ATT agents actively engage in the practice of switching ATT-bundled DISH customers over to UVERSE and/or to DirecTV. This practice is known. Lots of people have been switched and didn't even know it and thought the UVERSE that was being installed was a DISH upgrade.
This cannot be good news for Dish Network...
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It's actually simple math. If AT&T added 100,000+ DirecTV subscribers during 2Q, as announced during the Investor conference call, and AT&T's total "satellite" subscribers is 5000 more than 1Q...well, that pretty much means there are 95,000 less Dish Network subscribers since DirecTV and Dish Network are the only two pay TV (DBS) services available in the U.S. I thought Todd Spangler (Multichannel News) did a good job of reporting the facts. Please explain how this Multichannel News article is illogical and biased?
http://www.att.com/Investor/Financial/Earning_Info/docs/2Q_09_IB_FINAL.pdf
I'll just add that just about every one of those columnists is a paid mouth for one company or another.
All the AT&T Dish customers are, in fact, AT&T customers, not Dish customers. This was the requirement of AT&T. So, yes, AT&T can easily convert those people to Direct TV. This is why Dish was of little help to the AT&T subs, and were referred to AT&T for assistance. I believe the agreement even forbids Dish from contacting any of those AT&T customers for a period, and Dish won't even have any account info on them once they are gone because AT&T "owns" them.
funny
That's funny that is one of the reasons that my brother left D*. It's my understanding that both have Shi**y customer service, but better than cable co's. It was also a better deal for him to go HD w/a HD DVR.
That's funny that is one of the reasons that my brother left D*. It's my understanding that both have Shi**y customer service, but better than cable co's. It was also a better deal for him to go HD w/a HD DVR.
What really is a "cannot be good for Dish" is the fact that they are still far too small a company to compete with all of its much larger and numerous competition. Dish has no presence in any major retailer. Dish commercials are too few and far between. All of this is a simple matter of $$$$$$. There is just too much noise now from far more competitors who crowd out and muffle what feeble TV ad campaigns Dish can afford.
If the economy were better, Charlie would probably be buying a big media company so that he can compete, but credit is now tight. That means he has to ride out this storm until he can sell or buy. In the meantime, it would be nice if Charlie could somehow let lose that once "scrappy" competitor that he was. I think Dish should be highlighting its technology and make the PIP a major selling point along with recording 4HDTV channels on one DVR, but it would increase his cost to acquire subs, and Wall Street won't like that. Ironically, the PIP models were really designed to DEcrease his cost of acquisition in 2 and 4 TV installs (foisting the TV1 and TV 2 experience at the necessary TV's) rather than cleverly using the PIP as an upgrade to provide TRUE dual tuner experience at each TV, but at a higher cost to Dish, but at greater customer satisfaction.
If the economy were better, Charlie would probably be buying a big media company so that he can compete, but credit is now tight. That means he has to ride out this storm until he can sell or buy. In the meantime, it would be nice if Charlie could somehow let lose that once "scrappy" competitor that he was. I think Dish should be highlighting its technology and make the PIP a major selling point along with recording 4HDTV channels on one DVR, but it would increase his cost to acquire subs, and Wall Street won't like that. Ironically, the PIP models were really designed to DEcrease his cost of acquisition in 2 and 4 TV installs (foisting the TV1 and TV 2 experience at the necessary TV's) rather than cleverly using the PIP as an upgrade to provide TRUE dual tuner experience at each TV, but at a higher cost to Dish, but at greater customer satisfaction.
Charlie Needs to pay attention to NY
Charlie is basically writing off New York State and the 20 million people whom live here. He won't won't cut a deal with Cablevision to get the HD feeds of the MSG Family of Channels, so everyone from New York is basically out of luck if they are Buffalo Sabres, NY Rangers, Knicks, Islanders, NJ Devils and Net fans. He won't cut a deal with the Yes Network to get any carriage of the Yankees, and forces the NY Mets, and the Cleveland Indians down your throat if you are baseball fan,with his refusal to carry the MLB channel either.
So basically, I am sure there are more subs like myself, whom are milking his free credits ($38 a month) for the time being and will make their switch, (in my case) to either D* and TWC come this fall, when hockey season starts up.
Charlie is basically writing off New York State and the 20 million people whom live here. He won't won't cut a deal with Cablevision to get the HD feeds of the MSG Family of Channels, so everyone from New York is basically out of luck if they are Buffalo Sabres, NY Rangers, Knicks, Islanders, NJ Devils and Net fans. He won't cut a deal with the Yes Network to get any carriage of the Yankees, and forces the NY Mets, and the Cleveland Indians down your throat if you are baseball fan,with his refusal to carry the MLB channel either.
So basically, I am sure there are more subs like myself, whom are milking his free credits ($38 a month) for the time being and will make their switch, (in my case) to either D* and TWC come this fall, when hockey season starts up.
I dont know where you get your information from, but Dish Network/Echostar is not "far too small a company." Dish Network is the thrid largest multichannel video provider in the United States. Comcast is 1, DirecTV 2, and Dish Network 3.
The market capitlization of Dish and Echostar combined is some where around $9-10 billion.
Dish Network is #240 on the Fortune 500, with 2008 revenue of $11,090,400,000.00. DirecTV is #143, with revenue of $17,246,000,000.00 while its parent Liberty Media is #275 with revenue of $9,482,000,000.00.
Also, although it is not listed Echostar, Dish's sister company had 2008 revenue of $2,150,520,000.00 according to the 2008 10-K.
No, TWC has been hit pretty hard, but they are close.
Time Warner Cable reports subscriber dip | Digital Media - CNET News
Yeah I think they will be fine. Most folks dont really know what their buying when it comes to their TV Service Provider. I think when it's all said and done folks will realize what you get with Dish compared to you basic cable company and Telcos that are starting to add tv service.
For as many things as you can rightfully blame Charlie & Co for, I still don't think this is one of them.
Cablevision has a history of not making the HD feeds available to other companies. They have acted to remove MSG-HD from NHL Center Ice (including for D* customers who get this channel in region), and most recently they refused to sell access to the channel to Verizon at any price.
Verizon is currently petitioning the FCC to intervene: Verizon | Verizon Petitions FCC to Rule on Cablevision's Refusal to Make MSG Channels Available in HD
I also think the Voom debacle has something to do with it. Rainbow Media is a subsidiary of Cablevision.
You notice, too, how Cablevision networks, AMC, IFC, and We have not yet had their HD versions go to Dish or DirecTV, despite other cable companies getting them.
That is not totally true. My son has D* and lives in the Buffalo Area with MSG being one of his RSN's and he did infact receive the Buffalo Sabres Games on MSG in HD last season. The other games (Rangers, Devils and Islanders) on the MSG channels on D* are blacked out anyways, because he lives in the Sabres Home Territory. He did not sub to CI last year, so I can't confirm whther or not those subs received the HD broadcasts last year.
I think Voom is the reason D* was able to add MSG-HD, which launched on D* in Dec 2007. Incidentally this is right before Dish made the Voom channels optional by splitting the $20 HD option into $10 HD Essentials and $20 HD Ultimate in Feb 2008. (December is when Dish was likely negotiating since this was announced in early January)
I can easily see a scenario where E* talked with Rainbow about splitting out the Voom channels, and CVC played MSG-HD as a bargaining chip. I suspect CVC gave MSG-HD to D* to try and force E*'s hand in the deal, since MSG-HD access gives D* a huge advantage to sports fans in a massive DMA like NY.
Now that Voom is lost, I think they are just trying to preserve market share by holding on to MSG-HD exclusivity. That's why they won't open the market further to E*, and why they will fight to keep the channel from Verizon who is their largest potential competitor.
You get your games in your home DMA in HD, and that's it.
The other MSG feeds outside of your DMA could only be watched in SD on Center Ice, even though D* uplinks MSG in HD.
NHL-CI to NOT include MSG-HD due to contract disupte
This was true for all cable / satellite companies.
If I recall correctly, one of the main reasons Charlie let go of the ATT contract was that the ATT accounts were money losing deal, after ATT made their cut E* did not make money on them.
While they are not ATT or Verizon, CenturyLink (CenturyTel + Embarq) 4th largest telecom, with 8,000,000 customers is a Dish Network reseller, along with Frontier Communications (5th Largest), with around 6,000,000 customers. TDS Telecom, FairPoint, and other smaller telecos are Dish resellers as well. In fact, some of these companies might be a better fit for Dish because they serve primarily rural customers who often do not have any alternative except for DirecTV or OTA reception.
It's not the he won't cut a deal; it is that he cannot afford to cut the deal Cablevision, YES, and others want. Dish is rally a small company. People forget that. Dish does not have deep pockets. If Charlie cut all the deals certain expensive channels that serve a small fraction of subs and pleased everyone, then Dish would truly be out of business. Thankfully for us, Charlie is quite conservative with finances. No, he will not go into debt for all these really expensive channels that serve too few for critical mass. He can't afford it.
To the contrary: Dish coveted the AT&T deal as it provided valuable critical mass and income. Dish did everything it could to keep AT&T and did so publically. On several occasions, Dish cited the importance of the AT&T deal, and admitted that it was very bad day when the news came in that AT&T was going to work with Direct TV and it was a blow for Dish to have lost it. Hmm. Why did Direct TV fight so hard to get AT&T? Because it is gain, not a loser. No, Dish is not going out of business, but they have suffered some bad quarters because of it and are trying everything they can to recover from it.
I don't know where you get your info from, but Dishnetwork is not a small company.
"For the year ended Dec. 31, 2008,Network reported total revenue of $11.62 billion"
DISH Network(R) Reports Fourth Quarter 2008 Financial Results | Reuters
The "Mom & Pop" days of dish are long over with. If he can get involved with millions now billion dollar lawsuits with TIVO,; he can certainly cut the deal, and put YES and MSG-HD in a sports tier or whatever and make it available to his New York State Subs for a fee.
