It's Time For Free Satellite

Ok you might think I am nuts, but I think that if satellite wants to gain more customers they need to start giving away free satellite service. With the big digital transition coming up both companies might be able to gain new customers by giving anyone who requests it a 1 room satellite setup with free locals.

For those customers who sign up for the free locals via satellite I would have software written to that on their receivers they would see the listings for all the other channels satellite offers with no way to block these listings.

Now you might be asking yourself why would I do such a thing… once a customer has satellite setup in their house and can see the listings for all the channels available to them over time those customers will want to upgrade to get other channels after they continue to see what they are missing.

I do think that the satellite companies should charge some kind of installation fee to cover the costs of the install, and if a customer wants more than one TV hooked up then they should charge for the extra equipment and an equipment rental fee on each additional box.

Satellite needs to act like a friend in the digital transition.  By giving away free locals with no pressure to up sell a customer looking for the free service  will make satellite look like a hero when compared to cable offerings, and again once a customer has satellite eventually they will want to access more services which means they will pay for those additional services.  And because these customers will be already setup it will just take a phone call or a press of a few button on their remote  to have more services added.

I wouldn’t however make it free locals forever, perhaps make it free for one or two years.  If a customer does not sign up for any pay services by the end of that time then they are not going to bite, however at the end of that period the customer can send their equipment back since the equipment will be property of the satellite company, which means that equipment can be recycled and be used on another family looking for the free service.

Think of it this way, this is almost like those big “door buster” deals we see at stores the day after Thanksgiving, these deals are so good that the stores have to be losing money, however when they offer those deals shoppers go in and gobble them up and also purchase other merchandise while they are there getting the great deal.  Sure satellite would be a loss leader but I think the possibilities of people picking up the extras will pay for itself in dividends.

A satellite dish on every home… I like the sounds of that!