wondering why

[ronfelder]

I was just wondering as a Dish subscriber for the past six years. Why are ther more subscribers for Directv than Dish? I personally don't see any advantages that they might have over Dish, so I was just asking everyone for their thoughts. I know that they are sold at Circuit City and Best Buy. Also that they had a head start so perhaps that helps. Plus NFLSunday Ticket. But besides that why do they have about three million more subscribers for what I see an identical product. Those three things can't be the only reasons, can it?

Ron

 

[G&T]

Maybe Programming? Directv seems to have every channel known to man (well not every channel, but you know what I mean)? Other than that, I don't know. I'd like to know as well.

 

[NightRyder]

A few reasons I can think of....

1. DirecTv started about a year earlier.

2. They have exclusive deals with most of the big box electronics stores.

3. Their acquisition of the old Prime Star service gave them a 2 or 3 million subscriber boost.

4. They do a better job of advertising. IMHO.


NightRyder

 

[uhlesses]

DirecTV has 3 million more subs in the New York area because of the YES Network!

 

[RandallA]

I would say that the NFL ticket and better advertising have something to do with getting more subscribers on the DirecTV's side.

 

[webbydude]

Looks like this is turning into an informal poll. My take pretty much echoes everything said....better advertising and NFL ticket. Seems if you want family oriented programming, then E* is the way to go...sports oriented, then D*

 

[gbjbany]

is it also to do with the availability of OEM receivers for directtv where as dish was/is the only source for their receivers ?
I know i was always frustrated with the earlier dish receivers and when i visited Sears or BB they offered satellite receivers but only for direct tv.

 

[ronfelder]

Looks like this is turning into an informal poll. My take pretty much echoes everything said....better advertising and NFL ticket. Seems if you want family oriented programming, then E* is the way to go...sports oriented, then D*

Perhaps I should have made it a poll.

Why do you think Directv adveritses better than Dish? I suppose now that they are owned by Rupert Mourdoch his pockets are much deeper than Carlie Ergen's. With that in mind they have more money to advertise and make deals with the big chain stores.

Ron

 

[ronfelder]

is it also to do with the availability of OEM receivers for directtv where as dish was/is the only source for their receivers ?
I know i was always frustrated with the earlier dish receivers and when i visited Sears or BB they offered satellite receivers but only for direct tv.

I've read that since Dish makes and designs their own receivers that is why we get the free though sparse software updates. Directv is unable to do this do to the various manufacturers of their receivers.

Ron

 

[NightRyder]

Perhaps I should have made it a poll.

Why do you think Directv adveritses better than Dish? I suppose now that they are owned by Rupert Mourdoch his pockets are much deeper than Carlie Ergen's. With that in mind they have more money to advertise and make deals with the big chain stores.

Ron

Let's see...On Dish's side we have Cable Pigs and Sucking TV's. On DirecTv's side we a have a very effective (also very misleading) commercial touting 1500 future HD channels. No contest.

D* had the deals with the chain stores way before Rupert. GM had deep pockets too.


NightRyder

 

[boba]

Directv has had more reliable products, they have had better programming packages, they have had better customer service. They are smart enough not to Audit their customers. Dish(Echosphere Corp) for the first two years was a distributer of Directv but they didn't learn as much as they should have. Today they have new management some of it hired from Dish Network the future may not be as rosy.

 

[ronfelder]

Directv has had more reliable products, they have had better programming packages, they have had better customer service. They are smart enough not to Audit their customers. Dish(Echosphere Corp) for the first two years was a distributer of Directv but they didn't learn as much as they should have. Today they have new management some of it hired from Dish Network the future may not be as rosy.

What's the differnece between Dish (Echosphere Corp) and Dishnetwork owned by Echostar?

Ron

 

[Roger]

I think DTV advertised while I don't think E* ever did at first. I think if people wanted to get sat service then you can go and buy DTV while you really had to look for E* to find them which is what I did by finding dbsdish.com. DTV had the sports packages and was in stores and they did advertise while I had to go to dbsdish to even hear about E*. At the time they had DTV, P*, E*, and Alpha-star. DTV also had a lot more channels if I remember correctly because when I got E* they didn't even have Starz and Encore then. Also their PPV was like 10 channels total.

I think DTV would even have more customers today if they were one company like today instead of being DTV for core programming, USSB for movie channels not to mention different hardware manufacturing because they were really expensive to get at one time. A* was shaky at the time (because of lack of subs) but was known to have the cheapest core package along with being the leader in porn. P* was affiliated with cable, had a big dish, and lacked too many channels at the time. That left E* who had a decent price on core packages but also lacked a lot of channels. However, they were the first to offer heavy discounting on equipment and they were known to be "family oriented" at the time and Charlie said (along with the FAQ on E* website) that E* was family oriented and would never offer adult programming which I liked. E* was leasing transponder space from Sky-angel at the time just to get more programing up and running because they really lacked space at one time. So I went with E* because my first E* two room system cost like $500 to get installed while DTV with Sony equipment would have been like $800 to $900 so I went with E*.

I think E* in the early years sold many by word of mouth because I don't recall seeing any ads for years.

 

[ronfelder]

not bad

Well it seems to me if that is all the reason why Directv is more poplular, Dish isn't doing a bad job at getting subscribers. They are only 3 million behind. Not that geat of a percentage. someone even said that they were doing better at one point.So if you deduct what directv gained by buying Primestar they'd have about the same.

Ron

 

[ronfelder]

why?

Then why doens't Dish advertise as much and do the other things that Directv does?

Ron

 

[wobbie]

Just a few months back you could get DirecTV with a $50.00 deposit..... Got your cable cutoff??? Call Dish, credit card qualify? No... $200.00 deposit. Call DirecTV... credit card qualify?? NO.. $50.00 deposit that may have helped up the subscriber rate a bit.

 

[Sat_Jockey]

I would say that the NFL Sunday Ticket is the biggest draw to Direct over Dish.

 

[Weezknight]

I think advertising has a lot to do with it. When I decided to get satellite hooked up I had to search online to see if Dish Network even still existed! During that time, however, I received countless ads in the weekly adverts for DirecTV, plus all the TV ads I had seen.

In the end I chose Dish Network because I could get Fox Soccer Channel for the lowest price between Dish, DirecTV, and Comcast.

But, as I said, Dish Network gets killed (at least in my area) in the advertising department.

 

[Barry Erick]

In this area, DirecTV was here long before Dish. There just was not competition. For this year, Dish is more popular, but since DirecTV had a head start, there are far more DirecTV dishes out there. Other areas may have just the opposite showing.

 

[rjruby]

If they offered more international programming, DirecTV would do even better.

I know I would jump from Dish Network to them in a heartbeat if they offered an Arabic language package.