The Charlie Chat Summary - October 12th, 2009

[James Long]

The Charlie Chat Summary - October 12th, 2009

Charlie Chat Hosted by
Charlie Ergen – CEO and Chairman
Jim DeFranco – Executive Vice President

Tonight's Show
NFL Red Zone ... Scott Hanson
NBA All Star Steve Smith
Carrie Underwood Concert
Dora Contest
The Naughty Chef
The Northern Way

Outdoor "Tailgate" Party ... (Charlie looks cold and awkward)
Live audience

NFL Red Zone channel
(Video interview with Scott Hanson ... a nice behinds the scenes look)
6 1/2 hours ... one bathroom break
John Elway promotes the channel ... on many local stations.
Channel 155, Commercial Free, HD or SD for $5.99/month or $49.99/year (Multi Sport Package)
(Package also includes NHL Network, NFL Network and all available regional sports networks.)

Steve Gottsegen talks sports ...
ESPN Game Plan ($135 or 3 payments of $45 - Individual weeks for $24 per week)

NBA League Pass (4 payments of $41.99 if ordered before November 4th)
NBATV in Silver ... League Pass free preview Oct 27th-Nov 3rd

ESPN Full Court ($10 off normal price until Nov 29th - only $104 or 4 x $26)

NHL Center Ice w/NHL Network (4 payments of $40.95 until Oct 31st)

http://www.dishnetwork.com/sports to order

Free Previews
CBS College Sports (152) - Until Oct 14th
NBA TV (402) - Until Nov 3rd
NBA League Pass - Oct 27 to Nov 3rd
Versus (151) - Until Nov 30 (Normally in Gold)

Trivia: What team has won the most NBA championships? And how many have they won?
Prize: Two tickets to an NBA game near the winner.

NBA TV
Steve Smith ... All Star player now working for NBA TV

Nimiq 5 launch (shown as a silly drop in advert for the NFL Red Zone)
HD Locals in 152 markets, 93% of US TV Households (181 SD markets)

Questions
Rick: I'd like to see all DVRs have remote access.
A: Go to SLING.COM on the ViP receivers ... working on the 625 later this fall.

Bill: Local channels ... I want a closer station across the state line.
A: (Description of market areas) Law restricts carriage to local channels only.
Congress is looking at it and will make decisions in late October or November.

Doel: ViP-222k ... wants an external USB drive. When?
A: Available on the 211. Next year?

Bill: When will the ViP-922 be released? (Late summer??? Can I beta test???)
A: You missed your chance for beta tester. Taking longer than expected. Not before Nov 12th.

Jay: Why do I need a phone line?
A: Only need it for PPV events. We also use it for diagnostics. Broadband is an option on new recievers.
(Credit for having a phone line connected.)

Elizabeth: What new rates and packages can DISH Network offer to existing customers?
(How do we determine packages?)
A: We want to offer what you want and not sell you what you don't want. The industry doesn't allow it. We package in "good, better, best" levels to try to keep costs down.

Smaller Markets ...
181 markets covered in SD, 28 markets left. They COULD be covered but it is not economical without providing out of market signals to fill in missing networks.
Interviews in St Joseph MO. Pushing for out of market channels from Kansas City. (Silly video.)

Exclusive: CMT Front Row
November: Carrie Underwood

Tonight's Trivia Winner: DJ Jenkins of Tuscon AZ (Boston Celtics, 17 championships)

Dora Contest
Voice a character ... exclusive to DISH Network customers.
Enter at http://www.DISHandDora.com/

The Naughty Chef
Channel 127 Oxygen - Tuesday 10pm ET

The Northern Way
Local colorado band ...

[Stewart Vernon]

Thanks for the recap, James... doesn't sound like I missed much (unless the band was good).

Disappointing to see no mention of any new HD national channels... especially with all the emphasis on sports, and they don't even touch the possibility of ESPNUHD.

[BNUMM]

I don't expect Dish will add much new HD until after Direct gets their next satellite up. That is just an opinion. If Direct starts to add new HD then Dish will feel the pressure.

[DJ Lon]

Was busy tonight so the recap was appreciated, as always, James.

[BillJ]

Thanks for the recap. I wasn't expecting any groundbreaking news. I wasn't disappointed.

[4bama]

Charlie did say that the Tech Forum next month would have more info on other HD channels and more accurate data about when the 922 would be available ("definitely available for Christmas")...

[festivus]

Re the phone line, I wonder what kinds of "diagnostics" they do over a phone line. I don't do PPV. Seems fishy to me...

[dennispap]

Was i hearing things or did Charlie say that they dont charge for locals?

[RasputinAXP]

Locals are now 'included' in the base price but you can opt out and get that $5 back.

[phrelin]

Originally Posted by 4bama

Charlie did say that the Tech Forum next month would have more info on other HD channels and more accurate data about when the 922 would be available ("definitely available for Christmas")...

I'll be curious to see if they talk about national HD at the tech forum.

You can either give your worst enemy a paperweight or a 922 for Christmas. Both will work for a paperweight, but its very clear a 922 will likely frustrate him/her to death.

[P Smith]

Originally Posted by festivus

Re the phone line, I wonder what kinds of "diagnostics" they do over a phone line. I don't do PPV. Seems fishy to me...

Look for STB Health here http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.ph...ght=stb+health

[Paul Secic]

Originally Posted by Stewart Vernon

Thanks for the recap, James... doesn't sound like I missed much (unless the band was good).

Disappointing to see no mention of any new HD national channels... especially with all the emphasis on sports, and they don't even touch the possibility of ESPNUHD.

You missed a big commercial for sports packages.

[randyb19]

I was hoping to hear that BBC America HD would be rolling out soon.

[SayWhat?]

Originally Posted by Paul Secic

You missed a big commercial for sports packages.

Which is why I stopped watching them. That and I got tired of hearing 'HD' and 'Locals' uttered 80 times a minute or so.

[jerry downing]

Originally Posted by Paul Secic

You missed a big commercial for sports packages.

You got that right. I remember when Charlie chats were interesting.

[4bama]

Originally Posted by RasputinAXP

Locals are now 'included' in the base price but you can opt out and get that $5 back.

I think what Charlie was trying to say as he blew by this subject was there is no charge for "HD locals" if your package gets SD locals...

[Dario33]

Sounds like nothing unexpected was revealed. Thanks for posting the summary.

[olguy]

Thanks for the recap James.

Originally Posted by phrelin

I'll be curious to see if they talk about national HD at the tech forum.

You can either give your worst enemy a paperweight or a 922 for Christmas. Both will work for a paperweight, but its very clear a 922 will likely frustrate him/her to death.

When that thing is released the 922 forum should be fun to read. I'll use it to gauge if and when I want one.

[4bama]

Originally Posted by festivus

Re the phone line, I wonder what kinds of "diagnostics" they do over a phone line. I don't do PPV. Seems fishy to me...

Dish will not tell you this but they make a lot of $$$ by providing data on viewing habits of customers to rating companies like Nielsen...the data collected includes what TV shows are watched including which ones are DVR'ed.

The only way user viewing data can be collected by Dish is via a phone line or internet connection...

So there are other very important reasons why Dish wants customers to have a phone line or internet connected to their receivers...and they are willing to give a $5 credit to those that do...another way of saying we charge $5 if you don't connect a phone line or internet...IMHO..

[James Long]

Or so the rumor goes.

There are some diagnostic things going on ... watching signal strengths and LNB drift and reporting that if it gets out of line. It is also a good way of seeing if their signal is actually reaching customers in millions of test locations. I believe a report is generated when there is a problem with the receiver (reboot/crash type thing).

The reasonably new "trigger" ads that lead to applications that use the phone line to sign you up for literature is another use of the phone/ethernet. That is all opt in by the customer ... you won't get a mailing simply because you watched a channel. You have to request more information in the application.

DISH can better serve you if a line (phone or ethernet) is connected. Having data on how well your receiver is working helps them if you call about a problem and helps track problems across the installed user base (even without your complaint). Not having that raw data means that they have to spend more time figuring out where the problem is. You're saving DISH money when that line is connected ... it is nice that there is some sort of "reward" for that (even if it is just a "lack of penalty").

And yes, people are more likely to buy PPVs and other stuff when all they have to do is click on a couple of menus. Not everyone lives a mile from a 24hr RedBox location or wants to use Netflix or other rental schemes. People are impulsive. (At least those who do not have all of the PPV channels locked and hidden are.)

[phrelin]

Actually, I'm happy to help offset the operating costs of Dish Network by sharing my viewing habits. But I can understand others wishing to pay $5 a month to assure their privacy. Either way, seems fair.

[4bama]

Originally Posted by phrelin

Actually, I'm happy to help offset the operating costs of Dish Network by sharing my viewing habits. But I can understand others wishing to pay $5 a month to assure their privacy. Either way, seems fair.

Same here, and I believe it also helps good programs survive and bad programs cancelled on the various networks....kinda like the adage "if you don't use it you lose it" so if we don't watch it....

[purtman]

I was glad to see how DISH broke the law by stopping for non-emergency reasons along the Interstate there, just to film a promo.

[Stewart Vernon]

Originally Posted by purtman

I was glad to see how DISH broke the law by stopping for non-emergency reasons along the Interstate there, just to film a promo.

Don't news crews do that all the time?

[phrelin]

Originally Posted by 4bama

Charlie did say that the Tech Forum next month would have more info on other HD channels and more accurate data about when the 922 would be available ("definitely available for Christmas")...

Tech Forum suggested watching the next Charlie Chat for information about the 922 release.

And here's a complete list of other HD channels discussed in the Tech Forum: