I just got off a nice long phone call with a contact at Dish Network and we had a good long talk about things going on, I also read to him you list of questions many of them he could not answer publically because they are a publiclly held company.
However first and foremost he wanted me to point out that the equipment you own now which works today, will work tommorow, will work next week, will work next year.
Yes Dish is planning on migrating to MPEG 4 but there is NOTHING in stone yet on how they are going to do it, Dish wants to do it in such a way that its as least of an inconvience to customers as possible. Will recievers need to be replaced? I am assured that Dish will indeed take care of it's customer is a hardware swapout is needed, their goal in upgradiing MPEG4 is to give you more entertainment options and features not make you mad. He wanted me to urge everyone to relax a bit regarding MPEG4, again there are no concrete plans in place at the moment. And dish does thank everyone for the feedback they have received so far on the MPEG4 situation.
I then asked him your questions again most he could not answer because of SEC concerns.
On new HDTV programming he did sound like something was coming down the line however he wouldnt talk about it because no press releases have been issued. I may be taking this out of context but from the tone of his voice it did sound promissing.
On the 921 being discontinued, he didn't have an answer for me on that, but told me that Dish does not issue statements when they discontinue equipment, instead the old equipment just fades away.
On leasing the 921, he had no information on any lease for the 921 and did not believe there were plans to do so, however he said if he heard something he would let me know.
On when the 522 would become available to all customers the last he heard was they were hoping to have them available in January, however he was taking that from the last Charlie Chat where Charlie Chat mentioned the January timeline.
On name based recording and when it was going to be rolled out he did not have an answer but would try to find out for me.
He also had a few other questons which you asked which he did not know the answer to, he did mention he would do his best to get answers and let me know.
As far as the Regional Sports networks they are in active negoations and hope to have a deal soon.
Again not much answered, yet at the same time a lot answered. I know he was in a tough position because he couldn't answer specifics (many of your questions were very specific)
However with most questions waved off as stuff he couldn't legally answer I got a good impression that much of what people are upset over (myself included) was because Charlie said stuff publically which he should'nt have really mentioned at all since it had no relevance to the 3rd quarter earnings.
If you asked me if you should buy a 921 now, I would feel comfortable enough to say that if you like Dish Network then buying a 921 be good and would serve you well for a long time, get it and enjoy it.
In closing I would like to thank Dish Network for taking the time to listen to our comments and questions, there honestly should be no reason why consumers almost need to start world war 3 to find out whats going on with their satellite service. I do hope in the future we can have more Q&A's like this so that you the consumer make informed decissions, here at SatelliteGuys we are open to the idea, let's hope Dish thinks about it and acts on it as well.
However first and foremost he wanted me to point out that the equipment you own now which works today, will work tommorow, will work next week, will work next year.
Yes Dish is planning on migrating to MPEG 4 but there is NOTHING in stone yet on how they are going to do it, Dish wants to do it in such a way that its as least of an inconvience to customers as possible. Will recievers need to be replaced? I am assured that Dish will indeed take care of it's customer is a hardware swapout is needed, their goal in upgradiing MPEG4 is to give you more entertainment options and features not make you mad. He wanted me to urge everyone to relax a bit regarding MPEG4, again there are no concrete plans in place at the moment. And dish does thank everyone for the feedback they have received so far on the MPEG4 situation.
I then asked him your questions again most he could not answer because of SEC concerns.
On new HDTV programming he did sound like something was coming down the line however he wouldnt talk about it because no press releases have been issued. I may be taking this out of context but from the tone of his voice it did sound promissing.
On the 921 being discontinued, he didn't have an answer for me on that, but told me that Dish does not issue statements when they discontinue equipment, instead the old equipment just fades away.
On leasing the 921, he had no information on any lease for the 921 and did not believe there were plans to do so, however he said if he heard something he would let me know.
On when the 522 would become available to all customers the last he heard was they were hoping to have them available in January, however he was taking that from the last Charlie Chat where Charlie Chat mentioned the January timeline.
On name based recording and when it was going to be rolled out he did not have an answer but would try to find out for me.
He also had a few other questons which you asked which he did not know the answer to, he did mention he would do his best to get answers and let me know.
As far as the Regional Sports networks they are in active negoations and hope to have a deal soon.
Again not much answered, yet at the same time a lot answered. I know he was in a tough position because he couldn't answer specifics (many of your questions were very specific)
However with most questions waved off as stuff he couldn't legally answer I got a good impression that much of what people are upset over (myself included) was because Charlie said stuff publically which he should'nt have really mentioned at all since it had no relevance to the 3rd quarter earnings.
If you asked me if you should buy a 921 now, I would feel comfortable enough to say that if you like Dish Network then buying a 921 be good and would serve you well for a long time, get it and enjoy it.
In closing I would like to thank Dish Network for taking the time to listen to our comments and questions, there honestly should be no reason why consumers almost need to start world war 3 to find out whats going on with their satellite service. I do hope in the future we can have more Q&A's like this so that you the consumer make informed decissions, here at SatelliteGuys we are open to the idea, let's hope Dish thinks about it and acts on it as well.
