Can't record HBO and Cinemax on Demand with BHN?

[skottey]

But we are talking billions of dollars to upgrade all of BHNs plants, and right now we are in a war with the worlds largest telcom company, and a company that comes very close. Cash is not something BHN can use to compete with att, or verizon. If it became a cash war, BHN would lose easily.

So are you conceding that BHN is pretty much screwed? They have chosen the * route and pivot? They are not even going to try to upgrade the network? They are fine with losing me and others as customers?

Even if they have some plan over time to upgrade their network, they are remaining silent. They could buy time with me if they laid out even the rawest of public strategy.

You said the CSRs don't give us any information because they could be wrong. Well, it is up to the top management to give the CSRs something real to say. Telling us that there is nothing new is not the right approach. If there is really nothing new, than they are in even bigger trouble.

Let's be honest here. You paint a pretty grim picture of BHN financially compared to ATT and Verizon (which is understandable). Does this mean they are a sinking ship?

IS BHN going to be the service with the meaningless JD Power awards and good customer service while Verizon has crappy customer service, no awards, and a better channel lineup? I am used to dealing with poor customer service from every angle (I am talking about all companies I deal with, not BHN). I am not going to stay with BHN because they are better than most. Life is full of poor customer service. I'll go with who gives the best channel lineup and reasonable price. I am sure I am not alone.

[stevenl]

I didn't say BHN was broke, They are making a profit, and growing constantly. Even in tampa where Fios is launched BHN is still growing phone customers faster then Fios is taking video customers.

Better customer service will win out against "More useless channels" Any day.

Not to mention BHN does add channels and constantly upgrades you mentioned earlier about bhn adding (spanish channels or shopping channels) Well guess what Florida is a HUGE market for spanish entertainment. BHN cant please everyone. If tomorrow they added 3 new HD channels, their would be a thread here with someone saying "Why the hell did they add those lame channels and not X channel" and someone else saying "Well this channel is better then X channel so im glad they added it" BHN has to be very smart in the way it operates upgrades and adds new services. It has to get the most bang for its buck and make the most customers happy. If their is 300k spanish customers who want a few more Spanish channels vs a few thousand die hard HD fans who want more HD, of course the Spanish channels come first.

There are many differnt type of TV shoppers.

1. Price
2. Channels
3. New gadgests
4. Specials
5. All around value.

Customers who shop by price, no company wants. Because that customer is likely to leave you for another company to get a deal, maybe come back when the deal is over and repeat. They constantly shop for price and really do not pay off for the company they has them.

Customers that are looking for just the best value for their service, tend to stay the longest and are the most profitable. They want reliable service, with fair pricing and a good lineup. BHN has that, and thats why we continue to dominate the markets in which we have plant. Even with Verizon in Tamp, and the multiple satellite providers. Their is a reason BHN is so dominate and its not because their service sucks....


What I mention about money with att/verizon is simple math. ATT is the LARGEST telcom in the world, but money does not equal success. ATT could dump billions into U-verse and it not go anywhere. Verizon could dump billions into Fios and not get a return for many years or it bust. Look at Americast. Hundreds of millions was invested into it and they closed shop and ran away. Because the cable companies destroyed them. Look at Voom. hundreds of millions was invested in voom. They had a zillion Hd channels, and wheres voom now? They are left with nothing but a HD channel lineup.... So just because ATT is the richest company in the world (I beleive) does not mean they cannot be defeated. David vs Goliath here.. And so far, David is kicking its ass from one side of florida to the other. and in most other markets as well. (David being the cable industry as a whole, did I mention ATT alone has more money then EVERY cable company combined?)

[skottey]

Steveni-

I'll pick just a few statements to discuss here....

1- "If their is 300k spanish customers who want a few more Spanish channels vs a few thousand die hard HD fans who want more HD, of course the Spanish channels come first. "

I understand that there are a lot of Spanish customers here in FL. Less percentage wise in my market of Tampa than your Orlando market, but none-the less, there are a lot. But, 99% of the Spanish population that actually makes good money and is middle class or higher (that would even get digital cable in the first place based on what they can afford) also speaks English, and anybody that speaks English would prefer the better content offered on English National channels not offered, such as the Discovery Channels other than Discovery Theater that are offered in HD. Let's face it, you can get by not speaking English in the US (even FL) but to succeed at the American dream you need to speak English. There really aren't too many successful business entrepreneurs in the US that can't speak English. Poor people aren't buying digital cable in great numbers are they? They shouldn't be if our tax dollars are feeding their kids in the public schools anyway, but that isn't relevant in this forum.



2- "Customers who shop by price, no company wants."

I of course agree with you on this. Nothing worse than somebody shopping around calling me just to see how much my price is as opposed to the "other guy" who only charges $XXX with no consideration for the quality of service warranting a higher price. But we'll always have that element of thrift in society. I am not one of those. I am willing to pay more for what I want, and feel that BHN should do more to offer us high end customers what we want, so we don't bail. I won't leave for Verizon based on cost, rather based on their offerings. Even if it costs me more, I'd leave. My number one concern is offerings and quality. Price falls secondary or thirdly. I can't be alone with this.



3- "Look at Americast. Hundreds of millions was invested into it and they closed shop and ran away."

Actually, Americast is still offered here in Pinellas County. They were sold and they are now called Knology. They are a thrifty shopper provider, as discussed above, catering to the cheapos. They offer even less than BHN and their cable modem Internet service sucks badly.



4" Look at Voom. hundreds of millions was invested in voom. They had a zillion Hd channels, and wheres voom now? They are left with nothing but a HD channel lineup"

I rather enjoy Voom as part of my Dish HD package. Especially Monsters HD. Some cable companies are beginning to offer some Voom Channels. Not BHN of course.

[stevenl]

Steveni-

I'll pick just a few statements to discuss here....

1- "If their is 300k spanish customers who want a few more Spanish channels vs a few thousand die hard HD fans who want more HD, of course the Spanish channels come first. "

I understand that there are a lot of Spanish customers here in FL. Less percentage wise in my market of Tampa than your Orlando market, but none-the less, there are a lot. But, 99% of the Spanish population that actually makes good money and is middle class or higher (that would even get digital cable in the first place based on what they can afford) also speaks English, and anybody that speaks English would prefer the better content offered on English National channels not offered, such as the Discovery Channels other than Discovery Theater that are offered in HD. Let's face it, you can get by not speaking English in the US (even FL) but to succeed at the American dream you need to speak English. There really aren't too many successful business entrepreneurs in the US that can't speak English. Poor people aren't buying digital cable in great numbers are they? They shouldn't be if our tax dollars are feeding their kids in the public schools anyway, but that isn't relevant in this forum.



2- "Customers who shop by price, no company wants."

I of course agree with you on this. Nothing worse than somebody shopping around calling me just to see how much my price is as opposed to the "other guy" who only charges $XXX with no consideration for the quality of service warranting a higher price. But we'll always have that element of thrift in society. I am not one of those. I am willing to pay more for what I want, and feel that BHN should do more to offer us high end customers what we want, so we don't bail. I won't leave for Verizon based on cost, rather based on their offerings. Even if it costs me more, I'd leave. My number one concern is offerings and quality. Price falls secondary or thirdly. I can't be alone with this.



3- "Look at Americast. Hundreds of millions was invested into it and they closed shop and ran away."

Actually, Americast is still offered here in Pinellas County. They were sold and they are now called Knology. They are a thrifty shopper provider, as discussed above, catering to the cheapos. They offer even less than BHN and their cable modem Internet service sucks badly.



4" Look at Voom. hundreds of millions was invested in voom. They had a zillion Hd channels, and wheres voom now? They are left with nothing but a HD channel lineup"

I rather enjoy Voom as part of my Dish HD package. Especially Monsters HD. Some cable companies are beginning to offer some Voom Channels. Not BHN of course.

1. People from spanish decent prefer watching programs in spanish regardless of knowing english or not. Because the English content is designed for American viewers. The spanish content is designed for spanish viewers. Much like BET is designed for urban viewers. You would be surprised the number of spanish customers we have who are not considerd "rich" Digital cable with spanish tier is less then 70/month which is not expensive at all, add in digital phone (so they get awsome long distance rates and free to New york and such) they can get it on a package for a bit over 100$. Alot of the spanish people in orlando are from other areas of the US, in fact MOSt people in orlando are from other areas, so catering to them in tv, brings them to other services they need like free long distance phone.

2. You are in the minority, on this one. I am with you though. Id rather pay a bit more for better service. So do high end customers who spend more. Unfortunately for people like us, the people who want a bargain far outweigh us and their mass numbers equal more profit then our smaller numbers even though we pay more a month. So BHN must keep a very tight balance. They will be adding more stuff, as I mentioned they are doing alot to expand the bandwidth.

3. Seems your local branch of Americast was bought by knology but AmeriCast as a company went belly up. They left orlando faster Ive ever seen anyone leave, they even left thousands of their microwave dishes on peoples homes. You still see them mainly in "The Ghetto" Because those are the areas they had the most penetration because they were a deep discount provider.

4. Voom as a service provider didn't last. Because they did not diversify. They had one thing going for them HD, and it obviously was not enough to hold down their fort. Maybe in a couple more years as HD becomes more prevalant a business model like vooms would of worked, But for now it obviously didnt. They still maintain their channels, and have sold them to dish and other places to carry them, but again it still does not draw huge numbers of audience.

I've said many times BHN will be very competitive and compete with these companies in HD offerings. They added 2 new HD channels just last month,

and I agree with you on the whole Pivot thing. What a bunch of shit They need to focus on what we do best. Provide land line services.

[skottey]

Seems your local branch of Americast was bought by knology but AmeriCast as a company went belly up. They left orlando faster Ive ever seen anyone leave, they even left thousands of their microwave dishes on peoples homes. You still see them mainly in "The Ghetto" Because those are the areas they had the most penetration because they were a deep discount provider.

That is interesting they used Microwave over there. In Pinellas they tore up the whole place and laid cable throughout. I'm not sure what kind of percentage of the market they still have but I have some residential customers that use them for their Internet and it sucks. Much slower than RR!