The Gadgetress ~ TV, mobile and Internet: Covering technology's monthly bill

Archive for the 'Satellite TV' Tag

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

Dish adds 241,000 subscribers, makes less money off customers

November 9th, 2009, 3:00 pm by

Dish Network logoSatellite TV service is on a roll: Number two Dish Network said this morning that it signed up more customers despite the economy.

The company added 241,000 net new subscribers in the three months, ended Sept. 30. That’s much better than last year when Dish lost 10,000 customers.

Satellite rival DirecTV also added customers, while cable providers Time Warner Cable and Comcast both reported losing customers. Cox Cable is privately held and does not report its results. Internet-based TV providers Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse both saw increases.

One reason is price. A look at Dish Network’s current “Best Deal” offers first-time customers 100+ channels for $24.99 a month with a 1-year commitment (regular price is $39.99/month). (Time Warner Cable’s standard rate for digital cable’s 200+ channels is $42, though a 2-year commitment can push the price lower.)

Such discounts pushed Dish’s expenses 5.8 percent higher than last year, up $89 million to $1.623 billion, according to the company’s regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

TV service 3Q new subscribers
AT&T U-verse 240,000
Comcast -656,000
Cox n/a
DirecTV 136,000
Dish Network 241,000
Time Warner Cable -84,000
Verizon FiOS 191,000

Part of that higher expense also went to higher programming fees, which the TV channels charge on a per-subscriber basis.

All of this ultimately meant that Dish made a little less money per customer than last year. Dish’s average revenue per customer declined to $69.51, compared to $69.82 in third quarter last year.

But if you’re a customer and you feel like you’re paying more, you are. The decline was offset by price increases in Feb. 2009.

Overall, Dish made less money than third quarter last year. The Englewood, Colo. company said it made $81 million on $2.89 billion in revenues, down from last year’s income of $92 million on $2.94 billion.

Dish ended the quarter with 13.851 million subscribers, which is nearly 1 million more than Time Warner Cable.

Recent telecom company earnings reports:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

DirecTV gets bigger, charges more

November 5th, 2009, 5:24 pm by

DirecTV DirecTV must be doing something right — it made more money than last year and continued to add new subscribers during its third quarter, which ended Sept. 30.

The El Segundo satellite TV service added 136,000 net new subscribers during the quarter, bringing its total to 18.4 million customers. While the subscriber growth is lower than the same time last year, DirecTV is growing.

Comparably, both the number one and two cable companies saw their subscriber count drop during the same period. Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, lost 656,000 video customers during the quarter, while second-place Time Warner Cable lost 84,000 customers.

DirecTV’s interim chief executive Larry Hunter attributed the subscriber growth to marketing its service with AT&T. Sales growth — revenues were up 10 percent from a year ago to $5.47 billion — came from more people subscribing to its HD and DVR services, plus growth in Latin America.

But consumers should keep in mind that DirecTV’s sales growth also meant higher prices. The company said the average customer’s bill increased 2.1 percent to $85.32. Customers are paying more for programs, HD channels and DVR service fees. Then again, DirecTV is the only company that offers programming like NFL Sunday Ticket, a $200 package.

Meanwhile, DirecTV’s payment to TV networks in order to offer channels increased 1.2 percent per subscriber. DirecTV spent nearly $2 billion on programming costs.

Read DirecTV’s third-quarter 2009 earnings report HERE.

Earlier on DirecTV:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Complaints to FCC about cable, satellite TV up 346 percent

September 9th, 2009, 9:02 am by

The number of complaints against cable and satellite TV service jumped 346 percent in the first three months this year compared to the same period last year, according to a report released by the Federal Communications Commission.

Cable/Sat complaints 1Q 2009 1Q 2008 % change
DTV transition 170 n/a
Service 344 176 95%
Marketing & Advertising 381 n/a
Billing & Rates 583 238 145%
Programming 2,635 380 593%
Total 4,113 923 346%

While that may sound high, cable and satellite TV services received the fewest number of complaints compared to other telecom services tracked by the FCC. The agency tracks inquiries and complaints about TV, cable and satellite, wireless and wireline phone services.

During the first quarter 2009, it was TV service with the most complaints, at 188,588, up a whopping 548 percent from the fourth quarter. The FCC cited the nation’s switch to digital TV broadcasts first in February and then delayed till June, which caused confusion and a lot of headache even among consumers unaffected by the change.

In the same period, cable and satellite TV had 4,113 complaints, up 96 percent.

While the FCC compared first quarter figures with the  fourth quarter of 2008, I pulled up last year’s first quarter as a comparison. Last year, the FCC registered 923 complaints about cable and satellite TV during the first quarter. This year, the number jumped to 4,113 complaints.

Either there really are more things to complain about when it comes to paid TV or consumers are finally noticing the FCC has a complaint button:

FCC complaint button: http://j.mp/aqyM1

The biggest complaint in 2009 was over programming issues, followed by billing and rates, advertising and then service. In 2008, biggest complaints were in this order: programming, billing and service. Blanks in the chart mean there was not a similar reason for complaint during years. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 15 Comments »

Dish Network adds subscribers for first time in 15 months

August 10th, 2009, 2:12 pm by

Dish Network logoDish Network’s turn today to fill us in on its health: It grew for the first time in 15 months.

The company, which admitted to poor customer service last quarter, either made good on its efforts to improve service or offered some hard-to-beat promotions.

Judging from its financial results — net income dropped to $63 million in the second quarter, compared to $336 million a year ago — I’d say the latter. Revenues fell just a tad, 0.4 percent, to $2.9 billion. The company also cited “new sales and marketing initiatives” as a contributing factor to its growth.

Dish spent a cringe-worthy$708 per subscriber on its “subscriber acquisition cost,” up from last year’s $699 per subscriber. At least the company is making more money per customer: $70.73 this year versus $69.38 last year.

During the quarter, Dish added 26,000 net subscribers, ending with 13.610 million subscribers on June 30. As mentioned in its regulatory filing, this was the first time in five quarters that the company added a net number of subscribers. Still, for the year, its total subscriber base is down 68,000 subscribers from the prior year.

The company blamed economic conditions, the end of its partnership with AT&T and competition from Internet-based TV services.

However, Dish’s growth continues the trend that is seeing Internet and satellite TV companies grow while cable TV companies are losing customers. Here are links to second quarter 2009 earnings reports from TV services available in Orange County:

Recent TV news:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | Comments Off

DirecTV made $83.16 per customer as subscribership grows

August 6th, 2009, 8:05 am by

DirecTV DirecTV is on a roll. It continued to add new subscribers during its second quarter, thanks to a partnership to bundle TV service with AT&T phone and Internet service.

During the quarter, it added a net 224,000 subscribers, which brings its total customer base to 18.3 million. That’s only half of the 460,000 the satellite TV service added during its first quarter this year, but any growth is much better than the declines the cable companies are experiencing.

By comparison, Time Warner Cable lost 11,000 subscribers in its most recent quarter and Comcast’s subscribers dropped 2.7 percent or 214,000 (Cox is a private company and doesn’t report quarterly numbers). The much smaller Internet-based TV services grew the most: Verizon FiOS added 300,000 TV customers to total 2.5 million, and AT&T U-verse TV added 248,000 subscribers for a total of 1.6 million.

Overall, DirecTV said it made less money during the quarter than the prior year, with net income falling 11 percent from last year to $407 million. At the same time, revenues increased 9 percent to $5.22 billion. The company blamed declines on higher interest expenses and unfavorable exchange rates in Latin American. But sales grew thanks to its partnership with AT&T.

The average customer bill also jumped up 1.7 percent to $83.16, thanks to higher HD and DVR service fees that offset discounts for new and existing customers. Even so, its customers are cutting back in some areas: DirecTV made less money from premium movies. 

For more details, see DirecTV’s press release or listen in to the 11 a.m. conference call at this link.

More TV news:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • | 15 Comments »

MSNBC HD now on Dish, coming soon for Time Warner

July 10th, 2009, 10:45 am by

Dish Network logoAdd another HD channel to the ring: MSNBC HD, which showed up on channel 209 for Dish Network customers this week.

Dish’s press release says it’s the “first and only pay-TV provider to offer the channel to consumers nationwide.”

Technically true, but Dish isn’t the first to offer the channel. East Coast cable provider Cablevision began offering MSNBC HD in June.

And, according to trade mag Broadcasting & Cable, the newly launched HD channel should show up for Time Warner customers later this month. B&C also reports that by the end of August, MSNBC HD will be available in 11 million homes nationwide.

That brings the Dish’s HD offerings to 140 channels, although I have them at 94. Will have to do more sleuthing to see what those missing channels are. 

TV company Jul-09
Verizon FiOS 127
DirecTV 124
AT&T U-verse 112
Dish Networks 94
Cox Cable 62
Time Warner 55

Recent stories about new HD channels:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 5 Comments »

Dish infringes on TiVo’s patents, ordered to dismantle DVR features

June 2nd, 2009, 5:26 pm by

UPDATE, July 1, 2009: Federal court blocks any injunction against Dish so its customers can continue using their DVRs. See Dish’s statement.

UPDATE, June 3, 10 p.m.: The saga continues. Dish wins a stay of a court injunction to disable DVRs as it appeals. See Reuters story. Also, a followup to this post: TiVo has no beef with Cox, Comcast and DirecTV. But everyone else? 
_______________________________________________

Dish Network logoNoted: TiVo, which changed the way that most of us watch TV today, won a lawsuit against Dish Network’s EchoStar Communications that could end up disabling “an infringing function on all but about 193,000 digital video recorders,” according to a Reuters story. 

That infringing function covered “DVR playback features, like the ability to pause and rewind live programming while the DVR continues to record,” according to the Denver Business Journal.

EchoStar’s attempt to do a workaround on TiV0′s patent was ruled to be in contempt of court. The federal court in Texas also placed a permanent injunction on affected Dish DVRs, while awarding TiVo $103 million in damages, plus another $89.6 million in patent infringement claims.

Tivo, in a release, said, “We are extremely gratified by the Court’s well reasoned and thorough decision, in which it rejected EchoStar’s attempted workaround claim regarding the TiVo patent, found EchoStar to be in contempt of court and ordered the permanent injunction fully enforced.”

Dish plans to appeal. The company said there will be no immediate impact on customers who have Dish DVRs.

In a statement on its web site, Dish said, ”We are disappointed in the district court’s decision finding us in contempt. DISH Network will appeal, and will file a motion to stay the order with the Federal Circuit. We believe a stay is warranted and that we have strong grounds for appeal. Our engineers spent close to a year designing-around Tivo’s patent and removed the very features that Tivo said infringed at trial.”

The two return to court on June 26 to hear about sanctions against EchoStar.

For more, see the Reuters story, “Court awards Tivo $190 million in EchoStar patent case.” 

More on the web:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 7 Comments »

Cable TV losing 1 million customers a year

May 22nd, 2009, 9:29 am by

Note to readers: Help me track TV prices in Orange County. Are you being offered a special deal for service? Or did your bill just go up? Tell me the prices, details and what city you live in. E-mail me at gadgetress@ocregister.com. Thanks!

Visit the Gadgetress Guide to TV services in O.C.Losing 1 million customers a year can’t be good for business. But when you’re so on top of the industry like the cable TV companies, it’ll take more staggering losses to lose your big lead.

The U.S. cable TV business serves 66 million customers and will remain the dominant paid-TV service for the next decade, predicts Mike Paxton, an analyst who watches the TV industry for market researcher InStat. 

While newbies like telecom-based Verizon FiOS TV and AT&T  U-verse have a lot more momentum and growth, those won’t be taking over in our lifetime, Paxton said. “Unless you’re 15,” he added. 

TV subscribers
Cable TV
66 million
Satellite TV
30 million
Telecom (FiOS/U-verse)
3 million
Broadcast
14 million
Total
113 million
Source: In-Stat

“Our U.S. forecast for the total households (ordering cable) is going down about 1 million a year,” he said.

You can’t blame the Internet for the declines, even as more people tune into free video sites online, like the TV-show heavy Hulu.com. Paxton has seen no evidence of this, “and we’ve been watching it very closely for six months.” Those niches, by the way, appear to be people who also subscribe to cable or satellite TV. “It’s an additive thing,” he said.

Rather, people are abandoning cable for other paid-TV alternatives. A big reason? Poor customer service.

“Cable has a long history of very poor customer service,” said Paxton, who is familiar with Time Warner’s effort merge its Orange County TV and customer service with the Adelphia and Comcast systems it acquired two years ago.  

“A lot of the negative comments are certainly legacy customers. They hate the cable company because it’s the cable company. If people are really that upset, there are certainly other options,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 33 Comments »

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »
SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline