DiSH subs number drop

[TLaz]

See this article in AVSforums. It seems Echostar is reporting a net drop in subscribers. Hold on the article was just edited, now it states there are 195k new subs.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8179988#post8179988

 

[Peter Parker]

yes it is a drop in the number of new subs not a decrease in total subs.

 

[Stargazer]

We all knew these days were coming. The sub additions will continue to drop unless they get a bundling deal. This is a slower time of the year though too.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I think its due to the fact that the promotions we have out there suck for new customers.

Last summer we had $19.99 for Top 60 for 1 year which we signed up a ton of customers. This summer, we still got $24.99 and for the price to be good the customer has to send in a rebate form

 

[hobojoe]

I'm done with mail in rebates. i avoid them at all coast. as far as customer service this is the worst year yet for me, being with them for 10 years now! i think they aren't done loosing customers yet. until they learn the word "customer SERVICE"!

 

[Neutron]

I question the credibility of anything that comes from AVSForums.

 

[Mr Tony]

I question the credibility of anything that comes from AVSForums.

agreed

 

[riffjim4069]

The title of your post is accurate, just a year or two early.

The rate of new subscriber aquisitions will continue to to decline as the Telcos (Verizon, AT&T) and others heat up the cable marketplace: lower prices, increase services, improve quality, technical innovation, and bundled discount.

I predict that in the next 12-18 month both D* and E* are going to start losing total customers; I predict we won't see another rate increase in the next two years; and I predict D* and E* will be forced to merge.

 

[Jeff_R]

The sub additions will continue to drop unless they get a bundling deal.

I've heard this from the "experts" before, but I'm not sure that I buy it. Sure, there are some people who want a bundle to simplify billing and get a very small discount for multiple services, but is it enough to drop one provider for another?

I have my Dish stuff through AT&T just for more simplicity. I would have Dish anyways, and actually the bundling has caused more problems than it's solved. HSI with Comcast. The number of bills doesn't bother me, but freedom of choice and ease of dropping one service or another when customer service is lacking is of far greater benefit. Changing phone, internet, and TV all at once would be a real PITA!

 

[jonsnow]

See this article in AVSforums. It seems Echostar is reporting a net drop in subscribers. Hold on the article was just edited, now it states there are 195k new subs.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8179988#post8179988

This is what happens when a company cares more about contracts, ala family package censorship of free previews, and less and less about the average joe who can no longer afford even the most basic package and sees no benefit in buying a cheap package who's only purpose in life is to restrict access to offensive materials,limiting content to mostly FTA and religious channels, when in fact the average American customer doesn't care about censorship and is more interested in freedom of choice where high quality content can flourish and the ability to pick and choose what he or she deems fit to watch, without all the espns to increase his or her package beyond their budget. Most people can name about 5 channels they must have, 120 they can live without, and at least one package that is a joke.

 

[Stargazer]

If everything was ala carte then the content on these stations would be a LOT better. I can honestly say that 95% of the content today SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would not have said this 7-10 years ago. They get their money and thats all they care about because their channels are bundled together in one deal. There's certain channels that have great content because there has to be at least one or two channels in the bundle of channels that have great content to make it a hight enough demand to demand a premium for the rest of them too. It is their way of getting more money for the few channels that are good.

 

[branchbouncer]

The title of your post is accurate, just a year or two early.

The rate of new subscriber aquisitions will continue to to decline as the Telcos (Verizon, AT&T) and others heat up the cable marketplace: lower prices, increase services, improve quality, technical innovation, and bundled discount.

I predict that in the next 12-18 month both D* and E* are going to start losing total customers; I predict we won't see another rate increase in the next two years; and I predict D* and E* will be forced to merge.

Agree with you totally,I was a D* sub for 8+ years but thier lack of good bundles,limited distrubition of HD nationals and other HD programing,piss poor service and rate increases(cost about the same as cable) pay to lease equipment,problems finding english speaking employees has made me go with cable,as have most of the people I know that were once D* or E* subs

 

[Poke]

I was going to say NO Way their sub numbers were droping!! If anything they are going UP!! I know more and more folks going to DISH over Direct TV and COX! Most of my friends are getting HDTV's and just want more HD and Dish is the HD leader and I see that staying that way. I would say before the end of next year that DISH has more Subs than Direct mayeb even by the first of next year. Either way DISH is better about getting channels and most time listening to their customer. The DISH ROCKS!!

 

[JH1949]

.....piss poor service and ......problems finding english speaking employees.....

I stayed with E* but took care of these problems by cancelling my online contract and starting a new one with my local installer/retailier. No waiting on phone, they all speak english, and excellent service !

 

[branchbouncer]

I stayed with E* but took care of these problems by cancelling my online contract and starting a new one with my local installer/retailier. No waiting on phone, they all speak english, and excellent service !

If you can find a local installer that takes pride in his work and customer service then you have it made,but if you are at the mercy of some under paid,doesn't give a S**T,nully gully,then you are going to have problems sooner or later,probably sooner

 

[riffjim4069]

As it currently stands, our signing up for FiOS TV is a no brainer. Except for the VOOM HD Original channels, we will have a comparable programming lineup, no HD-Lite, and excellent SD PQ...all for 20% less. Likewise, our broadband Internet will be twice as fast and 20% less than our Adelphia service (minus the horrible customer service and frequent outages). Sure, their current HD DVR doesn't match up to the ViP622, but it's not bad and the hardware and software will only continue to improve.

We really like our E* service, but they had better be prepared to drop $15-$20 off our DishHD Platinum package price, and bring us full bitrate HD (1920x1080i), in order to keep us as customers. It's simply a matter of: quality, price, and customer service. It should be interesting to see what E* and D* subscriber numbers look like in 2009.

 

[Van]

People like bundles because it puts all the bills into one and it saves them some money for a year so the benefit of bundling is two fold. First one is it makes it a bit easier for people to be lazy by paying just one bill as opposed to four bills and they save about $20 - $70 a month wich is a tank of gas for about half of us for the week.

Individual promo's are the thing of the past atleast for the time being and you can expect to see some bigger and better bundles coming along soon. But what people dont know about with the bundles is that in the case of SBC/ATT they actually pay Dishnetwork $630 for the install on the bundles and are now looking to get out of it.

 

[Slamminc11]

I was going to say NO Way their sub numbers were droping!! If anything they are going UP!! I know more and more folks going to DISH over Direct TV and COX! Most of my friends are getting HDTV's and just want more HD and Dish is the HD leader and I see that staying that way. I would say before the end of next year that DISH has more Subs than Direct mayeb even by the first of next year. Either way DISH is better about getting channels and most time listening to their customer. The DISH ROCKS!!

Dish would have to add over 2 million subs to bypass Direct, so your timetable is a bit off. But with all the problems Direct is having with their HD receivers and content, I to think that Dish will put a good dent in the 12.5 million for dish to 14.whatever million for Direct over the next couple years.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I don't think customers care about bundeling, but more about what they think they are saving.

The only problem Dish has right now is getting people affordable internet service, the issue is that Cable companies like Comcast charge $42/mo for internet when you get cable, but charge the customer $63/mo without Cable. DSL does solve the problem, but cable internet is availale in more places than DSL.