The Satellite Dish
The Consumer Satellite Industry through the eyes of WWW.SatelliteGuys.US Founder Scott Greczkowski
Let the Speculation Begin
Well now that it’s official and DirecTV has been spun off from Liberty Media as Liberty Entertainment my mailbox has filled up with people asking me what’s going to happen to DirecTV. Judging from what I have been reading lately it appears that indeed the for sale sign is out, but now the question I have is, is it just DirecTV that’s for sale or is it the entire Liberty Entert ...... Read More
Comments (1)Happy President's Day!
Yeah I know that President’s Day is normally in February… but here in the satellite world two companies celebrated the holiday today by announcing new Presidents and CEO’s for their companies. First out of the shoot this morning was a press release from Echostar announcing that Michael Dugan is the new president and CEO of the Echostar Corporation. Mr. Dugan is no stranger to ...... Read More
Comments (1)False Advertising?
For the past few years there has been an ongoing debate between satellite companies on who has more HD channels. Dish likes counting regional sports networks which are not true 24 hour HD channels, instead Dish only carries select games from these RSN’s in HD. DirecTV on the other hand counts the number of HD pay per view channels they offer. Using creative math both companies can call t ...... Read More
Comments (13)The Day The Music Died
It seems like so long ago, but in reality it has only been a year since the music died. One year ago yesterday is when many satellite radio fans consider it the day that XM Satellite Radio died. It was on this day when Sirius and XM merged most of its music programming. The deep playlists that XM customers loved were gone as were a handfull of popular stations. XM customers were in shock with ...... Read More
Comments (10)Tech Chat Thoughts / Thank You Leslie!
Last night Dish Network held their quarterly Tech Chat with Mark Jackson and Dan Minnick, and while it wasn’t the greatest Tech Chat ever held, it wasn’t that bad either. The highlight of the chat was the demonstration of the search features of the upcoming 922. I sat in a chat room with a good number of members of SatelliteGuys and many were impressed with what they saw in the demo ...... Read More
Comments (3)Things Picking Up For Dish
It was mixed numbers for Dish Network’s third quarter earnings but one that stands out for me is their subscriber growth, Dish Network reported 241,000 new subscribers in the quarter, while DirecTV only added 136,000 in the same time period. This is the first time in a long time where Dish Network had added more subscribers at DirecTV. But what is the reason for the sudden shift of the tide ...... Read More
Comments (5)Horse Racing Coming to Satellite
It looks like horse-racing fans will soon be enjoying their favorite sport on satellite. Today Sirius XM announced plans to add the TVG Racing Network to their satellite radio service starting this Friday on Sirius channel 126 and XM channel 243. The audio broadcast will make TVG’s network content, which is currently available to 33 million households to more then 18 million Sirius XM cust ...... Read More
Comments (0)Oh No... Not Again...
Last week I wrote about the controversy of the new DirecTV advertisement featuring the late Chris Farley. People were upset with the thought that actor David Spade did the ads to cash in on the memory of Chris Farley. David Spade said he did the ad as a tribute to the memory of his late friend and the ad was done with the blessing of the Farley family, but many folks were still not happy after D ...... Read More
Comments (0)Oh EPIX Where Are You?
It is just a few hours away from the launch of the new movie service EPIX and there is still no signs that the channel will be carried by either satellite company. While we knew that DirecTV wasn’t interested in the service at this time, there have been lots of rumblings that EPIX and Dish Network were close to a deal. As we roll closer to launch time it appears that Dish Network will not ...... Read More
Comments (0)DirecTV has Still Got It!
DirecTV does a lot of things very well and to me one of the best things that DirecTV does is its marketing. It seems as though no matter what the ad is, when ever DirecTV airs a new ad it always seems be talked about around water coolers around the country. DirecTV has done it again. The latest DirecTV ad once again has people talking. In fact on my ride into work today I was listening to the &# ...... Read More
Comments (3)Play Ball!
The baseball season is winding down, as we get ready for the annual fall classic. This year the World Series will feature the New York Yankees taking on the Philadelphia Phillies. For many Dish Network customers it will be one of the few times this season that they can see the New York Yankees in all their glory. Dish Network is the only major satellite or cable provider in the New York area who ...... Read More
Comments (9)Opinion Time
Ok so still nothing really interesting to talk about in the satellite industry so its time for some commentary from yours truly. Thoughts on Comcast and NBC Universal… I was working at the fair for my friend when I got word that COMCAST was thinking about buying into NBC Universal. When I heard the news it kind of shocked me and the more I thought about it to more I thought that if COMCAST ...... Read More
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