What on earth is Dish thinking of ?

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waltinvt

waltinvt

Supporting Founder
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Feb 16, 2004
3,439
2
Vermont
Just found out "D" now has ABC-HD in engineering mode with plans to go wide next week. That means "D" within days will have all 4 nets in HD.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=488187

Also I just read that supposedly in April "D" is going HD LILs to many DMAs.

I just tried to call CJ at Dish's high tier customer support because I just can't believe this sh*t is happening and found out that his direct line "has been disconnected".

I believe this is the last straw for me. I've been holding out thinking Dish had something up their sleeve but now I'm beginning to think they've just blown it. They have to know there's no way they're going to keep HD customers now. Why would anyone with an HD setup stay with Dish unless they're still under contract.

So I guess if I can cut a decent equipment deal with "D", they're going to get my $130 a month.

Too bad, for the most part I've liked Dish and would probably hang in a while longer if they hadn't made that stupid announcement about no more HD until MEPG4.

They really need to make some kind of positive announcement soon because I don't know how many $125+ a month customers they can afford to loose.
 
E* ceded the sports fanatics to D* for quite some time because it apparently made more business sense to sacrifice those subscribers rather than to pay the high $ programming costs. They may well be following the same path with HD. In all honesty the HD market is still so small that even if they wait until the end of this coming year for MPEG4, the bottom line damage will be minimal. I don't like it, but I can see the logic of it.


NightRyder
 
If memory correct. I believe $240 if cancel HD pack before year is up.

So cancel everything except the HD pack.
 
korsjs said:
:D :D :D :D

Dish does have something up their sleeve. ;)
Click to expand...
Come on - don't tease me :no . If they do they better say something soon.

I really don't want to leave Dish but (for me) the 3 most compelling HDTV events (besides good movies) are the Superbowl, the Daytona 500 and the World Series.

The main reason I even bought into the Dish HD scene was the Superbowl last Feb and their promises of much more HD to come this year. Well I've already had to watch the Series on a poor quality local channel in SD this year. I really don't want to miss the Superbowl and 500 in HD this year. Plus I hear most of the Nascar races in '05 will be in HD on NBC & Fox.

I've done nothing but fight with my (3rd) 811 since I got it. There's absolutly no OTA HD available up here in Vermont and won't be for a while. I not the type to switch companies easily. Heck I've had the same bank and bought new vechiles from the same dealer for 15 years straight. I even begged Dish to send me the same installer when I upgraded to HD last year. I'm probably loyal to a fault but enough is enough. I spent $1k on this HD setup and send Dish $130 a month. That should count for something.

Sorry about the rant people. I sent it to ceo@dishnetwork.com but they're not responding.
 
waltinvt\ said:
Come on - don't tease me :no . If they do they better say something soon.

I really don't want to leave Dish but (for me) the 3 most compelling HDTV events (besides good movies) are the Superbowl, the Daytona 500 and the World Series.

The main reason I even bought into the Dish HD scene was the Superbowl last Feb and their promises of much more HD to come this year. Well I've already had to watch the Series on a poor quality local channel in SD this year. I really don't want to miss the Superbowl and 500 in HD this year. Plus I hear most of the Nascar races in '05 will be in HD on NBC & Fox.

I've done nothing but fight with my (3rd) 811 since I got it. There's absolutly no OTA HD available up here in Vermont and won't be for a while. I not the type to switch companies easily. Heck I've had the same bank and bought new vechiles from the same dealer for 15 years straight. I even begged Dish to send me the same installer when I upgraded to HD last year. I'm probably loyal to a fault but enough is enough. I spent $1k on this HD setup and send Dish $130 a month. That should count for something.

Sorry about the rant people. I sent it to ceo@dishnetwork.com but they're not responding.
Click to expand...


dish does have something, up there sleeve. it will have to wait until they upgrade to mpeg 4. in short, they said no new hd until the end of the year. year 2005.
 
Perhaps E* would be better off not dealing with customers directly at all. At this point maybe a better business strategy for them would be more reselling partnerships like the one with SBC. Then they could sell off their hardware and license production to major CE manufacturers a la D*. They could still make money through licensing and franchise fees and have WAY fewer headaches!
 
waltinvt\ said:
Plus I hear most of the Nascar races in '05 will be in HD on NBC & Fox.
There's absolutly no OTA HD available up here in Vermont and won't be for a while. [/email] but they're not responding.
Click to expand...

Simpler solution...move down here to Charlotte, the center of the NASCAR world! :D (You could always change your name to "waltinnc") Luckily I get all of the Charlotte stations OTA.

:eureka Since E* goes after big events like the Super Bowl, MLB All-Star Game, and Olympics...it would be cool if they would at least try to get the Daytona 500 for the folks that don't have the luxury of OTA reception!
 
I am afraid that there is a valid point here.

I was an original E* customer until about 3 years ago when we moved and cable was already set up in the new house. This past month I returned to E* and have been surprisingly underwhelmed. The gap between cable and E* has closed considerably. I too have been wondering if I made a mistake.

1) The 811 STB crashes on me at least once a day.

2) Weak HD line up, not even all of the major networks. Today I put up a ChannelMaster UHF antenna, I now get every network in digital, 11 seperate PBS feeds of every variety, and a bunch of local junk I never knew existed. Makes it hard to justify the monthly fee for E*s limited HD offerings.

3) Very weak equipment offerings. I can not bring myself to buy the 921 after all I have read about it. Besides, as others have noted, you will never recoup the cost when it becomes obsolete with MPEG4? Makes renting one for $10 a month from the cable co sound pretty good. Consider not only the D* TIVO boxes but even newer OTA disk-drive ATSC/NTSC tuners with QAM such as the LG LST3410A which DOES have firewire and it works! DISH needs to publish their basic specs and let the aftermarket develop hardware.

4) I realize that bandwidth is a challenge but then I see things like the BINGO channel, a half dozen shopping channels, and the HD Demo loop which advertises STBs that are not even available any longer.

5) At least in my case, the SD feeds are no better than on cable and the locals are considerably worse. I realize that in many cases this is not true. Still, when I add up the monthly fees for 3 boxes, there is no cost savings.

I plan to stick it out for a bit longer unless the crashing STB drives me to the brink. Maybe they will buy out VOOM and do something there. But yes, while I was once a huge E* fan (even bought stock) and was excited to return, the reality has not met expectations.
 
NightRyder said:
E* ceded the sports fanatics to D* for quite some time because it apparently made more business sense to sacrifice those subscribers rather than to pay the high $ programming costs. They may well be following the same path with HD. In all honesty the HD market is still so small that even if they wait until the end of this coming year for MPEG4, the bottom line damage will be minimal. I don't like it, but I can see the logic of it.


NightRyder
Click to expand...
E* did cede the NFL to D* because of the very high cost. I have no problem with that decision. I obtained a 6000 for $149 during the closeout special last year and have been satisfied with it. Although I live in a white area 60 to 65 miles from the Atlanta digital station towers, I invested in a good antenna system and receive all of the networks perfectly all the time except for the CBS HD station which is presently at only 49 KW, but I qualify for the NY CBS HD feed. Being able to receive all of the network HD programming and the HD Pak has keep me satisfied with E* HD. However, all of the recent statements from E* about additional HD channels have been negative, while D* and Voom are very positive about HD and are planning to add many additional HD channels. Adding the 4 major networks by D* is a big plus for many people who do not want to bother with an expensive TV antenna system for HD. I had to install my antenna system because there are no antenna installers in my area. If I was starting now, I would go with D* and forget the antenna system, even though I would miss a few HD programs on WB and UPN and the Atlanta Braves home games in HD on TBS. It appears that E* has made a business decision to concentrate on Foreign Language Programming and on completely saturating the analog locals and to cede the HD market to D*, Voom, and the cable companies.

Since HD is very important to me (and many others), I will probably abandon E* early next year unless E* makes some substantial HD additions. I think that ceding the HD market to others will cost E* dearly on the bottom line as they will lose many of their good customers!
 
JohnC said:
Since HD is very important to me (and many others), I will probably abandon E* early next year unless E* makes some substantial HD additions. I think that ceding the HD market to others will cost E* dearly on the bottom line as they will lose many of their good customers!
Click to expand...

Which E* will replace with other highly profitable Foreign Language Subscribers. Plus E* is still in rapid growth mode. Bottom line effect? Minimal at most. I am an HD enthusiast and have considerable $'s invested but I have no misconceptions about the size of the current HD market. Look at V*, not only are they not thriving, they are a spectacular failure from a business point of view. V* was an idea simply ahead of it's time. My point is, as long as E* becomes competitive in the HD market by the end of 2005 they will not only be OK, but in a position to leapfrog D* with MPEG 4. As I said I'm not happy about the short term HD outlook at E* but to think, as some do, that this will be devastating to them ignores the real world facts and smacks of wishful thinking. IMHO.



NightRyder
 
If dish can pull off the MPEG4 transition in short order (HD in a year, SD in 2-4 yrs) and not piss off the customers (ie. me) that have some expensive E* HD equipment not compatible with MPEG4, it will be termed a brilliant move. They will need to up their offer of HD significantly, though.

Remember Charlie said this time next year, HD will explode on Dish Network. And don't remind me of other Charlie statements made to similar claims in the past.

When, or if I get left behind by their MPEG4 transition, I'll be a customer somewhere else.
 
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