Can Dish Network survive as a company?

[n1wbd]

I have been wondering recently whether or not Dish Network can survive as a company?

The reason I ask this question is recent past history is showing that it looks like we won't be getting our 150 National HD channels this year. We hear all kinds of unhappy customers out here in the forums complaining about various issues. Dish Customer service seems to have been sent overseas. Not much in the way any NEW national channels either in SD or HD.

Charlie Chats are more and more of a infomercial like like it was say 5 yrs ago where they announced whats going on in the company, programming annoucements (remember when years ago Charlie use to promise at least 1 new channel a month on his chats?), plenty of customer Q & A etc.

Now with the economy in recession tough times are ahead. Could Dish become another Primestar?? Could DirectTV be the only company in town in the future?

I'm not complaining I've been a customer of Dish since 1998 and to this day cannot say I'm really that dissatisfied with their service and never really had any major problems with them.

This is just questions I'm wondering and was interested what customers thought.

Please no flaming.

Bob

 

[space86]

I have been wondering recently whether or not Dish Network can survive as a company?

The reason I ask this question is recent past history is showing that it looks like we won't be getting our 150 National HD channels this year. We hear all kinds of unhappy customers out here in the forums complaining about various issues. Dish Customer service seems to have been sent overseas. Not much in the way any NEW national channels either in SD or HD.

Charlie Chats are more and more of a infomercial like like it was say 5 yrs ago where they announced whats going on in the company, programming annoucements (remember when years ago Charlie use to promise at least 1 new channel a month on his chats?), plenty of customer Q & A etc.

Now with the economy in recession tough times are ahead. Could Dish become another Primestar?? Could DirectTV be the only company in town in the future?

I'm not complaining I've been a customer of Dish since 1998 and to this day cannot say I'm really that dissatisfied with their service and never really had any major problems with them.

This is just questions I'm wondering and was interested what customers thought.

Please no flaming.

Bob

The reasons you give that E* will be another Primestar, is not taking into
account that E* has over 14 Million Subscripers and D* has 16 Million so just
about as many people have E* as have D*, it is only about a two million Subscriper
difference. E* is here to stay in my view.

 

[Quantum]

OK, a net loss of 55,000 subs for October, right? So at that rate it'll take 18 months to lose a million.

But hang on a minute: Dish is upside-down financially. They owe far more than they're worth, meaning they are insolvent. If they went into receivership tomorrow, all their debts couldn't near be paid. All it would take is one creditor tightening their line.

I don't want Dish to go down because that would leave only one choice. But facts are facts.

 

[Juan]

OK, a net loss of 55,000 subs for October, right? So at that rate it'll take 18 months to lose a million.

But hang on a minute: Dish is upside-down financially. They owe far more than they're worth, meaning then are insolvent. If they went into receivership tomorrow, all their debts couldn't near be paid.

I don't want Dish to go down because that would leave only one choice. But facts are facts.

umm no net loss of 10,000 for the third quarter

 

[HDRoberts]

Millions of SD subs out there that don't care a lick about HD. They are still singing up hundreds of thousands a quarter (just not keeping up with churn the last 2 quarters). They will be fine for a while.

 

[Quantum]

I'm not going to the trouble of looking up sub losses, because that's not the point I'm making.

 

[KAB]

I have been wondering recently whether or not Dish Network can survive as a company?

The reason I ask this question is recent past history is showing that it looks like we won't be getting our 150 National HD channels this year. We hear all kinds of unhappy customers out here in the forums complaining about various issues. Dish Customer service seems to have been sent overseas. Not much in the way any NEW national channels either in SD or HD.

Charlie Chats are more and more of a infomercial like like it was say 5 yrs ago where they announced whats going on in the company, programming annoucements (remember when years ago Charlie use to promise at least 1 new channel a month on his chats?), plenty of customer Q & A etc.

Now with the economy in recession tough times are ahead. Could Dish become another Primestar?? Could DirectTV be the only company in town in the future?

I'm not complaining I've been a customer of Dish since 1998 and to this day cannot say I'm really that dissatisfied with their service and never really had any major problems with them.

This is just questions I'm wondering and was interested what customers thought.

Please no flaming.

Bob

Considered yourself flamed!!!! Just another attitude boy. Dish is OK by me.

 

[navychop]

Sigh. Another "The Sky is Falling" thread. Sigh.

 

[mike123abc]

Just look at Dish Financial statements. They have a history of making profits, and continue to make profit. They have a history of paying off debt early... Hardly signs of a company going out of business.

Earnings from last 5 quarters in thousands:

91,895 335,885 258,583 175,035 199,680

 

[n1wbd]

Considered yourself flamed!!!! Just another attitude boy. Dish is OK by me.

It was just a question not a complaint. I always liked Dish. In fact I'm still a customer and have been going on 11 years now they have'nt given me any reason to switch.

 

[yaz96]

First of all, there are not even 150 channels of national HD to broadcast, so DISH is behind no one there(there are a few channels + and - for both sat providers), and I doubt if "JOE subscriber" is really counting channels anyway. HD Channel count just a lot of marketing hype from both E* and D*.

Second, Dish has customer service overseas AND here in the US.

Third, name some NEW National SD channels that are available for Dish to add.

And lastly, Charlie Chats are the same crap they ever have been. In the past years there were more changes going on industry-wide, so they had (a little) more real info to give out, but it's always been about useless self-promotion.

Also, the recession should affect all providers somewhat equally, and may actually boost sub numbers as people keep their entertainment dollars at home.

I'm no Dish homer, but your concerns are somewhat baseless, especially if you are using the posts in these forums as your basis. There are literally millions of other customers who would laugh at the thought of spending even a second to post on the internet about their TV provider. No worries, mate.

 

[kstuart]

umm no net loss of 10,000 for the third quarter

Whoa !

At that rate, they will have no customers in .... 350 years...

 

[Slamminc11]

Whoa !

At that rate, they will have no customers in .... 350 years...

yep, get ready for the doors to shut!!!

BTW to the OP:
1) There was never a promise of 150 HD channels this year, there was a promise of UP TO150 HD channels by the end of the year. semantics yes, but there is a difference.
2) Dish has at least 10 if not more customer service call centers in the United States.
3) Most people aren't going to come to a forum and sing praises. They are going to complain. And there are what, 1% if that much of Dish subs here (Dish does have over 13 million customers).
Not to say Dish doesn't have it's problems, but what fortune 500 company with 13+ million customers doesn't.

 

[satjay]

Hey guys current Directv customer who is investigating moving to Dish in 09. Just a quick question? With the title of this thread do you guys think the future is bright and stable for dish with also some growth of future HD channels.

I do understand that not every channel is in HD right now, so looking at the price and the current Dish HD lineup it does intrest me, If I do swith I just want to at least feel ok that down the road as more HD channels do come available that dish will at some time be picking them up.

Changing providers is a big deal for me, since I have been with directv for a while, and swapping equipment and stuff can be somewhat of a pain, so while I know there are no promises on anything. Does the future look good???

 

[KAB]

Hey guys current Directv customer who is investigating moving to Dish in 09. Just a quick question? With the title of this thread do you guys think the future is bright and stable for dish with also some growth of future HD channels.

I do understand that not every channel is in HD right now, so looking at the price and the current Dish HD lineup it does intrest me, If I do swith I just want to at least feel ok that down the road as more HD channels do come available that dish will at some time be picking them up.

Changing providers is a big deal for me, since I have been with directv for a while, and swapping equipment and stuff can be somewhat of a pain, so while I know there are no promises on anything. Does the future look good???

It's fine. There will be more HD coming early next year, if not yet this month. Ignore the malcontents. Sign up and enjoy your new DVR. You'll love it.

 

[Rey]

It's fine. There will be more HD coming early next year, if not yet this month. Ignore the malcontents. Sign up and enjoy your new DVR. You'll love it.

You sure will. E makes the best Dvr's anywhere! :up

 

[fordpre]

Regarding the churn of customers I wonder if anyone has determined whether or not it is due to Dish's placement as the "value" provider. I would believe that Dish would attract more of the lower-income individuals who are more impacted by changes in the economy than those who would sign up for D*. If that is indeed the case, I would not have too much worry about the subscriber numbers.

 

[satjay]

Regarding the churn of customers I wonder if anyone has determined whether or not it is due to Dish's placement as the "value" provider. I would believe that Dish would attract more of the lower-income individuals who are more impacted by changes in the economy than those who would sign up for D*. If that is indeed the case, I would not have too much worry about the subscriber numbers.

Thanks for the input on my earlier post, fellow Sat Guys!

But if they do have a "Value" customer concept do they look at HD as something a "Value" customer would not be intrested in?

 

[mike123abc]

Financially Dish is sound, they have been profitable for a very long time (much more profitable than DIRECTV has been).

They have a very large customer base, yeah it has gone down a tiny bit, but not at an alarming rate.

A lot of people here are upset over the HD situation, but that is not indicative of the overall customer satisfaction of Dish.

If Dish has the channels you want at the price you want, and is the best deal for you, go for it. Do not buy into a future with any company (DIRECTV Dish or Cable), you never know if they will meet their promises of future channel additions. You have to go with what they have now.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

1) There was never a promise of 150 HD channels this year, there was a promise of UP TO150 HD channels by the end of the year. semantics yes, but there is a difference.

Actually earlier in the year their press releases did not say "UP TO" they added that phrase later.

Actually despite all that is going on in the economy at the moment, Dish is actually doing good compared to others. While their stock has gone down, it has done far better then other companies and is holding its own in this poor economy.