DISH Network Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End 2010 Financial Results
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Those 30th anniversary "gifts" only affected current customers didn't they? So that really should have no affect in gaining new subscribers.
True; I meant the loss of existing subscribers should go way down because this year's fee increase has been mitigated. My gift was a free Platinum pack, so my monthly went down $5 due to the fact that I was a Platinum subscriber before. Besides, new subscribers already get substantial gifts, do they not? And now Dish won't raise their rate next Feb so they should be reasonably happy during their commitment period.
No one has mentioned a class of ex-subs that left and didn't got to another provider. I think a lot of us that had the Absolute package subscribed initially because it was simply a good value, even though it had some shortcomings, especially in regard to sports. It also had less crap than most other packages. Others that had started when equipment prices were much lower also had a lot of sticker shock.
When that package was taken away, I looked at what I was paying for and what I really watched. Most of what I watched was OTA and other than college football (which as we know is not a Dish strong point), most of what I watched on the cable/sat channels was available free on the internet. So, I simply decided to chuck it all at the increased prices and just go with my OTA (for which I have 2 HTPCs with the capability of recording up to 6 channels at once and a great interface) and just stream the other shows I really wanted to see. It's been a month and I haven't missed it a bit. I'm not a movie fan either but if there's something I really want to see, a $1.50 for BD at Redbox doesn't strap the budget.
Admittedly, when college football rolls around, I'll have to bite the bullet and put up with Comcast for about 6 months, but in the long run that's still a lot cheaper even at their regular exhorbitant rates, but I might be able to get a 6 month special anyway. During the meantime I'll save enough to almost pay my green fees for the year which seems to me to be a pretty good trade-off.
I had no problem with Dish in regard to service or equipment, but will likely never go with another contract. I think D* is picking up more customers from cable than they are from Dish anyway. I've recently negotiated 3 rate decreases with Comcast for friends lately which tells me they are bleeding customers. I've also set up 2 friends with antennas when they took a look at what they were watching with cable and realized it was mainly local channels anyway. All of these, though are senior citizens who have been hit hard with the rise in the main things that affect their budget: gas, groceries and medical care. I'd have to imagine there are a lot throughout the country that have had to cut back on both cable and satellite services.
Just wanted to point out that there are a lot of reasons for people dropping their service that has nothing specifically to do with Charlie or Dish and nothing to do with D*'s gains either.
When that package was taken away, I looked at what I was paying for and what I really watched. Most of what I watched was OTA and other than college football (which as we know is not a Dish strong point), most of what I watched on the cable/sat channels was available free on the internet. So, I simply decided to chuck it all at the increased prices and just go with my OTA (for which I have 2 HTPCs with the capability of recording up to 6 channels at once and a great interface) and just stream the other shows I really wanted to see. It's been a month and I haven't missed it a bit. I'm not a movie fan either but if there's something I really want to see, a $1.50 for BD at Redbox doesn't strap the budget.
Admittedly, when college football rolls around, I'll have to bite the bullet and put up with Comcast for about 6 months, but in the long run that's still a lot cheaper even at their regular exhorbitant rates, but I might be able to get a 6 month special anyway. During the meantime I'll save enough to almost pay my green fees for the year which seems to me to be a pretty good trade-off.
I had no problem with Dish in regard to service or equipment, but will likely never go with another contract. I think D* is picking up more customers from cable than they are from Dish anyway. I've recently negotiated 3 rate decreases with Comcast for friends lately which tells me they are bleeding customers. I've also set up 2 friends with antennas when they took a look at what they were watching with cable and realized it was mainly local channels anyway. All of these, though are senior citizens who have been hit hard with the rise in the main things that affect their budget: gas, groceries and medical care. I'd have to imagine there are a lot throughout the country that have had to cut back on both cable and satellite services.
Just wanted to point out that there are a lot of reasons for people dropping their service that has nothing specifically to do with Charlie or Dish and nothing to do with D*'s gains either.
If you calculate it out Dish income per sub has gone up some. It was $4.17/sub/month same quarter last year. Now it is $5.94/sub/month. It is approaching $6.
Not if they are low-end subscribers; then it COSTS more to keep them then let them go. DirecTV has been doing that from day one.
Let's not forget DircTV's deep-pocketed, ubiquitous and well-done TV commercials and ad campaigns. That is part of Dish's problem: they don't have the deep pockets to get the word out like DirecTV does, nor do they do it as well. But that cost HUGE $$$$$. They are still the little guy in a forest of deep-pocketed giants, and that disadvantage is starting to show now that all the competitors are out for blood. Dish would do better if they had DirecTV's advertising budget, but such costs would likely bankrupt Dish or certainly suck away the resources to buy companies that it needs to compete with big boys. The question is now long can Dish keep operating as an "independent" mega-media conglomerate. Well, as long as the profits still improve, probably for quite a while.
I'd be very afraid of the commercials that Dish would make with DirecTv kind of money. Just more expensive "crappy" commercials.
They don't have the creativity to come up with a good marketing campaign. We've seen too many bad examples.
They don't have the creativity to come up with a good marketing campaign. We've seen too many bad examples.
I wonder if Ergen is winding down his television via satellite business. When you stop focusing on new customer acquisition, raise rates on existing customers, and start buying up assets that aren't necessarily directly related to the core business, while making random comments about how your kids look at you from Mars when they hear you're in the pay television business, that all may cumulatively hint at something. If he believes that satellite television as it's traditionally understood is soon going to be obsolete or much more a niche business, the ruthless businessman thing to do would be to get as much money as you can out of your most profitable customers while working on whatever is next, and not bother sinking money into the core business to acquire new customers, etc. that aren't going to benefit you "in time" before you transition away from doing what you're doing, spin that part of the business off, or whatever.
I could be wrong, of course. I'm not exactly known for my business acumen.
Just an off the wall theory to chat about.
I wonder how many subs like me reduced their bill or will in the future? I had all the premium movie channels and they just recently all went dark, and I don't miss them one bit............I should have done that long ago.
You have a great point I think many of us no matter what service we sub to, once we decide to cut some things back like preimums, its intresting how we really dont miss them...and we survive
Yes both companies made profits. Its not only Dish and Direct that strive to make a profit and no matter what we think about the companies making profit is what makes investors happy. We all make our vote with out pocketbook on who we decide to have serivce with. Both companies have pluses for different people. On the Direct side there are many wanting more national HD added, on the Dish side threre seems to be some (not all) that would like RSN in HD outside of game only. But even with those gripes folks are not leaving in mass numbers and I dont know if Direct is in a hurry to add National HD or Dish bothered by "fulll time RSN's"
when they reduse their bills e* costs also go down but their profit may remain the same
not at all just doing a minor cost analysis.. im saying they make more profit from the smaller packages cus more people take them (total dollars not profit per customer).. they cream the higher end customers with equipment fees to help offset the programming costs
I talked to an economics professor at Uconn last night(I live there as well in Tampa) When I told then what I had posted in regards to Dishnetwork ,while having a net gain, did lose a substantial amount of subscribers in the last quarter, and has lost some for about three quarters. And that I proposed it was by design, losing non profitable subs, or not giving free programming away to keep them.
First question the Economist asked was if I knew if they made a profit. I said yes, well over last year. He laughed and said then you have your answer. "When business is hard to come by, you don't carry customers who cost you money." "You only do that when carrying them may well lead to making money at a later date from them. In hard economic times, it becomes harder to wait for that day to come."
So I would further argue it is not pure speculation as a poster wrote, but my thought is indeed based on economics. I now have seen the quotes from Charlie about not necessarily going for new subscribers at any cost, and it even more seems this is planned strategy. People continue to underestimate Dish/Charlie.
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I wonder if Ergen is winding down his television via satellite business. When you stop focusing on new customer acquisition, raise rates on existing customers, and start buying up assets that aren't necessarily directly related to the core business, while making random comments about how your kids look at you from Mars when they hear you're in the pay television business, that all may cumulatively hint at something. If he believes that satellite television as it's traditionally understood is soon going to be obsolete or much more a niche business, the ruthless businessman thing to do would be to get as much money as you can out of your most profitable customers while working on whatever is next, and not bother sinking money into the core business to acquire new customers, etc. that aren't going to benefit you "in time" before you transition away from doing what you're doing, spin that part of the business off, or whatever.
I could be wrong, of course. I'm not exactly known for my business acumen.
You may be right. You can see him winding down the business in other little ways. He let the HD distants go. I know that is a relatively small group of subscribers, but they are leaving in droves. And people who buy HD distants are very high-end subscribers, while those who by SD distants are not as high-end. People who buy HD distants are HD customers first, which means more profitable customers, and some of them are driving luxury RVs and spending a lot on TV both in the RV and at home and at the vacation home. This makes them highly profitable customers, and if Ergen really cared about acquiring and keeping customers he wouldn't have thrown them under the bus.
Again, the HD distants customers may be a small number, but they are very high-end customers, and they are leaving in droves. They won't be coming back.
Exactly who are these competitors with lower prices? Yes, within a very few dollars you can find a particular set of channels that could be less, but overall Dish prices are certainly not high end in the industry. But to answer your better question, yes, that may well be happening, further supporting my post. But not in the way you are portraying.
If someone leaves because of pricing, chances are very high it is based on a promotion for new customers. When that promotion ends, it is almost certain they will pay as much or more than they did with Dish. My point is, Dish has decided not to try to compete with temporary promotions because those customer are likely costing that company money. Dish does promotions for new subscribers, but may have decided they can't keep doing that for the same subscriber over and over, thus time to shed them if that's what the customer wants.
