typoes.... Scott... you missed a bunch of words ... the one that comes to mind is the word NOT as in: "First I would start off by charging extra for HD programming." I am sure you meant to say: "First I would start off by NOT charging extra for HD programming." etc...

Amen to that brother.

My suggestions..... 1. Beat down the competition with your strengths, and reduce the spots you are vulnerable. More HD Movie Channels, and dial down the compression and do a side by side comparison with D*'s and decry the HD lite equivalent. However, Fios can flip this on you, so keep focused on D*. 2. Make more bundles. Cable has Triple Play, etc... Bundle 4 DVRs, the Everything Pack, and HD for a discounted price. 3. Get the superstations in HD. 4. STOP with the broadcast network shutoffs. You're the only one that ever seems to do it. Lifetime is one thing, CBS is another. 5. Free VOD from a pay TV provider if you subscribe to a HBO/SHO/MAX/STZ Comcast does this the best. Do the same. 6. Drop pricing on the PPVs. I can buy new releases for $15-20 at Best Buy and have them for as long as I want. 7. Add more programming to channel 101. I liked the old Laurie Farkas CNN style reports about new things on E*.

You forgot one of the biggest, Customer Service. Nothing is worse than having to call 10 times just to get someone who speaks recognizable English and can understand what you are saying. Move the call centers back to the US!!

Great start Scott! But I think you might of missed at least one of the very basic actions. BE HONEST!!!! Tell the truth to your customers and see that your CSR's know what's happening and can pass on the word to us when we call. I know this has been beaten into the ground, but they still no seem to get it. RSN's and PPV HD channels don't count since the majority of customer can't or won't use them. I know that premium channels are a grey area, but at least they are available for a flat monthly fee to EVERYONE who wants them. How many HD channels do you really have that is available 24 hours a day to everyone, everywhere? I have the "Everything Package" but I don't get "Everything" you have available. I agree HD should be included in all your packages at one monthly rate per tier. I don't normally respond to on-line items like this, but I felt someone should voice an opinion and support you! Thank you!

I agree w/dijohn76.furthermore have better communication from company to csr's so everybody is on the same page!Standardize so every sub gets the same info no matter which csr they speak with. Paul

I don't think Charlie needs to lower the prices, if he would just eliminate the fees. There is a strong advertising message to having a one price with no hidden charges. He could probably make more overall and appear to be more honest. I will probably never order a PPV, but at these prices, it is a certainty. One thing that I think he should do is take a look at DTV's 101 and look toward compelling and unique entertainment content. When DTV picked up the soap opera Passions, they picked up a large and loyal viewer base, many of whom became DTV subscribers for that very reason. These exclusive content agreements have paid off for DTV annd will do so for DISH.

Has someone emailed Scott's comments to ceo@echostar.com ?

Going along with the "other" fees idea. Get rid of the "No Phone Line Fee". When/if these people buy a PPV movie (which the phone line is mainly for) they already pay $1 more. Yes I know that you can connect it to the internet, but that is assuming you have the internet at home as well.

Pricing is not the problem. They already have the lowest price. I would focus on service, service service. If a customers remote control breaks send a new one for FREE!. How much does a remote control cost DISH? 2 or 3 bucks. If the customer has been with them a while, give them a call and offer a free upgrade to newer equippment. Quality control on refurbished equippment. One of my customers got mad and cancelled the other day because their 625 went bad, and the replacement they shipped them was bad. Also on picture quality. When Dish first launched in the early 90s they had a razor sharp picture. Compression has really worsened the picture quality. I suppose when all the most popular channels are converted to Hd, this will not be an issue.

If I was at the helm, I would add Real VOD, meaning adding free content like spongebob on demand, Disney on Demand, ect. That will grow your VOD base and then you can charge the 3.99 for a PPVHD movie. The 2nd thing would be renegotating for MLB Extra Innings, and negotating for the NFL Sunday ticket when that option came up. There should be no reason why both providers couldnt have those sporting packages and would make dish more marketable. I totally agree with scott about nickeling and diming coustomers. I would totally drop the contracts also, If a coustomer falls in love with our product, then they are going to stay with it. No need to lock them into a contract. If they dont fall in love with the dish product then dish is doing something wrong.

I have dropped Verizon FIOS TV (no NHL programming) and am looking at Brighthouse, DTV and DISH. The contract works against both DISH and DTV and it really makes these services look like they wish to trick and trap you into using their services. I am looking at the TurboHD Platinum service and it is really difficult to understand what you will actually get in that package. I have an AppleTV and BlockBuster online, they are dreaming of selling me a single PPV at $6.99, that is pure incompetence. It is nearly impossible to find a single positive review of any Satellite customer. Concerns of weather outages (I live in Florida, thunderstorms everyday) combined with the contract of 24 months make it more difficult to pull the trigger. This is a good article and I agree that these have a direct impact on customer sign ups.

Stop the fights with selective networks (i.e. MSG, YES, FOX, LIFETIME)with the implied cause to save subscribers money, and make sure you carry every sports networking possible in HD, so your customers can subscribe to it, rather than leave Dish for the compettition.

I agree scott and to the replies here

I agree scott and to the replies here

All good ideas Scott... Unfortunately, I'm sure it's a little more difficult then "cut prices" and "make our equipment cooler". I think everyone in business, especially Charlie Ergen understand that a better product for less money is the key to success. It's not that simple though.

All proposals have to deal with tactics. To correct Dishnetwork's issues strategy must change. Because Jim, Charlie, and Charlies wife started on a shoestring they've always maintained a 'us against the world mentality. Couple this with Charlie's backround as a bean counter and all envolved to be 'all in' all the time was successful to point. But the company is to large for that strategy to work. I don't think Echostar has learned THE basic strategy for all sucessful companies which is knowing and acting upon the answer to the following question---Company 'A' is a stock holding company and is given the choice of only supporting one portion of that company---the stockholders, the customers or the employees--Dish will always answer with the wrong answer. (The correct answer is the empolyees which in this case would also include dealers)

I also think they need to work on their overall service areas; i.e. communication skills. I do not know how they would go about it, but it always seems CSR'S and local installers do not know their left hand from their right hand.

Make Dish'n up(Upgrade receivers including HD) FREE for all customers because there are many offer from Cable and DirecTV free for NEW customers so way to pay more to Dish. Some people are leaving Dish because Dish wants $75 or more to get HD receivers which is FREE for New customers.

10-4 I would love to have another DVR but not if I have to pay another fee.

I'd lose the $5/mo surcharge for dual tuner DVRs to homes without a land line telephone. Many of us are dumping our land line phone service because we have cellular service.

Charlie would have to perform a miracle to get me back to Dish. Telling me that I have to pay the full price of over $700 to upgrade to an HD DVR after being a subscriber for 7 years did it for me!

Get rid of the paranoia and fix the customer web site. Let the customer activate/deactivate, place on vacation standby, add/remove programming/ change addresses, etc (the customer is not stupid). Directv moved in that direction years ago and their sales increased.

#1 Better Service #2 Better Service #3 Better Service Train csrs on how to take care of the customers properly.

Consistency accross the board. CSR training is paramount. I thought Dish was adding some 700+ jobs to a new center in Arizona. What happened to that? Deliver what you advertise(ie; the 1080p fiasco). Treat current customers just like new customers otherwise they will be gone customers..

You know, the amazing thing with all these comments and Scott's ideas in general is that most of these would be easy and cheap to implement.

If I were in charge, I would have commercials with that babe on 101 that shows off the neat features of the VIP DVR's (PIP, TV1, TV2 ect). I would elimate the unecessary fees and to recoup that I would make better, clear programming choices (with internationals mixed in for a nominal fee). I would set up our own installion services in major cities thaat would also ofer advanced services like HT installations or custom dish/ota installs for additional revenue. I would hire Americans for Customer Service and brag to the country that we do so. I would team up with netflix and offer real VOD services for additional commisioned based revenue. It is possible for a major corp like Dish to do whats right for the customer AND make a lot of money. I still think Charlie is the man to do this once he gets his head out of his @55.

Custome Service is horrible. Getting a straight answr is impossible. Also, I pay over $140 a month for Dish. Now I want to get a second HD DVR, and they want to charge me $100, sign a new 24 month commitment, and have me take a day off of work to meet the installer!! WHY????

To clarify one thing cable does charge for hd content though Charter has offered a promo to get it free for 6 months along with the receiver. I can agrea on the fee's issue because if I had Dish's service comparable to what I have now I would be paying more after the fee's so I'll stick with Directv and its lack of fee's. I wouldnt go the route of faceplates or widgets simply because its a receiver not a computer or gaming console and theres little to no market for such fluff. The vast majority of people want it simple so leave it simple wich is why I would change those damned remotes around to make it easier for new customers to get the hang of using one. Take a leason from Directv with their remotes wich are considerably easier for a new customer to use. The program prices do need to drop because theres little diference between what Dish charges and what the cable companies charge. Now on to the things I would change. Stop the lying in the advertisements inregards how many high definition channels Dish has and how its cheaper than other providers and that its number one in customer satisfaction. To make those lies true I would add HD content and get rid of filler channels such as all but two of the shopping channels and drop all but 5 PPV channels and drop the sports alternates that take up useable space. I would drop the prices back to what they were in 2000 and reinstitute promotions such as the "

If you want comments dont limit them to 7k characters.

I agree with all of the above. However, all publicly traded companies care only about pleasing Wall Street that their customers. They live for today and not for tomorrow. This is why it is a big surprise when you hear about them going belly up. Sure Dish knows the customers are upset today but hey there will be other suckers who will sign up tomorrow.

I'd bring back VOOM. I left Dish because they stopped carrying these channels and many others probably did too.

Scott: Let us hear what you'd do if you were in charge of DIRECTV.

Excellent commentary. I woudl reduce the PPV anyway, with all the restrictions, that you can only watch it for 24 hours, etc, how many really buy PPV? I have been with Dish for 7 years and never ordered a PPV, even when they give me free coupons. True they need to stop the nickel and iming. The only reason I am still with Dish is their superior DVRs. If DirecTV can get their heads out of their butts with their gear I woudl be with them in a second. The lack of OTA DVR is a deal breaker. Dish I can essentilly DVR 3 events at once, and during peak fall season I fully utilize that. Dish also is making it harder to get their service, it took 3 persistent install attempts to get Dish for my friend becasue they keep sending idiots that woudl not install on the roof, even though I told them when I called it is a roof install. Again Gear is only reason we went with them, DirecTV WAKE UP, improve your gear and you'll pull further in front!!

I have to somewhat disagree. The word is SERVICE. Better phone service, better installer service. Package prices are actually ok, but yes drop the per DVR fee and only charge once. And yes if you pay for the SD version of a channel you should get the HD one also assuming Dish is not paying for the HD one.

Simple. 1) Give excellent customer service (this will actually make the company money) 2) Give people extras for free (1 PPV a month, special content, local channels, etc.) 3)Stop charging extra for new features (i.e. external HD usage) 4) Simplify programming choices.

stop charging for local channels that is 60 bucks a year. ppv is way to high. you can buy a used copy of the movie you want at amazon for one dollar most of the time.i may just toss out the dish and look at my cat. he is more fun to watch.

I would also add wwe 24/7 vod and AGREE WITH ALL THINGS THAT ARE SAID HERE.

I would also add wwe 24/7 vod and AGREE WITH ALL THINGS THAT ARE SAID HERE.

Has Dish ever considered the FreeSat model that Sky uses in the United Kingdom? Sell receiver packages at a price that covers the cost of the receiver and installation - a registered access card would be required to get the "

forget it. it's over. the jig is up. dish has turned customers into enemies. enemies that have decided not to deal with dish anymore. high prices, stupid fees, stupid csr's, crappy communications, and on and on. it was bound to happen. ergen and defranco pay more attention to the cnbc ticker waiting for their symbol to go by rather than coming up with ways to show their customers that they still count. in the words of roy orbison (or nancy wilson depending on your generation), IT'S OOOOOVVVVERRRRRRRRRRR!

Fix customer service. Fix customer service. Fix customer service. Fix customer service. Robots could do a better job. OOPS they are programmed also and cant think for them selfs.

I would just add all the fees in to start with, then if someone has phone or internet connection they save $5.00. I would just add in the fees for local channels everyone wants them, then get upset when they see the extra charges on the bill. The worst part is customer should be buyer beware, I spent a year in the call center and still can not believe how many people did not understand what they order and what it cost. It is really sad when you think about it.

Dish has punnished Voom enough for their repeats. Bring it back with the understanding that a certain amount of new programming is required. Repeats are to be kept to a minimum similar to the other networks. Voom was great! Don't fight them. Work with them. A premium charge for Voom like for HBO can be understandable but stop charging for HD and bring our prices down overall. There is nothing special about Dish anymore.

Dish has punnished Voom enough for their repeats. Bring it back with the understanding that a certain amount of new programming is required. Repeats are to be kept to a minimum similar to the other networks. Voom was great! Don't fight them. Work with them. A premium charge for Voom like for HBO can be understandable but stop charging for HD and bring our prices down overall. There is nothing special about Dish anymore.

I would love to see more VOD. It's the only reason that I even consider switching to Insight. However, the superior DVR and HD channels keep me with Dish.

Dish needs to determine what their brand will be. It can be like WalMart as the low price leader or it can be like LLBean as having top notch customer support. It's tough to be both. Right now Dish has NO Brand Identity. If you want Dish to be the low price provider, I doubt if you can expect the best product. Certainly, Walmart doesn't provide top quality products. As a nine year Dish subscriber, I would rather have competitive pricing but a high quality product with lots of channels, lots of HD, and better customer support. I haven't had too many issues in my 9 years with Dish and I'm a techie so can solve most issues. I've found the Dish technicians quite good, but their customer service people are really poor.

This is comparable to that BS that you hear people say "If I won the lottery, I'd buy XYZ." Dish management doesn't care what you think of their management practices anymore than they care what anyone else posted. Do you really think they're going to change their management practices because some guy that runs a satellite message board wants to publicly criticize their company? They're a big company and all they care about is their stock price. If you don't like dish, then go elsewhere and quit your b.tching.

Dish Networks new HD turbo Paks are very affordable. Cable advertises FREE HD, but is it really free! You have to pay a lease fee for a HD receiver. DISH Network has the best prices. They realy need to focus on customer service.Customer service will win them more customers that lower prices will.

I would ask for Charles Ergen's resignation and start making the move toward making DISH a privately-held company due haste. I would immediately make moves to settle disputes with GOL TV and Fox News (I would move Fox News Channel and MSNBC to the same package as CNN and Headline News), move to add the Fox Business Network, BET J, the Mountain West Sports Network (first nationally, then after basketball season make it part of the Sports Pack, but also make it widely available in states with MWC schools), add Comcast SportsNet Northwest to the Sports Pack as well. Have all customer service operators based in the United States. Eliminate the fee for local broadcast stations.

"If I was running Dish Network I would stop the nickel and diming of the customers. First I would start off by not charging extra for HD programming. The majority of HD channels offered are just mirrors of their standard definition channels. From everything I hear these HD versions are made available to providers at no extra charge. Cable television does not charge extra for their HD channels why does satellite? Why should customers be paying twice for what they are already paying for? Sure Dish will be out of $10 a month from the HD customers, but think of how many customers they would gain." -Scott Actually it does cost DBS provider more to broadcast HD. Unlike cable, DBS providers have a lot of additional costs, mostly equipment costs such as new satellites. This costs for cable or FiOS is far far less and this is why they can get away with not charging extra for HD.

STOP CHARGING FOR LOCALS CHANNELS. THAT IS 60 BUCKS A YEAR. AND PPV IS ALSO TO MUCH .I MAY JUST TOSS OUT THE DISH AND TV AND LOOK AT MY CATS. THEY IS MORE FUN TO WATCH.

It's always so easy from the armchair, isn't it? *sigh* If Scott followed through on his recommendations who wants to do the math on financial loss? Customers cost (conservatively) $1,000 per to attain. You not only want to toss that expense out, but then provide additional free services, universal price drops and pray that in the long run enough customers sign up quickly enough to sustain the business? Corporate suicide... Your heart's in the right place Scott, but DISH is no Metro...

I agree with Scott. The only thing I would add is that instead of having so many different receiver models have only one receiver capable of receiving all channels and functions and one dish antenna. If a customer wants to upgrade all it takes is a phone call. Keep it simple.

from the spelling and typos, its clear you could run Dish Network as well as Charlie. However, your post is so full of mistakes and bad information, Dish would go bankrupt if you ran it.

Dish lost most of my business for restricting the amount of boxes and/or tuners on an account. 4BR, FR, Kit,LR, oh wait, too many boxes, can't do that. WTF? D* charges $5 per box per month with a limit of around 30 receivers. Get rid of this restriction. Make 2 or 3 good receivers available for purchase and/or lease, make them available for cash and carry in stores for the DIY. The customer service is a joke. PPV price is too rich for me. Auto direct debit from your personal checking account option. And get some flexibility in your business that CSR's who speak ENGLISH well can negotiate to save your customers from leaving. Quit being so anal retentive. Not all of us want to steal from you.

I was a customer for over 10 years and also worked there. Dish/EchoStar tries to pay below the going rate at every level for employees, and that is going to impact quality of CSR's, etc. Management style is very top down and Ergen makes most decisions. I recently went to Direct TV and whole experience went very well. Good installation and all of that. The current deal was too good to pass up. I agree about the no brand comments. Direct has the sports options. I also wasn't thrilled with Voom being removed. This "high end" satellite guy has likely moved to Direct for good.

Dish is going to learn the same lesson that the airlines are slowly learning. It's all about service. Make me, as a customer, proud to have Dish. Give me a reason to recommend Dish over everyone else, and remind me about that every now and then. Remind me about the good things of being a Dish customer -- DVR, HD quality, etc -- rather than just whatever next thing I can buy or new fee I'm going to be charged. The airlines are learning that nickel and diming customers is going to backfire. I don't want to be charged an extra fee for carrying my bags on board -- and I don't want it for locals or a DVR or losing a phone line or anything like that. Everyone here is right on about the brand -- pick something and be the best about it. Pull no punches. And don't BS the customer. That final point in and of itself would be revolutionary. I understand it is not as easy as saying "Improve customer service." With so many customers and so many third-party contracted installers it's quite difficult -- but not impossible. Dish needs to strengthen its retailer/installer relationship -- to create a true NETWORK -- so they're delivering the same consistent service.

I was with dish for 10 years as well. I left dish for good because they took down the Voom HD suits. They put inferior replacements and claimed they ere the same. I could not take the horrible customer service anymore. I will however miss the best DVR on the market.

The PPV movies at $4.99 with limited recording is way too much when I can watch it at REDBOX for $1.Also, PPV HD movies at $5.99 I can't even touch it.Yes, Dish is thinking on nickels and dimes.

Good commentary Scott.I agree the fees are out of hand.I would feel better if I didn't see them itemized.Just hide them in the subscription prices at least.The outdated phone line fee is not up to the time of digital phone services.

good ideas, all of 'em

Everyone wants more channels right? So instead of the interactive channel that everyone hates I would split everything up. A caller ID history channel A local radar channel A Local Temp Channel A national news channel with just headlines A sports and news mix channel Get paid sponsors and add static MSNC CNN and other web page channel that update every 5 mins. All very cheap channels to add since its all there already on channel 100

I agree they need to have only one or 2 types of units a unit where you can add a usb HDD and another where you can get HDTV and usb too all units should be the same platform thereby reducing the costs, but then we would all complain that we have not any choices and NEED Pirate Fta makers to give is choice lol. Dishnet should offer a single unit that has add ones like the Xbox 360 that plug into it, plug in HD tuner(s) plug in Hard Disk Drive (HDD) That would be the ideal, and it would helpt to reduce their costs plus like Xbox they can license out the mfg of that to others for a fee. Oh and faceplate's :) TO REDUCE THEIR retail prices is a good idea, but who in their right mind would reduce prices below the going rate? and then your shareholders and the government and suppliers would SUE you. Direct v would sue you for something and the cable companies. I don't see any side by side comparisons that show that cable companies are NOT charging extra for HD channels. You still have to buy the cable co's Digital box, and you are locked in.

The phone line fee is such a nickel and dime ripoff. The way my living room is set up, there is no way to run a phone line conveniently from my TV to the phone jack. I'd have to run a visible cable across the baseboard and up the wall, and that's a pain. So, DISH would ding me for $5 bucks a month.

I was an E* employee for many years and it's obvious that c tries to run the company like when it had 10 employees and 20,000 subs. VP's are hired to do as c wants them to do. Up until a couple of years ago, c had to personally approve checks over $500. Now employees who walk in the door after 9:00 AM have to give a written explanation to their VP explaining why they were late. I realize it's a huge company, but so is Google and people actually want to work there. Treat the employees with respect, and they'll in turn treat the customers with respect. The revolving doors on the front of the building are there because employee turnover is so high. If E* could reduce the turnover, it would save the company money in the long run. But c looks at it as there is always a fresh college recruit that he can under-pay and overwork to replace someone who has been there a couple of years and gotten burned out. It was like Shawshank Redemption when I left - I was scared to death to get out in the real world, but didn't realize how refreshing it was to be able to breath fresh air.

From what I read from the former employee, Charles Ergen is, in effect, Julius Dithers in disguise, with Dagwood Bumstead as his senior vice president.

What former E* employee says is all true. I seem to remember Ergen having to approve the starting salary of people making as little as $30K-$40K/year as well. We aren't talking about a small company here, but we are talking about a major control freak. There is a bit of "deprogramming" that goes on when you leave, but it is indeed refreshing. I'd heard about the 9 am thing, and that is true as well. All levels of salaried employees need to do that. ES also has badge readers on the *inside* of the exit doors for tracking when you leave. It is the only company I've worked at with that setup. Some good people are still hanging in there (and some are likely trapped), but many good people have left at all levels.

Guess I could have added that I reported to 17 different VP's in the few years I was there. Most left (or were shown the door because they didn't agree with c). My department had over 100 people, and more than 250% turnover. It's hard for a company to have a game plan that competes when people are constantly leaving and people wonder whose leadership to follow.

As I have written here before, if I were in charge, I would ask for Cheap Charlie's resignation. If he were to decline the request, then he and his lieutenants would be fired due haste. This company can ill afford to continue to be run lilke a Mom-and-Pop operation.

Scott, I agree with alot of your ideas. I would also add like some have suggested Free VOD. Comcast does this great. When I had Comcast, it was a blessing to have all the free content, especially the kids content for my daughter. That was great! Their were other content that I loved including things such as Anime reviews, movies, and content that you would rarely see. Dish needs to get a clue and make this a major addition this next year.

Just spoke to a customer rep who told me that GolTV is permanently off Dish now and the replacement, FoxSoccerEspanol, will be ending this Wednesday. After that, it is anyone's guess what they'll be adding to the channel lineup. Another shopping channel, maybe? For now, it means that I'll be getting 249 channels when I'm really paying for 250. What the heck are these guys thinking?

Just spoke to a customer rep who told me that GolTV is permanently off Dish now and the replacement, FoxSoccerEspanol, will be ending this Wednesday. After that, it is anyone's guess what they'll be adding to the channel lineup. Another shopping channel, maybe? For now, it means that I'll be getting 249 channels when I'm really paying for 250. What the heck are these guys thinking?

I left DISH b/c the product stinks. Their Hispanic tier was good once upon a time, but now has the cheap, weak channels. My wife liked Lifetime but that got screwed up. Our local b'casters here in the midwest got dropped w Gol at same time. It's too much of a pain to deal with on top of every other annoyance they cause. My only wonder is if enough other people will feel the same way and move. THAT is the only thng Ergen understands.

I'm another ex E employee. Here is what I learned: Ergin pays you to treat programmers badly. What happens? You want to leave Echostar and you find that you're not wanted anywhere b/c you've been a jerk for a long time. I learned the hard way: being a tough negotiator is ok and respected. Being a jerk is not. And you will pay the price for doing so. Ergin can do it - he's secure. The rest of us do his bidding at our own risk (and detriment).

HOW CAN THEY GET RID OF GOL TV! MAN THAT SUCKS.....DISH IS ALWAYS HAVING CONTRACT DISPUTES...MAN THAT IS BS!

I worked at the EchoStar headquarters for five years. It's a company where Ergen desperately tries to micro-manage the daily lives of the 20,000 or so people who work for the company. Managers are told to find disciplinary reasons to terminate percentages of their staff in lieu of the company actually laying off workers (since the latter makes the news and affects stock value). The culture there is that when someone announces their resignation, peers will offer their congratulations (before it's even known what that person is moving on to). Charlie regularly denounces his staff at his quarterly meetings, which are televised throughout the company, and it's almost unbelievable, some of the things he'd actually say. This same attitude is reflected in EchoStar partnerships which are almost always short-lived. DirecTV has capitalized well on their bundled deals with TelCom's. EchoStar used to but has been losing these deals (their partnership with SBC now AT&

Take all these very worthwhile suggestions, place them on the conference room table in CO, gag Ergen, and force feed him a 1-5 year stratgey. Terminate the CMO and her staff, including Creative Services, and get on with restructuring the company as DirecTV successfully did with a new CMO.