EchoStar Announces Conference Call for First Quarter 2009 Financial Results

[MikeD-C05]

The problem with dish is the same problem with Windows too many names that confuses the consumer. Vista is not a bad system but with four product name, it makes one have to wonder what to get. The eaisest thing to do is to stick with XP.

Window 7 will fail because microsoft has not learned from its error.



The same is true for dish two many packages. Dish just need four simple package. Make it simple and watch dish grow make it hard and watch Dish die.

[MikeD-C05]

I am probably one of the few who have switched from Direct to Dish (about a week ago), and I think they have a real nice product and I think constructive criticism can help. Coming from Direct I think dish has some great positives, they have great equipment and while there HD offerings may not please all. Take out the out of market sports sports offerings and they are in the same "Ball Park" as Directv. Minus MLBTV for those keeping count

I would agree with the previous posts about Dish moving away from the "low cost" company but, it is nice to know for some people that you can get some basic HD at a pretty decent price if you want. If you do break away from the low cost, how do you rebrand yourself?

What part do you market that makes you stand out from Direct. The DVR's? The HD programming (again take out the sports and you are in the same range)

I could be wrong, because I am new to Dish dide after being with Direct for about nine years, but maybe the new management team will work on rebranding?? Just a thought from this new Dish customer

I am not talking about moving away from low cost. I am advocating a return to DISH's roots, which were to offer low cost with real value for your customer. DISH presently has a low cost intro price and then you add the extra fees and you find that you are just as high as DIRECTV is. Especially if you have multiple dvrs on your account. Back in the early part of the decade, DISH offered NO DVR FEES on all their 501/508/721 dvrs. This one thing made DIRECTV lower their price down from 9.99 per account for dvrs to 4.99 per account. DISH added a multitude of new subs, more subs than at any other time. When CHarlie thought he was going to have to pay to TIVO ,suddenly we had 5.98 dvr fees PER RECEIVER unless you have AEP.

When you are considering the competition , in this case DIRECTV, you have to compare what they are doing right and what is working for them to DISH and what is not working. In order to offer the low cost product to the customers you have to really provide something of value. My suggestion is to drop the dvr fee if you have the dvr advantage pack for all dvrs on your account , for all three programming packs ;top 100/200/250. THis puts DISH back in line and competition with DIRECTV. The advantage that DISH has over DIRECTV is their AEP offers no fees as well, and Directv charges you a dvr fee with their Premeir pack.


Now if they really want to launch a campaign that makes DISH gain subs from all directions, they need to set the tone for the entire market and become revolutionary and historical. Charge NO EXTRA price for HD channels! If you have an hd receiver, you get the hd channels with what ever pack you have at no extra cost. Platinum pack could be absorbed into the AEP at no extra cost. It really doesn't cost any extra for the hd versions of the sd channels in the programming packs any way, so why charge extra for those channels? Imagine how many new subs would flock to a company that doesn't charge extra for HD. Imagine how DISH could advertise that they are the first and only company to offer true FREE HD Channels to all subs with an hd receiver. THey would have to advertise this fact and blanket the market place with it, but it would work and they would no longer be bleeding subs and would instead regain some of the market place . It would also make the competition sit up and take notice and they would have to change what they are doing to compete.

I agree that when you take out the sports packs in comparison to DIRECTV , DISH is not only the same but actually leads in national channels and premiums too. Echostar has the best dvrs in the market and DISH uses them so they should advertise the superiority of their products to the public. A campaign that would put out the changes I outlined would make subs flock to DISH.

1. Dvr advantage covers all dvrs on your account. This actually helps echostar as well , because they will be selling more dvrs as a result.

2. DISH the home of True FREE Turbo hd! This one fact would cause subs to surge back to DISH and it would be as good a gimmick as the no dvr fees on DISH dvrs back in the early part of the decade.

They say you have to spend money to make money. DISH has continued to make profits off the ever dwindling amount of subs . It is time to put some of that money back into advertising and offering a cheap low price VALUE to all your subs and potential subs. Satellite tv depends on adding new subs and growing the company. What I have outlined would definitely grow the company and add subs. Do we really need a 4th quarter in a row where DISH is still bleeding subs?

[HDRoberts]

I think most want them to succeed, even us Direct subs.

Even if Dish failed or merged, your bill will not go up as a result due to the fact that there are many other providers competing to keep the costs down. Even in very rural areas where DBS may be the only option, the price for DBS is still mostly set by the larger number of subs in the urban areas (where competition is strong).

$77 is what DirecTV would charge me (sans discounts) for what I essentially get from Dish. That's with status quo competition. That is one advantage to the confusing Dish system. A skilled consumer can save money. Problem is, "skilled" does not describe the typical person.

Many do want Dish to succeed. I just think some poster have had a perceived slight from Dish, rather it be Voom or LiL or sports issues, and they want to see dish fail to validate how they feel about Dish. Constructive criticisim is one thing. Telling them to do things they are not able to do (going back to full resolution, getting Voom back, getting MLBEI or NFLST, et. al.) or taking bets on subsciber losses is not construtive criticisim.

[Pen15head]

1. Dvr advantage covers all dvrs on your account. This actually helps echostar as well , because they will be selling more dvrs as a result.

the majority of people lease their equipment. so how would dish profit from leasing a 722 vs a 222 with no extra monthly cost when the 222 clearly costs less to build?

[MikeD-C05]

the majority of people lease their equipment. so how would dish profit from leasing a 722 vs a 222 with no extra monthly cost when the 222 clearly costs less to build?

Echostar and DISH are 2 different companies. If all dvrs were covered on dvr advantage on one account, more people would want to either dish n up to a dvr like the 722k or they would buy and add them to their accounts. THis would help Echostar , because DISH would have to put in an order for more of the 722k dvrs. Even though the two companies are seperate now , Charlie Ergen runs both and as such would benefit from more receivers being sold to subs or to DISH for Subs using dish n up offers.

The idea I was trying to float, is to level the playing field between DISH and DIRECTV . Directv has the dvr plus and hd dvr plus packs that cover all dvrs on the account for their version of top 250. DISH does not have that as an option. So this limits customer choice. Either have one dvr on your account or sub to the higher AEP. This would give DISH parity as well as advantage over DIRECT, if they offered dvr advantage packs at all levels that cover multiple dvrs as well as with AEP. You have to remember that DISH will still charge the additional receiver /lease fee at 7.00 for hd /5.00 for sd receivers. So DISH will still make that money and will attract more subs if they know they can have multiple dvrs at lower priced programming packs. This one thing would help build subs , if DISH advertised this fact. You have to remember that DISH didn't charge a dvr fee in the early decade and they grew subs at a terrific rate back then because they were the only company NOT charging a dvr fee back then. This can be used again to build DISH back up. WHich is what we all want to keep DISH viable right?

[Claude Greiner]

Directv has the same, if not a bigger problem with loosing customers on a monthly basis than DISH Network does.

The only difference is that Directv is hiding this from everyone by signing up more customers to off-set their subscriber losses. Heck Directv will take a majority of the customers who don't pass the credit check with DISH!!!!!

As far as pricing, DISH Network beats Directv hands down everytime. The problem is that again Directv is hiding that their higher prices behind a promotional discount which they give to new customers for the first year, and then when customers complain about the high prices they give the customers additional discounts to shut them up and keep them as a customer.

Dish on the other hand has decided to take the subscriber looses right now, and start going after quality customers.

Granted that Dish could do a little better with the national advertising, but they are doing pretty good at the moment.

Whats going to happen here in the next several months is that they are going to get to the point where they can no longer maintain their customer base and the customers will be dropping off faster than they are dropping off with Dish right now.

You can't go around signing up crappy customers all the time, and it will get to the point where they customers will all seem like they are disconnecting at the same time.

[MikeD-C05]

Directv has the same, if not a bigger problem with loosing customers on a monthly basis than DISH Network does.

The only difference is that Directv is hiding this from everyone by signing up more customers to off-set their subscriber losses. Heck Directv will take a majority of the customers who don't pass the credit check with DISH!!!!!

As far as pricing, DISH Network beats Directv hands down everytime. The problem is that again Directv is hiding that their higher prices behind a promotional discount which they give to new customers for the first year, and then when customers complain about the high prices they give the customers additional discounts to shut them up and keep them as a customer.

Dish on the other hand has decided to take the subscriber looses right now, and start going after quality customers.

Granted that Dish could do a little better with the national advertising, but they are doing pretty good at the moment.

Whats going to happen here in the next several months is that they are going to get to the point where they can no longer maintain their customer base and the customers will be dropping off faster than they are dropping off with Dish right now.

You can't go around signing up crappy customers all the time, and it will get to the point where they customers will all seem like they are disconnecting at the same time.

I thought that DIRECTV had already made a move to get rid of crappy customers a couple of years ago? I had read that some of their churn before the big hd explosion two years ago was because of them cutting off high risk credit subs.

[riffjim4069]

i agree, simplify the names. go back to t100, t200, t250. and instead of a plethora of hd add ons, you have two. you have have the regular hd add on for ten bucks or hd+ for 20. the turbo hds are ok, i really dont have a better idea.

I agree with AT100, etc., but get rid of the HD packages and just roll them into the AT paks - HD is no longer a premium IMO.

[Pen15head]

I agree with AT100, etc., but get rid of the HD packages and just roll them into the AT paks - HD is no longer a premium IMO.

if they did this they would have to raise the price of the basic packages, making those who do not even want or can use hd have to pay for hd.

[MikeD-C05]

if they did this they would have to raise the price of the basic packages, making those who do not even want or can use hd have to pay for hd.

IT cost no more for the hd version of the sd channels so this would not have to happen. The only channels that might cost more is the platinum pack , because there is no sd equivalent . The point is that DISH needs new subs and the way to get a buttload, is to be the first in the industry to offer FREE HD and mean it.