Dish Stock Falls As Pay-TV Subscriber Losses Accelerate, Profit Beats

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Variety is an unfair anti-Dish publication probably because Variety is beholden to all the media companies for access and sources. Dish does deserve some criticism, but Variety practices unfair journalism.

All journalism is unfair as it is interpreted through the lens of the journalist's (and editor's) experience. That said, in most mature journalistic publications, there is a Chinese wall between departments to avoid what you describe. I don't know specifically about Variety though.
 
Professional Journalism, as in objective reporting, is dead.

Gone are the days when the whole nation watched Walter Cronkite and believed that everything they were told was truth. Now everybody watches the news channel that most identifies with their political ideology. I personally find it difficult to find the "truth" that hides in between all these various news outlets.

And since when did "journalists" become commentators? I don't want opinion in the news. Just facts.
 
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Gone are the days when the whole nation watched Walter Cronkite and believed that everything they were told was truth. Now everybody watches the news channel that most identifies with their political ideology. I personally find it difficult to find the "truth" that hides in between all these various news outlets.

And since when did "journalists" become commentators? I don't want opinion in the news. Just facts.

Pretty much always. Even Cronkite, who everyone points to as above it all, regularly provided commentary on what he reported. A generation of cable news opinion shows and politicians have taught people to distrust the people charged with informing the public. Now the "news" on TV regularly overlooks actual facts or reports on hearsay and rumors, and fake news somehow equals real news, but only sometimes. I've worked with a lot of print journalists over the years, and I can tell you they come from all backgrounds and political ideologies, often more conservative than you might expect. Most are only concerned with helping people understand what is happening in their world, but perceived bias is often just a gut reaction to critical thinking when applied to an issue we already feel strongly about. Still, the inherent bias of a reporter pales in comparison to the agendas of the power players at the cable news outlets who use their platform for propaganda and seeding unrest. I no longer bother to watch cable news. There is nothing of value there.
 
Gone are the days when the whole nation watched Walter Cronkite and believed that everything they were told was truth. Now everybody watches the news channel that most identifies with their political ideology. I personally find it difficult to find the "truth" that hides in between all these various news outlets.

And since when did "journalists" become commentators? I don't want opinion in the news. Just facts.
If you don't recall, it was Cronkite that looked America straight in the eye and declared the Vietnam War was a lost cause.
 
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Still apparently haggling over the Ciel 2 lease (expires January 2019) and have not renewed it as of this time.
I don't know if this has been covered elsewhere but what exactly will happen if the 129 sat does become unavailable in January (besides the obvious loss of transponders and bandwidth)?
 
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Nothing to worry about, when has Dish ever had a problem negotiating a contract? :biggrin
It's so funny you just said this. A few moments ago my roommate came into my office asking me why SyFy was on the El Rey channel and I had to explain Dish's long history of channel disputes to him
 
I don't know if this has been covered elsewhere but what exactly will happen if the 129 sat does become unavailable in January (besides the obvious loss of transponders and bandwidth)?
I would think a lot of hd locals and other Hd channels on western arc would go away.
I simply assumed that Dish had a contingency plan to be able to do without the 129 satellite. As more and more international channels start being available as streaming VOD, those channels could be removed from the 118 satellite. Then, 118 could be re-used for other purposes, such as moving most of the less popular basic cable channels (and maybe even some local markets) there. SD locals could be removed from Western Arc, and those spot-beams could be re-used for the HD feeds currently on 129. Start switching the remaining SD national channels on Western Arc to MPEG-4 (instead of the current MPEG-2) and that might give them enough available bandwidth to go forward without needing 129 at all.
 
I simply assumed that Dish had a contingency plan to be able to do without the 129 satellite. As more and more international channels start being available as streaming VOD, those channels could be removed from the 118 satellite. Then, 118 could be re-used for other purposes, such as moving most of the less popular basic cable channels (and maybe even some local markets) there. SD locals could be removed from Western Arc, and those spot-beams could be re-used for the HD feeds currently on 129. Start switching the remaining SD national channels on Western Arc to MPEG-4 (instead of the current MPEG-2) and that might give them enough available bandwidth to go forward without needing 129 at all.

I think the key is those local markets - as you mention, if Dish eliminates the SD locals on Western Arc like they did on Eastern Arc, those HD channels could replace them. The other thing is that Hawaii and Alaska can both get the 110/119 ConUS transponders, while 129 they can't get the ConUS transponders. So all those national channels on Hawaii/Alaska spotbeams would not need to be brought over - Hawaii/Alaska could receive NFL Network, Nick, CNN, etc. from the ConUS feed from 110/119. Will be interesting to see what happens.
 
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I think the key is those local markets - as you mention, if Dish eliminates the SD locals on Western Arc like they did on Eastern Arc, those HD channels could replace them. The other thing is that Hawaii and Alaska can both get the 110/119 ConUS transponders, while 129 they can't get the ConUS transponders. So all those national channels on Hawaii/Alaska spotbeams would not need to be brought over - Hawaii/Alaska could receive NFL Network, Nick, CNN, etc. from the ConUS feed from 110/119. Will be interesting to see what happens.
Yes, and I forgot to mention that many Western Arc local markets could be moved to Eastern Arc. Many of them are already on Eastern Arc, so it would just be a matter of eliminating the duplicates on Western Arc.
 
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I simply assumed that Dish had a contingency plan to be able to do without the 129 satellite. As more and more international channels start being available as streaming VOD, those channels could be removed from the 118 satellite. Then, 118 could be re-used for other purposes, such as moving most of the less popular basic cable channels (and maybe even some local markets) there. SD locals could be removed from Western Arc, and those spot-beams could be re-used for the HD feeds currently on 129. Start switching the remaining SD national channels on Western Arc to MPEG-4 (instead of the current MPEG-2) and that might give them enough available bandwidth to go forward without needing 129 at all.

They cannot use F3 Ku at 118.7, that is a FSS Ku satellite, broadcasting in 11.7-12.2 GHz. The regular LNB will not receive those frequencies. The only way that they can move everything over to that would be for them to replace several million LNBs, as the only ones that could receive it are the ones that have international channels.
 
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They cannot use F3 Ku at 118.7, that is a FSS Ku satellite, broadcasting in 11.7-12.2 GHz. The regular LNB will not receive those frequencies. The only way that they can move everything over to that would be for them to replace several million LNBs, as the only ones that could receive it are the ones that have international channels.
That is why I said to put the least popular channels there. Hopefully, very few people would miss those channels or want to go to the effort to get them back. If subscribers cancel their accounts because of the requirement to upgrade their equipment...well, Dish has already stated that they expect to lose more subscribers. So, hopefully the stock price has already adjusted based on that forecast, which means that it should not hurt Dish too much.
 
More and more profits from less and less subscribers.

I don't see Dish surviving the onslaught of 5G and LEO satellite internet coming online over the next 5-10 years. They will either adapt or die.

I just dumped my $130 per month sub (Hopper 3 + Joey + AT250) because I couldn't watch the Celtics. The side effect from that move was $90 a month in savings (Youtube TV). If I want Scripps channels it is another $16 through Philo TV, which I might do and heck even toss on HBO Now while I am rolling in newfound cash.

They've been raising the prices on the remaining subscribers for years while offering fewer of the channels people actually want to watch. It's unsustainable.
 
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I think the key is those local markets - as you mention, if Dish eliminates the SD locals on Western Arc like they did on Eastern Arc, those HD channels could replace them. The other thing is that Hawaii and Alaska can both get the 110/119 ConUS transponders, while 129 they can't get the ConUS transponders. So all those national channels on Hawaii/Alaska spotbeams would not need to be brought over - Hawaii/Alaska could receive NFL Network, Nick, CNN, etc. from the ConUS feed from 110/119. Will be interesting to see what happens.
What if you have a local that only broadcasts in SD? Do the viewers in the East still receive that channel?
 
Trying to replace a Hopper 3 with streaming. Now that's funny. :oldlaugh

The Youtube TV DVR is quite a step up from the heated mechanical brick that is the Hopper 3. It's unlimited, free and never needs to be rebooted. It doesn't even use electricity. It just exists in the cloud and records everything I want and everything it thinks I want. The algorithms are quite amazing as I find myself watching recommended shows all the time. It also seamlessly integrates youtube and other cloud-based programming into the mix.

You're right, it's not a replacement. It's the future.

Edit: I forgot to mention, all the content is in 1080P.
 
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