Why does Dish do more for sports like Directv? So Dish doesn't have MLB or NFL packages well then they need other things like stat trackers, player trackers, and how about the new Directv feature were you can see scores without changing channels? What do you all think? More interactive features!
Dish and sports, come on!
- Thread starter curtishd
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 63
- Views 7K
I am watching the NBA playoffs in full HD right now on Dish Network.
During the NBA season, every match of my local team that was broadcast in HD, was shown on Dish Network on the local RSN HD channel.
If I happened to want to follow a different NBA team in another area, I could subscribe on Dish Network to NBA League Pass and see all of that team's games, including the HD ones.
Frankly, I am not that interested in 350 pound fat guys pushing each other for 10 seconds, and then standing around for several minutes before doing it again for 10 seconds. zzzzzzzz
PS The thing I hate most on any channel is SCORES. I actually have other things to do, and so I use the DVR to record games, and I don't want one channel spoiling me about the other games. If I really want scores or stats, I can use the same device that we are all using now, i.e. the PC on the Internet to get any score and any stat instantly.
During the NBA season, every match of my local team that was broadcast in HD, was shown on Dish Network on the local RSN HD channel.
If I happened to want to follow a different NBA team in another area, I could subscribe on Dish Network to NBA League Pass and see all of that team's games, including the HD ones.
Frankly, I am not that interested in 350 pound fat guys pushing each other for 10 seconds, and then standing around for several minutes before doing it again for 10 seconds. zzzzzzzz
PS The thing I hate most on any channel is SCORES. I actually have other things to do, and so I use the DVR to record games, and I don't want one channel spoiling me about the other games. If I really want scores or stats, I can use the same device that we are all using now, i.e. the PC on the Internet to get any score and any stat instantly.
Dish just plain cannot afford NFL--that is Direct TV exclusive--nor could he afford the new higher MLB rate (he did have MLB for a few years, but MLB got greedy and only Direct and a some cable cos. could afford it. Just too expensive for Dish.). Dish is a smaller company that does not have the deep pockets of Direct TV or the major cable companies nor Verizon.
However, Charlie has done phenomenally well over the years. Dish would love to have the MLB Extra Innings again, and a shot at NFL Sunday Ticket--if it should ever open up--, but they just don't have the money, and Charlie runs a financially conservative company. Dish has cash and the best spreadsheets of just about any pay-TV company. Solid books. But, Dish won't go into debt for MLB, et, al. That is a wise financial decision.
Let's see: Direct TV profits down (Dish profits were UP last quarter); Verizon no profit for a good long time; Charter Communications gonna go bankrupt. It is a shame Wall Street doesn't sufficiently appreciate how well and efficiently Dish is run and how his numbers are far more healthy than a lot of the competition. Dish is doing quite well financially, but we get distracted by the recent subs loss that Charlie will fix.
As Scott said, if you must be the tops in all sports availability, and pay for it, then Direct TV is your home. Otherwise, until Dish earns more cash or the price comes down, they just can't afford it. Charlie has always been up-front about his lack of deep pockets putting him at a competitive disadvantage, and he knows he can't stay this way for very long. At some point not too soon, he must buy a larger company or bring in a major investor to Dish, or just sell Dish to keep Dish competitive. When the Comcast Disney merger was rumored, Charlie flat-out said that if it happened, he would have to ". . . write a big check to someone [buy a large media company], or someone is gonna write a big check to me, and I'm on down the road" because he said there was no way he could compete with that merger.
But we like Dish for what it is. And I like my lower monthly bill that doesn't subsidize NFL or MLB. Plus Dish has better STB's. I am one who does like it when Dish drops a channel because that is how he keeps prices down. The channels come crawling back a few weeks later, anyway.
However, Charlie has done phenomenally well over the years. Dish would love to have the MLB Extra Innings again, and a shot at NFL Sunday Ticket--if it should ever open up--, but they just don't have the money, and Charlie runs a financially conservative company. Dish has cash and the best spreadsheets of just about any pay-TV company. Solid books. But, Dish won't go into debt for MLB, et, al. That is a wise financial decision.
Let's see: Direct TV profits down (Dish profits were UP last quarter); Verizon no profit for a good long time; Charter Communications gonna go bankrupt. It is a shame Wall Street doesn't sufficiently appreciate how well and efficiently Dish is run and how his numbers are far more healthy than a lot of the competition. Dish is doing quite well financially, but we get distracted by the recent subs loss that Charlie will fix.
As Scott said, if you must be the tops in all sports availability, and pay for it, then Direct TV is your home. Otherwise, until Dish earns more cash or the price comes down, they just can't afford it. Charlie has always been up-front about his lack of deep pockets putting him at a competitive disadvantage, and he knows he can't stay this way for very long. At some point not too soon, he must buy a larger company or bring in a major investor to Dish, or just sell Dish to keep Dish competitive. When the Comcast Disney merger was rumored, Charlie flat-out said that if it happened, he would have to ". . . write a big check to someone [buy a large media company], or someone is gonna write a big check to me, and I'm on down the road" because he said there was no way he could compete with that merger.
But we like Dish for what it is. And I like my lower monthly bill that doesn't subsidize NFL or MLB. Plus Dish has better STB's. I am one who does like it when Dish drops a channel because that is how he keeps prices down. The channels come crawling back a few weeks later, anyway.
Last edited:
DirectTV may be the Sports leader. However, they still lack WFN and ESPNU HD. You can laugh all you want but fishing is still a sport. And, ESPNU HD is definitely in high demand during college football season.
gotta ask...if Dish is conservative to promote their competitiveness in the pay tv business then why is D* reporting a net gain of 400,000 subs since Q1 2008 and E* a net sub LOSS of 195,000 during the same time period?
Dish's STB's ARE better in many ways. But why we cannot convince the DBS shopper of that and other things is a mystery to me.
All of the responses are right on regarding your question. Yes, they have to get better marketing and better ad campaigns, and Charlie has admitted this, but there is one other problem:
Direct and others, like Verizon, not only have superior campaigns, but they have the deep pockets to make incredibly HUGE media buys. In other words, they have the tons of $$$$ to buy in the most expensive national spots, the most expensive local spots and the most targeted buys in such huge quantities that you can't miss a Direct TV ad nor one for Verizon. Part of great advertising is that the advertising is ubiquitous. The ads are everywhere (sponsoring events with Direct TV logo behind them) and the consumer is beaten over the head with repetition and several ads with something of a story arc that need several months to play out, but that cost HUGE, HUGE $$$$ that Dish just doesn't have.
Again, it is Dish's lack of deep pockets that hinder it. This wasn't a huge problem before, but now with Direct finally improved and Verizon being aggressive and Time Warner Cable advertising like never before, there is more competition and Dish's presence is getting lost in all the huge noise (tons of advertising) of its much larger and wealthier competitors. This is exactly what Charlie was talking about years ago, and that lack of resources won't stop at the ads, either. Put simply: Dish can't afford the same expensive campaigns and media buys the big-boys can. Dish is just about the only Pay-TV service that is not part of a huge media conglomerate, and the press love to refer to Dish and Charlie as "scrappy" and "feisty" because he manages to survive among much bigger sharks. But, don't count Charlie out, he has outperformed bigger companies in the past, but that was when Direct TV's management was inferior and Verizon and TWC weren't fighting so hard.
For Dish to do some of what many on this board want Dish to do such as get MLB Extra Innings, spend the same as Direct on ads and some other things, would put Dish out of business--FAST! Then the banks would own Dish and nobody would be happy. Remember, it is a small company, relatively speaking.
Hopefully according to some of the things that were talked about at Team Summit, looks like that may be addressed
It seems like they say that every year and on every earnings call. Where are they now?
No churn (yet) D* could always attract new customers but always had trouble keeping old ones. Now with the 2 year contracts people cant leave after 1 year like they used to
thta still does not adress the fact that Dish is having difficulty keeping the customers they already have.
Isn't that a losing stratgegy in the long run? I know not everyone is a sports fan but plenty of households have at least ONE fan among the residents.
I would think some of the loss in subs in the last two years is in part due to this issue. I'm gone when my 2 year deal is done. Sooner if we move.
I'm sorry sir. That may be the case at this time. I do not believe this will be the case looking forward.
I want sports but I chose Dish. I just think Dish is a better company for me to support. DVR and all. So I do. The sports will come if you help build the better company. (If you build it they will come) To think that there will be a Sports Provider and a No Sports Provider is not something I'm willing to accept. If you want to be a major player in the satellite TV market there comes a time when you have to step to the plate. The time will come for Dish when it makes sense for their business model. Meanwhile I'll support the better technology to allow me to better enjoy TV in general.
Sign me,
Wants Sports -Still Supports Dish.
LOL
I'd like to know more about fulltime RSN HD. This has become an unexpected issue for me and I'm not happy about it.
I expected that some games would be shown in HD. I did not expect some of those games to be pre-empted by other games from other sports nets. This JIP crap don't cut it with me!
The score thing the OP was speaking of is not the permanent scroller like you see on the sports channels, it is an interactive pop up menu that you can access at any time on any sports channel. IOW, you press the red button on the remote and a score guide comes up. You can then use your remote to navigate to any sport, and any game. And the scores are up to date. You can even select a particular game and hit the enter button and it will take you to that channel. If you do not want to see the score you simply don't press the red button. It is all a matter of choice and it is more convenient than going to another device to check the score.
The fact that Dish has limited financial resources rules every decision at Dish. They have to get by with less, and it is often a challenge. Well, how about this for having better chances at keeping customers: If Dish had deeper pockets, it could afford to dump the overseas CSR centers and return to 100% USA CSR's. Charlie admitted this was a big problem, but things are tight at Dish, and their smaller pocket book forces them to make savings in some areas they would rather not but must in order to have the $$ to be competitive on other issues. Of course, Charlie is just about as penny-pinching as they come, anyway.
Also, more $$ could make Dish STB's could be a bit more stable. A lot of people on this board have expressed frustration with unstable STB's and have even left Dish because of it. Let's face it, the MyPal DVR's very poor start is related much more to the fact that Echostar had to produce a fairly sophisticated box with limited means rather than the quality of the engineering. This is also the case at Dish.
With extra $$$/deeper pockets, Charlie could hire more software people and properly staff departments (it is ridiculous how long we have to wait for software updates, but the revenue producing updates come along fast. It is clear the software staff has to put other projects on hold, but not necessarily if they had more software people. And yes, they would still have to stagger the releases because of technical reasons, but we would get updates sooner, overall), and perhaps pay a higher wage to hire brighter people at the US CSR centers, like Southwest Airlines generally pays higher wages, but attracts smarter, more efficient people for the higher cost.
An endless list of things all departments at Dish would live to have with deeper pockets. The name of the pay-TV game now is SIZE does matter. Charlie will have to make a decision in a couple of years about how Dish's will continue to compete with the fat cats.
Last edited:
When you can't get a simple thing like all your home team's HD games on the local RSN (e.g. Mets on SNY) then you start to question your commitment to Dish and sports. I don't have D* but my guess is that if it's being broadcast in HD on your RSN (and D* carries the channel) then it's on. The problem is worse when you're talking sports packages (e.g. CI and LP).
Of course this is only one aspect of the situation but it is annoying.
Of course this is only one aspect of the situation but it is annoying.
