Sirius on Dish? Who cares!

[stratguy]

To each his own.
Some people like listening to it. Cookie for them.
Others don't. No big whoop. Not costing anything more in dollars or bandwidth.

Gotta put a little something in for everybody

Big Bob you and I agree totally. Why would people complain about getting some channels for free. It obviously will make no difference on getting more HD channels so just let it ride.

By the way your name "Big Bob" and mine are the same I have been called that for 30 yrs and if you saw me you would know why Have a good one!

Bob

 

[GaryPen]

You're a little guy right? (Like calling a big guy "Tiny", or a fat guy "Slim".)

 

[SimpleSimon]

That must mean I'm a complex individual.

 

[Carl B]

About a dozen music channels should have been sufficient in the interest of satisfying those with audio needs, but also with an eye toward effective use of limited bandwidth. E* is really hurting for bandwidth. That's why HD offerings aren't growing and why locals channels are over-compressed and arrive with awful PQ in many cases.

I listened to few Sirius channels for a few minutes when the "big" annoucement was made on this web site. Very nice. I'll revisit next Christmas when I'm looking for non-stop holiday music. Meanwhile, listening to the radio is a poor return on the almost $6K I spent on an HDTV and accessories. To each his own, but I truly believe E* should be using some of the bandwidth for the dozens of CD channels and dozens of Sirius channels to provide more HDTV (e.g., CMHD and StarzHD, for which I already pay for the premium package).

Just my 2 cents.

 

[garn9173]

If anything is taking up bandwith on E* it's those useless foregin and home shopping channels? Seem's like the overwhelming majority love having Sirius on E*. I know since "the Dog" was added, i've listend to more music in the last month than I did in the previous month's on "local radio".

About a dozen music channels should have been sufficient in the interest of satisfying those with audio needs, but also with an eye toward effective use of limited bandwidth. E* is really hurting for bandwidth. That's why HD offerings aren't growing and why locals channels are over-compressed and arrive with awful PQ in many cases.

I listened to few Sirius channels for a few minutes when the "big" annoucement was made on this web site. Very nice. I'll revisit next Christmas when I'm looking for non-stop holiday music. Meanwhile, listening to the radio is a poor return on the almost $6K I spent on an HDTV and accessories. To each his own, but I truly believe E* should be using some of the bandwidth for the dozens of CD channels and dozens of Sirius channels to provide more HDTV (e.g., CMHD and StarzHD, for which I already pay for the premium package).

Just my 2 cents.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Bottom line, these Sirius channels are giving Charlie the most bang for his buck...

He gets to boast that this brings him up to AT250 for the big pack of channels.

Also, although I also am part of the 8% of his subscribers that have HD, the vast majority of E* subscribers still don't. The cutting edge types are cranky (me included) that E* doesn't have more HD, but the Walmart/Costco customers are doing just fine so that is why he isn't going nuts trying to add more.

That being said, we DID get TNT HD in the last month, ESPN HD FINALLY is fulfilling on the promise (Mets/Yankees tonight in glorious HD) and HD Sportscenter (when does Baseball Tonight go HD?) is looking amazing (especially when using HD highlights from NESN and a few Fox Sports affiliates. All is not bleak in HD land, and with D* planning to drop 20 new HD channels in September (as is speculated), look for E* to finally have to come up with a plan to try and offset the competitive advantage. I'm gussing the Superdish, in conjunction with the DP44 switch will again try and come into play.

 

[Carl B]

I to find the plethora of home shopping channels to be a waste, but they make E* money, so they aren't going away any time soon. As for the foreign language channels, that's E* future growth. Just read a business analysis of the U. S. pay TV industry. Wall Street doesn't see how DBS and cable can grow w/o stealing from each other and starting a price war. Thus, the high margin growth is probably in foreign broadcasting.

 

[Kevinw]

I pump the music outside to my pool area. I always get a look when I change the music channel with my UHF remote next to the pool....

I love the idea that we have well over 100 music channels right now. Plus thanks to my receiver that can play two sources concurrently I can listen to the music in Zone 2 outside, while my kids play with the XBox inside or watch a DVD.

This is the only reason I even listen to the Sirius. The Muzak always had a drop out every couple of minutes. They are handy but I would not miss them.

 

[briani]

I agree that Dish has alot of support for providing music only channels......and a vast assortment of shopping channels as well......but do we need 100 channels? HD is the future and customers who "could care less" about HD on Dish are missing the point.
Technology does not stand still(audio tape vs CD, VHS tape vs. DVD video, Cable vs.
satellite, etc.) and eventually all televisions will be "HD ready" and Dish can't afford to
be on the wrong side of the technology curve!

 

[NightRyder]

I agree that Dish has alot of support for providing music only channels......and a vast assortment of shopping channels as well......but do we need 100 channels? !

To the mainstream American consumer more = better. If dish cut their channel offering's by say 25% to improve PQ, you would see a mass exodus of customers.

HD is the future and customers who "could care less" about HD on Dish are missing the point.

Those customers account for well over 92% of the current Dish subscriber base. Dish can't afford to ignore them.

Technology does not stand still(audio tape vs CD, VHS tape vs. DVD video, Cable vs.
satellite, etc.) and eventually all televisions will be "HD ready" and Dish can't afford to
be on the wrong side of the technology curve!

HD is going to be a much slower transition than those other technologies due to the costs involved at both the production and consumer levels.

NightRyder

 

[briani]

Living in the past?

I'm not sure where you get these numbers, but if only 8% of Dish Network
customers subscribe to HD programming its most likely because they have
better options then Dish Networks puny line-up of HD channels. Most major
cable companies now offer more programming then Dish and Direct TV and
VOOM is the real "Leader" in HD programming. So, perhaps the numbers you quote are a little distorted. In any event, when people who are slow to adopt
this technology finally embrace it.......they will never want to turn back.

 

[silversurfer]

By the time the majority of people finally adopt this technology it too will be so compressed that they won't even know the difference....

 

[NightRyder]

I'm not sure where you get these numbers, but if only 8% of Dish Network
customers subscribe to HD programming its most likely because they have
better options then Dish Networks puny line-up of HD channels. Most major
cable companies now offer more programming then Dish and Direct TV and
VOOM is the real "Leader" in HD programming. So, perhaps the numbers you quote are a little distorted. In any event, when people who are slow to adopt
this technology finally embrace it.......they will never want to turn back.

Accually I think 8% is on the high side. This is from June 2003.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2003/jun03/jun16/5_fri/news8friday.html

Awareness of and interest in high-definition television (HDTV) seems to fall neatly along income lines, according to new research from Leichtman Research Group. Total adoption of HDTV increased to 4 percent this year, with most buyers in a high-income bracket. Just 2 percent of households with incomes below $75,000 have HDTV compared to 12 percent in households with incomes above $75,000. Eighty-nine percent of higher-income households are aware of HDTV, 20 percentage points higher than the lower-income level awareness. Current HDTV owners have an average household income 73 percent above the average level. Higher-income households that have looked into buying an HDTV set in the past six months number nearly three times that of lower-income households, at 11 percent. Leichtman predicts that HDTV-capable households will reach 33 million by the end of 2007. There are currently 275 million TV sets in U.S. households.

Here's another one.

http://www.bigpicture-hdtv.com/industry.html

By 2008, the number of HD-capable displays in US homes will have reached 33.4 million units. Of these displays, 27 percent will be connected to an HDTV service via cable, 14 percent via satellite, and 8 percent via digital terrestrial television. The report identifies the increasing support of cable and satellite operators and their content partners as a key factor in the take-up of HDTV services.

"HDTV has been a long time coming," says David Mercer, Vice President, Broadband Practice, at Strategy Analytics. "But sufficient momentum is now building at both content and operator levels to ensure a successful niche market in the longer term."

US HDTV Forecast: 2008

Total HD-Capable Displays Installed: 33.4 million

Percent with terrestrial HDTV: 8%

Percent with cable HDTV: 27%

Percent with satellite HDTV: 14%

Percent with no HDTV service: 51%

Source: Strategy Analytics Broadband Practice





NightRyder

 

[NightRyder]

By the time the majority of people finally adopt this technology it too will be so compressed that they won't even know the difference....

That is sadly true

NightRyder

 

[briani]

Thanks for the info NightRyder, very interesting! Certainly, the cost of HD products
has been a real barrier for HD adopters and real growth will not happen until prices fall.
Obviously competition will help drive down prices and make superior products more
affordable to the masses. I don't believe Dish network should radically change their programming and disenfranchise the SD customers who may years away from owning
HD ready equipment, I just feel they need to balance their resources in more evenhanded manner.

 

[Chris Walker]

What is wrong with some of you? The Sirius channels are AWESOME. The blow away the pathetic offerings of Music Choice and Muzak. I listen to these channels all the time, thanks E*!

 

[NightRyder]

Thanks for the info NightRyder, very interesting! Certainly, the cost of HD products
has been a real barrier for HD adopters and real growth will not happen until prices fall.
Obviously competition will help drive down prices and make superior products more
affordable to the masses. I don't believe Dish network should radically change their programming and disenfranchise the SD customers who may years away from owning
HD ready equipment, I just feel they need to balance their resources in more evenhanded manner.

briani: I share your enthusiasm regarding HD and fervently wish Dish had more HD content available. I believe we will have more channels available before the end of the year (fingers crossed for ABC, NBC, FOX ). That said I think all of us HD enthusiast's have a long slow road ahead of us.


NightRyder

 

[GaryPen]

What is wrong with some of you? The Sirius channels are AWESOME. The blow away the pathetic offerings of Music Choice and Muzak. I listen to these channels all the time, thanks E*!

While I prefer the musical selection found on the Sirius Rock channels, I prefer the complete lack of screaming DJ morons on Muzak. Having no commercials is only half way. No DJ's completes the picture.

When I listen to music, I want to listen to music. Uninterupted. Continuous. Music. Like a CD ROM full of MP3's, without having to take the time to burn them myself.

 

[dishnet520]

Sirius Buzzsaw - Channel 6019 Rocks!! We love the new Sirius Channel Line-up!

 

[TX WJ]

I signed up with Dish because of Sirius. I know that some people don't like it, to each his own. But I can tell you as a long time Directv subscriber that Sirius blows away Music Choice in my book, I like the DJ's. If they talk about the music every once and awhile that is ok with me.