Think about it.
They eliminated the coax in all boxes even though people thought it was stupid, this may be true.
Honestly I see good reason to make it an option. If that is truly the cost diff. of the remote to no remote it could help them make them free/lower cost and sell more. Also, I have personally installed over 100 HD boxes in my time as an installer, only once did the RF remote capability become a necessity. I think i only ever programmed 3 to be RF remotes, 1 necessity, 1 out of pure curiosity, and 1 per customer request (they didn't need it, but liked the idea).
So if roughly 3% are using this option.... why drop the money? If it lowers the price of the box or diffuses another increase in cost elsewhere, it will pay off in the long run.
Business is a cold world sometimes, but it makes sense.
Let's say of the 3 I installed...
the curiosity one wouldn't have mattered
the customer request although it isn't needed instances would likely not result in a canceled order, but let's say some people are picky and draw it at 20% cancel rate. (roughly .2% of all HD customers)
The needed portion, let's say it is a 35 dollar option.
let's break it down....
70% of these type customers
businesses are already paying a LOT for d*, so they have to be making money back on it (PPV WWE nights, Football ticket, general TV) so is $35 bucks gonna be a deal breaker when they are already looking at a large bill to install and program the things? Probably not, but there are some that will so let's be generous and say another 25%
So 25% of 70% of 1% is roughly 17.5% of 1% so .175%
15% of these type customers
Home Theater and high dollar setup
customers... these guys buy 100 buck monster cables for a vcr, MAYBE 10% of them would cancel... MAYBE 10% of 15% of 1% is .015%
15% of these customers
Joe Six pack with a picky wife or a "custom" made entertainment center
Ok, these guys will cancel at the highest rate for the extra charge, let's say 66%, or 2/3 for another cum of 5% of 1% or .05%
so 0.24 % of customers would cancel. let's round that to .25% for fun.
15 million customers, and let's say 1 million of those have HD (that is VERY generous)
1 million boxes, with a savings of 25 bucks a box would be a 25 savings per say
now the loss of customer side of things....
1,ooo,ooo x .25% = 2500 customers
AVG lost HD customer monthly bill, lets say 120 bucks (not all have premier pack, but a lot)
Let's say 50% of that is profit, so 60 x 12 is 720
720 x 2500 = 1,800,000 a year lost
IF the cost was $20 a box, not the $35 given earlier... they buy in bulk, that would, at 1 million HD customers, save them 25 million
at that rate, the loss of customers cost would take over 13.5 years to exceed the savings, and those are with my bias towards cancellation numbers.
Now, if that down the road means lower box cost, that would mean more customers without the RF so the difference is null and void.
It isn't bad customer service because the option is there and is not very expensive to add.
SO why would it matter again?
