DISH / Blockbuster Announcement Discussion Thread!

[ronfelder]

OK, so i see the slide:

1 - Epix
2 - Sony
3 - Movie Plex
4 - Sundance
5 - Pixl
6 - HDNET
7 - Hallmark
8 to 15 - Starz (8)
16 - MGM

The link from the last poster only mentions Starz Cinema. It nowhere mentions all the Starz channels.

 

[meStevo]

I guess my biggest concern is this is going to cause dish to either discontinue dishonline, or turn that into a market for blockbuster online cast offs. Effectively eroding the value of dishonline for the customer base that they have continued to increase prices on claiming they are adding value.

There is a lot of redundancy there, yeah. There's also DISH PPV and Blockbuster's 'transactional service' as they called it during the presentation.

 

[Sparky29]

I suppose "movers" are screwed with the mail service unless you can have them sent to the billing address, which is doubtful.

 

[fpembleton]

Will the streaming application require some form of a Sling arrangment? Thanks.

 

[Tampa8]

same here. have platinum , at120+ and a 211k, that must mean ....what... that I pay 10 bucks a month for one out at a time and no streaming? Why would I (or anyone else with this arrangement) want to do that?

You need to re read what this is, then look at what you posted. You already have platinum. Anything else is a + that you will now get. Beyond a free movie or game rental a month, you can stream online. Should you decide to get a new receiver now or in the future you can also stream from it. That's why people will see this as a plus.

 

[Tampa8]

While this seems to be a good move by Dish, many industry analysts seem rather cool to this initiative primarily due to this being an offering only to Dish subscribers.

I believe one of the executives during the presentation said“at this time” with respect to being only for Dish subscribers, kind of indicating they plan on extending this offering or at least the streaming portion to non-Dish subscribers at some future point. This is what needs to happen if Dish is to make any inroads against Netflix or the others.

Once again, they are not really competing against Netflix, certainly not primarily. See previous posts that explain that.....

 

[yaz96]

Im still amazed how BB beat the 28 day wait Nflix and Redbox got hit with.

That's because BB paid the studios to have that 28 day lead time.

Netflix and Redbox did not want to give in to the extortion.

 

[Laddyboy]

One at a time dvd/blu ray it states. Am I still unlimited in the number per month? I had 1 dvd at a time with Netflix but could get up to 4 per month. There was antoehr plan where you litterally only got one dvd per month. That's why I ask.

Yes, unlimited. Plus you can have a 2-out plan for $15 and a 3-out plan for $20 from what I've read.

 

[Mike_H]

couple other thoughts. obviously no HBO. I assume dish will be adding a "streaming only" plan so that you don't have to have hardware installed to do streaming. I can also guess that Echostar is working on a new receiver box that will just do streaming to the tv, and maybe have OTA built in. Now that would be a win if you could sell a box to folks for streaming and ota, but no satellite connection.

 

[Yespage]

When does the BB streaming begin?

 

[meStevo]

couple other thoughts. obviously no HBO. I assume dish will be adding a "streaming only" plan so that you don't have to have hardware installed to do streaming. I can also guess that Echostar is working on a new receiver box that will just do streaming to the tv, and maybe have OTA built in. Now that would be a win if you could sell a box to folks for streaming and ota, but no satellite connection.

I don't see why they would do any of that. If you want streaming and you're a Dish sub, you'll have to get the BB Movie Pass, even if you're not in a position to enjoy every single benefit. As for a OTA + streaming box... I don't think that's much of a market/ROI and defeats the purpose of the service as it's pitched currently as additional value to their satellite offerings. They're better off creating apps and letting other parties handle the hardware burden.

We'll see what they do to try and compete directly with Netflix... if they saddle all subscriptions with a rental plan just so they can charge more overall and say it's more value and use that to say they are offering more when their digital content library needs a lot of work... no thanks.

 

[rapidturtle]

Any word on the streaming becoming available for PS3?

 

[cloudy]

So I wonder what the policy will be on games. Are we going to be allowed One Movie, AND One game out at a time, or will it be one or the other?

 

[sethwell]

So I wonder what the policy will be on games. Are we going to be allowed One Movie, AND One game out at a time, or will it be one or the other?

I believe it said one disc out at a time. One total

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

If you pay $5 more a month you can have 2 discs out at once.

 

[Character Zero]

Going for the $15 two at a time, dropping Netflix. Chomping at the bit to sign up for this so I can start getting games and movies.

 

[multnomah]

Well, I'm excited about this. I did a comparison between Blockbuster and Netflix, based on the most recent 10 DVD's I have rented. Blockbuster offers 9 out of the 10 (the missing one was just released to dvd three weeks ago); and it looks like Blockbuster is going to have close to half of the discs that are in my Netflix 'saved' queue as well. Since I already have Platinum, I can cut back on my Netflix subscription, save some money, and watch some movies that Netflix was probably never going to re-stock. Netflix definitely has more titles available for streaming, but neither company has enough titles yet to replace DVD rental, so I'm not concerned about that. The nearest Blockbuster is about 5 miles from my house ($2 gas in my SUV), so I will be using the mail-in DVD rental option, with streaming when and if it becomes available on my 622.

Amazon by the way was a non-starter. It had only two of the ten movies. Most of the rest were available for purchase only.

All in all, a good deal for the Dish subscriber, I think.

 

[Tyralak]

Any word on the streaming becoming available for PS3?

Eventually. This is just the start.

 

[Dirtydan]

You need to re read what this is, then look at what you posted. You already have platinum. Anything else is a + that you will now get. Beyond a free movie or game rental a month, you can stream online. Should you decide to get a new receiver now or in the future you can also stream from it. That's why people will see this as a plus.

Are you saying only one movie or game in mail per month?
Dan

 

[jimdandyvi]

This new offering will be a good marketing tool for Dish, but as for being a Netflix killer I don't see it happening until Dish has a lot more to offer.

The factors limiting its impact on Netflix's streaming business is how many of Dish's subscribers have a DVR receiver(s), how many have a robust enough internet connection, how many of the 14 million subscribers live in the CONUS and finally for those that currently stream how many are willing to settle for a much smaller library than Netflix currently offers?

Netflix having recently expanded its streaming business from just a CONUS centered business into a global business has the potential for a huge subscriber base. Not only will they be able to deliver American movies worldwide they also have the potential to deliver foreign films in foreign markets. What is the potential of delivering Bollywood movies on the Indian sub continent? Netflix will have the potential to bring a huge pot of cash to the table when negotiating for rights for films and TV programming.

As for the mail delivery of disks by Netflix they have the system. In the Virgin Islands Netflix disks arrive like clockwork in just four days. Amazing considering Priority Mail or other First Class mail often takes days longer. In my experience Netflix's operations and customer service have always been outstanding. (I will agree that they could have or should have done better job of explaining the rate increase.)


The ability to exchange DVDs at a brick and mortar store will be a plus for those individuals that live near a Blockbuster store. But in the long run will the cost of maintaining brick and mortar stores be an advantage or just a drag on the bottom line?

Having newer releases available sooner is a marketing plus for Blockbuster, but can they turn the more expensive new disks enough times in the first month to cover the cost?

In my opinion Netflix has very little to worry about until Blockbuster significantly increases its streaming library and makes its service available on all types of devices.