New Locals Smoke & Mirrors

[shilton]

Given the fact that DirecTV has just announced MANY of the markets they will be hitting this year, I decided what the heck...I will email Dish again with questions about my local city (Johnstown/Altoona, PA) to see if I can get anything from them. Received an email today stating basically..."We have checked with our programming dept...your city WAS on our immediate list had the merger been approved but since the FCC denied the merger, we cannot do everything we wanted to as fast as we would have with the combined companies. We are limited by bandwidth...but we do feel comfortable saying we will MOST LIKELY hit your city EVENTUALLY". What the hell does that mean? Can't understand Dish's constant smoke and mirrors...DirecTV says..."Here is where we are going this year" They even say when or if they think they will ever hit your city. Dish says nothing of the sort. All I wanted to know is if not now....WHEN...Why is it I can't get a decent answer out of 'em. And how long do they think they can use the merger as an excuse? Just seems to me like a poor business tactic. I don't mind waiting a year or 2 for my locals if someone will just be upfront with me and say "yes...we plan on getting there in 2004". Does it seem too much to ask to get some sort of timeframe? I am more frustrated given the fact that some of my locals confirm that retrans. agreements have been inked for ages so I know we are somewhere in the scheme of things.

[TNGTony]

The reason you can't get an answer is because THEY DON'T KNOW!!! Dish was 100% geared towards the merger. When the merger was denied, they honestly did not have a contingency plan! Simple as that.

Another reason is because they have been burnt by local stations in the past. The all but announce Baltimore and Milwaukee a couple of years ago, but when the local channels had other ideas, Dish was stuck not only with the locals, but with thousands of irate potential local subs insisting that Dish lied to them.

So THAT is why Dish is very circumspect. I know it won't make you feel better about your locals, but there you go.

See ya
Tony

[Jacob S]

Dish had made promises of channel additions in the past and got customers angry when those channels did not go up so they will not prmoise anymore. They do not know themselves either. I think some should know how things are going along at least.

[PeterB]

I watched Hartford get passed over as a possible city time and time again, ever since the store I worked for sold dish.

We sell DirecTV now. :)

The moral of the story, don't hold your breath.