DISH Network sees Q4 profit grow 24%, still sheds over 100,000 subscribers
By Darren Murph 
posted Mar 5th 2009 8:40PM
posted Mar 5th 2009 8:40PM
[Image courtesy of PropertyWorld]
posted Mar 5th 2009 8:40PM
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Well they've got 20 days to start carrying Speed HD or they're going to lose another subscriber. Every other provider carries it, so it won't be too hard to get my F1 in HD.
The only reason I see to switch to DirecTV would be the NFL and MLB packages. DirecTV only has about 5 more HD channels than Dish that are worth watching and I believe Dish is adding them this spring now that there new satellite is in orbit. And from my experience Dish's receivers are a lot better. For example side by , dual tuners, side by side PIP, the ability to add as many external hard drives to your recievers as you want, and the ability to record 3 things at once, are at least four things that I know that Dish recievers will do and DirecTV's won't. And I don't think the newer DirecTV receivers receive off air antenna signals. Not mention the new reciever coming out this spring that is SLING loaded and has a 1 TB of memory.
It will be tough to ever get me to switch, just because of the receivers themselves.
I switched from Directv to Dish after 10 years with Directv. Other than sports packages I see no differences between the two. Programming is similar and I see equal numbers of HD channels. Picture quality and sound quality is equal also. Dish installers have been much more professional in my case. Dish is less money. I find that Dish's 722 HD DVR compared to Directv's HR-20/21 is much easier to use and offers more features. Directv does offer a lighted remote ($25) which is a very nice perk.
Left DISH for DirecTV in 2005 and haven't looked back.....
We recently jumped ship from DirecTV to Dish. It was cheaper.
if directv doesn't charge me up front for receivers, I'll hop ship
I've had both D and E and both are comparable. I dropped both in favor of fiber but that service was slow to add HD so I went back with D since at the time it had the most HD and more importantly had my locals in HD. I don't think E has got my local still in HD. Too bad too. I really liked their service (although D has been equally as good).
Recently dumped Dish for Dtv.
Could not be happier.
Dish dumped Voom and replaced with . . nothing.
My first very polite phone call to them to inquire was met with this response:
"Sir, you've been with us 19 months, I can disconnect service if you'd like.."
Seriously. Amazing! No wonder they are dumping subscribers. (I was paying about $90 a month, so it's not like I was one of their little fish..)
I find DirecTv to have about the same picture and audio quality, but during storms and such my signal seems to stay locked much better. Also, I find the software for recording shows to be MUCH better than Dish. Very intelligent and fast.
I signed up for Dish again a few months ago and it's good stuff, but I need some Comedy Central!
I am still waiting on FX in HD. Nip Tuck is going to over by the time their slow a$$e$ get it.
I switched from Dish to DirecTV in January and I couldn't be happier that I did. Better programming, more useful applications of technology and cheaper price. You can't beat that with a stick, and obviously Dish is swinging and missing. When Direct adds the Travel Channel in HD, they will be the perfect service for me, as for now they are doing a good job.
DISH has had Sirius and its horrid "air personalities" on most every station for a long time. How would it be trouble for DISH if DirecTV added it to their line up? Crap is crap.
Perhaps they wouldn't lose customers if they kept their promises, like the one with 150 HD channels by the end of 08, what a joke that was, yeah Turbo Charge me, what for? not going anywhere anytime fast with DN anyway!
DN just got HD locals in Las Vegas, when DTV has had them for years, about freaking time I would say.
I'm getting ready to move and have been looking into moving to either Dish or DTV from cable when I do so. I've been leaning towards Dish since they have the HD only option, which is what I basically watch now. I have 2139048234 cable channels and I pretty much watch the 35 or so HD channels and that's it. I prefer DTVs programming overall....if they would add an HD only package it would be a no-brainer for me.
I prefer Dish's HD only package, I'm about to buy a house, so based on my shopping, Dish turbo HD + ATT DSL 6 mbps is going to be my best deal for connectivity (don't need a home phone).
Plus, I really like the upcoming VIP 922 Sling-enabled Dish reciever, this will be awesome.
Dish needs to add the remaining major HD twins of the SD channels people actually watch (and that benefit from HD. I'm not talking about Faux News, which alas they're now wasting precious HD bandwidth on.) None of the free movie channels (AMC, IFC, et al) are in HD yet, and Breaking Bad (AMC) restarts this weekend which we'll have to watch in glorious upscalovision.
Generally I like Dish, but I admit that if I didn't have a wife who loves TV I'd probably stick with OTA.
I am with Dish only because the ViP 722 was free and I signed up for the Dish Absolute plan with locals plus I got someone else to sign up for a referral credit... my bill is only $35 / month right now for all locals, Cinemax HD for a penny a year and many HD channels. I wish Comedy Central, FX and BBC America were on it in HD but you know what, I watch my CC shows on Hulu.com with my HTPC and use sling.com to bring in my Dish content on the same screen, so I am set for now, if anything I see myself dropping Dish for Internet TV! :)
When I put in Sat service, I originally called DirecTV. They set an install date. No one showed up, even though I stayed home that day. I called them and they could find no trace of my order. I then rescheduled, and they couldn't come for 3 more weeks, unwilling to fit me in because of their mistake, the representative sounded like she didn't believe me, even though I had the date, time of call and person's name. When the 2nd appointment came, they called that there was a scheduling problem and would I mind if they came the next day. Stayed home. They didn't come.
I have had Dish ever since and could not be happier. I have had excellent customer service, the best DVR (in my opinion) in the business (my friend has Directv's dvr), they have the external hard drive feature where you can use as many hard drives for your dvr as you like, they have been adding channels, and I am very content.
If I had any complaints it would be that Dish has not added the HD locals for Duluth, Minnesota (but then again neither has Direct), and the loss of the Voom channels, which at first I missed but realized all Voom was were the same programs repeated over and over and over and over on their channels. When they removed Voom, they did add 22 HD channels, including 14 movie channels and being a movie freak, that sat well with me.
I am sure DirecTV has its positives as well, but I plan on staying with Dish. In the last 8 months they have added over 30 markets with HD locals and continue to do so, and I think the services are very comparable. I wouldn't give up the external hard drive feature for anything. I have three 500gb drives full now of HD movies and specials and other programming, to me it's one great feature.
If they actually go thru with the rumoured "Draco" project and create a virtual tuner for Vista Media Center they could stomp the competition!
Dare to dream...
I have been with Dish 2 1/2 years. The 622 is a very good DVR. I am getting frustrated with the lack of HD channels that Dish has. Spike HD, FX HD, and im missing out on the MLB network that DTV carries as well. I am gonna wait until the 922 is released and make my decision at that time
I subscribed to Dish Network for a number of reasons:
1. Lower prices
2. Great service
3. Great HD channels
The only thing I hate is that I can't order Boomerang a la carte, and there's no real intensive for me to move to the 250 channel package. Aside from that, I've been a subscriber since November, I pay a little less than $70 a month for the service (less than my cell bill), and I don't think I will ever look back.
I've been with Dish for a long time now. I found their DVR to be the best. But I recently just switched to the turboHD package, as I found that I don't even watch any of the SD channels anymore. Cut my bill down to about $40/mo now. Only 2 channels that are missing that we occasionally watched are Speed and FX. I've heard they are coming soon though.
I've been a satisfied Time Warner Cable customer for over 20 years. But they were slow to add HD and their new DVR software has a lot of bugs early-on, and still has lots of room for improvement.
I added Dish TurboHD service in 8/08 and love it. Best DVR on the market.
I tried out Direct in 1/09 and canceled it the next day. Crappy DVR software and a really awful remote control.
I've been with Dish network for about 10 plus years, they have the best DVR and Multiroom system. but im looking to go over to FIOS, i know thier DVR is not the greatest but im sure i will be able to manage, and the fact that ive been waiting for Years for them to carry YES network, and they dont have MLB TV and the SNY HD is only for games is just BS. I will try out FIOS DVR today and see what happens
I had Dish Network for about 6 years and every time I wanted to upgrade, programing or equipment, they would screw it up somehow and I would have to spend hours on the phone with their scripted customer service in India. In my area, Western Michigan, you have to have two satellite dish's on your roof, one for 61.5 and the other for 110, 119, 129. When I wanted to pick up the 3 local HD channels they offer in my area I spent several hours on the phone with tech support trying to convince them I only had one satellite on my roof. They told me this wasn't true and that they could see from their end that I was pointed at all orbital directions. I am a home theater installer and I think I would know if I had two dish's on my roof. So I finally had to agree with them so they could send out a service tech to fix my problem, they insisted that I had two dish's and I must have had my receivers hooked up wrong. So the they scheduled a day and time and I waited until an hour had passed from the promised time and no one showed up, when I called they said they had no record of a service call and that I had must been mistaken. So foolishly I scheduled again only because I was given a $20 monthly credit for the remainder of my contract. During this time I wanted to upgrade my programing to include HBO when I called to add it they told me I couldn't because I had an open work order and until it was closed I was S.O.L. So I patiently waited for the next service date to come around and the morning of the install a supervisor had called me and told me that they would have to re schedule because the tech that was assigned to my job called in sick. I explained the situation to him and he had no sympathy for me and said I would have to wait another week. By this point I had enough was about to explode, at this point I was still under contract and thought the only way out was to pay the early termination fee so I waited again. Finally after almost a month of waiting the tech show's up to "fix" my receivers and I explained to him I needed a second dish installed at 61.5 to receive local HD broadcast. He then said "I don't have a work order to perform that task" so he couldn't do it. I told him, even though it wasn't his fault I just figured he had more pull at Dish then I did, that if he didn't fix it he could take the old dish down and take the equipment with him and if he didn't I would load it up for him. He made some calls and got the OK to do the upgrade. The first time I had my dish installed the guys did an amazing job they mounted the dish to the fascia board instead of the roof so there wasn't a potential for leaks, concealed the wires behind the siding. This guy put it in the middle of the roof and stapled the coax to the roof. I was so angry with dish I just wanted this guy to do his thing and leave so I could move the dish and conceal the wires after he left. I'm sorry this is such a long story but I will do whatever I can so no one else sign's up with dish. After all this I had enough, I paid the early termination fee, switched to Directv and have never been happier. I would be willing to pay twice as much money a month for Directv to not have to deal with dish's horrible customer service.