DirectTV seems to be making a major upgrade

[purvis]

in their HD offering and the quickness of their Mpeg4 upgrades. It appears that Dish is taking a slower approach. Could this come back to bit Dish? I really see Direct offering all HD channels in the top 50 markets by the end of next year. But, I don't see Dish moving anywhere near this fast! If you are living in a major city and direct offers all the locals in HD and dish does not; it would seem that would really cut into dishes market share at that point

 

[dfergie]

E* is likely going to have the V*21 by the end of the year that will be for everyone to enjoy... If you live in a major city you should be able to get the "Locals" OTA anyway so not that big of a deal unless like me you have no OTA ava... ( I get distants from D*) Unless D*'s upgrade to mpeg4 improves their bandwidth starved Hd lineup I see no cut into E*'s market. (D* sub since 96, E* since 99)

 

[Bulldog]

Sitting by the side

This is the reason I went with Comcast. Super low price for 16 months - HD locals, HDDVR. By the time the deal is over, D or E* will have something setup.

Hopefully the price for the HD programs will be okay.

I am saving about $40 a month with Comcast. and that will more than pay for a 941 if I go that route.

 

[sanhin2]

This is the reason I went with Comcast. Super low price for 16 months - HD locals, HDDVR. By the time the deal is over, D or E* will have something setup.

Hopefully the price for the HD programs will be okay.

I am saving about $40 a month with Comcast. and that will more than pay for a 941 if I go that route.

well comcast is not the best cause its not a 100% digital signal and juss because the fact that their prices are very high in my area because they are the dominant cable company does not make comcast a good candidate for me.

 

[The Big Wood]

I for one am about to leave E*, because I cannot receive OTA stations. The Atlanta HD locals started this past Tuesday, and I will give E* til the end of the week to respond to my questions (evidently noone is manning the ceo@ email this week because no responses at all).

I don't want to leave E*, and I've been with them since 1999...but my family watches far more content on the the big 4 than what is watched on any other HD channels combined that E* has up right now. Voom doesn't get watched in my house much at all with all the repeats they are showing.

E* better get their act together soon, or there will be many like me leaving. Just to make a point, the reason why I got E* over D* in 1999 was because E* offered locals and D* did not at the time. The tables have turned now, and the local channel options have made my decision for me once again.

 

[ksload]

Dish can't be everything to everyone.

With a large percentage of their subscribers able to pickup HD locals, it would seem to be in their best interest to bring more national HD options to the table.

I live 40 miles from most of the broadcast towers in my area, thanks to my powered antenna (provided by Voom) I can pick up 23 locals in HD (including ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, UPN, PAX & WB) I'd rather see the rest of the Voom channels plus the missing HD movie channels, etc.

 

[dfergie]

Dish can't be everything to everyone.

With a large percentage of their subscribers able to pickup HD locals, it would seem to be in their best interest to bring more national HD options to the table.

I agree.

I'd rather see the rest of the Voom channels plus the missing HD movie channels, etc.

this is a better plan IMHO... But I keep my options open and will keep D*...

 

[jkinser]

Just make a stop into the D* forums. Plenty of people over there complaining about the lack of national HD channels. Seems like the grass is always greener on the other side.

 

[Spike]

Like all of you I would greatly enjoy living in the future about 5 years from where things are now. I was with Direct for man years. I am now with Dishnetwork. In looking at this, there seems to be many factors going into which company a person goes with.

Personally, I believe this is now a consumer market. And Direct and Dish are responding by trying to retain customers through their must have 1 year or 2 year commitments.

Now... here I go! "I" like dish, because this market is changing (slowly) and dish allows a person to purchase their own equipment with no long term commitment. I can add more programing, subtract it, etc.

I hope direct continues its planned course of action. And I hope Dish does the same. I believe keeping our options open at this time is the best thing to do!! Who knows which company is going to come out looking like they are the clear winner. In 2-3 years we might know who that is... MIGHT. These two companies are to be commended for what is happening now.

FINALLY! We are starting to get more HD. Who cares which is first, since they are both in the process of doing it!!

 

[jerryez]

Cox here only has two of the locals in HD. Then they do not even have the HD channels that Dish has without Voom. Plus Cox is more expensive than Dish or Directv.
I get my local networks in HD OTA. I would rather see more National HD myself.

 

[SummitAdvantageRetailer]

I for one am about to leave E*, because I cannot receive OTA stations. The Atlanta HD locals started this past Tuesday, and I will give E* til the end of the week to respond to my questions (evidently noone is manning the ceo@ email this week because no responses at all).

I don't want to leave E*, and I've been with them since 1999...but my family watches far more content on the the big 4 than what is watched on any other HD channels combined that E* has up right now. Voom doesn't get watched in my house much at all with all the repeats they are showing.

E* better get their act together soon, or there will be many like me leaving. Just to make a point, the reason why I got E* over D* in 1999 was because E* offered locals and D* did not at the time. The tables have turned now, and the local channel options have made my decision for me once again.

You expect good customer service during the Thanksgiving week?! Give them until next week to respond to you. You're not going to see a lot of changes during holidays. If something messes up, they'll need the manpower to fix it and holiday vacationers won't help that. And if you leave to go to D*, just remember that it's a 2-year commitment with D*. And be prepared to embrace HD-lite at D*.

 

[Stargazer]

Most people still have their SD televisions and do not have the HD televisions yet. It may be five or so years before HD makes a bigger presence just because of that fact. This gives time for newer technology comes out in which will make it more realist with the bandwidth that we currently have today. Just look how far we have come the past five years.

 

[Juan]

A lot of people are buying HD tv's (the big ones) just to watch DVD's on !! With the price of movies reaching 9 bucks a ticket more and more people are staying home !!

 

[Van]

Ok so do we know what the percentage of E and D subs who have HD sets are as compared to those of us who are not lucky enough to be making big cheese? And what is the percentage of subs that will know about D offering hd locals? Keep in mind that even though the prices on hd are coming down that the cheap hd sets like westinghouse arent going to be apealing to everyone because the pq on them are comparable to that of a crt, and that the prices are still out of reach of the average consumer who makes $40,000 - $55,000 a year and has a family to feed. I dont put in alot of HD, even here while working in Miami I havent put in much and in fact have put in far less HD than I do back in my home market.

 

[Juan]

My understanding is that analogue tv production has ceased...If you want a new tv it will have to be a digital (not necessarily HD) tv.. So I would think that there is a rather substantial HD marked for E* and D* There are some decent (smaller normal size ones) for well under 1000 bucks.. Like 32inche samsungs

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Right now HD make up less than 5% of the subscriber base. The cost of providing HD locals to all DMAs right now would be more than the cost for the entire Dish system built to date. There is no way Dish could absorb such a cost right now and still stay in business.

So they work on ways to deliver at a much lower cost. That will most likely be via MPEG4. But right now Dish is reporting that their tests on MPEG4 are yielding results well below what will be needed.

Through the use of the extra transponders gained by the Rainbow-1 acquisition, the satellite at 129, and through intermediate transmission standards like 8PSK-turbo, Dish does have some bandwidth that could be used to offer more HD channels. We've heard strong indications that some of these will be the additional VOOM channels, and we are hoping for a few additional national HD channels.

It is possible that Dish may use some of this bandwidth to offer HD Locals to a few of the major markets. They are certainly feeling some heat from DirecTV already moving in this direction. They could try to use Rainbow-1 to hit some of the East Coast cities with spotbeams. I think many of us will be surprised if they can do any more than this over the next year, and possibly 2 years.

Personally, I hope they concentrate on offering national channels. I believe the collective national market for the leader in HD national channels could more than offset losing some subs for the lack of HD locals in a few markets, particularly given that in those markets a lot of people can get their locals via OTA.

Certainly Dish has to be working on a long-term solution for HD locals, and have a much strong solution in place for them by 2009. MPEG4 should be much more efficient by then, which will significantly reduce the number of satellites needed. Undoubtably they have several plans under consideration.

Now whether this means that Atlanta will have Dish supplied HD locals in the next 6 months is an unknown to me. If I had to bet, I'd bet against it, but it could happen.

 

[Juan]

and cable continues to win back HD subs

 

[Spike]

That was very well stated Tom! Great post!

 

[The Big Wood]

You expect good customer service during the Thanksgiving week?! Give them until next week to respond to you. You're not going to see a lot of changes during holidays. If something messes up, they'll need the manpower to fix it and holiday vacationers won't help that. And if you leave to go to D*, just remember that it's a 2-year commitment with D*. And be prepared to embrace HD-lite at D*.

No, I didn't expect good customer service during the week of Thanksgiving. My days are messed up by having the 4 day weekend, so I was thinking I was in the beginning of "next" week. I basically meant that I need answers to what E* plans to do by Dec. 2 for me to make my final decision to stay or leave...stupid brain in my head!

I am expecting the 2 year commitment, and that's why I would prefer to stay with E* since I have been commitment free for a long time.

 

[lee78221]

No, I didn't expect good customer service during the week of Thanksgiving. My days are messed up by having the 4 day weekend, so I was thinking I was in the beginning of "next" week. I basically meant that I need answers to what E* plans to do by Dec. 2 for me to make my final decision to stay or leave...stupid brain in my head!

I am expecting the 2 year commitment, and that's why I would prefer to stay with E* since I have been commitment free for a long time.

With DIRECTV you can return the equipment if you are not happy and get out of the 2 year commitment