Dish Boss Ergen: Cord Cutters Very Real

We are real and we did go away. Were not coming back anytime soon. Traditional TV is outdated and overpriced not too mention saturated with garbage.

And Qstatements show otherwise. Telco tv addons are actualy UP. those leaving one are generally going where theyre getting a better deal.

Keep dreaming.

I left more than a year ago. Not because I got a better deal, but because traditional television sucks. It's stupid. I can watch everything I want online, legally, without ads.

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but by and large there remains a willful ignorance on the topic in the hopes that if we pretend these users aren't real, they'll just go away.

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Oh they will go away alright... away from the quarterly earnings statements that everyone seems to be smoking these days.

I had to cancel the digital cable sub in college when the roomie who wanted it wasn't paying me fast enough. First bill was $180+, and it was at least $60/month above the internet cost. What a rip off.

I resigned up to netflix after a long hiatus, both streaming and blu-ray delivery, and I find them excellent. I actually enjoy using them, which is something I have never ever felt about my cable service.

Every time I switch through the overpriced sports channels I just cringe. It's not about the money, it's that I don't want my money going to sport, jerseys, Kardasians or housewives.

What many people don't realize is that cord cutting will lead to better programming. Today, most cable channels force you to watch 1 minute of commercials or promos for every 2 minutes of actual program. You can't tell a proper drama in 40 minutes and 20 minute comedies are like Youtube clips.

Sell programming direct to viewers and that pressure goes away.

I spent most of my childhood dealing with OTA and its notorious reception problems. When I got to my junior year in high school, we got cable. Much better picture, better programming, and I got more enjoyment out of TV.

When I was real young (up until 1992), we had a little black and white tabletop TV that was given to my mother from my father before I was born. We got our first Color TV in 1992.

Around where I live, TV reception is horrible and you need a roof antenna if you want reception. I've experimented with an old antenna and a newer TV with a digital tuner. Cable TV is pretty much a necessity if you want TV around here as there is just too much interference as it is an urban environment. The stations here broadcast mostly on the UHF side (3,18,22,40,57,61).

I have a DVR and that is nice as you can watch TV on your schedule instead of the programming provider's schedule.

I am surprised the cable providers are not waging a war on streaming services as they create an environment of unfair competition. I personally think if streaming services are going to compete with traditional TV providers, they should have to play by the same rules as traditional cable providers.

They do try. I hope they never have to; completely different

Well of course you wont and we wouldnt expect anyone such as yourself that has a direct financial interest in NOT doing so.Please provide me at least one example of "rules" that a company that streams needs to follow that a traditional TV provider has to follow that actually is in any way related to streaming.

Did you ever try satellite delivered television, like DirecTV or DishNetwork?

I've had both, and while I was not thrilled with Dish Network, I had a good experience with DirecTV. It just that DirecTV got too expensive and it was cheaper to bundle with Comcast as I have to deal with them anyways for Internet and home phone.

My wife and I are ~9 months out from cutting and don't miss it. That's money that a traditional "bundle" company will NEVER receive again. Funny, but cutting also meant cutting watching hours too as Hulu, Amazon and Netflix fail to deliver much content that we have interest in watching (we demoed each, pay for none). We can't receive any OTA either, so that's out as well.

I sure as hll don't miss the 20 minutes of forced commercials an hour, and realize now that most of the "content" was trash and I only watched it because I was there, it was there and why go do something else? Gotta LOVE not having biased news shoved down my throat too... funny how you can get a more complete picture with Google News in less time from multiple sources.

I honestly can't think of anything I miss. Our TV is now turned off except for the occasional movie (oh, any my wife uses a 2nd TV in our exercise area for doing exercise videos).

I think the next step will be to ditch the TV completely ~ we will just have to wait and see what happens when our current unit dies.

Cutting the PayTV cord I can see, but cutting the whole TV seems pretty miserable. We like gathering around the big monitor and watching shows / movies / playing video games.

We re-signed up to Netflix as well. The content and usability are excellent. It doesn't have everything, but there's a lot to watch, no commercials, great interface, and it's inexpensive.

I'm not a sports fan, so that would make dropping PayTV easier for me. Sports are VERY popular though, I think they alone could keep cord cutting from being mainstream.

I re-signed up to netflix and love it. And I don't use that term very often around here.

It's easy to access via our sony blu-ray player and clearer than our HD cable service.

With Netflix OpenConnect, Netflix passes through all their expensive infrastructure, facilities, network, transit, etc cost. Sort of a required "fee" for the privilege of new Netflix content, "Super HD", etc. The ISP in turn passes through these new costs to ALL subscribers (not just Netflix users).

This is kinda like the ESPN model where all users pay for the "channel" or content, whether you watch it or not.
We've already seen this tested with ESPN360.

I can see a lot of content owners LOVING this model and shifting their growing Internet costs to ISPs who must in turn spread these costs out to ALL customers. Not sure how this plays out however in the long run, but everyone sharing Netflix, ESPN, etc Internet costs may not be the best strategy.

I've recently resubscribed to a Triple Bundle through BHN ... mainly due to my mother's lack of knowledge on how to operate something as simple as a DVD Player and the extra functions of a set-top box. She uses the Digital Set-Top for channel tuning only.

On the next round of rate hikes from BHN, I'll be downgrading to a double combo package without television unless a deal that I can't pass up comes along.

Yet another poster that thinks they understand everything.

Why dont you take some time to educate yourself on OpenConnect and learn how it provides a win win situation for both the ISP and Netflix.

Keep in mind, that even if Netflix didnt do OpenConnect the user's of said ISP is STILL going to be requesting lots of packets from Netflix peering partner to get their content. How do you propose that the ISP deal with delivering the packets that their own customers are requesting?

We cut the cord several months ago and haven't looked back. I can watch any TV show I want online through Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix. We're looking at getting an HD antenna to get local stuff. I've got at least 2 others to cut the cord and my parents are now looking at dropping cable. If we can each get at least one person to drop cable, maybe companies will take notice.

If Ergen is a Fan of A La Carte Pricing why doesn't he have A La Carte Pricing?

Not only that but about a year ago Dish eliminated the option to subscribe to HBO,Showtime or Starz without having a base package

Ah, he is not allowed to provide it per Time Warner, ABC/Disney/ESPN, NBC Universal, et al. cartels. DISH actually tried it but it didn't go far. They do have a $20 package with no committment if you want to buy and install your equipment and also a prepaid option.

While I have and will continue to use DBS and specifically Dish.. the content which I consume the majority of does NOT come via Dish.

It comes from online, and NO that doesn't mean hulu, netflix or anything related.

He is right that if your not paying for crable or DBS now, your not likely to purchase it later.. but the point he is forgetting is that there are those that are not going to purchase these "cord cutting" services either. I am not. Nor will I use them with delays and/or ads for free.

I've thought the US House of Cards was very well done, and compared quite well with its UK original. This is one of the few cases I can't compare the novel[s]|book[s] as I elected to watch v. reading them due namely to my huge back log of such situations... but MY $$$ didn't pay for nethax to produce it, and never will.

And as others have warned, a la carte pricing... careful what you wish for! I most assuredly want to quit paying the sports crap tax for content I don't want, care about, or watch.

So if you wan't to gut the sports crap out of my package and move it to its own tier, I am all for it! (Yes I am aware of the disney/abc plan in re ESPN and holding other channels hostage... meh... pull them! disney channels, ABC O&O, pull them! other ABC, pull them! My content from them doesn't come via DISH!) BUT other channels which content doesn't show up in online formats a la carte pricing would be a bad, VERY BAD THING.

Complete cord cutting? Not likely in my situation as I like to have background noise, but cutting back on the package.. is MOST DEFINITELY COMING from the AET to something much less, MUCH LESS since I am getting that content elsewhere.

We liked the background noise too.... funny how well Pandora fills in that little irk. And if you just like background noise and video, Netflix does a nice job of moving between episodes without your involvement, just que up some TV series you like and let her rip.

Heck, today I haven't even turned on my main computer (HTPC that handles music and video).

One of the channels I wanted was diy network, but it was way the hell up on top 250...which I refused to go back up to, then came the rate hike notices for 2013, the top 120 was not worth 5 bucks more, so I dumped satellite completely, pay tv free going on month 2.

Dish for about a month now. Get about 12 channels on OTA (Fox, ABC, and the rest is PBS and non profit stuff). Use netflix for other shows. Yeah I sure miss some of the stuff that was on pay tv but it is no way worth more to me then the $75ish I was spending monthly for dish.

What Disney has done with the 3 TV channels they operate is a huge step forward. The downside is that you still need to subscribe to cable.

I have no doubt that the day will soon come when Disney will offer access to theses channels to the general public for a monthly fee.

The Dish Network CEO's comments are very insightful considering the troubled economy and that some form of ala-carte-pricing should at least be tried as customers need cheaper rates.

Satch

I hate sports and really really hate FOX. I never paid a penny to any cable company ever and never will---at least until I'm able to pay for what I want. Why would I pay for something I dislike?

Cable was around for 66 years?

No, he has never paid for cable in the time that he has been alive.

Ah OK. The only time my parents paid for cable was in PA back in the mid 1980s/80s since OTA didn't work in the forest.

The content, network, broadcast, studio and distribution (ISP?MSO) Industry isn't willing to take the chance on ala carte, even though they'd likely earn more.

Consumers aren't willing to recognize that ala-carte would have to be revenue-neutral in order to sell to industry.

Charlie has proven himself to be quite innovative, technology-wise, over the years, but that has done nothing for affordability or choice, nor is going to.

Netflix/Redbox/Blockbuster content doesn't count.

Coming up on 2 years after cutting the cord. I put 2 antennas up in the attic and we get 27 OTA channels. We have Amazon Prime but mainly for the free 2-day shipping, don't watch much on it.
We use PlayOn and some scripts for it to watch TV shows (works like an on-demand, content is just on the net though) , content we find on the net and all our video and music is on our NAS so every pc in the house can stream it.
If I was the sports nut I was as a younger man I'd probably get the MLB web service though if the Golf Channel ever does I'm there but as they're in bed with Comcast/NBC I doubt that'll happen anytime soon.