SatelliteGuys Live Recap - Dish Retailer Chat 2/4/09

I am on TurboHD Gold and am getting FoxNews HD and Fox Business HD.
Disclaimer: Not saying I watch those channels but they are there.

Is fox news and fox business supposed to be in the hd (turbo) packages also? If so I'm getting fox news(ch 205) in sd only and fox business(ch 206) not getting.
 
I'm also pissed about the quad cities not being on the list. I can see if your city has never been listed but I have seen the quad cities list then take down listed then taken down again. D* has had them here for awhile now. the worst is me telling my wife we should be getting HD local soon and then having to tell her will maybe not as soon as I thought. :mad:
 
Well, in these parts, Scott's avatar seems to signify it is official... This is a sad day if you were expecting any national hd in the next week...
 
I am going to play devils advocate for a second, and by Devil, I mean Charlie.

IF they were on the verge of signing deals with Comcast/Rainbow/FX/whatever, AND the only deal they had written in stone was Viacom, AND They wanted to make a big splash by announcing them all at once, then this is how they would have to play it. "Look we WILL launch these soon"...doesn't mean there isn't more in the works. I mean, we know that have SOMETHING else in mind.

Fair enough. But it would be nice if they didn't say "spring" as that is 6 weeks away. At least use the Dish standby "soon."
 
Pretty sure I recall seeing numbers that showed lackluster growth of both Dish and DirecTV until they started adding locals. I'm willing to bet that both companies don't consider "local HD useless". What happens when they, or the cablecos drop a local channel for contract issues ? Does no one care ?

I think locals likely do have an effect on subscriptions. Unfortunately E* is late getting to market. D* has beat them to a great many markets, especially some of the larger ones. E* has the Champaign-Decatur-Springfield DMA going up Feb. 18 but D* put this up a half a year ago. E* did a poor job of advanced planning and didn't get satellites built and in place. It isn't as if HD has been a secret for the past 10 years. Quite a few E* subs in my neighborhood already switched to D*. They won't be coming back any time soon. Everyone already has one or the other as we do not have any cable competition. I don't see how either company makes money churning subs.
 
Local HD is useless and pointless to most of the population. I mean get a pair of rabbit ears and get them free OTA. I'm not paying 5 bucks for something I can get more of, of better quality and for free.

I'm happy to pay the $5 for access to locals on two tuners with a full-guide for the DVR. I also use an OTA for a 3rd local tuner (currently the only one available in HD). The Guide service is worth the fee. Sure, locals are standard with DirecTV and cable (ie: included in base prices), but it's nice that Dish offers locals as an option for those customers like you that don't want to pay for local service and don't find value in the Guide.

Of course, many Dish subscribers live in areas where OTA antenna reception is poor or non-existent. My folks live around 30 miles from Evansville, IN. They techically could use a roof antenna to receive locals, but due to topography of the area (ie: hills between them and the city), they get virtually no reception with an antenna. It looks like they'll be waiting awhile for HD locals from Dish. I'd switch them to DirecTV (which added Evansville HD locals several months back), if not for Direct's crappy DVR software and Remote Control, and lack of two-room receivers which cuts down on 'per-box' fees.
 
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I sent in two questions to the chat.

1) Thanks for Fox News HD and Fox Business HD, however I am getting complaints from Turbo HD subscribers that both new channels are not available in the Turbo (HD Only) packages. (This is what they are being told by CSRS as the channels are listed in red in their guide) can you explain what's going on here?



2) The new pricing is in effect however customers are still seeing the old pricing on their February bills, does this new pricing apply to existing customers or only to new customers (after their promotional period)?


And here are their answers.


Thanks for the email. Fox News HD is available in all HD packages, including Turbo HD Bronze and higher. Fox Business News HD is available in the Gold Turbo HD package. In regards to your second question, the price increase is across the board, both existing and new. However, some existing customer, based on the billing date, may not see the increase until their next billing statement.


Thanks,
 
I sent in two questions to the chat.

1) Thanks for Fox News HD and Fox Business HD, however I am getting complaints from Turbo HD subscribers that both new channels are not available in the Turbo (HD Only) packages. (This is what they are being told by CSRS as the channels are listed in red in their guide) can you explain what's going on here?



2) The new pricing is in effect however customers are still seeing the old pricing on their February bills, does this new pricing apply to existing customers or only to new customers (after their promotional period)?


And here are their answers.

Thanks for the info, Sad Panda...
 
I sent in two questions to the chat.

1) Thanks for Fox News HD and Fox Business HD, however I am getting complaints from Turbo HD subscribers that both new channels are not available in the Turbo (HD Only) packages. (This is what they are being told by CSRS as the channels are listed in red in their guide) can you explain what's going on here?



2) The new pricing is in effect however customers are still seeing the old pricing on their February bills, does this new pricing apply to existing customers or only to new customers (after their promotional period)?


And here are their answers.


Scott thank you for your reply and great job covering the chat.dont worry about the server problems stuff happens:):up
 
I just feel like a wife in the rural south who won't leave her wife-beater husband, because the only other man in town beats me even more. Until I get out of this town, I'll stay with Charlie and tell everyone I ran into a door.

The rural south? I suppose this is typical of...south Michigan, South Dakota, south Illinois??? :rolleyes:
 
Those who already have local HD don't care. Those who still aren't on the list are twice as mad.

Don't they STILL not have Tucson? If I lived in Tucson and saw stuff like Grand Junction on there, I'd be furious.

+1

Take it from someone in Columbus, OH... Seeing much smaller cities like Dayton & Toledo & Youngstown scheduled to get HD locals before Columbus is really infuriating! :mad: (DirecTV added HD Locals to Columbus over a year ago!)
 
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This is pathetic.... Dish announces the launch of 50+ markets for local HD and people can do nothing but bitch and complain.


I know I am being selfish, but I agree with Hall, Seeing Lacrosse HD locals was all I needed to hear. I would have liked a date with it though. Sometime in 09 is pretty gray.
 
Fair enough. But it would be nice if they didn't say "spring" as that is 6 weeks away.

I have certainly used the tactic of underpromising things to my clients...makes you look great when you deliver early, or better than expected.

Unfortunately, Charile has a habit of underpromising AND underperforming.
 
Well, it's quite nearly 5 eastern. Form Scott's reply, any Turbo HD subs see Fox News?

I won't know for sure until I get home, but I checked my sling guide, and it looks like I only have the SD version of Fox News, and no sign of Fox Business at all... The hilarity continues...
 
The rural south? I suppose this is typical of...south Michigan, South Dakota, south Illinois??? :rolleyes:

I was going to say Appalachia, but I didn't know how to spell it. ;)

BTW, your complaint is ironic, since your avatar is a southerner who wants to "go home and punch yo mamma in the mouth" :D.
 

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