Wall Street notices D* losing HDTV battle

[rad]

From http://www.forbes.com/markets/economy/2006/01/17/directv-echostar-0117markets02.html

Prudential Equity Group analyst Katherine Styponias downgraded The DirecTV Group (nyse: DTV - news - people ) to "underweight" from "overweight" and reduced the price target to $17 from $19 citing a "relatively weak" fiscal fourth quarter and lower net subscriber additions in 2006

...


The analyst emphasized that competitor EchoStar Communications (nasdaq: DISH - news - people ) has rolled out a stronger high-definition offering that is likely to appeal to high-end, desirable customers.

So D* customers know that D* is blowing it, now WallStreet knows it, when will D* figure it out?

 

[DrWho]

where is the part about the HDTV battle being lost???

"Stricter credit requirements for new subscribers imposed in November are resulting in lower than expected subscriber net additions, especially from third-party dealers," Stynopias said.

Oh, I see the Dish part.

Still, nothing is saying Direct is losing that front though.

 

[rad]

where is the part about the HDTV battle being lost???

"Stricter credit requirements for new subscribers imposed in November are resulting in lower than expected subscriber net additions, especially from third-party dealers," Stynopias said.

Oh, I see the Dish part.

Still, nothing is saying Direct is losing that front though.

I guess you didn't read the part that said:

The analyst emphasized that competitor EchoStar Communications (nasdaq: DISH - news - people ) has rolled out a stronger high-definition offering that is likely to appeal to high-end, desirable customers.

 

[JoeSp]

I do not think that D* is loosing that battle -- but unless they come up with a killer Fox-HD suite that can compete with VOOM or start offering VOOM to their subscribers I would guess that they would start loosing HD customers to E*. Only the NFL customers who have to have their local team all the time will have a reason to stay. Comparisons between E* and D* HD signal still has E* with the better end product. When you are dropping $80 to a $120 per month for your viewing you want the most for you buck. Right now as far as HD is concerned your buck goes farther with E*

 

[rad]

I do not think that D* is loosing that battle -- but unless they come up with a killer Fox-HD suite that can compete with VOOM or start offering VOOM to their subscribers I would guess that they would start loosing HD customers to E*. Only the NFL customers who have to have their local team all the time will have a reason to stay. Comparisons between E* and D* HD signal still has E* with the better end product. When you are dropping $80 to a $120 per month for your viewing you want the most for you buck. Right now as far as HD is concerned your buck goes farther with E*

IMHO, forget Voom and an Fox look a like, give us the national channels that are out their now, TNT-HD, Cinemax-HD, Starz-HD, your RSN in HD. But while the buzz/rumor was that after NFL-ST ended that we'd see more HD appear to have been dashed by D* reps at CES saying nothing until 2007 except for LIL-HD. LIL-HD was D*'s battle plan for beating E* but E* has now commited to starting to roll out LIL-HD in a couple months, added more V* channels plus three new national HD channels soon. Hate to admit it but to me looks like Charlie pulled a good bluff and whiped D* at least for 2006, now 2007 may be a different story with D10 and D11 going up.

 

[DrWho]

I guess you didn't read the part that said:
The analyst emphasized that competitor EchoStar Communications (nasdaq: DISH - news - people ) has rolled out a stronger high-definition offering that is likely to appeal to high-end, desirable customers.

Yeah, but if nobody is buying it.....

aka Voom

 

[herdfan]

added more V* channels plus three new national HD channels soon.

Three? UHD, ESPN2HD and ??????

 

[herdfan]

OK, now we know her name, lets get her address and bombard her with mail about how D* is screwing up not only HD, but their new DVR is junk and this new leasing program is going to upset the same high-end customer.

Prudential Equity Group analyst Katherine Styponias

 

[rad]

Three? UHD, ESPN2HD and ??????

I forgot about ESPN2HD, was thinking about UHD, Food Network HD and HGTV HD (also forgot about Starz-HD) which were announced on the Charlie Chat for 2006, http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=51925.

 

[syphix]

DirecTV is realizing that this is not a sprint, but a marathon. Unless something amazing has happened that I haven't read about, Charlie & E* have no longterm plan for additional bandwidth to provide the HD services that D* will be able to provide.

Businesses these large shouldn't be looking short term. E* is simply getting a shot in the arm. But what are they going to do once D* is broadcasting 1500 locals in HD, and 100 nationals in HD??

BTW, it's "losing" not "loosing"...

 

[bgsmallwood]

E* has passed D* with HD offerings...

We are all aware that E* has offered more HD channels in the last year than D* has in total. Everyone knows that when subscribers sign with either D* or E* they tend to stay with that company for a long time.

Unless D* gets with the program and offers more channels like TNT-HD and NGCHD they are going to end up with just the sports fans left watching HD.

So yeah, I guess I agree with the recomendations of the financial writer and avoid investing in D* at least for the next year.

 

[OneBigJedi]

I Agree DTV Needs More National Feeds!!!

I asked a telephone rep. about NGCHD he said that there are no plans at this time. I ask him about The Outdoor Channel 2 HD which is on the air now, he did not even know is was out. I ask about Starz HD, he said we have HBO & Showtime HD. I ask about CMax HD, MovieChannel HD, same response. I asked about Playboy HD, he had not even heard of it.

There are so many channels that DTV could offer on the national feed to off set Voom, but they are only focused on local HD. Don't get me wrong, I live in a white area and would love to have my local nets. But, I get the distant locals except WB, and I do fine. Their efforts to offer cities on HD that can get OTA HD feeds is stupid. Not that people in those cities don't need HD feeds, but all they have to do is use an antenna and they are set.

For those who have not watched the HD channels, it is hard to watch a SD channel after you have watched HD. So bring on the History Channel, etc. in HD!!!!!!

 

[charper1]

How many more times can it be said? 99.995% of all CSRs are just that; people that are paid to answer phones and read from the script booklet they are trained to read from. Most of these people more than likely don't even own HD or keep up with its goings on, and shouldn't be required to for THIS particular job; they MIGHT NOT even have DirecTV. They are not trained to answer these questions you guys continually throw at them. Even if they MIGHT now something on a personal level they can't go around blurting things out before they are instructed to. They are there to handle actual new and current subscriptions, billing and hardware problems. If some of those issues you have is above and beyond them, you should get your call escalated. People that are calling in for some general Q&A not related to the above topics, should be directed to DirecTV email or non-CRS phones. You are doing nothing more than clogging the phone bank that REAL users and new subs need. You are not only beating a dead horse, but one that NEVER knew the answer to begin with, thats not what they are there for.

 

[vinnyv07]

The last straw for me was when Directv could not answer my simple question.....where is my TNTHD? Simply put.....no answer. I wanted one ch...that just happens to be on every other provider available to me. Don't get me wrong, I don't always watch tnthd but I do watch alot of their movies on the weekend. I enjoy their sports coverage during the bball season. When Voom went under I missed the ch. Being a Directv sub I activated their HD pack....and wasn't happy at all. How can they gain customers that care about HD at the present moment? 12 bucks for HDnet, HDNM, Espn 1 and 2, UNiversalHD and DiscHD? Who are you going to gain with that? I understand that in 2007 Directv is going to make a push for HD ....but it's 2006...and Dish is just a better deal right now. People aren't blind....for 20 bucks a mth you get the 10 VOOM ch's and everything directv offers except for Universalhd and ESPNHD2...which are coming. I'm going to continue to sub to Directv but keep Dish for the HD. Directv isn't getting my HD $$$. It wouldn't suprise me if Directv lost a little steam because of their lackluster HD offering. But, they won't lose much because their hardware offers top Dish Nets.

 

[wolfman]

Hopefully D* will stay away from Voom channels. The idea is to get worthwhile HD channels, not that Voom garbage.

 

[charper1]

Oh don't get me wrong Vinny, I agree that they should have added TNT-HD and at least 1 or 2 other national HD channels before or during the LIL HD rollout and let it remain the same price. I also hate the "must carry" requirements that force more and more shopping and human/family interest channels into our packages.

I also NEVER take anything wall street analysts say as law. I simply add it to my own research. They have blown numerous calls; to many to count, and NEVER correct or held accountable.

I also can't see why at this point and time why they can't say why they don't have TNT; it may be legal, or an ongoing feud with Turner, TW, AOL or whomever owns TNT now.

BUT what I don't get is all these people that purposely and continuously call a phone operator knowing that they don't know anything past the trained script just so they can have posting fodder to fuel the thread.

Now I have seen Voom and it does not impress me past that fact of having EXTRA HD channels; similar to cinemax, mtv, outdoor life. Now Starz does intrigue me as well as a few of the cable exclusives that DBS can't get yet.

All in all there just isn't that much great quality out there YET on the HD channels front. I am more interest in the HD DVD/Blu-Ray DVD issue to be resolve and start rolling where I can use my 133" projector perfectly with movies I hand-pick.

 

[bgsmallwood]

"BUT what I don't get is all these people that purposely and continuously call a phone operator knowing that they don't know anything past the trained script just so they can have posting fodder to fuel the thread."

Charper1, I agree with you on that. People, lets not harass the CSRs about programming decisions. Personally, I emailed D* at the email address on the "Contact Us" link on their website. I received a response that indicated my HD channel requests would be forwarded to the appropriate people. That is all I ask. Then I give them a few more months and if still nada, goodbye D* and hello E*.

 

[bgilga]

While I do think it is an embarrassment that D* does not have TNT HD, I am not going to jump to E* anytime soon. If D* doesn't make some sort of move to more HD in the next year, then I will consider it. VOOM channels to me ae just not enough reason to jump.

 

[enoree]

E*+tnthd =nascar Hd
D*-tnthd=no Nascar Hd

 

[charper1]

Whew, and I thought I was missing something important. LOL lets all go in a circle. They should change the format; I am not a fan but I would be more interested if, lets say they have 20 events, 2 or 3 are now road and the rest are oval. They need to REVERSE that. Road tracks are REAL driving & skill.