Dish is deaf to the real keys to success with its customers

[shilton]

It seems to me that the general sentiment here is that Dish has lost its way and been spinning its wheels since the failed merger. Maybe true, but I think in a way Charlie needs to rethink his strategy and focus on the positives. How much money would it have taken to switch out all our receivers to convert us over the the "new standard" of the new DirecTV? All that money was saved and now we need DVR Fees??? I think not...maybe if the merger was approved to offset the costs of the conversions, but not now. Any how many months with really NO new channel additions at all? I got to the point over the years where I expected to hear at least 1 channel addition per chat or 2 and now NOTHING! Even the addition of locals is going very slowly at this point. Sure, the merger failed and things fell through but Dish CAN still have a lot to offer if it chooses and Charlie needs to remember that. Its time for some repackaging. I'd say a great start would be to move a few of the channels from AT-150 into AT100 like Boomerang for the kids or a few of the Discoveries and then add newer and better channels to At150 to take their place. I hear PBS KIDS, TRIO, Oxygen, etc. I am sure there are about a dozen channels floating out there that would be good bets. Finally, forget the DVR fees. You don't just charge fees because your competition does...differ from your competition and DON'T DO IT BECAUSE THEY DO! Charlie needs to stop feeling sorry for himself, pick up and refocus direction and quick. My best suggestion...forget the DVR Fees for Wall-Street...and hire some new marketing people to repackage this thing and make it a winner...above all...GET PLUGGED BACK INTO YOUR CONSUMERS AND LISTEN TO THEM. We are the ones who decide if you profit or fail!

[Richard King]

How much money would it have taken to switch out all our receivers to convert us over the the "new standard" of the new DirecTV? All that money was saved And all the extra revenues and profits that would have been generated frome the merger and the swap out are gone. You have to look at the real world, not the ideal world.

[rocco]

I agree with the sentiments expressed above. After doing a brief stint with Charter Communications, I am back with Dish. As I did not qualify as a new customer, I needed to purchase all new equipment which has set me back to dat at around $900 between a 508, (4) 301's and a DP34. EvertimeI call to ask a question or change programming, the CSR's appear to be hostile. The only time you can get a straight answer is when you speak to customer retention. This is no way to run a company with other means of competition.

In addition to my Dish programming (which runs about 50 per month), I am also using Bell ExpressVU. When you consider the program broker fees, it costs me about 37 per month. That 37 per month is by far a greater value than either disk or directv has provided for me in the past. The ExpressVU movie network rules. I have been off from work for the past nine days (due to needing to get my appendix removed) and have found at least 2-3 movies/programs worth watching per day via the movie network. Also, it would be great if Dish would move toward alacarte programming versus the packages they currently offer. Of the AT50 pack I have, I might watch 3-4 channels plus my locals when I fire up the Dish receivers. Well that's my $.02

[Jacob S]

Me and many others would like to see similar packaging from Dish as ExpressVu offers beacuse they offer thematic packages such as Family, News, etc. They are smaller cheaper packages in which gives people a bit more flexibility. How much does an address broker cost?