Retailer Chat Recap: July 9, 2009

[Scott Greczkowski]

Welcome once again to SatelliteGuys Live Recap of todays Dish Network Retailer Chat!

This recap is done in semi real time, meaning that I am watching the chat via a Slingbox and Dish DVR which allows me to pause and rewind the chat in order to capture screen captures which I feel are importing to you.

We here at SatelliteGuys only report the items which would be of use to you the consumer, we do not discuss dealer sensitive issues such as costs and profits.

With that the chat begins at high noon here on the East Coast! We will close this thread for now, but will reopen it after the first chat notes are posted!

Thank you for being SatelliteGuys Members, and we thank our Pub Members and Great Sponsors for helping us keep the lights on here at SatelliteGuys!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Amir and Jim welcome us. Amir hopes we had a great 4th of July.

They then jump into todays topics for the chat.

The big one being new promotions and offers.

 

[Jim S.]

Is someone going to ask them why authorization for new HD channels has been fubar lately? I don't mean Turbo, I mean the classic+HD packages.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They start off about talking about the Tivo case and how they have won a stay. Dish still feels their DVR's do not infringe on Tivo's patents. Jim tells retailers that its business as usual.

They talk about the new HD locals markets that have launched. Dish now serves 151 HD local markets.

They tell us that Columbus-Tupelo, MS will be launching in HD in August.

They talk about the two new SD markets that launched yesterday in Bend, OR and Marquette, MI. What makes those areas interesting is for those two areas you must have a 8PSK compatable receiver to get those locals.

Jim then tries to explain 8PSK to the folks who don't know what 8PSK is.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Two more SD local launches planned in August (August 19th) Limo Ohio and Alexandria, LA. These areas will require 8PSK receivers as well.

They are now going into the new Q3 promoitions.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Is someone going to ask them why authorization for new HD channels has been fubar lately? I don't mean Turbo, I mean the classic+HD packages.

I also wonder why not all have that problem.

(Knocking on wood) I have Classic Gold +HD and have not had a problem watching newly added HD channels as soon as I saw here that they had been lit up...

 

[vanalex]

I live about 60 miles from Lima, Ohio and currently get the Toledo, Ohio local channels (HD). Will I be able to get the Lima, Ohio local channels in addition? I don't believe Lima has all 4 networks.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Amir says they have received a lot of feedback from retailers so that these new promotions.

Ira Bahr SVP, Chief Marketin Officer joins the show (Hi Ira!)

New Customer offers...

$15 monthly credit with Classic Bronze 100 or higher for 12 months or $10 monthly credit with DishLatino Clasico or higher.

Ira explains why the changes we made. I have no idea what he said I listened to him twice, but he did sound like he knew what he was talking about and soothing.

HBO and Showtime Free for 3 months, Cinemax for a year for only and penny and DHPP Free for 9 Months promotions have been extended through January 31, 2010.

 

[tomcrown1]

Dish marketing stinks they have no idea on how to sell the product.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Effective August 1st New and Existing customers upgrading to HD will get the PlatinumHD package FREE with the underlying HD add on package. It will appear on the bill as HD & Platinum for $10 a month.

Now word of if existing customers will see their bill go down $10 a month who already have HD. (If not then I will drop my HD package before August 1st and readd it and save myself $10 a month!)

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Promotions ending this month are the Free for All promotions, International w/ SSN and without SSN and DishNOW! DishYa (Prepaid)

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

DishNow Prepaid hardware will be sold through July 9th.

The prepaid cards can continue to be sold, there will be a transition plan to move prepaid customers to another system such as DHA TOO or Flex TV.

Delaers with Pre Paid equipment in stock should get rid of it now as it could be a doorstop on August 1st.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

For new customers the Dish Network cancelation fee is going up and will be a $360 cancelation fee (which is prorated for each month remaining in a customers commitment).

They now start talking about internationals...

 

[nelson61]

Their pricing package changes are interesting. Dish and Directv are oligopolists (only a small number of businesses control a market) and we get to see if they fit the economic model

They teach you in economics that when one raises prices, the other will not and hope to steal market from the price raiser. And, when one drops prices, the other will drop also to protect market share. In the end, no one does anything.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Dish offers 170 channels in 28 languages. Amir makes the hard sell to get out there and sell international channels.

Taiwanese Mega Pack will become base package eligible (which means you can subscribe to it as your base pack and qualify for all the new customer promotions with this package.) As is the Hindi Superpack

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

6 new Eligible Basic are launching on August 1st.

 

[M Sparks]

Effective August 1st New and Existing customers upgrading to HD will get the PlatinumHD package FREE with the underlying HD add on package. It will appear on the bill as HD & Platinum for $10 a month.

Now word of if existing customers will see their bill go down $10 a month who already have HD. (If not then I will drop my HD package before August 1st and readd it and save myself $10 a month!)

Bravo! Maybe they finally realized what a debacle this package is. However, they are setting themselves up for another PR nightmare if established customers have to jump though hoops to get the same price for the same product as new customers.

My prediction...they eventually phase out Platinum and raise HD to $12.99 (but it will be eligible for the usual multi-premium discounts.)

 

[Jim S.]

Effective August 1st New and Existing customers upgrading to HD will get the PlatinumHD package FREE with the underlying HD add on package. It will appear on the bill as HD & Platinum for $10 a month.

Free in perpetuity? What a kick in the face to existing subs! This is much, much worse than their normal new-customer freebies. There should be a law requiring them to give all customers equal pricing.

Now word of if existing customers will see their bill go down $10 a month who already have HD. (If not then I will drop my HD package before August 1st and readd it and save myself $10 a month!)

I would be very, very surprised if Dish allowed either of those things. If they were really interested in doing the right thing, they'd just combine the Platinum package (which probably only has one or two channels that any given customer would watch, and therefore is financially unsupportable) with the base HD packages for everyone. That's the way it was before they added Voom, so they should go back to it.

 

[digiblur]

They start off about talking about the Tivo case and how they have won a stay. Dish still feels their DVR's do not infringe on Tivo's patents. Jim tells retailers that its business as usual.

They talk about the new HD locals markets that have launched. Dish now serves 151 HD local markets.

They tell us that Columbus-Tupelo, MS will be launching in HD in August.

They talk about the two new SD markets that launched yesterday in Bend, OR and Marquette, MI. What makes those areas interesting is for those two areas you must have a 8PSK compatable receiver to get those locals.

Jim then tries to explain 8PSK to the folks who don't know what 8PSK is.

Interesting....start the phase in of getting rid of QPSK in SD. The weird part is Bend, OR and Marquette, MI are both running QPSK right now and the channel type is not flagged as MPEG2 SD 8PSK like they have used in the past. As long as they send the authorization to the box then you could pick these up on an old MPEG2 SD receiver right now.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Dish will begin offering International programming to commercial establishments as of August 1st.