Can it get any worse?
2008 has not been a good year for Dish Network, with only a few days left to the quarter for Dish Network it appears that the quarter could end again with bad numbers. As I write this edition of The Satellite Dish, Dish Network’s stock is down over 14% over the new that AT&T has dropped Dish Network and will be partnering with DirecTV next year.
I don’t know what it is about Dish Network, it seems like they can’t partner with anyone. When Dish partners with other companies it always leads to a split up. I have seen lots of Dish Network partnerships turn sour over the years.
Since the news came out late Friday afternoon I have been contacted by a number of independent retailers who sell both Dish Network and DirecTV, they were upset of the news because when AT&T started selling it washed up the majority of the Dish Network business. Retailers could not compete with the Dish Network offers that were offered by AT&T nor could they talk to people who were moving into the area who were calling in to AT&T to order phone service who were then offered some great package deals with phone, internet and Dish Network satellite. For many of these dealers their Dish Network sales dried up and they were lucky they had DirecTV to fall back on.
Now with their Dish Network business dried up many of these dealers feel that this move by AT&T to DirecTV might just put them out of business entirely. They fear that the same thing will happen to their DirecTV sales that happened to their Dish Network sales.
As September rolls to a close so does the third quarter for Dish Network. From what I am hearing from retailers this quarter could actually be worse number wise for the Colorado based satellite company. Dealers have reported to me that their phones rang when Dish Network launched their “Turbo Dish” packages earlier in the quarter however those calls have died off, and that they also had trouble installing new customers because equipment shortages from Dish Network. In addition it is being reported online that customers calling Dish Network to sign up are being given install dates of 3 weeks or more, many of these customers have then went with DirecTV because they want to watch all the new fall programs today not 3 weeks from today. From where I sit this is the busiest time of the year for television viewing, Dish Network should have better prepared for what should be an important time of the year for them as well.
And finally where is the new HD Dish? On the last Dish Network earnings call Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen mentioned more HD was coming when the new satellite (Echostar 11) came online. The new satellite has now been online for a month but still no national high definition.
2008 has sure been a rough year for Dish Network from satellite issues, loss of major programming and now the loss of a major partner in AT&T. While 2008 still has another quarter I am already looking ahead and I am hoping that 2009 is a better year for Dish Network.
installation 3 weeks commented:
its not the true- who ever told you that its talking about few states - maybe Texas where dish is hot:) but around here in the north east they can install it tomorrow if you call now. Pick up that phone and order your dish now and we will roll tomorrow.
polac hunter commented:
things will just get bad for dish . are you ready for the worst ? I just got a e-mail from colorado and the crap will hit the fan this week. cannot give the info now you will find out later.
Savy Consumer commented:
Dish is going to lose more customers with their current forced "free upgrade" program. Lots of people will head to Direct or uVerse. The old barrier was that it was "too inconvenient to move". Well, that barrier is gone. Dish is forcing everyone with an older HD receiver to accept a free upgrade. NO plan to deal with all the recorded events that have not been watched. No plan to simplify moving timers. And, it turns out that it isn't really free. There will be a new $7 charge if you aren't watching any HD TV.
pcr101 commented:
Dish needs to be bought out by someone.They appear that they dont know how to manage a company.I know this probably want happen because the FCC denied a merger before with Directv
Kyle Luna commented:
Both satellite companies charge you for locals, DirecTV just advertises the price with locals, without locals the packages are $3 cheaper. Cable charges too, it's that little package called Broadcast Basic, Limited Basic or just Basic that only has locals, public/gov't access and shopping channels, and on average that package is around $10 for cable systems. That cost is part of the package above it, expanded basic, which includes stuff like Nickelodeon, ESPN, CNN, MTV, Discovery etc.
calidude99 commented:
"They will still offer some of the best value in the industry." Not when they charge for your own LOCAL channels and you have to pay more money for the HD versions of the SD channels!!
jerryez commented:
It is obvious that they are losing money on the old HD Absolute packages, that is why they discontinued the package and raised the prices on all HD packs. Just another example of why Charlie should resign and let someone else manage Dish.
Tin Man commented:
I agree that the follow through on this Turbo HD promotion was bad. I still think this company has some thing to offer. They have good prices compared to all other services. And as far as I can tell they still have the best equipment. If they can fix their customer service issues and keep pushing out the new content, even if a little late. They will still offer some of the best value in the industry. In this economic down turn their low price value will become a very important selling point.
TV Marketer commented:
It's hard to believe that Dish execs spent "months" developing their Turbo campaign. The print was at best, amateurish. The TV spots had some visual life to them which were helped by the music, but that momentum was dilluted by the switch to the Caliendo executions. Tremendous off-air media $ were spent (i.e. billboards, mags, newspaper, web), and you have to congratulate them for that effort (i.e. they talked Charline into spending real $), but in the final analysis, it seems they didn't have the foresight to guarantee installs which will only result in new adds for DirecTV and telcos. A 24 hour guarantee would have gone a long way to telling new customers that they were a legitimate resource, instead they appear to be what the public perceives them to be... second-rate. Report Card: C
LostCause commented:
This is truly KHARMA. They have serious fundamental cultural issues at DISH. The way they treat their distributors, vendors and programmers, this is no surprise. This is the single most difficult company to deal with. This will continue to criple DISH as it ripples throught their organization and eventually to the customer.
Joel commented:
I also feel what they did to Voom set off a chain of bad events for Dish. It seems a bad patern has set in for them. They burn relationships. It certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.
Bob commented:
Their dropping GOL TV at the start of August didn't help matters, either.
Reaper commented:
Kiss my grits Crazybob.
Crazybob commented:
Get over vooom allready. Voom was dead before Dish picked them up.
Reaper commented:
They shouldn't have dropped the VOOM Networks, IMHO all the rest is simply bad karma as a result of that action. ;-)
