AT&T completes DIRECTV spinoff.

Sure, Dish has lost a lot of subs too. They were at 13.9 million in mid-2015 and are now down to 8.68 (not including Sling, which really isn't a comparable service). That's a loss of 37.6% of their subscriber base, which is pretty awful, but still not as bad as AT&T's 45% decline over the same period.

A cable TV industry analyst group's report issued last Oct. said that the overall industry in the US only lost 9.5% of its subs over the preceding 5-year period, i.e. from mid-2015 to mid-2020. I'm sure there have been further losses in the year since, but still not enough to get anywhere close to either AT&T or Dish's level of losses.

So while the rise of cheaper and free streaming options like Netflix and YouTube have hit cable TV overall, it's been satellite TV that's really gotten crushed in the past several years, way beyond the hits that TV+broadband operators like Comcast, Charter, Altice, Verizon, Cox, etc. have seen in their TV subscriber numbers. Not having that double-play connection with customers hurts, as does the up-front 2-year contract. And satellite has higher customer acquisition costs because of the "free" professional installation that must be recouped via their monthly prices. And then a lot of consumers don't want a dish on their roof any more.

At some point, though, I would expect satellite TV to find its floor with rural customers who have no other good choice for pay TV, combined with longtime satellite TV customers who have other choices but love it or just stick with it out of inertia.
Directv has gotten very expensivr due to the sports programming they carry...they carry more RSNs than anyone else..the straw finally broke the camels back...unless they roll back prices I don't see a turn around
 
Directv has gotten very expensivr due to the sports programming they carry...they carry more RSNs than anyone else..the straw finally broke the camels back...unless they roll back prices I don't see a turn around
They typically carry the same RSNs in a given market that the cable co (Comcast, Charter, etc.) offers. DTV just charges higher prices for the same set of channels. Their regular prices are nuts, although they do offer a big price break on the first year and then offer loyalty discounts for some long-term customers. They're even more expensive than AT&T's legacy cable TV service, Uverse TV, which has millions fewer subscribers. The more subs you have, the cheaper your carriage rates should be.
 
Directv has gotten very expensivr due to the sports programming they carry...they carry more RSNs than anyone else..the straw finally broke the camels back...unless they roll back prices I don't see a turn around

The same will happen to Dish soon. They have their renewal coming up with Sinclair, and I doubt they'll let them continue to carry the locals without also agreeing to carry the RSNs. Being able to squeeze MVPDs like that was the whole reason they paid so much for those RSNs.
 
They called me today asking why I canceled and saying they are under new ownership now and things are better.
 
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Yup things got magically fixed overnight. Not.

Ask them when they are releasing new equipment. Lol.


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Equipment isn’t usually first and foremost on consumers’s minds.

No. 1 is cost. For the consumer.

I am contemplating leaving so my combined costs for subscribing to television and Internet can be lowered quite notably. (I actually have more than this one reason.)

A question I would want to ask (but don’t think would be answered by a representative) is this:

What are the company’s specific plans going forward with how it operates with television and Internet?

I notice, with television, that the upgrades for added HD (of a given linear channel) have gone to not the satellite but to the streaming service.

That sounds to me like the satellite service is not getting a committed investment as is the streaming service.

When it comes to Internet…in my area, the most Mbps in download speed is nowhere near to matching the cable companies.
 
When installers are installing remanufactured receivers which are over 10 years old and in certain cases (such as commercial use) there is no warranty on them then that’s a big issue.

I am hearing of so many people getting installed and having their equipment fail within a month of getting hooked up. And the only thing Directv seems to have is more refurbished equipment. That’s a big problem.


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When installers are installing remanufactured receivers which are over 10 years old and in certain cases (such as commercial use) there is no warranty on them then that’s a big issue.

I am hearing of so many people getting installed and having their equipment fail within a month of getting hooked up. And the only thing Directv seems to have is more refurbished equipment. That’s a big problem.


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Are not both companies using refurbished equipment in high numbers, I believe I have read here posted by installers it is all refurbs, both Dish and DirecTV.

It is not like either company is investing in the future of Satellite TV, just found this-

Dish has 11 satellites and only two are less than 10 years old. Each of Dish’s satellites are only expected to be useful for 15 years, meaning that in another five and a half years, only one of Dish’s satellites will still be within its estimated useful lifespan. He said the situation is similar for DirecTV’s fleet and that neither company is building any replacements.

 
Are not both companies using refurbished equipment in high numbers, I believe I have read here posted by installers it is all refurbs, both Dish and DirecTV.

It is not like either company is investing in the future of Satellite TV, just found this-

Dish has 11 satellites and only two are less than 10 years old. Each of Dish’s satellites are only expected to be useful for 15 years, meaning that in another five and a half years, only one of Dish’s satellites will still be within its estimated useful lifespan. He said the situation is similar for DirecTV’s fleet and that neither company is building any replacements.

Its been estimated that D*'s are good to at least 2030 (most of them, not all ... keep in mind not all are needed, some are back ups)
 
Its been estimated that D*'s are good to at least 2030 (most of them, not all ... keep in mind not all are needed, some are back ups)
here is a list, the only ones to look like they can make it to 2030 are T14, 15 and 16, the rest of them that are still operational are 12-19 years old.


Dish Network is worse off, their last Sat launch was in 2010, so their youngest bird is 11 years old.

 
here is a list, the only ones to look like they can make it to 2030 are T14, 15 and 16, the rest of them that are still operational are 12-19 years old.


Dish Network is worse off, their last Sat launch was in 2010, so their youngest bird is 11 years old.


You're falsely assuming a satellite only lasts 15 years like that idiot analyst who wrote the story.

Directv D8, launched in 2005, has fuel life until 2034. Most won't last that long, but there's no reason to believe that D11 and D12 won't still be operational in 2030.
 
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You're falsely assuming a satellite only lasts 15 years like that idiot analyst who wrote the story.

Directv D8, launched in 2005, has fuel life until 2034. Most won't last that long, but there's no reason to believe that D11 and D12 won't still be operational in 2030.
That would make it 29 years old, show me one of their birds that goes at least 20 years ( T5 at 19 years is the oldest and still Operational, the rest of them, lifespan is about 13-16 years), Galaxy 3C was launched the same year as T5 and is about to be removed from the fleet and T7 launched 1 year before T8(D8) is about to be de-orbited.

That is not a good business model, where they hope their Satellites last longer then they should.

And again, I think DirecTV is better off then Dish, whose birds are
11 years old and older.
 
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here is a list, the only ones to look like they can make it to 2030 are T14, 15 and 16, the rest of them that are still operational are 12-19 years old.


Dish Network is worse off, their last Sat launch was in 2010, so their youngest bird is 11 years old.

Remember which ones are actually being used for thier daily TV usage.
Those would be T14, 15 and 16 ... So, yes they are good till around 2030.

This has been discussed many times before on these threads.
 
That would make it 29 years old, show me one of their birds that goes at least 20 years ( T5 at 19 years is the oldest and still Operational, the rest of them, lifespan is about 13-16 years), Galaxy 3C was launched the same year as T5 and is about to be removed from the fleet and T7 launched 1 year before T8(D8) is about to be de-orbited.

That is not a good business model, where they hope their Satellites last longer then they should.

And again, I think DirecTV is better off then Dish, whose birds are
11 years old and older.

Directv is the one who claims it has fuel life until 2034, complain to them if you don't believe it. That's a consequence of the way they launched it, they didn't deliberately give it enough fuel to last that long. But they always give them more fuel than their mission nominally requires - which was 10 years in the case of their Ku satellites, 15 years in the case of the later Ka ones.

They don't need D8 anyway, it was moved to 119 to continue carrying MPEG2 SD local duplicates for a couple dozen markets. If it failed tomorrow other than people still using SD equipment in those markets, no one would even notice.
 
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Seems there was a firmware update that removed the blue AT&T logo...

Snapshot_20210826_113547.jpg
 
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