Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
1 edit |  Increased Customer Revenus
Well duh, they bumped up the package price for everyone.
(Edited to correct) |
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MightyPez
join:2002-05-01
Saint Paul, MN
 ·Comcast
1 edit | One happy customer here
Went with the HD/DVR package about 6 months ago and love it. Previously I had a standard Comcast package. When I called to cancel my Comcast the rep tried keeping me on by asking why I was cancelling. in no uncertain terms I said their HD package was a joke. He promised me they would have, and I am not exaggerating, 1000 HD channels by the end of the year. May as well have promised 11 billionty.
Then he went on to say I would face serious outages due to rain fade. My response was, "Similar to the times where my TV and internet service would be down for days on Comcast?"
All in all I've been very pleased with my level of satellite service. And the rain fade? Yeah, it happened once for about 10 minutes during a bad electrical storm. |
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mobbo
join:2005-04-13
Denton, TX
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Haha! It's funny what they'll say to keep you as a customer these days. As soon as you threaten to leave... you are the most important person in the world. I had Charter tell me something very similar as I cancelled. They basically promised me more HD channels then were even available. So apparently the guy was going to use an HD camcorder at home and make his own HD channels? |
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thecapn2000
@sbcglobal.net | DirectTV
I just switched from Comcast to DirectTV and even after the promo price is over I am saving tons for the same programming options Comcast offered.
The only thing I really dislike about DirectTV is the guide. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
 ·Skype
| reply to MightyPez
Re: One happy customer here
Rain fade is the bogeyman cable operators use to try to discourage customers from considering satellite. It's mostly bullsh!t if you have a properly aimed and located dish (e.g. NOT stuck behind a 100 foot Oak). I've had DTV since 2000 and very seldom does it rain hard enough to take the signal out and then for only a few minutes. Big deal.
Cable companies mention "rain fade" every chance they get because it's one of the few things they can claim to have any advantage over Satellite on assuming the cable system itself doesn't suffer from rain/storm induce problems as well.
--
Tradition: Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid. --despair.com |
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Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
 ·Site5.com
 ·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
| reply to Matt
Re: Increased Customer Revenus
said by Matt  :Well duh, they just bumped up the rate by $9.99 for every customer who has HD. Link? Source?
I am an HD subscriber and my rates haven't went up. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
·Skype
| Finish the DVR Beta apps
Now if DTV would finish their "Beta" applications on their HR20s and HR21s. . .
A fair bit of irritation in the support forums for the Media Sharing capabilities on those units. Seems they keep messing up that function with new patches and/or it just never works for some. Of course it is still Beta but it would be nice if they'd stop using their customers' DVRs as development platforms.
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Tradition: Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid. --despair.com |
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dbmaven
There's no shortage
Premium,Mod
join:1999-10-26
Sty in Sky
clubs:
·VOIPo
·magicjack.com
·Optimum Online
Host:
Filesharing Software
No, I Will Not Fix..
Road Runner
Bright House Netwo..
Computer Hardware ..
| reply to Matt
Re: Increased Customer Revenus
The HD Service has always been $9.99/month (I've had it since it first became available).
They moved 5 channels that have no SD equivalent to an "HD Extra" package for $4.99/month - HDNet Movies, MGM, Smithsonian, Universal and MHD (Music High Def - which has different programming from MTV). I'd bet that's a zero-sum game - for each person who added that package to keep those channels, another one dropped it because they don't watch them. I don't see any increased revenue there...
The key from a financial results perspective in comparing DirecTV and DISHNet is that the former has been deliberately targeting "more affluent" customers, while DISH has not. Thus, in recessionary times, DirecTV's business is less likely to feel the pinch. Current results would seem to indicate that it was/is a good strategy.
With higher revenue per subscriber, and roughly equal 'acquisition costs' (Dish spends about six dollars less than DirecTV), and lower total churn, it seems to be working.
Competition is good for the consumer, and I hope DISH rights the ship soon. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall :said by Matt :Well duh, they just bumped up the rate by $9.99 for every customer who has HD. Link? Source? I am an HD subscriber and my rates haven't went up. »[DIRECTV] Programming Choices
The package price went up and they added an additional $4.99 to keep some of the HD channels I had. So my "HD" fee went up to $14.99 a month. |
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Rob2647
@qwest.net
| Rain Fade Myth
We never had that problem with DirecTV It took a bad t-storm to knock it out. If it did it was just for a few mins. Sounds like a myth Comcast made up to keep from loosing customers to Sat. DirecTV offers a good deal and DVR that Comcast can't match without having to bundle internet and their overpriced phone service. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC | reply to dbmaven
Re: Increased Customer Revenus
I corrected it. I thought it was a bump in the HD fee, but it was a bump in the package pricing. My package went from $52 and change to $63 and change and I had the 2nd to lowest tier with the $9.99 HD access fee. No DVR or anything. |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
·PHONE POWER
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
| Merger might have made sense for Direct before..
When they were discussing a merge last time, DirecTV was facing a major bandwidth squeeze with the HDTV boom on the horizon. Now that they've decided to use the Spaceway satellites for HDTV, they're doing just fine.
Since that time, DirecTV has really pushed all video providers to raise the bar in terms of HDTV. It seems pretty clear to me that preventing the merge was the right thing to do. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
-- Rob
--
Laser eye surgery rocks! I love frickin' laser beams. |
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Emiya
join:2006-03-30
Southington, OH
| reply to MightyPez
DITTO
I want to echo this persons sentiment. I got fed up with TWC and finally switched and wish I had done it years ago. I get more sports, HD and all even more junk-channels-no-one-cares about-but-they're-there-but-I'll-take-them-and-be-quiet. Now if someone in my area could compete with TW's internet. |
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Jason
Col. Panic
Premium
join:2001-01-24
38.2967 Lat
clubs:
| Rain fade?
Been a DirecTV customer for 4 years now.. (never post in this forum, just clicked on the top random "News Topic")
I think in those four years, Ive had satellite interruption twice or so, and then only for a few minutes.
I will say, we upgraded from the old Huges sd DirecTivo (35 hour model, way old.. Loved it for years) to the new HD DVR (unbranded.. In-house product? Whatever it is, its not TiVo..) and altho loving the HD service, and the PVR itself, its quite buggy, and lacking in the 'richness' of user control I came to enjoy from the TiVo product..
Too bad. Wont make me switch to another provider, but I feel that their "latest and greatest" DVR is an inferior product to their original SD DVR product
-Jason
--
Disturbing the comfortable, and comforting the disturbed since 1999 |
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Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·Site5.com
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
| reply to Matt
Re: Increased Customer Revenus
said by Matt :said by Nightfall :said by Matt :Well duh, they just bumped up the rate by $9.99 for every customer who has HD. Link? Source? I am an HD subscriber and my rates haven't went up. » [DIRECTV] Programming ChoicesThe package price went up and they added an additional $4.99 to keep some of the HD channels I had. So my "HD" fee went up to $14.99 a month. Not what you originally posted, but thanks for correcting it and standing corrected. |
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sansri88
Go digtal you analog laggards
Premium
join:2005-12-17
New York, NY
clubs: | Well duh
Their HD lineup is so much better than Comcast's. No wonder why retention isn't a problem there! |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
1 edit | reply to Matt
Re: Increased Customer Revenus
Over the past year, my service on the legacy Plus package went from $55/month for 3 tuners to $65/month, with no real benefit to me, outside of the Plant Green channel.
I cancelled 2 weeks ago. Retentions called me the next day attempting to get me back (almost worked!). $50/month, 2 free months, 3 months of free HBO/Starz/Cinemax and no contract.
Sounds good... until they put me on the 'new' Choice plan  for that $50/month, and I lost most of what I watched... cancelled on the spot.
I'm currently on HD OTA, and TWC will be here next week to cutover from POTS/DSL to Cable, HSI + VoIP.
--
Canada = Hollywood North |
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newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD
| I'm soooo glad I switched
I had Comcast for over 20 years and just plain got fed up with them . . . their arrogance and constant price increases for the flimsiest of reasons.
I switched to DirecTV five years ago and immediately saved $35.00 a month over Comcast, with a substantial increase in the number of channels and a HUGE bump in the quality of the picture.
I can deal with a ten minute or so outage due to rain fade every couple of months or so. Comcast makes it seem soooo problematic, but i know EXACTLY what the problem is when it happens, 'cause I can look outside and SEE the sky raining cats & dogs. When my Comcast HSI goes down (for hours on end), I NEVER know what the problem is, and rarely does Comcast, if I call them.
--
Ö¿Ö
The Rules of Spam | Maryland's Newest Anti-Spam Law
Where are we going? And what's with the hand basket? |
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baineschile
2600
Premium
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI | reply to Rob2647
Re: Rain Fade Myth
I had it here in MI for about a year, and the snow used to knock it out all of the time |
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mikepd
Discovery
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-26
New Port Richey, FL
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
·RoadRunner Cable
| Cable Companies Are Clueless
They will use every trick in the book to keep a current customer or entice a prospective one to go with cable over satellite.
We have had Dish for 11 years and the only time weather affects us is when we get very severe thunderstorms or hurricanes that come within 40-50 miles of us.
We had T-W prior to buying the house as basic cable was part of the rent. We upgraded to a higher package so we could get the premium channels.
Every time it was just a heavy downpour, the cable would go out and require a truck roll to fix. I later found out that our area had an old copper system which they eventually upgraded to fiber throughout the entire county.
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Always Reach Beyond Your Grasp |
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