Businessweek: Dish Starts Falling to Earth

[jansan]

.... could .... analyst .... possibly ... yawn.

I have followed Mr. Moffett over the past few years. He has always been bearish to Dish Network and Echostar. Last Quarter, he was telling everyone that E* would lose nearly 200,000 customers because of D* and cable. While, E* reported bleak 37,000 growth. He was wrong. E* is not growing at the rate of the competition because E* is not considered a value service or a premium service. I wish that E* come up with an incentive program and stick with it and also some good luck.

 

[gdodd12]

All I know is that if DirectTV buys Dish, they better buy that dual tuner technology and use it in places of their receivers now. Not having a dual tuner will keep me away from direct until I am forced to go there by a Dish collapse or merge.

 

[mike123abc]

...E* is not considered a value service or a premium service. I wish that E* come up with an incentive program and stick with it and also some good luck.

I think this sums up Dish's problem pretty well. They cannot decide if they are going to be a premium or a value service. They keep floundering around trying to be both and not accomplishing either.

 

[riffjim4069]

Interesting Tidbits...

Dish Network performance during 1Q: (Jan-Mar 2008)

- Added 730,000 new customers during 1Q
- Had 695,000 customers terminate service during 1Q
- Net gain of 35,000 customer during 1Q
- AT&T signed up 116,000 Dish Network satellite customers during 1Q

Significant Events during 2Q: (Apr-Jun)

- Dropped 15 VOOM HD channels (May)
- Announced AT&T to end partnership at end of year (June)
- DirecTV marketing and promotions are killing Dish Network's efforts
- Cable has become more competitive
- DirecTV is exploiting their HD Leadership
- Telcos (Verizon, AT&T) are ramping up operations and customers are being lured by fiber-to-the-home
- Consumers affected by worsening economic conditions: housing slowdown, increased fuel prices, etc
- Announced standing up special call center to battle a 15% increase in churn
- AT&T signed up only 3,000 Dish Network satellite customers during 2Q opting to focus on U-Verse deployment...

I don't know about your take on the matter, but I can only conclude that Dish Network is going to report subscriber numbers in the red. We shall see what happens on August 8th.

CEO Ergen says he "wasn't as aware of the operations"
as he should have been John Marshall Mantel/SIPA Press

 

[jansan]

Good Points.

Add
Failure AMC-14 Launch March 2008
Tivo litigation continues April 2008
VOOM suing Echostar and Dish May 2008
NewsCorp Cleared of Piracy May 2008

 

[jansan]

Also,

GE dumped 116,144 Echostar shares recently.

Echostar Communications Corpnew (DISH) completely dumped by General Electric Co

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I dont want 100 Part Time Sports Channels and 300 radio stations. I dont want Shopping Channels and Porn. I dont want PPV. I dont want to watch Iranian TV or Korean Soap Operas, or Japanese Business Shows. I dont want my Local Channels.

I just want the top Mainstream Television offereings in HD....like ESPN, ESPN2, USA, TNT, History, Sci Fi, Fox News, MSNBC, AMC, FX, TBS, Outdoor Channel, Speed Channel, Fox SportSouth, National Geographic, Smithsonian. A good DVR. And a single satellite Dish that points at a bird that isnt about to fall out the sky.

I just singed up for Dish Absolute HD, no locals, 722 DVR for 2 sets, and Cinemax for a penny, no commitment, autopay with paperless billing, free install, activatioin fee not waived, new subscriber.

Did I make a mistake? Or is this the same ole Echostar is about to go under, stuff?

 

[Peter Parker]

Interesting though tat of the 17 firms who regularly analyze DISH 6 are forecasting growth of between 19,000 to 75,000. that is actualy rosier than the forecasts 3 months ago.

 

[levibluewa]

I don't know...EscapeVelocity...

And a single satellite Dish that points at a bird that isnt about to fall out the sky.

Did I make a mistake? Or is this the same ole Echostar is about to go under, stuff?

WHERE RU?

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Charleston SC

 

[levibluewa]

61.5/110/119 ? Probably OK then.

 

[tbarney]

I dont want 100 Part Time Sports Channels and 300 radio stations. I dont want Shopping Channels and Porn. I dont want PPV. I dont want to watch Iranian TV or Korean Soap Operas, or Japanese Business Shows. I dont want my Local Channels.

I just want the top Mainstream Television offereings in HD....like ESPN, ESPN2, USA, TNT, History, Sci Fi, Fox News, MSNBC, AMC, FX, TBS, Outdoor Channel, Speed Channel, Fox SportSouth, National Geographic, Smithsonian. A good DVR. And a single satellite Dish that points at a bird that isnt about to fall out the sky.

I just singed up for Dish Absolute HD, no locals, 722 DVR for 2 sets, and Cinemax for a penny, no commitment, autopay with paperless billing, free install, activatioin fee not waived, new subscriber.

Did I make a mistake? Or is this the same ole Echostar is about to go under, stuff?

Um... I don't think you can count Fox SportSouth as a "top Mainstream" offering. I'll give you most of the othersbut you can't single out a single RSN.

I wouldn't call your situation a mistake; you've got argubly the best DVR you can get, and free Cinemax. You should have been able to get activation waived, but that makes up for the $500 dvr that they gave you for free. I left TWC for Dish about 9 months ago and haven't looked back. TWC in Milwaukee only has 10 HD channels ( and they only had 4 when I left) so it was a no brainer.

I wouldn't buy anyone telling you that dish is going under. With 13.8M subs they are making money, just not as much as they could be.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Fair Enough. Its available on my local cable. I like some of the College Football Games available on it.

 

[levibluewa]

And...

I thought no RSN with DISH HD ABSOLUTE? True - False ?

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I think I could live with the Turbo Bronze Package I saw listed, but would really like FX, Fox News, AMC, and TCM added to it.


Granted some Channels, I would miss, like National Geographic, Smithsonian, Biography, Bravo, NFL Network.

 

[EscapeVelocity]

Big Ten on Turbo Silver....why not SportsSouth?

Big Ten sucks IMO.

 

[levibluewa]

EscapeVelocity...was I correct

on the dishes installed...? 61.5, 110 & 119?

 

[EscapeVelocity]

I dont know. I ordered today. They werent very specific. I think Im looking at 2 dishes one for 61.5 and another for 110 and 119.

But I specifically requested a ViP722 Dish DVR.

 

[riffjim4069]

Big Ten on Turbo Silver....why not SportsSouth?

Big Ten sucks IMO.

If you're a Big Ten fan, this is an outstanding channel...especially since they hit the ground running with lots of HD, quality analysts, and a very nice format. Moreover, their football and other fall sports coverage is quite good. Even if you don't like Big Ten sports, you cannot deny they broadcast a lot of very good quality HD. Just go ahead and try finding some HD on all these new "HD" stretch-o-vision channels being stood up.

 

[bkushner]

While not the Dish supporter I once was I am excited about this Newsweek report. Why? I hope Charlie gets a little upset and pushes for something big. Something to separate E* from D*. What that is I don't know but the buying public is seeing a difference now and it's not in E*'s favor.

He had it and got rid of it....VOOM!