Texas Town Renames Itself 'DISH'

TEXAS TOWN Renames ITSELF 'DISH'

TEXAS TOWN Renames ITSELF 'DISH'



Each DISH Resident to Get 10 Years of Free DISH Network Programming



DISH, Texas, Nov. 16, 2005 - EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), its DISH Network™ satellite TV service and the town of Clark, Texas, announced today that the town of Clark has accepted DISH Network's challenge to re-brand itself as part of the DISH City Makeover.

As of today, Clark, Texas, a small tight-knit bedroom community located a half hour north of Fort Worth, Texas, has legally changed its name to DISH, Texas. In exchange, DISH Network has agreed to provide every household in the town of DISH 10 years of free basic satellite TV programming, including equipment and standard installation. DISH Network introduced the DISH City Makeover as part of recent re-branding efforts and a new advertising campaign trumpeting "Better TV for All."

"We are thrilled that the town of Clark has accepted the DISH City Makeover challenge," said Michael Neuman, president of EchoStar's DISH Network. "By officially changing the town's name, the residents of DISH will experience first hand what 'Better TV for All' truly means, while at the same time, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next decade."

The Clark Town Commissioners voted to rename the town DISH Tuesday evening at a packed town hall meeting. Clark, first incorporated as a town in 2000, is located 25 miles north of Ft. Worth and has a population of 125. The town of Clark is a rural agricultural and ranching community as well as a bedroom community for commuters who work in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

"We are all very excited about our new relationship with DISH Network," said Bill Merritt, Mayor of DISH, Texas. "We accepted this challenge because we believe this relationship will give us a unique opportunity to put our town on the map, and we hope it will help us attract new people and businesses so that our town can grow in the right direction. With free DISH Network satellite TV, we'll become a place people are proud to be a part of."

Under the terms of the agreement, DISH Network agrees to provide every household within the city limits America's Top 60 programming package for 10 years, free standard installation and a free digital video recorder satellite TV receiver. In return, the town of Clark will legally change its name to DISH. Town signs will be changed to reflect the town's new identity, including the signs at the town hall, the town entrance, and all of the city limit signs.

DISH Network provides "Better TV for All" by giving customers the latest technology such as high definition and digital video recording, award-winning customer satisfaction and lowest price for all-digital programming across America.

In addition, Neuman and Merritt will be available at a press conference live from DISH, Texas, on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 10:30 a.m. (ET). In U.S./Canada, dial (866) 519-1844. For international press, dial (706) 634-1914. Visit www.dishnetwork.com/press for live audio stream of the press conference or to download high-resolution photos from the town.

For TV press, video footage and live interviews via satellite with the mayor and DISH Network president are available from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at the following coordinates: IA8 K15 slot C @ 9MHz, uplink frequency- 14309.000H, downlink frequency- 12009.00V. Contact Mark Cicero at 303-653-2426 to schedule an interview.



About EchoStar

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) serves more than 11.71 million satellite TV customers through its DISH Network™, the fastest growing U.S. provider of advanced digital television services in the last five years. DISH Network offers hundreds of video and audio channels, Interactive TV, HDTV, sports and international programming, together with professional installation and 24-hour customer service. Visit EchoStar's DISH Network at www.dishnetwork.com or call 1-800-333-DISH (3474).
 
125 people? And they call that a town? Pathetic. That's less than 2 months work for ONE TECHNICIAN. Six to seven techs could get that whole 'town' wired in a week. So much for moving to 'Dish' for work. ;)
 
Or about $3200 in free programming per house ;)

Of course it isn't a huge population (125) so Dish won't be spending that much on the promo, will they? Figure there are 75 houses, so that's less than a quarter of a million dollars for 10 years in free programming. Not too bad of a publicity stunt in terms of annual costs.

Why do I think that they already had the town lined up?

Does this include new construction during the 10 years in the town, or only existing construction? I guess they'll cover that in the conference.

Best,
 
Posted on WFAA.com:

"DISH residents will get free cable"

Now thats just plain funny!
 
WTF is a bedroom community? 125 texans in a single bedroom, mmm, sweaty...

oh my god...better put the goon website back up, i'm losing it here...=)>
 
This is good free press for Dish Network and it was done for a small town therefore little cost for that free press. It could also be a way for them to conduct some research to see if they would be willing to stay with Dish Network if they are getting credit for the basic package for this amount of time. They could turn this around for a future promotion to acquire more customers. They could find some type of revenue to make up for what they do not receive on the basic package (or maybe even come out with a cheaper basic package to have free for anyone that purchases their own system). Most customers order more than just the basic package so they would at least break even if the customer orders enough programming. It may not end up costing Dish Network much considering they get that programming wholesale and they do not have to pay retailer commissions.

I wonder what would happen if someone ordered extra programming and did not pay for it? Would their account get shut off and not get the free 10 years that was promised or would they just be dropped back down to the basic package until they paid off what is due? That could be some further research that could be done to see if they do pay it off eventually even if they still have a basic package and how long it takes for the customer to pay it off.

If someone moves I imagine they lose the free service unless they keep the same address when they move. I can imagine that the customer would not get a bill unless additional service is ordered. Also as people move they would probably have fewer and fewer people that they would have to provide free service for.
 
Of course it won't "cost" E* much to do this at all. Largely just the equipment and installation costs. The free AT60 service is more just lost revenue opportunity, no real costs to speak of to provide it. If a fair number upgrade their service to AT180 or add premiums, then E* will make some money from the deal.

That money will be on top of all of the free advertising. Running an add in the major newspapers would cost far more than this stunt will cost them. So they will more than make their money back in a single day.

I wonder if anyone in Dish, TX will also put up a D* dish in order to get NFL:ST?
 
and here comes the story on the 6 o clock news...

lol, the folks there love it!!!!

I saw them installing dish 1000s on cinder blocks
 
Heh they got a nice new sign
 

Attachments

  • DISH_sign.JPG
    DISH_sign.JPG
    112.2 KB · Views: 177
Listening to the call that's archived:
They were able to provision it so that people that move to dish will also be included in the free service while it's going on.
Also the customers will not half to pay the taxes either

Some interesting tidbits
They have 0 traffic signals, but 2 stop signs

Dish paid to change all the signs and the legal fees, so it really was free

About a dozen town signs had to be changed to DISH

The vote was unamiously approved by their 2 city council members :)
 
BFG said:
oooo PR....
I sure hope news stations don't show this PR crap ;)

I used to work in local news, and we got 50 of these a day. Mostly faxes, and a few phone calls. We never ran any of them, and our station was horrible! I can't imagine who runs this stuff.

Now, we would run one stupid story a night at the end of the show. (The "kicker".) But we would just grab something off our VOD service that involved an animal born in a zoo or the worlds largest enchilada. Never went out of our way to take a "satellite news feed".
 

DVR Questions

Any way to get the 942 working with 1 line?

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Top