Who's Afraid of FiOS?

[riffjim4069]

Source

Based on this article, DirecTV and Dish Network should be afraid...HD-Lite does matter.

Verizon's FiOS Broadband and TV service is widely believed to be kryptonite for Cable Companies. Add satellite companies to the list, according to a study conducted by OneTrak, a market research firm. They looked at 34 Massachusetts towns and came up with interesting conclusions. In the first 90 days of the FiOS availablity, this is how the losses stack up:

1. Comcast lost 5,216 subscribers across a base of 204,160, a drop of 2.6%.

2. RCN lost 1,813 subscribers, or 7% off its base of 25,895 subscribers.

3. 4,594 FiOS TV subscribers came from DirecTV/DISH, or about 40% of their total subscriber base.

4. Verizon's gain was 11,982 subscribers.

OneTrak believes that "Verizon will likely continue to see double-digit penetration gains in markets where it launches FiOS TV service." No wonder Verizon is so bullish on FiOS and is betting the farm on the fiber.

Our good friend Cynthia Brumfield explains the satellite-to-FiOS swtich

Verizon is trying to convert its video subscribers that come through its DBS partnerships over to FiOS because that's a very easy switch. Moreover, it has the added benefit of allowing Verizon to keep 100% of the video service revenues instead of sharing those revenues with DirecTV. So, a good chunk of Verizon's FiOS TV customers ARE coming from DirecTV because they were part of the DirecTV customer base Verizon had anyway.

 

[Aqualung812]

That's great for wealthy, densely populated places. However, the #1 advantage DBS has is that it gets to all of the remote areas that cable and FIOS just won't spend the $$$ to reach.

Cable has every right to be shaking, but even if DBS does nothing to compete they will still have a large section of the country who can only choose between Dish and Direct if they want HD.

 

[garlandtxuser]

Source

Based on this article, DirecTV and Dish Network should be afraid...HD-Lite does matter.

Verizon's FiOS Broadband and TV service is widely believed to be kryptonite for Cable Companies. Add satellite companies to the list, according to a study conducted by OneTrak, a market research firm. They looked at 34 Massachusetts towns and came up with interesting conclusions. In the first 90 days of the FiOS availablity, this is how the losses stack up:

1. Comcast lost 5,216 subscribers across a base of 204,160, a drop of 2.6%.

2. RCN lost 1,813 subscribers, or 7% off its base of 25,895 subscribers.

3. 4,594 FiOS TV subscribers came from DirecTV/DISH, or about 40% of their total subscriber base.

4. Verizon's gain was 11,982 subscribers.

OneTrak believes that "Verizon will likely continue to see double-digit penetration gains in markets where it launches FiOS TV service." No wonder Verizon is so bullish on FiOS and is betting the farm on the fiber.

Our good friend Cynthia Brumfield explains the satellite-to-FiOS swtich

Verizon is trying to convert its video subscribers that come through its DBS partnerships over to FiOS because that's a very easy switch. Moreover, it has the added benefit of allowing Verizon to keep 100% of the video service revenues instead of sharing those revenues with DirecTV. So, a good chunk of Verizon's FiOS TV customers ARE coming from DirecTV because they were part of the DirecTV customer base Verizon had anyway.

LOVE your signature block.

 

[garlandtxuser]

That's great for wealthy, densely populated places. However, the #1 advantage DBS has is that it gets to all of the remote areas that cable and FIOS just won't spend the $$$ to reach.

Cable has every right to be shaking, but even if DBS does nothing to compete they will still have a large section of the country who can only choose between Dish and Direct if they want HD.

Auqalung, do you have phone service at your home? Fios is something that is replacing phone lines in many areas. I suspect that as more metropolitan areas show the mass interest in Fios Verison will start to replace the aging copper infrastructure in the rural areas. There are already government incentives for them to upgrade the infrastructure, without which this whole project would not have ever started. I suspect that in order to keep our national infrastructure up to snuff more incentives will come to allow for remote penetration.

 

[Claude Greiner]

This is no different when DIRECTV and DISH started rolling out their services and they started to take away subscribers from Cable with double digit penitrations.

Ofcourse they are going to show strong numbers because they are giving away the farm to sign people up.

The key is what will happen once all the special deals are over and customers are expected to pay regular price!

 

[garlandtxuser]

This is no different when DIRECTV and DISH started rolling out their services and they started to take away subscribers from Cable with double digit penitrations.

Ofcourse they are going to show strong numbers because they are giving away the farm to sign people up.

The key is what will happen once all the special deals are over and customers are expected to pay regular price!

Actually there is a difference.

1) Fios is not giving anything away and people are flocking to sign up
2) Fios is an infrastructure upgrade rather than just more equipment to put in your home
3) Once fiber is paid for the costs for maintenance is minimal compared to satellite which must put new million dollar birds up every few years
4) Fiber has virtually unlimited bandwidth. Satellite is limited. Even with compression there is a limit to how much data can be transmitted on their signal.
5) Fios offers true HD content
6) Fios, for the most part, HAS customer service
7) Fios is capable of carrying much more than TV, Internet, and Phone
8) In relation to #7 above, Fios is a 2-way service. Satellite is unidirectional

I could go on and on about the technical aspects. If you read my other post, you will also notice that the US government has given them incentives to upgrade the infrastructure to fiber. Satellite will never get this type of break meaning their costs will always trend upwards. While I expect Fios to do the same, I also expect the rate of increase to be much slower than satellite making satellite much less attractive as time goes on.

I feel your pain. I also spent money on satellite gear only to feel stupid when Fios came along. I ended up oosing my 250.00 investment in my Dish gear, but after months of costs savings I have recouped it and have a better service.

One last thing. Fios offers Internet AND phone service. Satellite will always be TV only. Of course you can get their Internet, but it will cost you dearly.

 

[mdonnelly]

When FIOS gets to my semi-rural neighborhood, I'll take a good look at it. I haven't seen any downside to FIOS yet, other than the fact that it's just not available outside of the urban neighborhoods. But hey, I stand a good chance of getting fiber to the house before at&t gets their u-verse product out here.