C-Band Subs Fall Below 700K

[Steve Mehs]

This is the kinda news I hate to post/read, I remember not too long ago when I posted a SkyReport artical on C-band having
1M subs.
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It isn't getting any easier to keep TV viewers in the big dish business.

In July, C-Band subscriptions fell below the 700,000 mark, netting a loss of 15,000, according to the Motorola Access Control Center. C-Band subscriptions now stand at 685,795.

At the beginning of the year, C-Band subscriptions were at 842,483.

From SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com) (Used with Permission)

[The smaller the better (when it comes to dishes)]

C Band subs falling faster than Motorola cell phone sales.

Keep buying Motorola stock - the next Worldcom, or Global Crossing or Nortel

[Scott Greczkowski]

I know a lot of people with C Band Dishes who no longer subscribe to any programming packages, they have DBS dishes for that.

They still activly use their C Band setups yet use their DBS setups to go on all the TV's in the house.

I read somewhere the other day that C Band equipment (dishes and receivers) has been showing a suprising rise over the past few months, yet the amount of people subscribing to subscription services has declined.

[Richard King]

To speculate a bit more on an earlier topic, I wonder how long these consumer accounts would remain active if Echostar bought the GI division of Motorola. I suspect they would turn off the consumer stream and supply the New Echostar DirecTv systems for all 700,000 subs if the merger happened.

[James_F]

Originally posted by The smaller the better (when it comes to dishes)
C Band subs falling faster than Motorola cell phone sales.

Keep buying Motorola stock - the next Worldcom, or Global Crossing or Nortel


Don't even compare Motorola to those.... You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Motorola's market share went up last quarter.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,101024,00.asp

Nokia's sales fell in the same quarter...

[Scott Greczkowski]

if Echostar bought the GI division of Motorola. I suspect they would turn off the consumer stream and supply the New Echostar DirecTv systems for all 700,000 subs

I don't see that happening. Dish will be happy to have these folks onboard with their existing equipment, it means that they don't have to subsidize these customers at all, besides its the program provider and the programming reseller who control the streams and how much they are sold for.

[Mike]

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
I know a lot of people with C Band Dishes who no longer subscribe to any programming packages, they have DBS dishes for that.

They still activly use their C Band setups yet use their DBS setups to go on all the TV's in the house.

Yep! That's me. Works out great too. :)

[Mike500]

C-band will probably die for everyone except hobbist in the next few years. They usuall switch to dbs, when the old unit starts to give out on them for some reason or another. The cost or repair is the compelling reason. Those "BIG UGLY DISHES" litter the landscape like rusting old OTA TV antennas. Every day, I drive buy this house with a great looking lawn and elaborate Christmas docorations every year, and I still see this broken off (the chimney mount) and rusted tv antenna on a one story roof tilted 70 degrees and almost touching the gutter. This guy must be weird or just stupid.

[Greenpeace Supporter]

It just goes to show you that the majority want the McDonald's of PQ - over compressed DBS & lousy cable quality.

You don't need teeth to eat at McDonalds and you don't need anything more than a 23" GE set for TV.

Yes - bring back the 78" record, ban cd's and high fidelity

Hell, let's ban electricity!

[Mike500]

Originally posted by Greenpeace Supporter
It just goes to show you that the majority want the McDonald's of PQ - over compressed DBS & lousy cable quality.

You don't need teeth to eat at McDonalds and you don't need anything more than a 23" GE set for TV.

Yes - bring back the 78" record, ban cd's and high fidelity

Hell, let's ban electricity!

Have you hugged you BIG UGLY DISH today?

There was more polution in the big cities in the 1890's from industrial smokestacks burning coal for steam power. Likewise, disease was rampant from poor sewers, flies and horse dung. Washing clothes was a full day's chore once a week. How do you intend to power your BIG UGLY DISH?

What GOOD OLD DAYS?

[Jacob S]

How do you plan on powering the tv let alone the big dish? How do you plan to power the computer that you get on to post that comment about banning electric?

[Mike500]

The big myth is that the ancients and natives were environmentalist. They used the land to their advantage. They hunted animals to extinction. It's just that there were fewer of them and their technology limited them from creating more damage to the environment. There were no GOOD OLD DAYS or "halcyon" days of the 1890's. Life was simpler. Crime was much more rampant at times than now. There was no forensic silence. They had to catch Jack the Ripper in the act, which they didn't. No blood typing; No fingerprints; No DNA. Life was tougher; 12-16 hour workdays; 7 days a week. FORGET IT!! We live in the best times.

[Rush Bimbo]

C Band is a Liberal conspiracy that threatens the American way of life - the freedom to charge as much as possible - for the lowest amount of product/service.

[Jacob S]

this goes to prove that there is a second way of looking at this, first time i saw people look at it like this and as the current time as the good ole days.

even looking at the terrorism and west nile virus among other things, i dont think things are as bad as they used to be.

[Mike500]

Originally posted by Jacob S
this goes to prove that there is a second way of looking at this, first time i saw people look at it like this and as the current time as the good ole days.

even looking at the terrorism and west nile virus among other things, i dont think things are as bad as they used to be.

Right, Jacob,


The 1918 flu killed more soldiers than World War I. It was over 25 million who died. Over 38 million died in World War II.

[RichW]

If someone really wants the good old days, they have that option.

Join an Amish community...

or go to Montana! :)

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
I know a lot of people with C Band Dishes who no longer subscribe to any programming packages, they have DBS dishes for that.

They still activly use their C Band setups yet use their DBS setups to go on all the TV's in the house.

I read somewhere the other day that C Band equipment (dishes and receivers) has been showing a suprising rise over the past few months, yet the amount of people subscribing to subscription services has declined.


What type of service could I get on C Band without a subscription Mr. Greczkowski?

[Jacob S]

They get the FTA channels and wildfeeds which you can't get on a subscription. A lot of people do it as a hobby just as I do.

[Mike]

You get TV shows that make it on the air a few days later. Usually these feeds don't have commercials.

ABC (even though they were the 1st network to scramble full-time in 1991), they have commercial feeds in the clear quite frequently now especially during sporting events like the regional college football and NHL games. This includes the MNF game last Monday.

You get backhauls (sporting events - feeds from the stadium to the TV station(s)) galore especially during college football season.

MLB TV network feeds are also in the clear this year from teams like the Royals, Cardinals, Marlins, D-Rays, Astros, Rangers & Mariners telecasts whenever there is a telecast.

Most of the cable type channels are scrambled now and have been for a while. C-band and even a ku band setup works great for sports backhauls. CBS sports backhauls are mostly digital now, NBC still has some left analog on Ku, ABC's are still mostly in the clear on c and ku, FOX backhauls are mostly digital or fiber along with the NASCAR racing backhauls as those are digital now. NBA TNT/TBS backhauls are digital now which will cost you about $3000 to get one of those receivers. Some of the digital feeds can be found with a cheaper digital receiver, but I can't talk about that as that's taboo and the networks can scramble those feeds at any time supposedly. :)

C/Ku is still great for analog sports backhauls. LA was playing SJ tonight in soccer and there was a FOX Sports World feed, but I couldn't find any audio on the MHz frequencies for the feed. I just watched it without any sound from SJ.

The lyngsat website at www.lyngsat.com will tell you which regular feeds are in the clear and/or scrambled on a regular basis and what the scrambling is used for HBO or a FOX affiliate from Missouri on Ku for example. :)

[Richard King]

Half the fun of C-band is being able to see things you would never see normally.

I have about 4 hours of raw feeds from here in Vero Beach of hurricane coverage from before I moved here (but right after I bought property here). Once I moved here I drove around to find the spot where the satellite trucks were parked for the feeds and found it three blocks from my house.

I remember watching a Vikings/Eagles game where the Viks were getting stomped on in the first half. The announcers were complaining to each other during advertisements about how bad the mismatch was (Monday night football). The Viks eventually came back to win and the announcers changed their tune.

I watched a Daytona 500 a few years back and listened to Dale Jarret (sp) during advertisements as his son was on his way to winning the race.

I saw one announcer (Dick Vitale?) give out his home phone number over the air by mistake one time while he was being interviewed at home. His phone rang a few seconds later and the caller simply yelled over the phone "DICKIE" and hung up. Vitale had no idea who it was or how he got the number until the camera man explained that the link was on when he gave out the number. He just about turned white as a sheet.

I imagine most of these wouldn't happen today, but the were worth the price of admission when wild feeds were readily available.

[Geronimo]

What might some of these FTA channels be? Just curious.

[lee635]

In addition to the various feeds, there are a handful of regular channels you can get for free. On regular analog c-band, you get a dozen or so religious channels, NASA, The Outdoor Channel, FX, America One (shows old movies and shows), TechTV and east and west coast feeds of ABC (probably will go scrambled for MNF though). Also, some of the scrambled channels occasionally go clear. You can also get about 6 or so audio feeds.

Some are in "fixed key", so as long as you have a VC2 descrambler, you get the channel without paying. If you pick up a used system from someone, it will most likely come with a VC2 box.

[Jacob S]

Are there more channels available on FTA receivers in DVB MPEG-2 or are there more channels available on VC2 receivers, or on DC2 ?

[PeterB]

Originally posted by The smaller the better (when it comes to dishes)
C Band subs falling faster than Motorola cell phone sales.

Keep buying Motorola stock - the next Worldcom, or Global Crossing or Nortel

Well, when you make garbage product the people arent going to keep buying it over and over no matter how much blind motorola cell phone loyalty there is out there.

Ive watched from within the industry as Motorola's market share in cellular went from a staggering 92% in the analog days to teetering in 3-4 place.

While i don't think they will Enron anytime soon, they REALLY need to get thier act together if they want to survive in the cellular business.