What has been DIRECTV's Best and Worst Moves of this Decade?

[gadgtfreek]

In no particular order:

Good:

- Not falling back to using HD-Lite on their MPEG4 channels to allow them to add more HD content.

One of the few reasons I still like Directv in a way.

 

[yorktown]

The Good: Hasn't happen yet

The Bad: Higher prices, same service

If I was were so unhappy with DIRECTV I'd have cancelled a long time ago and moved on with my life.

I also like this comment -
Hey D*....IMPRESS OR COMPRESS !protest
Which are you doing?
I'm NOT IMPRESSED

 

[Ronnie-]

The Good: Hasn't happen yet

The Bad: Higher prices, same service

LMAO, why on earth do you keep the service?

May be just me, but if I were that unhappy with a service that I pay for, I would find an alternative.

 

[Rey]

LMAO, why on earth do you keep the service?

May be just me, but if I were that unhappy with a service that I pay for, I would find an alternative.

Yea I don't get it either. Maybe he's a masochist. I would never pay for a service I hate especially for such a long time. But whatever

 

[gadgtfreek]

If I was were so unhappy with DIRECTV I'd have cancelled a long time ago and moved on with my life.

I also like this comment -
Hey D*....IMPRESS OR COMPRESS !protest
Which are you doing?
I'm NOT IMPRESSED

LMAO, why on earth do you keep the service?

May be just me, but if I were that unhappy with a service that I pay for, I would find an alternative.

Thats crap. As much as I despise them for the contract renewals, I still love the service.

Dish beats em hands down on equipment, but I actually liked the HR20 and 22 when I had them. I like the quick record/series link button as opposed tot he multiple steps of a Dish DVR. One should not forget also, the Directv really spurred the HD revolution with their channel adds after D10, and that they have stuck to their guns with 5 channels per tp.

 

[Skyboss]

Bad moves:

1. Divorcing TIVO. Idiots.

2. Handling of the MPEG-4 Transition - that was expensive for a bunch of us who bought into an HD Tivo unit that became a door stop in less than a year - then had to buy new HD DVRs after waiting years for some HD content.

3. Wasting bandwidth with duplicated SD local feeds. Transition everyone to MPEG 4 then shut them down and give us more content. Its not like late adopters can get rid of the black bars on their antenna feed, I say let 'em suffer. Maybe they'll catch up with the 21st century.

Good moves...

1. Going to MPEG-4.

2. Re-marrying Tivo. Lets hope they put out a kid this year.

 

[deathmetal]

good:
1-amount of HD
2-pq of HD(compared to cable)
3-on demand

bad:
1-brutal stb,just brutal.....
2-VS.
3-commitments in general,but nickel and dime shortsightedness for everything.

indifferent:
NFL redzone-I understand this one,duh.

 

[yorktown]

2. Re-marrying Tivo. Lets hope they put out a kid this year.

Don't look for it this year.

The new DIRECTV TiVo HD DVR isn't due out till sometime in 2010.

I'm guessing we won't see it till 2011.

 

[JAG72]

3. Wasting bandwidth with duplicated SD local feeds. Transition everyone to MPEG 4 then shut them down and give us more content. Its not like late adopters can get rid of the black bars on their antenna feed, I say let 'em suffer. Maybe they'll catch up with the 21st century.

I would sure hate to see how much this would cost them to accomplish. Would they really get any useful bandwidth back since the locals are on spot beams.

 

[Skyboss]

I would sure hate to see how much this would cost them to accomplish. Would they really get any useful bandwidth back since the locals are on spot beams.

A very large chunck of SD locals are on conus feeds not spot beams.

 

[Skyboss]

Don't look for it this year.

The new DIRECTV TiVo HD DVR isn't due out till sometime in 2010.

I'm guessing we won't see it till 2011.

I'm not talking about 2009.

 

[rad]

A very large chunck of SD locals are on conus feeds not spot beams.

Incorrect, the ONLY SD locals that are on CONUS are the NYC and LA so DirecTV can provide distant network services, all the others are on spot beams.

 

[Araxen]

Worst: Ditching Tivo
Best: VOD

 

[Jimbo]

I would sure hate to see how much this would cost them to accomplish. Would they really get any useful bandwidth back since the locals are on spot beams.

Bandwidth is Bandwidth, regardless of what it's being used for.
IF they were all on mpeg2 and moved to mpeg 4, Yes, but thats not the case.

Spot beam or Conus, it's still using the bandwidth.

 

[Ronnie-]

A very large chunck of SD locals are on conus feeds not spot beams.

I do not think this is true. It may still be true for the LA/New York feeds, but that is hardly a very large chunk

 

[JAG72]

Bandwidth is Bandwidth, regardless of what it's being used for.

Is it. I they have bandwidth that they can not be used for anything is it really useful? I never stated that they would not get bandwidth back but if it was useful bandwidth.

 

[Ken S]

Best:
1. Addition of many HD channels
2. Channel 101 beginning to add programming like Friday Night Lights
3. Mix Channels

Worst:
1. Reliability of their HR-2X DVR line
2. Customer Service Degradation
3. Relentless drive to increase margins and revenue above all else.
4. Dropping Versus
5. Dropping HD channels from one paid sports package (MLBEI) in order to show programming from another sports package (NFLST).

 

[VinceT3]

- Adding new features/functions to their HR DVR's that are implemented on all their HD DVR's, not requiring customer to purchase new hardware to get a new feature.

I agree with this one, big time.. one of dishnetworks biggest failures IMHO..