Has Dish Network Just Undercut DirecTV?

mmmm, don't think DirecTV™ is too worried about what dish is doing. :lol:

but dish still doesnt have sunday ticket so for me thats end of discussion.

Well, SatelliteRacer says that UHD will be in MPEG4 by the end of this month. If D10 is truly out of capacity, then the MPEG4 version of UHD must be going on D11 so D11 must be coming online this month. If they put the MPEG4 version of UHD on D11, I would think other channels will be turned on too which I'd think would include all of the channels Dish announced plus even more. That way D* could beat Dish to the punch and steal their thunder.

Of course I could be reading way too much into speculation and be wrong.

uncrules said:

Well, SatelliteRacer says that UHD will be in MPEG4 by the end of this month. If D10 is truly out of capacity, then the MPEG4 version of UHD must be going on D11 so D11 must be coming online this month. If they put the MPEG4 version of UHD on D11, I would think other channels will be turned on too which I'd think would include all of the channels Dish announced plus even more. That way D* could beat Dish to the punch and steal their thunder.

Of course I could be reading way too much into speculation and be wrong.

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You're reading a bit too much into it, but certainly many more HD channels are on their way and soon.

Well, Dish will have its moment for a few weeks (perhaps a month) of the glory of claiming that they have the most HD channels, but it will be short-lived. I think we all know that when DirecTV's D11 goes live soon that DTV will be right back on top as usual.

And no, I don't work for DirecTV. :lol:

Satelliteracer said:

You're reading a bit too much into it, but certainly many more HD channels are on their way and soon.

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The problem is "soon" to the customers is MUCH different than "soon" to directv employees.

jeffreydavisjr said:

According to this release here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=132897

DISH Network looks mighty good to me right now. Over 100 HD Channels. Thats more than DirecTV offers currently. I guess DirecTV will have to get rid of all those stupid graphs on their website that always show them in the HD lead.

The biggest thing to me is the HD Only packages starting at $24.99. I think this is good for the industry. With these low prices and competition, DirecTV should follow suite, right?

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I don't think DirecTV needs to gain customers as desperately as Dish - the last time I saw new customer numbers DirecTV was still slaughtering Dish, so, no, I don't think they will follow suit. 100 channels each will level the playing field - temporarily - DirecTV has to do nothing more than light up D11 to create their advantage again.

kw2957 said:

Well, Dish will have its moment for a few weeks (perhaps a month) of the glory of claiming that they have the most HD channels, but it will be short-lived. I think we all know that when DirecTV's D11 goes live soon that DTV will be right back on top as usual.

And no, I don't work for DirecTV. :lol:

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Well lets not forget that E* has a launch coming up next Thursday. So D* won't have their thunder too long either. It's a game of cat and mouse, and as a consumer it's highly rewarding and fun to watch as well. These are two strong companies doing battle for business. I think its just great.

tcusta00 said:

I don't think DirecTV needs to gain customers as desperately as Dish - the last time I saw new customer numbers DirecTV was still slaughtering Dish, so, no, I don't think they will follow suit. 100 channels each will level the playing field - temporarily - DirecTV has to do nothing more than light up D11 to create their advantage again.

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I don't see how Dish can be adding so much HD right now. Their last Sat. is dead in the water or I should say sky :lol: They are playing fast and loose with something I'd bet on it And they are desperate and desperate people do desperate things as the old saying goes

not to mention that most of the dish hd channels they just launched were the hbo cinemax channels and 2 lifetime channels. big deal.

rhambling said:

not to mention that most of the dish hd channels they just launched were the hbo cinemax channels and 2 lifetime channels. big deal.

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As a subscriber to both of those channels, it's a big deal to me.

jeffreydavisjr said:

According to this release here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=132897

DISH Network looks mighty good to me right now. Over 100 HD Channels. Thats more than DirecTV offers currently. I guess DirecTV will have to get rid of all those stupid graphs on their website that always show them in the HD lead.

The biggest thing to me is the HD Only packages starting at $24.99. I think this is good for the industry. With these low prices and competition, DirecTV should follow suite, right?

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First off, the headline should say "will meet" instead of "meets" because this is not a current thing.
Secondly, who cares? If you are happy with what you have, why change for a one month lead.

Even if they pass up Direct it will only be for 1 month at the longest, then Direct will pass them up by such a large margin that it would take Dish at least a year to catch up again.

rhambling said:

not to mention that most of the dish hd channels they just launched were the hbo cinemax channels and 2 lifetime channels. big deal.

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Also not to mention that Dish counts their HD RSNs are part of their total even though every HD RSN is a game only station. Which means it is part time within the market and not available at all to those outside of the market. No matter how one spins it, there is no way Dish can even consider counting RSNs as part of their HD count.

As far as Direct goes, they are able to count out of market HD RSNs since they are full time and available to those outside of the local market. Even blackout can be avoided with additional sports packages.

All homerism aside, I would like real information. I don't care about sports packages. I do care about picture quality, value, and overall equipment design and quality, especially hd dvr. Does anyone have useful info on how the 2 companies stack up on these criteria? I currently have D*, and like it just fine, but any smart consumer should always be looking.

ronrico51 said:

All homerism aside, I would like real information. I don't care about sports packages. I do care about picture quality, value, and overall equipment design and quality, especially hd dvr. Does anyone have useful info on how the 2 companies stack up on these criteria? I currently have D*, and like it just fine, but any smart consumer should always be looking.

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Look at my sig for packages and pricing along with the HD channels within each package

jeffreydavisjr said:

According to this release here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=132897

DISH Network looks mighty good to me right now. Over 100 HD Channels. Thats more than DirecTV offers currently. I guess DirecTV will have to get rid of all those stupid graphs on their website that always show them in the HD lead.

The biggest thing to me is the HD Only packages starting at $24.99. I think this is good for the industry. With these low prices and competition, DirecTV should follow suite, right?

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I'm all for getting rid of those stupid graphs (how many Dish owners envy us VH1 HD?), but considering that DirecTV has a new HD dedicated satellite ready to go live within a month, and perhaps before the Dish channels launch, I see no advantage in switching to Dish. It is though quickly becoming a battle of equals.

DirecTV is currently the HD Leader.

Tomorrow, DirecTV will be the HD leader.

3 Months from now, DirecTV will be the HD leader.

At the end of the year, DirecTV will be the HD leader.

If someone else takes the lead from DirecTV in 2008, it will be very short lived.

In 2009 and beyond, eventually things will even out in the satellite world, not so sure about cable and/or FiOS.

The number of HD channels on each provider will eventually even out. At some point, Dish and DIRECTV will have every available HD channel on their respective satellites, except where channels are exclusive to one or the other, for example, NLF ST and The 101 for DIRECTV, and Voom for Dish. All bragging in the mean time is just short term and it's definitely not worth switching providers or getting panties in a bunch ...

Drew2k said:

The number of HD channels on each provider will eventually even out. At some point, Dish and DIRECTV will have every available HD channel on their respective satellites, except where channels are exclusive to one or the other, for example, NLF ST and The 101 for DIRECTV, and Voom for Dish. All bragging in the mean time is just short term and it's definitely not worth switching providers or getting panties in a bunch ...

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Totally agree.

Did just modify my post to clarify 2009 and beyond.