Thank You, Scott, Satellite Guys & Dish Network! (NEW PHOTOS ADDED)

[jcoppola]

I too was there today and was glad I was. I had a great time. Like Scott said it was nice to put a face to all the posts. Thank you for the opportunity to asks qusetions of the Satellite Guys moderators and Charlie himself.

Speaking of Charlie it was very refreshing how open, candid and and approachable he was. I know we all like to complain about things Dish does that we feel are wrong or when we perceive that they are slow to respond to the competion but someday if Charlie sells I think we will look back and wish we had Charlie back.

Here we were a bunch of customers sitting in a small room with the CEO of a major corporation and Charlie spent nearly 2 hours answering all questions. During this time he never once came across as someone who was better than his audience or talked down to us. He came across as a regular guy (worth millions ), someone you would like to hang out with and watch a game.

Thanks again to everyone!

John

 

[jimboeau]

Regarding new HD.

New HD is coming and from the looks of it within the next month. A lot of folks will be happy as a number of channels that people have been requesting are going to launch. I really wish I could name the channels, but all of the deals are not 100% done yet. They don't want to blow what they got working for them, and I can respect that.

I will say that when I hear more rumblings from outside the executive realm then I will be able to post what I think is coming. I just want to make sure the ink is dry before I start flapping my lips.

Thanks for your understanding.

I sure hope it's some of the Fox Suite of HD channels

 

[jimboeau]

Can you say "Viacom"


Just a guess.

That's what I was afraid of.

 

[Pepper]

I wonder if "VOOM" was mentioned?

 

[tomcrown1]

The one question I would have asked Charlie the TUNA IS WHEN WILL HE SHUT DOWN THE OVER SEA CALL CENTER and be a true American and have call centers only in the USA

 

[Slamminc11]

The one question I would have asked Charlie the TUNA IS WHEN WILL HE SHUT DOWN THE OVER SEA CALL CENTER and be a true American and have call centers only in the USA

A true american? That's what will make him a true american? So are you saying that he isn't right now?

 

[jansan]

I really enjoyed Charlie taking his time (almost 2 hours with us) talking to us about Dish network. I didn't come with any exceptions accept to meet some really nice people in the industry. Charlie is not the same Charlie we see on the Charlie Chats. He seemed really comfortable speaking frank with us. I felt that he respected our ideas and concerns. Every story has two sides. He has acknowledged that customer service needs improvement. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to learn. Thanks again to all the SatelliteGuys, Charlie, and Eric. I had a great time and I only got lost for about fifteen minutes trying to leave the convention center. The gaylord or "goodlord" hotel is freaking huge and has a strange layout. Take care

 

[TNGTony]

Well guys and gals I just rolled back in to Cincincinnati at 12:30am Eastern from beautiful Nashville and I am still reeling! It was such a blast to meet all the great satelliteguys (and one Satellitegal (not to be confused with Satellitegal).

I had four and a half hours by myself to digest the event, and I have to tell you that my opinion of Dish, the way they do business and the men at the top has changed tremendously. Without hesitation, they answered many tough questions frankly and honestly. They hear everything we wanted to say and even took away several note with them so they could try to incorporate some of the ideas they heard from us.


The burning question I had was dealt with by the tech gurus on the show floor after the main event. Why cant TV2 do anamorphic video in dual mode when it does it in single mode. The answer, now that I think on it, should have been a "no duh" thing all along. In order to do anamorphic on TV 2, TV2 would have to process the HDTV signal and encode it to NTSC to distribute. In the single mode TV2 is only mirroring TV1. The 622/722 receivers (now and new) do not have the processing power to process two HD signals simultaneously. I should have known!

Anyway,
Thanks a million Scott for the great afternoon! Thank you Dish Network (Charlie, Eric and Parker) for letting us crash your party. I know I really appreciated it.

 

[Zero327]

Dear god! One day with Chuck in the room and you're all eating out of the palm of his hand; again... No wonder this cycle is repeated every single year. Let's fast forward just for the sake of saving time... Things were said, promises were made, business plans change and half the crap you know he'll do the opposite of when he returns to Englewood tomorrow morning... Then everyone will get all upset that they can't put trust in reassuring words.

People just never learn... Charlie wouldn't know how to "invest" outside of his inner circle (um, that'd be Eric Sahl, DeFranco and Carlson) if his life depended on it.

I hate round tables...

 

[TNGTony]

You weren't there. This was NOT hero worship. This is not being "star struck". This is hearing real honest information and explanations to very big concerns we had, and in some cases STILL have. Scott mentioned the interactive stuff. Though I don't use it, I know how important it is to some and I understand Scott's point. Personally I'm neutral on this one.

The concern that had me mad enough to chew roofing nails last week was explained to such detail that I know if I were running the business I would have done the same thing. I REALLY wish I could share, but I can't and wont.

This was NOT a one-way conversation.

See ya
Tony

 

[Ilya]

Thanks everyone who came over today. And many thanks to Scott and Dish Network for making this event happen! It was a great meeting and a long and a very frank conversation with Dish Network's top management.

On the subject of Voom. Charlie gave us his side of the story. I do buy it, but only to some extent. Unfortunately most of what was said, was said off the record. So, I will leave it up to Scott to decide what can be posted here. However, my personal impression is that both sides (Voom and Dish) are totally mad at each other and that a peaceful solution looks rather unlikely at the moment. Which means, that unless Voom can find another carrier, it's probably not coming back, at least not in its old 15-channel form...

 

[kstuart]

Did the subject of "stretch-o-vision" get discussed at any point during the weekend ?

How about converting the handful of 942 owners to 622, so we can have ESPN and TNT in MPEG4 ?

( most of the rest of the subjects seem entirely predictable - more HD channels, new receivers with gee-whiz features, while simple inconveniences are not dealt with - like mapdown causing two duplicate events, where skipping one causes the other to be restored, etc. etc. )

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Did the subject of "stretch-o-vision" get discussed at any point during the weekend ?

They have no control over what the programmers send them, they are bound to send the video over the same way their receive it. If your not happy with the stretch o vision then you need to contact the programmer directly as they are the only ones who cn change their ways.

 

[DSpud]

Why would you ask about stretch-o-vision? Dish has nothing to do with that. I can tell you what the answer would be without asking. "We simply broadcast what we are provided from the networks."

 

[TNGTony]

I stopped myself from saying something when Charlie mentioned something about stretching the picture to "make it look good" on his friend's new TV. (discussing the format button). I am an OAR kind of guy.

As to the "unimportant" map-down subject, IT WAS brought up. We'll see what comes of it. But some time was spent on this.

See ya
Tony

 

[TNGTony]

BTW, I made my displeasure over stretch-o-vision known to the A&E Networks folks at the booth. Don't worry Scott...I was nice...
See ya
Tony

 

[TNGTony]

Two picture... I didn't take as many pix as others.

See ya
Tony

 

[TNGTony]

Sorry for the Blur, but I didn't want to use flash more than absolutely necessary.

 

[TNGTony]

More Pictures

 

[TNGTony]

Even More Pix