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Here some details from today's Retailer's chat:
1 h 8 min long ...
Charlie and Jim...
jim: welcome.. , charlie...- nice to have you here, we miss you when you are not here....
We have few things to discuss today, such as some programming etc..
Charlie starts to talk about FCC, merger, etc - "very disappointing news...they could have gone 2 ways..and they went the other way, etc..."
Fcc felt combination of the merger - woujld reduce the choice for the consumer...30 days..blah..blah..Fcc decision makes our job much tougher...basically - very disappolnted..
Jim - for you retailers..all you can do is go on with the business as usual - getting new activations etc...
charlie - harder to compete with cable..but business is as usual, and if we would have won, business would have been as usual anyhow (lol)..it is not over yet though..he have some avenues to explore basically
Jim: Programming anouncements:
NHL Center ICe - multi-year agreement - very exiting - lots of PPL like hockey..$159 - annual package....will be something like "half season deal" - $109 (i think) - so ppl even later on can take advantage of the package..
International:
Charlie interupts - more stuff outthere - hopefully we ll get other simular deals with other Major Sports..
Jim - International: NTV - Russian programming - from Moscow, live News, analysis of Russian soccer, Tv Games, etc..
15 beans per month / 165 per year (free month)
Jim: Charlie we might as well address the Locals issue now - cuz we ll get calls..
Charlie: Echo 8, will be fully operational hopefully by end of months..should be better picture as we ll increase the power, frees up capasity, etc..fiber connections ready to go..
will be looking for deals with Local markets..they pretty much equal, etc...depends also on beam, etc..depends also - who wants to go more then other one..etc..Once we make decision on city - and lets say 3 cities are chosen..we can only take 1 city without the merger..so the future outcome of merger is very important..if no merger - can't do 'em all...but hoping to have 50 markets by end of year (or something) - lol - (they speak faster then i type..but i am getting better)
Jim - Looking at Earthlink etc..for High-Speed internet etc..
(blah blah..i will not type it all..only most interesting things)
WASHROOM BREAK (for me - lol)
Marketing upgdate, etc...New group for handling Marketting material (Nov 4)
OH MAN - (about 50 more minutes to go - torture
- soon i will considering retirement from 'em chats recaps ..)
Jim still talking about marketting material..some new material they had to include in the packages etc...Holidays soon...
talking about how to improve the strategies etc..
talking about when is Best times to run Infomercials etc..(blah blah)
Which station better to run them infomercials at, etc../
Watch for political ads..time slots could be more expensive to run etc ...(lol)
(hehe - 45 more minutes to go - i am becoming a cry baby now)
:shrug:
OK - lets move on..talking about Dish Pro...much cleaner install, but if have problems - to educate yourself etc..contact installers etc...
Nov 5 - R connect - will be more efficient - on www page will be puttin customer name, package etc..and it will become databased ..so eventually will be smoother (much smoother - or something like that - sorry my English is poor, 2nd language after all)
jim goes on.. - will be less confusion etc..
Jim coughs - thought i might mention that
Talking about customer phone calls - good to have proper agents for different type of calls (to be better and more efficient for everyone)...wanna be on the Highest Level..
Little note - explain customer how to use hardware, order events, ppvs etc..phone lines..
Well, charlie - we have time for some quesions,
Phone calls begin:
(i only do important ones)
3/4 switch quesiton..
4 ird systems...also good thing you already talked about DSL Charlie
Mary Davidson (babe) answering some question
( puppets sitting on the backgrounds as always - j/k
New Retailer calls with some quesion...
Charlie answering : when customer purchase reciever - whe subsidize it - we losing monet, etc - blah blah..
question: upgrades...dhp customers..who finished one year contract..can we try to develop promotion that will help them to upgrade to the PVR?
JIm - we can do better then that...We have one...508 upgrade..there is one where they pay 199, but there is a better one...they looking at the galery...on the Retailers web site...but customer can do it...Charlie: good question
Jim - who is that "Gordon"? -nice to hear from you...Gordy goes on with the question...
Jim reading a question: We had this before: "Why only New customers get all the deals....why can't someone , i.e: 1997, paid his bill, cancelled, why can't he get the deal again?
Charlie: (looks p**sed off) - well, easy answer - we subsidize the customer, we are a public company who have cost..(between 500-600 dollars cost just to get the customer)...obviosly sometimes customers leave , example: cable comes - here is 300 dollars for the dish, etc..they leave then they want to come back (lol - charlie is not stupid, eh? - wasn't born yesturday - 'ol wolf - they want to come back and want us to spend another 500 dollars (lol) - we just cannot afford that...Everyone gets one subsidy to become Dishnetwork customer...We don't think "the grass is greener" somewhere else - if you decide to go there..
Jim interupts - "We KNOW the grass is not greener" (ahaha)...
Charlie - but if you wanna come back, and wanna subsidize...you already got your equipment...unless you sold it to the cable company - then you got money for it (lol) - We are not that stupid (looks at Jim), RIGHT? (hehe - chat is getting better now)
....We can't do that....But if ppl kept their equipment - there is not cost for them to come back, and more likely will be some Fair Opportunity to upgrade...We are very, very competitive out there, and we do get lots of people who come back to us.
Jim goes..Good point Charlie - we invistigated it all -People will go: ahhh, i... they will find Zillion reasons why..Naturally they would not want to admit (Charlie interupts: that sold it to cable company for few bucks)..Jim - but then: Where is your hardware..Charlie interupts: oh Gee, i lost it, i sold it, my dog ate it, (hehe), got 200 dollars for it from cable company... But typically what they do, they sell it, and then Cable's service keep on going down, FREE things are over, Digital service is not the same, Advertizing is over, Customer service not the same, Price keep going up..Once free stuff is over..then they want to come back to us, but do not have their equipment....S0....
(hehe - Charlie is a good businessman and diplomat - but i think SOMEHOW it wasn't the best timing to ask him this question and get him going
another phone call (finally - lol - i was typing hard above):
Club dish coupons inssues, new bills...kinda decieving - cuz when you open coupon it says: to redeem coupon as gift certificate - call Dish ph # to redeme or locate your participating dealer...well
to me - its like we are having difficult time with this here, we are spending awful lot of money on advertizing to get this One sale, but customer getting their bill, and receiving 2 coupons for free dish to call Dishnet directly...
( you should see jim's and charlie's faces )
Charlie: well i haven't seen the coupon...Jim: well it says just exactly what Mike said - to call - either or...it's no different then when we run TV ads...Charlie said - I know what Mike means..he gets a customer..but then Customer does that..
Mike goes..- often customer thinks that he gets coupon from us..
Charlie said - i haven't seen it - we ll have a look at it and see if it is fair..
Jim - we cannot list all the retailer names unfortunatly...
Charlie - we try to be fair..but some people choose to deal with us..and we are business who have yet to make money on the year..so we have to continue to try to grow as a business..to make money..and have to deal with those customers if they happened to call us..but having said that - Retailer should be able to compete in a Fair way too - so we ll have a look at this..to see what is what
Charlie lets go - half burp half hickup...
phone call about 501 and 508...
Charlie touches the merger for few seconds...
JIm - we do not stock too many 721s , like you would not stock too many of them (he smiles)
Nancy calling - about new Exua fax thing (or whatever it called )
The Babe in the galery answers the question...
(gee - 19 more minutes to go)
blah - blah..
Jim - next question: are there plans to include a/v S-video input port on the 508 / 721 for obvious reasons, - video cameras, antennas, etc..
Galery - 508 doesn't have this capability...
721 - there input jacks in the front - that currently are not enabled...but will be soon in Nov, Dec...RCA audio/video connections..example : cat talke Plastation and hook it up , etc..
Jim goes - we will have a video on that...
Retailer calling about Dish Pro instulation...- technical question...
(i will not go there - i am tired )
(14 mins left - come on, come on)
Jim reading next question: can something be done about receiver automatically going to ch 100 every time you ll miss 3 digits..older customers having problems with it..they mispunch and it goes automatically to ch 100..and it's just a little more then they CAN handle .. - jim looks at the galery - you should see the SMIRK on his face...
The dude goes: well i guess i am on a roll now...
This feature - "channel 100 default" - just to run through the reciever line - no feature like that on 721 yet - cuz it is not interacative...but ex: 501, 508 if you key in wrong - it will happen..
same with 301s, as well as 4900 and 3900 - it will be changed during Nov, Dec months..
(there we go - Some good INFO - i guess the New Software upgrades are coming...So is Christmas i might add...NO? - No..Really it is
Charlie - it is a problem if some people do not like it that way..some people actually like it...good Solution would be remotes with Larger numbers..older people will appreciate it..
We ll look into it...
( i hope they ll have this on the Menu so - who wants it can say Yes, or who doesn't can say NO - just my 2 cents...10 mins left - then i am a Free man again)
dude calls - We losing customers..i lost 2 last week, cuz they want local channels and i am myself can't offer them the Dish for FREE...does it make sense to you?
Jim sips coffee - i understand - but why would you lose a customer? ...Dude: cuz they ll call you directly and have your installer come out and install it...
Jim puts the coffee cup back..
Charlie goes - yes i got you, i understand....unfortunatly the second dish was FCC's (thinggy)...no win situation.. - of course you can give them the dish - but you will not get reimbursed..
Ppl will want a dish for Internationals, a dish for locals, etc - and you can put on the form whatever..and we just can't monitor it all (hehe) ..it will cost us so much money - it will not be practical....but we ll look at it closely and see if the problem continues..
Jim - well we are running out of time..
But lets anounce quaterly trip winners to join US in Taboo ( Caboo, or something - whatever... - at this point: ""Bleep" if i care to where they go - lol"...they can all go to Heck for all i care..I wanna to go eat sometin' - that is all i care about"
Jim - glad they won..lots of ways to win by the way...
(i am Glad too - NO, really..i am - just let off some steam above)
Jim - Chat replays begin at Noon on Fri the 18th..
Next Retailer chat - Nov 12 at Noon eastern... ( gee less the a month from now )
Jim - we will see you on the next chat...
he smiles: "Sell, sell, sell..."
Well - that is all "she wrote" Boys adn Girls ...
I am done!!!!!!!
1 h 8 min long ...
Charlie and Jim...
jim: welcome.. , charlie...- nice to have you here, we miss you when you are not here....
We have few things to discuss today, such as some programming etc..
Charlie starts to talk about FCC, merger, etc - "very disappointing news...they could have gone 2 ways..and they went the other way, etc..."
Fcc felt combination of the merger - woujld reduce the choice for the consumer...30 days..blah..blah..Fcc decision makes our job much tougher...basically - very disappolnted..
Jim - for you retailers..all you can do is go on with the business as usual - getting new activations etc...
charlie - harder to compete with cable..but business is as usual, and if we would have won, business would have been as usual anyhow (lol)..it is not over yet though..he have some avenues to explore basically
Jim: Programming anouncements:
NHL Center ICe - multi-year agreement - very exiting - lots of PPL like hockey..$159 - annual package....will be something like "half season deal" - $109 (i think) - so ppl even later on can take advantage of the package..
International:
Charlie interupts - more stuff outthere - hopefully we ll get other simular deals with other Major Sports..
Jim - International: NTV - Russian programming - from Moscow, live News, analysis of Russian soccer, Tv Games, etc..
15 beans per month / 165 per year (free month)
Jim: Charlie we might as well address the Locals issue now - cuz we ll get calls..
Charlie: Echo 8, will be fully operational hopefully by end of months..should be better picture as we ll increase the power, frees up capasity, etc..fiber connections ready to go..
will be looking for deals with Local markets..they pretty much equal, etc...depends also on beam, etc..depends also - who wants to go more then other one..etc..Once we make decision on city - and lets say 3 cities are chosen..we can only take 1 city without the merger..so the future outcome of merger is very important..if no merger - can't do 'em all...but hoping to have 50 markets by end of year (or something) - lol - (they speak faster then i type..but i am getting better)
Jim - Looking at Earthlink etc..for High-Speed internet etc..
(blah blah..i will not type it all..only most interesting things)
WASHROOM BREAK (for me - lol)
Marketing upgdate, etc...New group for handling Marketting material (Nov 4)
OH MAN - (about 50 more minutes to go - torture
- soon i will considering retirement from 'em chats recaps ..)Jim still talking about marketting material..some new material they had to include in the packages etc...Holidays soon...
talking about how to improve the strategies etc..
talking about when is Best times to run Infomercials etc..(blah blah)
Which station better to run them infomercials at, etc../
Watch for political ads..time slots could be more expensive to run etc ...(lol)
(hehe - 45 more minutes to go - i am becoming a cry baby now)
:shrug:
OK - lets move on..talking about Dish Pro...much cleaner install, but if have problems - to educate yourself etc..contact installers etc...
Nov 5 - R connect - will be more efficient - on www page will be puttin customer name, package etc..and it will become databased ..so eventually will be smoother (much smoother - or something like that - sorry my English is poor, 2nd language after all)
jim goes on.. - will be less confusion etc..
Jim coughs - thought i might mention that
Talking about customer phone calls - good to have proper agents for different type of calls (to be better and more efficient for everyone)...wanna be on the Highest Level..
Little note - explain customer how to use hardware, order events, ppvs etc..phone lines..
Well, charlie - we have time for some quesions,
Phone calls begin:
(i only do important ones)
3/4 switch quesiton..
4 ird systems...also good thing you already talked about DSL Charlie
Mary Davidson (babe) answering some question
( puppets sitting on the backgrounds as always - j/k
New Retailer calls with some quesion...
Charlie answering : when customer purchase reciever - whe subsidize it - we losing monet, etc - blah blah..
question: upgrades...dhp customers..who finished one year contract..can we try to develop promotion that will help them to upgrade to the PVR?
JIm - we can do better then that...We have one...508 upgrade..there is one where they pay 199, but there is a better one...they looking at the galery...on the Retailers web site...but customer can do it...Charlie: good question
Jim - who is that "Gordon"? -nice to hear from you...Gordy goes on with the question...
Jim reading a question: We had this before: "Why only New customers get all the deals....why can't someone , i.e: 1997, paid his bill, cancelled, why can't he get the deal again?
Charlie: (looks p**sed off) - well, easy answer - we subsidize the customer, we are a public company who have cost..(between 500-600 dollars cost just to get the customer)...obviosly sometimes customers leave , example: cable comes - here is 300 dollars for the dish, etc..they leave then they want to come back (lol - charlie is not stupid, eh? - wasn't born yesturday - 'ol wolf
- they want to come back and want us to spend another 500 dollars (lol) - we just cannot afford that...Everyone gets one subsidy to become Dishnetwork customer...We don't think "the grass is greener" somewhere else - if you decide to go there..Jim interupts - "We KNOW the grass is not greener" (ahaha)...
Charlie - but if you wanna come back, and wanna subsidize...you already got your equipment...unless you sold it to the cable company - then you got money for it (lol) - We are not that stupid (looks at Jim), RIGHT? (hehe - chat is getting better now)
....We can't do that....But if ppl kept their equipment - there is not cost for them to come back, and more likely will be some Fair Opportunity to upgrade...We are very, very competitive out there, and we do get lots of people who come back to us.
Jim goes..Good point Charlie - we invistigated it all -People will go: ahhh, i... they will find Zillion reasons why..Naturally they would not want to admit (Charlie interupts: that sold it to cable company for few bucks)..Jim - but then: Where is your hardware..Charlie interupts: oh Gee, i lost it, i sold it, my dog ate it, (hehe), got 200 dollars for it from cable company... But typically what they do, they sell it, and then Cable's service keep on going down, FREE things are over, Digital service is not the same, Advertizing is over, Customer service not the same, Price keep going up..Once free stuff is over..then they want to come back to us, but do not have their equipment....S0....
(hehe - Charlie is a good businessman and diplomat - but i think SOMEHOW it wasn't the best timing to ask him this question and get him going
another phone call (finally - lol - i was typing hard above):
Club dish coupons inssues, new bills...kinda decieving - cuz when you open coupon it says: to redeem coupon as gift certificate - call Dish ph # to redeme or locate your participating dealer...well
to me - its like we are having difficult time with this here, we are spending awful lot of money on advertizing to get this One sale, but customer getting their bill, and receiving 2 coupons for free dish to call Dishnet directly...
( you should see jim's and charlie's faces )
Charlie: well i haven't seen the coupon...Jim: well it says just exactly what Mike said - to call - either or...it's no different then when we run TV ads...Charlie said - I know what Mike means..he gets a customer..but then Customer does that..
Mike goes..- often customer thinks that he gets coupon from us..
Charlie said - i haven't seen it - we ll have a look at it and see if it is fair..
Jim - we cannot list all the retailer names unfortunatly...
Charlie - we try to be fair..but some people choose to deal with us..and we are business who have yet to make money on the year..so we have to continue to try to grow as a business..to make money..and have to deal with those customers if they happened to call us..but having said that - Retailer should be able to compete in a Fair way too - so we ll have a look at this..to see what is what
Charlie lets go - half burp half hickup...
phone call about 501 and 508...
Charlie touches the merger for few seconds...
JIm - we do not stock too many 721s , like you would not stock too many of them (he smiles)
Nancy calling - about new Exua fax thing (or whatever it called )
The Babe in the galery answers the question...
(gee - 19 more minutes to go)
blah - blah..
Jim - next question: are there plans to include a/v S-video input port on the 508 / 721 for obvious reasons, - video cameras, antennas, etc..
Galery - 508 doesn't have this capability...
721 - there input jacks in the front - that currently are not enabled...but will be soon in Nov, Dec...RCA audio/video connections..example : cat talke Plastation and hook it up , etc..
Jim goes - we will have a video on that...
Retailer calling about Dish Pro instulation...- technical question...
(i will not go there - i am tired )
(14 mins left - come on, come on)
Jim reading next question: can something be done about receiver automatically going to ch 100 every time you ll miss 3 digits..older customers having problems with it..they mispunch and it goes automatically to ch 100..and it's just a little more then they CAN handle .. - jim looks at the galery - you should see the SMIRK on his face...
The dude goes: well i guess i am on a roll now...
This feature - "channel 100 default" - just to run through the reciever line - no feature like that on 721 yet - cuz it is not interacative...but ex: 501, 508 if you key in wrong - it will happen..
same with 301s, as well as 4900 and 3900 - it will be changed during Nov, Dec months..
(there we go - Some good INFO - i guess the New Software upgrades are coming...So is Christmas i might add...NO? - No..Really it is
Charlie - it is a problem if some people do not like it that way..some people actually like it...good Solution would be remotes with Larger numbers..older people will appreciate it..
We ll look into it...
( i hope they ll have this on the Menu so - who wants it can say Yes, or who doesn't can say NO - just my 2 cents...10 mins left - then i am a Free man again)
dude calls - We losing customers..i lost 2 last week, cuz they want local channels and i am myself can't offer them the Dish for FREE...does it make sense to you?
Jim sips coffee - i understand - but why would you lose a customer? ...Dude: cuz they ll call you directly and have your installer come out and install it...
Jim puts the coffee cup back..
Charlie goes - yes i got you, i understand....unfortunatly the second dish was FCC's (thinggy)...no win situation.. - of course you can give them the dish - but you will not get reimbursed..
Ppl will want a dish for Internationals, a dish for locals, etc - and you can put on the form whatever..and we just can't monitor it all
(hehe) ..it will cost us so much money - it will not be practical....but we ll look at it closely and see if the problem continues..Jim - well we are running out of time..
But lets anounce quaterly trip winners to join US in Taboo ( Caboo, or something - whatever... - at this point: ""Bleep" if i care to where they go - lol"...they can all go to Heck for all i care..I wanna to go eat sometin' - that is all i care about
"Jim - glad they won..lots of ways to win by the way...
(i am Glad too - NO, really..i am - just let off some steam above)
Jim - Chat replays begin at Noon on Fri the 18th..
Next Retailer chat - Nov 12 at Noon eastern... ( gee less the a month from now )
Jim - we will see you on the next chat...
he smiles: "Sell, sell, sell..."
Well - that is all "she wrote" Boys adn Girls ...
I am done!!!!!!!
