Which means by your quote he pays for those channels in his package?.Yet I can go to Dish Online and watch free stuff in channels I don't subscribe to? like Showtime? I don't have that one in my package,yet maybe it's in freeview?.
You all can believe what you what but I'm amazed at all the free stuff that's available with Dish Online and it's just in beta right now,so I guess to each his own.
First, yes, included in his package price ... what he pays for his cable, and what I pay for dish are fairly close in amount. When *I* was on cable, boonies of Virginia, we didn't have "on demand" and the price paid was nearly the same as what my friend pays. (On Demand should *not* be confused with PPV)
Lets also not confuse *Online* with *On Demand*
While in Dish's case, they would need to service the "On Demand" stuff through the internet,
because as was already pointed out there's a finite amount of Sat space available and the ability to stream over sat to ground would not meet the demand... there is still a major difference in DishOnline and Dish On Demand.
Dishonline doesn't show up through my 722k, I could only find it through my computer.
And lets not forget where the content appears to be coming from .. HULU!
And lets not confuse free either ... While *you* can get Dishonline free ... John Q Public can't get into DishOnline for free without having a DishNetwork Account and paying for Dish Services. If log yourself out of dishonline, then click on the "Login" link to take you to the Logon Screen, and look to the right where it CLEARLY markets this fact to you... as this:
Don't have DISH?
- Never miss your favorite shows again! Watch full length episodes and movies on the web.
- Set DVR recordings right from your computer or iPhone when away from home.
- Watch your live TV and DVR recordings all right here on DISHOnline.com.
GET DISH <--button to "get dish"
Or look at some of the content offerings more closely ... SEVERAL places it explains to get some of these programs I would need to upgrade my package .. package as in referring to adding programming packages to my Dish Service (which is probably the same for FIOS's VOD and others) And then in reference to Showtime which you "aren't a subscriber of" ... I looked and The L Word is not offered with DishOnline ... it only shows "Clips" not full episodes (clips like hulu as a content aggregator would do) (Epix has the same thing, tells me if I upgraded I could get Epix shows Online - click the StarTrek movie link, it even shows the "Upgrade" within the thumbnails of Epix content)
A perfect VOD system, would allow me access to *any* show within my programming packages, within copyright/recording limitations, etc.. like the Hulu "most recent 5 episodes" thing.. it would be a replacement for my inability to record a show .. regless of *why* I couldn't record the show (I say "why" because who hasn't had a loss of signal and lost recordings, and also, who wouldn't want to have a 4 or 6 stream recorder to record the 6 shows that are on at the same timeslot but for which you only have 1 head, a dual tuner dvr which can at least get you 2 of those 6 shows recorded)
Lastly .. there's still the multiple user logons/user accounts issue. I don't want to give my User/Pass to another member in my home. For them to use the KEY DISH ACCOUNT *ANYWHERE* outside this house and network is only asking for trouble.
Maliciousness is only a single account access away from screwing with my service, real or "just perceived" dangers, there's no difference in the simple fact that little suzy or johnny impressing their friends, might let one of their friends see the user/pass, or allow the user/pass to be captured on Timmy's computer ...etc.
...and what would be called *me* accessing the main account to order PPV, to add or remove services, from DISH's point of view.. because all Dish would have to say is "well you logged into our system and requested these changes".
So ... sorry.. but I don't see Dish Online as a valid replacement for Video On Demand services (regardless of how delivered sat/cable/inet) until those same services are viewed THRU the same "cablebox" and to my TV as I would want to watch any other live or recorded show I have available on the "box".
Don't get me wrong.. Dishonline is nice, is a great "included with" for my Dish dollars ... but its no replacement for accessing the content through my box.