Charlie speaks..... Finally!!!

tjwgrr

Route of the Northliners
Dec 21, 2005
285
3
Western Michigan
Launching satellites next year will mean more channels in what, 2009? Yep, competition is good- I may just add to the "churn."

16% fall in Echostar's stock price yesterday. A good time for AT&T to buy?
 

Voyager6

*Cancelled*
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Nov 30, 2005
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Launching satellites next year will mean more channels in what, 2009? Yep, competition is good- I may just add to the "churn."

16% fall in Echostar's stock price yesterday. A good time for AT&T to buy?
Much of that price drop was due to CitiGroup changing their rating for Echostar from buy to hold and dropping the target price . PCQuote | Empowering the Individual Investor CitiGroup still estimates the chance of a merger at 65%.
 

Poke

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Dec 3, 2003
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Yeah and dont forget AT&T might buy Direct which would make more sense for them to get into more homes. They already do this with Dish and with Dish buying Sling and starting a new IPTV Service those a few things that I dont think they would have done if they plan on selling. Either way we will see what happens and if Dish gets a new bird up sometime next year it should only take 30-90 days for them to test it out if I'm not mistaken. Once they do their testing they should be able to start using it.
 

Poke

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Dec 3, 2003
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I dont think it takes a year test the sats should only take a couple of months once their launched.
 

Poke

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Dec 3, 2003
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Does this sound like we won't be seeing new HD channels until late next year at the soonest?

I think there is a chance we will see some more HD channels this year. Right now there not that many ""National Networks"" that have gotten a HD version of their channel up. Direct only has about 5-6 National Channels in HD that Dish does not have. Besides that their about the same so if Dish adds more this year I could see it being the ones that they dont have that Direct has. Which tells everyone that really Dish and Direct really already have what is available at the time. I know that some National Network have said they will not have their HD Version of their channel up until next year.
 

richiephx

SatelliteGuys Pro
Feb 1, 2006
728
1
Phoenix, AZ
Personally, I could care less if E* adds anymore not so HD channels. If the new channels are like some that already exist, like History, TBS, A&E and TNT (to name a few) they can keep them until they stop distorting the picture and have sufficient HD content. I have more channels now that I can watch. I can wait.
 

rad

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Right now there not that many ""National Networks"" that have gotten a HD version of their channel up. Direct only has about 5-6 National Channels in HD that Dish does not have.

Taking a quick look, D* has the following national HD channels that E* doesn't (and I didn't include any of the RSN's or others that haven't shown any HD programming yet).

Sci-Fi, USA, FX, MGM, Smithsonian, HBO-West, Starz-West, Starz Comedy, Starz Edge, The Movie Channel, Showtime Too, Showtime West, CNN and The Weather Channel, that's 14. You can kick it to 16 if you include FBN and CBNC, which while aren't really showing HD content they are sending out a 16:9 HD signal and using that extra screen space for more data then you get on the SD channels. Either way, D* has more then 5-6 national HD channels then E*.
 

MikeD-C05

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What I want to know is what other 25 channels is DIrectv going to launch between now and January in hd ? THey keep saying 100 channels by years end. I would also like to see DISH launch some of the channels that Directv has now in hd like USA, SCi-Fi, FX and any premium movie channels. And I know about the 2 new sats that DISH was supposed to launch next year but when has it been 3 new sats? Will this be for the new all mpeg 4 service that Charlie promised last May or is that the vip service he already launched this month for cable? And how is that going to happen if ATT buys them? Charlie hasn't really answered any real questions he has just made us all ask more.
 

Stargazer

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Sep 7, 2003
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Sucks for Dish that they are going to get a LOT less for their company after the press release and the drop in stock values.

If Dish cannot offer what DirecTv does as far as content goes then they need to offer the customers something else such as longer term discounts, long term free movie packages, etc. Maybe this would also help keep churn down for existing subscribers. If they can do that then they would not need to add as many new subscribers to see the same amount of growth as they have before and they would not have anymore money in keeping their existing subscribers as they would adding new ones. Perhaps 2 years of free HBO when you sign a contract to keep their service for 2 years. I think that is worth the $5 per month they pay HBO for their programming.
 

Poke

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Dec 3, 2003
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Well I think Dish will offer what Direct has and Dish HD Hardware is better for most part than Direct TV. Heck Direct was behind on HD Content for so long they only had one way to which was to play catch up. So I think Dish will be fine.
 

Van

SatelliteGuys Master
Jul 8, 2004
9,325
9
Virginia Beach
I think Charlie has lied about how long they have been doing badly operationaly, it goes back to a year and half / two years atleast and the cancer is deeply entrenched in every aspect of the company. If he wants to save face and get things back on track then he should do some house cleaning and go back to the basics working with what he knows and what has worked best for him and Dish in the past.
 

RandallA

Supporting Founder
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Dec 13, 2004
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IMO, E* began its decline when they began implementing bogus charges for everything just like the Cable companies do. They went away from their business model that made them a growing company. They also forgot about what made their customers happy, which was more and better TV for less. Now they're more like less and worst TV for more.
 

RealityCheck

SatelliteGuys Pro
Apr 3, 2007
213
0
Left Coast
Well I think Dish will offer what Direct has and Dish HD Hardware is better for most part than Direct TV. Heck Direct was behind on HD Content for so long they only had one way to which was to play catch up. So I think Dish will be fine.
Well the issue is identical. Directv had to get its new satellite launched, and now it is ECHOSTAR that has to get its new satellite launched. Simple really. The 2 questions are WHEN can they launch? I say not before may at the earliest, so they won't begin to catch up until July IMO. Second question is how many don't stay around to see how long it takes? I say they have another horrible quarter compared to directv.
 

iceondsom

SatelliteGuys Pro
May 1, 2005
170
0
Personally, I could care less if E* adds anymore not so HD channels. If the new channels are like some that already exist, like History, TBS, A&E and TNT (to name a few) they can keep them until they stop distorting the picture and have sufficient HD content. I have more channels now that I can watch. I can wait.

Talk to the programmers about this gripe. Those guys are upconverting SD content and passing it off as HD. Doesn't matter which company delivers that to your home, it is still not true HD.
 

iceondsom

SatelliteGuys Pro
May 1, 2005
170
0
I think Charlie has lied about how long they have been doing badly operationaly, it goes back to a year and half / two years atleast and the cancer is deeply entrenched in every aspect of the company. If he wants to save face and get things back on track then he should do some house cleaning and go back to the basics working with what he knows and what has worked best for him and Dish in the past.

What might that be?
 

Transfering a receiver to someone

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