DISH Network Posts First-Ever Loss of Subscribers

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

Being a digital cable fanboy, I didn't realize until recently just how common satellite dishes still were. Last weekend, I visited a friend and saw his satellite setup and saw the great selection of channels and the gorgeous HD picture quality... it really does put my current digital cable setup to great shame. But it appears not all is well with satellite, if certain reports are to be read into.

Popular satellite television provider DISH Network has just posted a surprise quarterly loss of their subscribers, which is apparently the first-ever loss of subscribers by a major satellite company. The loss isn't minor either, with the number totaling 25,000. Granted, those subscribers are a real drop in the bucket compared to their entire subscriber base, but it's something to take note of regardless.

Analysts note that DISH has not done a good job of attracting new business, although their recently-launched campaign for the 'Total HD' service might help a bit. The company itself blames the weak economic conditions (a typical favorite) and also aggressive promotional offerings of their main competition.

Ergen told analysts that signal theft through illegal set-top boxes bought over the Internet or elsewhere was one of the factors that had a material impact on DISH's customer churn during the quarter. He said the company is rolling out new security measures to prevent signal theft.

Source: Reuters
​

 

[Merlin]

Since I work for Comcast Cable, I can also see the subscribers moving to Cable from Dish.
Most have been to friend or neighbor's house, and saw Video On Demand ( not available on Dish ) and wanted all the free stuff that comes with VOD.
Another is the signal quality when the weather is bad. You can loose 7db to 14 db of signal when it rains.
And a Dish installer will butcher the existing cable connections in a home when they install the dish.
One more reason is it's almost impossible to get any tech service from Dish, when you have problems in a house.
For any reception you need a box at every TV.
With the comming of Feb 2009 they will stop broadcasting analog signals in the air, but CABLE will still support the older TVs with analog.
In other words you still would not have to have a box on a TV for basic or standard cable.

Merlin

 

[Rob Williams]

I agree, the weather factor is the worst thing about satelitte. It's the very reason I've never taken them seriously. The programming might be good, but if I sit down at night to watch TV, I'd be furious if the service was knocked out for whatever reason, especially since you still pay for it.

 

[Krazy K]

Since I work for Comcast Cable, I can also see the subscribers moving to Cable from Dish.
Most have been to friend or neighbor's house, and saw Video On Demand ( not available on Dish ) and wanted all the free stuff that comes with VOD.
Another is the signal quality when the weather is bad. You can loose 7db to 14 db of signal when it rains.
And a Dish installer will butcher the existing cable connections in a home when they install the dish.
One more reason is it's almost impossible to get any tech service from Dish, when you have problems in a house.
For any reception you need a box at every TV.
With the comming of Feb 2009 they will stop broadcasting analog signals in the air, but CABLE will still support the older TVs with analog.
In other words you still would not have to have a box on a TV for basic or standard cable.

Merlin

You are hit and miss in my opinion Merlin. I have DISH and while I do lose strength when there is a storm, unless the street lights think it's night and turn on it not enough to block out enough shut down receiver. We went to HD in the winter and they can't climb on roofs because of the snow so he put a stand in the back yard, anyway DISH has had to come out and relocate the new dish because of the leafing trees and we don't have a problem getting a tech out here. A bad receiver and they made it back out in less than 24 hours with a new one.

I work for a city and inherently have problems with corroding ductile pipes and just this summer a crew we had out digging up a water main located the cable line but later drop a large piece of sod on top of it and it broke. Well, we've never knocked out a dish.

They both have their pluses and minuses and I would say demographics would continue to make the choice for me but I found DISH to be a winner and I'll stick with them.

 

[On_Wisconsin]

OTA FTW!!!

(although the DTV 2009 thing is kinda lame)