DIRECTV Launches new C61 Client

[DishSubLA]

Of course, Ergen happens to own Sling TV, too. I doubt he'll be in line at the soup kitchen any time soon.

Yeah, and DirecTV will have their own OTT (version of Sling TV) service. So they will have the IP revolution covered, as well. These guys (Dish and DirecTV) are already working the other side of the street. They will be around for a long time, just not necessarily as many reflectors on roofs as today.

 

[wvman]

Of course, Ergen happens to own Sling TV, too. I doubt he'll be in line at the soup kitchen any time soon.

Yeah, you're right about that, but I can see several services offering streaming packages as well. It is interesting how some of this has came back to bite some of the big players in the game after a few years. I never particularly liked Ergen, even though I didn't mind taking his money.

 

[wvman]

Fiber to every home is the pipe dream in this case. Maybe everyone in rural areas who'll NEVER see broadband internet of any kind except for heavily capped satellite internet should all pick up & move to the very few areas that will offer fiber. Fiber &/or 5g wireless to every home is both a fantasy & a joke. It will never happen in my lifetime or the lifetime of my children where I live, & moving is not an option.

I'd be happy to get DSL. Right now, I have a wireless service and to be honest, it sucks. There's no cable in our area, and for what I need internet service for, satellite internet will not work due to the latency problem. This service has no cap, but it may as well due to the unreliability of their service. I put up a 40 foot tower just to get their service. I'm lucky to get 0.5mbps most days, and in the wee hours of the morning, I may get 1.5mbps. The service cost $38.95 a month, but right now, it's all I can get.

Maybe, just maybe, we might get DSL soon. I spoke with one of Frontier's engineers a while back, and he showed me the blueprints he drafted covering the area we're in. According to him, we may be able to get 25mbps and at the worst, 15mbps. As far as moving, internet is not that important to me, although it would be nice to have fiber. I moved out here to get away from the city taxes, ordinances and meddling city officials. I will never move back to the city.

 

[wvman]

I don't think a municipality is allowed to grant monopolies. https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/cable-television

I can show you one right here in West Virginia. The city owns the cable company, and they are the only one offering cable services in the city limits. Don't quote me on this, but I think Time Warner looked at this town a few years ago, and they decided against it due to the limitations the city was going to put on them. The town I used to live in had a monopoly for years on cable until someone finally contacted the FCC and FTC and took them to court.

 

[raoul5788]

I can show you one right here in West Virginia. The city owns the cable company, and they are the only one offering cable services in the city limits. Don't quote me on this, but I think Time Warner looked at this town a few years ago, and they decided against it due to the limitations the city was going to put on them. The town I used to live in had a monopoly for years on cable until someone finally contacted the FCC and FTC and took them to court.

So if the town in WV is taken to court, then they will likely lose their monopoly just like in the example you gave.

 

[bigkahuna12c]

I don't think they look at it that way .... very rarely do most people have a need for 16 tuners.
Yes, those on these type of sites that know about this stuff may, but the general population that has D* has no need for that many.
It wasn't long ago that D* was being praised for the 5 Tuners it had ... remember dish only had 2-3 at the time.

Nobody says, just because the other company has something that D* has to also.

I have to respectfully disagree. As a standalone DVR then 5 tuners are fine but as a supposed whole home DVR then the Genie falls woefully
short in all areas. The processing power is way under powered. The user interface makes me feel like windows 3.1. Long in the tooth is being
respectful. You are correct that not long ago 5 tuners was being praised & we all had 32 bit single core processors & 2 to 4 GB of memory.
But those days are long gone. I am not trying to be confrontational so please don't take it that way.
As reference I recently had Direct TV installed so i could get NFL Sunday ticket. So I currently have the top equipment from each.
I have 4 TV's & have had Dish for years I recently upgraded to the Hopper 3 & I no longer have tuner woes as well as a great user interface.
On any given weekend when all the family is home between recording 2 to 3 football games people watching their own channels & recording
their likes we will have 7 to 12 tuners in use at any one time. Even on normal days we will have on average of 4 to 7 tuners in use with
just 2 people of an evening.
I have to honestly say that when I switch over from the Hopper 3 to the Genie I feel like I went 3 steps back.
I am not saying that Dish is perfect but after first hand experience with both the Hopper 3 with the modern UI and the under powered Genie with
outdated UI. The Hopper 3 completely & totally blows the Genie out of the water.
Sorry for the long post

 

[dishcomm]

The bundle thing is beginning to piss me off.

It's bad enough not all areas can get their crappy internet, but then not everyone can or will switch their cell service to AT&T

The bundle requirement should only exist when ATT internet is available

I live in a area owned by Windstream..AT&T will never get in here. So no worries about the sales people cramming the bundle down my throat.
When Dish had an alliance with Windstream, it sometimes made my installs miserable.
There were times when customers would reject the Dish install appointment because they were under the impression that i was going to connect the internet as well.
When I asked, the typical response began with "Well they said..."
Crikey!!!!!

 

[dishcomm]

if cable companies are granted monopolies by the municipalities they serve, they should be required to serve the ENTIRE municipality. ah well.

They usually are.
The telcos are exempt from the regulations some call "redlining"..For example, where Verizon makes FiOS available, not every location in a given area is wired to receive the service. Verizon only goes where the density of potential customers is heaviest.
Same applies to Google Fiber.
Suffice to say, these FOC based services will not be made available in lower income neighborhoods nor will they appear in rural areas.
The work and technology required to cover all areas is cost prohibitive.
The only way this would ever be done is if the federal government subsidized it. And that means paying customers would see additional fees to cover the cost.

 

[dishcomm]

I don't think a municipality is allowed to grant monopolies. https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/cable-television

In essence, they do. It has been done this way since the advent of cable tv in the 1970's.
Cable co's would seek a franchise agreement from a municipal government. The cable co would place in their end of the proposal a no compete clause. of course the municipal government would agree. As long as their was something in it for them. So there was a fee hidden in the bill of each customer. Or some sort of surcharge or tax....
When I was living in NJ. there was ONE town that had dual plant. The then UA Columbia Cable TV Co and Cablevision served this town. Other than that, my part of Bergen County was served by Cablevision.
There is one town just over the border here in SC that has the local telephone Co-op, Comporium which also competes with Time Warner.
Comporium is a POTS company mostly on copper. Time Warner ran fiber plant in all the newer neighborhoods.
Comporium which STILL offers analog services, standard packages compete with TWC, but the more advanced services, such as sports packages and expanded premium movie services, Comporium is unable to provide.

 

[dishcomm]

So if the town in WV is taken to court, then they will likely lose their monopoly just like in the example you gave.

Here's the rub. Someone or a bunch of someone's have to pony up the money to pay a legal firm to bring the suit.
Failing that. the town gets to do what they wish.