Can Dish Stop the Bleeding? Is Dish Bleeding?

I'm in an 18th month that expires the end of 2008. At that time I expect I will do an evaluation and see that Dish is competitive. I could really care less that they are a "leader", but they can't be missing major channels (for me) like SciFi HD or USA HD. I do prefer their equipment and their pricing plans, but I would make a change if there is a national HD gap of a few major channels.
 
Uh as far as stock price plummeting, not true. In fact, Echostar stock price before the split was still higher than Direct's. Echostar is still considered a very good stock for investors. Wall Street has responded positively to Charlie splitting Dish and Echostar. No, Dish is not drowning nor bleeding, far from it. It would still cost a lot more for any company to have purchased the old Echostar, one of the prime reasons, along with Ergan knowing he can name the price due to the financial performance of his company, no one has bought it.

Direct TV stank for a long time (the old Hughes management) and could not respond to Dish's rebates and free giveaways for almost 2 years while Dish grew far faster than Direct and was the fastest (and is still among the fastest growing) pay tv services in the country. Direct TV is doing just fine today (the News Corp. management deserves a lot of credit for that) even though they allowed Dish to pick up millions and millions of subs that could have (should have?) been Direct's had Direct built a more financialy efficient DBS system and used the superior model of providing both programming and equipment (which they now do because Dish taught them how to run a DBS company efficiently), But they are still behind the Charlie curve.

The moaning and crying is by a few hardcore HD enthusiasts. The current bread and butter SD subscribers think things are just great. This month is not the tipping point for HD, and it won't be almost a year. The facts are that had it not been for two separate launch failures at two separate launch facilities, Dish would have its new satellites in the sky right now. However, the launch failures caused a backlog of companies in line to launch their satellites, Dish among them. Charlie and company have done everything right and have been forced to postpone their big addition of HD channels and the all MPEG 4 service until later this year due to launch accidents that are not at all the fault of Dish. It could have happened to Direct, and then the same people would be crying that Direct was "bleeding" and going out of business. Hardly!

As for me, I am an HD sub, and I have NO PROBLEM waiting until the new satellites are launched because in just about every other way Dish is superior. It's only a matter of months, and if it is a bit longer than that, I shall survive because one has to consider everything in making a decision. I am busy enough with life that before I know it, the new satellites will be up and Dish will likely have MORE HD channels than Direct. Patience.
 
Everyone wants to create so much drama. Probably less than 15% of Dish subscribers have Dish HD. Of that probably only a small % really know what is what about HD. And of those, most are probably under 18 month commitments. Dish is hardly bleeding because of this. (snip)

The latest report shows that more than 50% of US households now have digital TV's, so with that I'd suspect that close to 50% of the Dish subscribers have Dish HD. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it sounds reasonable.

I do know that the Dish HD DVRs (ViP622 and 722) are waaaaay better than the ones from DirecTV or any of the cable companies. I'm staying with E* just for the reliability of my 622 and the fact that I can record three shows at once. I've been very happy with the service from Dish... and I've got plenty of HD channels to watch, too. It would be nice to have the rest of the channels that are now transmitting in HD, but I can wait for their new satellites so they can expand.

Larry
SF
 
No way, more than half of those sets aren't connected to any HD source and there are a fair number of people who use OTA or clear QAM and only watch local HD.
 
The DVR keeps me with them.

The 622 is the best DVR on the market and is a massive time saver for us. Running both my HD TV's its the only box in the house and the only thing I would want them to add is crosstalk between 622/722's. I could have 2 of them and record upto 6 different things at a time but be able to play content back from either.

I won't be leaving anytime soon although the XtremeHD service looks very interesting. It could be what Voom should have been if they keep the buy in price reasonable.
 
Gang Green?

Dish is on the operating table with gang-green and going into cardiac arrest.

Did you really mean: Gangrene?

"Gangrene refers to the decay and death of tissue resulting from an interruption in blood flow to a certain area of your body."
 
The latest report shows that more than 50% of US households now have digital TV's, so with that I'd suspect that close to 50% of the Dish subscribers have Dish HD. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it sounds reasonable.

I do know that the Dish HD DVRs (ViP622 and 722) are waaaaay better than the ones from DirecTV or any of the cable companies. I'm staying with E* just for the reliability of my 622 and the fact that I can record three shows at once. I've been very happy with the service from Dish... and I've got plenty of HD channels to watch, too. It would be nice to have the rest of the channels that are now transmitting in HD, but I can wait for their new satellites so they can expand.

Larry
SF

Source please?

In my estimation...just from installing...I'd say the number is closer to 20 percent. Keep in mind, this is just a sampling of the customers I install here in NE Ohio. Outside of that, those results may vary.
 
If I met Chuckles and Jingels in a bar I would think they were OK guys and we would throw back a few brewskis, but no way would I peg them for billionaire businessmen. I think that is what's right/wrong with E* right now. C & J were riding a wave and hanging ten, but they are approaching the beach now and are looking to each other as what to do next. As in all mega-corporations the bottom line is a god, and the worshipers need as much gold as possible to offer tribute so the god is happy. The slaves (in this case the customers) are being asked to do more with less and still be happy with the promise the future will be better for them, but we all know how the story ends.
 
Source please?

In my estimation...just from installing...I'd say the number is closer to 20 percent. Keep in mind, this is just a sampling of the customers I install here in NE Ohio. Outside of that, those results may vary.


I agree 50% seems too high. All I could find is this article from last summer
HDTV Penetration hits 30% - AVS Forum
indicating HDTV penetration at an estimated 37% by year end. That being said, my guess is that Satellite customers are MUCH more likely than the average to be subscribed for HD packages.

I'll say this, I'm not sure about Ohio, but in Dallas HD IS the thing that is driving membership between the Cable, Satellite, and FIOS options.
 
If Dish is bleeding then TWC is 6 feet under.

:D Funny because it's so true.

12 HD channels in my area and only 2 of them are broadcast HD channels, NBC and PBS. And I sense no urgency from them to address it. They just tag "Home of free HD" on their mailers, even though last I heard they were charging $4.95/mo. for their HD tier. Dropped them 7 years ago and don't regret it a bit.
 
The only thing said that is a fact, is that Dish has less HD than Direct. Everything from there is either made up or pure conjecture not based on facts.

Dish as a company is very solid, and has been for quite sometime. It has always been Direct that had trouble staying in the black. That said, neither company is in any kind of trouble.

But most importantly the remarks are based on HD - and you seem to forget how different people are who come to these forums as to most of the population. By far, most people do not even have an HD TV, and do not plan on getting one until their present TV needs to be replaced. They do not care at all about HD, at this time. That will change of course, and do you really believe Dish will not have as much or more HD than Direct does at some point in the near future?
At this time my eyes tell me SD is better on Dish, their packages are usually less expensive (not by much and not always) they have more HBO channels, which is the biggest premium choice and last I looked for less than Direct TV especially if you get Cinemax with it. In addition they have superstations, and it is possible for some to get distants even if they have their locals. That is all not to mention, in my opinion and from reading posts many others agree, Dish receivers at this time are better overall than those from Direct.

Dish has done and continues at times to do stupid marketing things, and CSR's are not always great, but unfortunately neither are most other large companies. Cingualar/ATT has to be the worst I have ever encountered. And Dish has been on the road of adding costs sometimes more than Direct. But even with those costs Dish remains right around Direct in the final bill.

Add to all this, I have had Dish for many years - before locals on satellite was even thought about, and have rarely had an outage, certainly not for any real length of time. Not that Direct TV does either, but again, for the average Dish customer, that means alot. Oh, and Direct TV doesn't have Charlie Chats! ;)
 
Consider me one of guys perfectly happy with the SD video. I have an HDTV only because my old analog set finally quit. I have never given it much thought about going for the HD receivers and channels.

If Encore Westerns someday go HD, I might consider it. Besides my two 721's work just fine and I don't have to worry about all these additional fees.

I'm glad you gentlemen enjoy HD and I hope you get what you want. Me, I just want to stay as I am with what I have from Dish.
 
The true story is that most TV viewers do not care about HD. They will keep
seeing the same old picture. Hell most persons don't even know about the
change that is coming! Analog to digital.
 
I'm willing to wait for Dish to add channels. I love my 622 and ext HD. It's only my wife and I, we only have the one receiver for three tvs. We're never watching more than one tv at a time. With Direct, I'd have to have 3 receivers.

While I agree the ext HD is a great feature, your statement isn't fair, if you never watch more than one TV at a time, you only need ONE receiver from DirecTV and send the same signals to the other two just like with 622.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts