Time to give Charlie some props

[Scott Greczkowski]

If they are crawling, then why are they selling more then DirecTV?

If you believe in DirecTV so much and their 100 HD Channels by the end of the year, please LIST all 100 HD channels they are going to add.

Cant do it? Why? Dont worry about it though, neither can they.

At the end of the year when there is not 100 HD channels they plan on saying it has been delayed due to changes in management (because of the takeover by Liberty Media)

On thing about DirecTV is they are always for sale and changing hands, and in my opinion this is hurting them, because they are not paying attention to the product they are putting out, instead its always someone trying to pump and dump the company. The management seems to change about every 3 to 5 years there, and to me that is an issue.

Now with that said I don't see eye to eye with Charlie on everything he does with his company, but after talking with him last week and sitting down with him again for over an hour with other SatelliteGuys members, I do honestly believe that Charlie does have his eye on the ball and has a good grasp of where the technology is going.

By the end of the year the majority of installs being done will be using VIP receivers, meaning a good base of customers are ready for IPTV. DirecTV only has one unit which can do that. To catch up with Dish on the IPTV front its going to take DirecTV over 2 years to catch up.

The MPEG4 announcement was NOT a knee jerk announcement. Hell DirecTV has been saying now for almost 2 years that they will soon have 150 HD channels. And while they have been spending all kinds of money advertising this, yet Dish has beaten them 5 quarters in a row with more subscribers. In addition they have been working quietly putting together this MPEG4 plan. The clues have been there but no one put 2 and 2 together until Charlie announced it last week.

A big difference between DirecTV and Dish Network is DirecTV likes advertising "coming in the future" Dish Network like advertising "Its here, come and get it."

 

[Dish-Direc]

Perhaps Scott you can explain to me why DTV has baseball and DISH does not. Why DTV has NFL and DISH does not. I am not massaging DTV backs, but I am not sure Charlie gets it. Hackers are having a field day with Dish, and it is beyond embarassing how their audit department deals with paying customers.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Very Simple Answer.

Dish did not want to pay for baseball or football.

DirecTV is losing 200 million a year on the NFL. How is that Smart for DirecTV?

If you want sports go to DirecTV. What is funny is there is no mass exodious to DirecTV for these thngs.

Now enough of the hacking we all know that Dish has its problems with that, but even still Dish is signing up more a month then the "unhackable" DirecTV. And I also honestly believe in the future hacking will be a thing of the past with Dish. (And when this happens you will be able to buy FTA receivers dirt cheap)

The audit department though DOES need to be shut down, it is costing them more customers then its saving.

 

[navychop]

Because D* has to resort to buying customers with overpriced sports exclusives. If it weren't for that, they'd be losing customers rapidly.

And BTW, for years D* had the weaker security. These things go back and forth. And based on comments by Scott, Dish will likely soon be addressing security.

If sales are crawling - for you - maybe it's got something to do with your attitude.

On edit: Scott types faster than me. But then, he probably doesn't have a cat on his lap.

 

[rcbridge]

About 9 years for me, I have gone through some growing pains (6000, and now 211). But overall quite a satisfactory experience.

Pricing has been in line with everyone else, variety (less sports) is good, signal quality as good as anyone else.

The hacking era will pass, direct went through the same experience a few years ago.

If anyone purchased the stock several years ago, you are not complaining$$$

 

[gadgtfreek]

Perhaps Scott you can explain to me why DTV has baseball and DISH does not. Why DTV has NFL and DISH does not. I am not massaging DTV backs, but I am not sure Charlie gets it. Hackers are having a field day with Dish, and it is beyond embarassing how their audit department deals with paying customers.

Yeah, I just saw your comment in the audit thread calling a poster in this thread a "novice" because you disagree that he thinks Charlie IS doing a good job.

Youre obviously here to bash E*, why dont you change your name to "Direc" and post on the D* forums?

I can very much remember when every D* customer I knew had a illegal card and got all the premiums for free, so I don't see why E* having some issues and trying to coreect them is any diff from D*.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Very Simple Answer.

Dish did not want to pay for baseball or football.

DirecTV is losing 200 million a year on the NFL. How is that Smart for DirecTV?

If you want sports go to DirecTV. What is funny is there is no mass exodious to DirecTV for these thngs.

Now enough of the hacking we all know that Dish has its problems with that, but even still Dish is signing up more a month then the "unhackable" DirecTV. And I also honestly believe in the future hacking will be a thing of the past with Dish. (And when this happens you will be able to buy FTA receivers dirt cheap)

The audit department though DOES need to be shut down, it is costing them more customers then its saving.

Scott, has Charlie said anything about the audit department. I know it really only affects people with multiple recievers, but they do seem to make people mad.

 

[Dish-Direc]

So You Know

Youre obviously here to bash E*, why dont you change your name to "Direc" and post on the D* forums?

Ok..I am going in the corner of the room for a nap. Wake me up when Dish MPEG-4 is in full swing.

 

[Poke]

Yeah well everything speaks for itself and that is Dish is way ahead on things to where Direct is play catch up. As far as MPEG4 goes I think Dish most likely will have things up and running before Direct. So folks probably will be napping longer on Direct to get something done than Dish.

 

[RealityCheck]

I am not sure what financials are being read here. I have been tracking profits and earnings of most TV providers and I see a much different picture. But in regards to DirecTV, they have a huge profit. You cannot just try to break out any single factor that contributes to it. Perhaps having those sports packages helps increase average monthly sub revenue, increase DVR and HD subscriptions, etc. Take a look at their bottom line, it is very healthy. Also, there never was a large number of echostar subs getting MLB, and the NFL has never been there, so that wouldn't have any real effect on sub numbers. Both companies are just continuing with their own strategies - both seem healthy.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Scott, has Charlie said anything about the audit department. I know it really only affects people with multiple recievers, but they do seem to make people mad.

That is something that we did not talk about. Up until recent I was under the thinking that the Audit Department was shut down.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Thats basically what SkyREPORT.com said:

"Street Impressed with Satellite's Q1
Some on Wall Street may be weary about rising costs incurred by satellite TV companies as they move to expand services like HDTV. Yet most of the financial community wrapped up work last week impressed with better than expected first quarter results from DIRECTV and EchoStar. "

Rest Of Article

 

[RealityCheck]

Another IMPORTANT reminder - we should be happy about the progress both satcos are making. You know that if one stops adding content, so will the other. What I see occurinh is they are pushing each other - and that is the GOOD NEWS for all.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Exactly, what is happening now is great for ALL satellite customers. Both services will continue to improve, and that is a great thing for us all as we all benefit.

 

[Poke]

Yeah I think we will see allot of new things in the next year or so.

 

[Greg Bimson]

I've said all I am gonna say regarding my opinion, but something is definitely up when E* has very little advertising but has added more net subs per qtr than D* the last 15 mo's.

Nothing is "definitely up", as you put it. DirecTV and their management stated about 18 months ago that they were tightening credit checks and would start bringing in less risky subscribers. Which means Dish Network is the recipient of those risky subscribers.

We can deride DirecTV for signing up about 450,000 subscribers less than Dish Network over the past fifteen months. However, the prior four years were pretty much a dead heat between the two companies.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Nothing is "definitely up", as you put it. DirecTV and their management stated about 18 months ago that they were tightening credit checks and would start bringing in less risky subscribers. Which means Dish Network is the recipient of those risky subscribers.

We can deride DirecTV for signing up about 450,000 subscribers less than Dish Network over the past fifteen months. However, the prior four years were pretty much a dead heat between the two companies.

I disagree that the entire reason E* is leading D* in net subs is due to credit checks. Im not saying that you said it was the entire reason, I just don't believe thats all of it. I think the fact E* still offers service without a contract helps along with a free HDDVR and more HD channels.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

DirecTV and their management stated about 18 months ago that they were tightening credit checks and would start bringing in less risky subscribers. Which means Dish Network is the recipient of those risky subscribers.

Dish also does the same credit checks. and the results are about the same. Sometimes DirecTV is harder and sometimes DIsh Network is harder.

We see this happen all the time at DishRetailer.COM and there is no ryme or reason for it.

 

[Greg Bimson]

I disagree that the entire reason E* is leading D* in net subs is due to credit checks. Im not saying that you said it was the entire reason, I just don't believe thats all of it. I think the fact E* still offers service without a contract helps along with a free HDDVR and more HD channels.

Well of course not...

I wasn't saying it was the entire reason, either. All I was pointing out was that DirecTV's own management stated they were not going to be as aggressive in the net new subscriber additions, and over the course of the last 15 months, that theory has been proven to a point. It is one reason there is such a difference in subscriber additions between the two companies.

 

[RealityCheck]

These comparisons continue to spiral beyond truth. These are 2 separate companies - both doing well. I don't want them to take the same path - I want them to push each other. There really is no service that is better - it is location and individual viewing preferences only.