customers this way.

 

[Frank Jr.]

As a 12 yr. customer I am glad we did our upgrade 6 months ago, I will never do another upgrade or purchase that requires any contract or commitment again for any reason. I would not recommend this provider to anyone, or any other provider. This just woke me up to what a company can do to a consumer in a two year period, and I signed a paper saying here am for all you can get. Sure cannot see how with as many customers as they have there is a need to stick it to the higher paying customers this way.

Greed and stock holders. Reputation used to mean something. All smoke and mirrors now. Heck think about it, If I owned a large company and I pushed my charges over the limit and netted more than I would get fined by the government.... This maybe over board but when was the last time a large business got fined for windfall profit or was really spanked and spanked hard for unethical practices? Going to the dark side used to mean going to cable. Cable doesn't look so dark now. Dbs started out for people that couldn't get cable, now with satellite becoming so popular they have grown very dimm...........

 

[Stargazer]

Maybe I am stupid or something or I am missing your point so please explain how Dish is subsidizing anymore TV. It costs Dish less than $150 to make a 222 or 211. With the $7 per month it was collecting currently with a year contract it recoups all 100% of the cost to make the receivers. I don't care if you have 1 or 20 receivers Dish is not subsidizing your receivers when after 24 months you paid 100% of the cost. Also factor in the fact if you have more than 2 receiver chances are Dish collected an upfront fee from you as well, and if the receiver broke and you did not have protection plan Dish charged you full price to replace the receiver on what planet was Dish either loosing money or subsidizing the cost of the receiver?

They are not like wireless carrier who were selling a $500 phone for $300 and at the end of the contract allowing you to buy another phone at a $200 loss. Dish makes the boxes, their cost to make 211 or 222 is under $200 and more than likely under $150 too. Unlike the wireless carrier who are buying equipment from a 3rd party company like Apple for $500 and selling them for $300 and taking an upfront loss of $200. Dish can think or claim if they sold their boxes to other providers those providers would pay them $500 per box but we both know that is not the case too considering Motorola who sells cable boxes to cable companies charges them under $200 per DVR which includes an HD which the 222/211 do not include.

So again I still don't understand how Dish is subsidizing anyone boxes when they basically are able to collect 100% of the cost of the contract term, and retain ownership of the boxes.

Everything is subsidized until they recoup their investment. They have to pay the retailer a fee to install those receivers so that is added on top of the manufactured cost of the receivers were. I remember on a Charlie Chat a while back that it costs them more to manufacture the receivers than what they charge the retailers for them and they charge retailers what they have their suggest retail cost is or slightly less (if we really want to believe that they don't make anything off the hardware).

I am not trying to totally defend Dish Network raising their prices, I don't like it, but am thinking that they want a bigger return on their investment. It is kind of funny that they are reducing the cost to the retailer for the receivers (a drop in cost for them to manufacture) yet they are jacking up the fees.

 

[Stargazer]

This is the first time I had a commitment with Dish Network (never had any other provider and Dish is my first) and then THIS happens. This is exactly why I was worried to do a commitment. This is WORSE than I ever thought would happen and it happens on my first commitment ever that I get. It will be my last as well unless I get a very sweet deal. The price increase probably higher than the deal I got for doing the commitment.

 

[Frank Jr.]

. It is kind of funny that they are reducing the cost to the retailer for the receivers (a drop in cost for them to manufacture) yet they are jacking up the fees.

Not funny, not funny at all.................. spread the wealth to everyone no matter who it hurts kind of mentality...hmmmm

 

[dishcomm]

for new customers on most promotions the cancelations fees are going up... $420 which is prorated at $17.50 a month remaining in the term contract.

Now Amir is talking about simplification...

Dish is looking to remove line items on customers bills.

One flat fee of $6 for all DVR's on your account.

They are discontinuing the $5 moth credit for having the phone line hooked up. Installers still must hook up phone line or broadband.

Now here comes the new pricing on receivers... And it is exactly as I reported. See the screenshot. (Sorry its so blurry...)

I like the way the sentence "installers still MUST hook up phone line or broadband....
Ok so obviously Dish is going to bury the fee in the price of the programming.
What Dish is doing is not eliminating a discount, they are adding a fee.
Either way one words it, this is a $5 per month price increase.

 

[Stargazer]

They are not burying the price of the fee in the programming but burying the price in the additional fee they are charging us (flat rate charging) on the equipment fee.

Not eliminating a discount is the same as adding a fee. They are hiding programming fee increases into the additional equipment fee and saying we get no programming price increase to try to lure Directv customers in and to try to not have two increases at the same time for their existing customers while those under a current contract are stuck. Then later in the year they will probably jack the programming rates up anyways.

People dont care if they have programming fee increase or not. They are going to look at the bottom of their bill and see their price increase. The total amount is what people look at! They are going to see the price go up.

 

[am7crew]

They are wrapping up the chat now by talking about Team Summit...

No mention of new HD on the chat.

So as I promised here is the list of HD that is currently up in testing on Dish Network. While the channels are in testing, it does not mean that customers will EVER see these channels. I have no idea or even a clue when these channel will launch.

Here we go..

TMP59 is testing E! HD
TMP60 is testing Hallmark E
TMP61 is testing Sportman
TMP63 is testing Outdoor Channel HD
TMP64 is testing TruTV HD
TMP65 is testing EPIX HD (Looks like SD only is getting launched this week)
TMP10 is testing BBC America HD
TMP11 is testing QVC HD
TMP12 is testing SHORTS HD
TMP13 is testing Showtime West HD
TMP14 is testing Retro HD (An Encore Channel)
TMP15 is testing Indie HD (An Encore Channel)

And there you have it.

Next Retailer Chat February 17th, and Charlie Chat on March 8th.

very nice, hopefully these make it to being live as Id love the 4 new HD movie channels!

 

[whitewolf8214]

very nice, hopefully these make it to being live as Id love the 4 new HD movie channels!

What is shorts hd?anyone know.i'm still curious on how epix will do.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

What is shorts hd?anyone know.i'm still curious on how epix will do.

I did some searching and found this website for Shorts HD:
SHORTSHD, THE SHORT MOVIE CHANNEL
I never heard of it before until now.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

very nice, hopefully these make it to being live as Id love the 4 new HD movie channels!

Agreed.

 

[Frank Jr.]

At this point I really don't care if they are adding more HD programming. I already pay 140 bucks a month. Thanks to their BS increased charges I have reached the tipping point and will reduce my programming package to more than offset their increases. From there I may go to cable. Once new customers lose their special pricing enticements and still remain under contract, I feel confident many of them will feel the same way I do! Satellite tv is not like a cell phone contract which the monthly base price remains the same within that specified contract period. Dish and Directv can and will increase programming cost and other fees during the commitment but you are still committed to their contract and there is a substantial penalty in excess of 400 bucks for early termination plus 15 dollars a box to send their receivers back....... They seem not to care about current customers unlike cell phone providers that bend over backwards to keep you. They provide little or no incentives to remain a customer. I like my satellite programing provided by Dish but they have put an ugly stain on my tv................................................................

 

[DishSubLA]

Glad I invested in a TiVo Series 3, and I think I'll get another (or more?) off of ebay. FiOS is coming, but not here yet, so I'll have to consider my cable company. Even with TiVo's monthly fee I'm still ahead should I return to cable, and I am someone who thought I would never go back to cable, but I am willing with these price hikes. By the time my commitment is over here at Dish, it will be FiOS as I will bundle and FiOS is the only technically superior service out there. So, now I just wait for the contract to end at Dish.

 

[Frank Jr.]

Glad So, now I just wait for the contract to end at Dish.

Charlie are you listening?