On Wed, 14 May 2008 01:23:52 GMT, "Tantalust" <tantalust@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
><dave@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>news:dvdk24t0nidl6nke37encti523q53l933a@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On Tue, 13 May 2008 06:45:47 -0400, "Tantalust"
>> <Tantalust@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>>Appearing tomorrow, 5/14
>>>
>>>
>>> ABC Family HD (DISH Network Ch. 180)
>>>. Biography HD (Ch. 119)
>>>. Bravo HD (Ch. 129)
>>>. Cartoon HD (Ch. 176)
>>>. Cinemax 5 Star (Ch. 314)
>>>. Cinemax HD West (Ch. 311)
>>>. Comcast S****ts Network Bay Area HD (Ch. 419)*
>>>. Comcast S****ts Network New England HD (Ch. 435)*
>>>. CNBC HD (Ch. 208)
>>>. CNN HD (Ch. 200)
>>>. Disney HD East (Ch. 172)
>>>. ESPNews HD (Ch. 142)
>>>. Hallmark Movie Channel HD (Ch. 187)
>>>. MGM HD (Ch. 385)
>>>. Sci Fi HD (Ch. 122)
>>>. Smithsonian HD (Ch. 374)
>>>. Tennis Channel HD (Ch. 400)
>>>. Toon Disney HD (Ch. 174)
>>>. Travel Channel HD (Ch. 215)
>>>. USA HD (Ch. 105)
>>>. Weather Channel HD (Ch. 214)
>>>. World Fi****ng Network HD (Ch. 394)
>>>
>>>http://www.dishnetwork.com/hdupdate/
>>
>> Already on - 5/12.
>>
>> But they dumped something like 10 Voom HD channels. They kept the
>> ones I watch the most (Equator and Rave), but they dumped World S****t
>> and two movie channels. All in all, however, I'm a happy camper
>> because they added the Travel Channel which was at the top of our wish
>> list. And that's on that DirecTv doesn't have. They still haven't
>> added anything from the Murdoch domain (FX, Speed, etc) but there's
>> some litigation going on there.
>>
>> Dave Clary
>> Corpus Christi, TX
>> http://davegetsfit.blogspot.com
>> Diet, Exercise, and Golf!
>
>Yeah, I learned that about the Voom losses after I posted. Chief Ergen
then
>announced they're ALL on the way out. Bad Voom management, AIUI.
>
>I'm extremely bummed, I loved Gallery, Filmfest, Animania and Treasure,
all
>with truly eye-popping PQ.
>
From Fortune Mag web site:
Dish's growth game shattered
EchoStar's Dish network hit by HDTV delays and soft consumer spending.
By Scott Moritz, writer
(Fortune) -- EchoStar, operator of the Dish satellite television
network, is looking a little fragile at the moment.
Despite a solid first quarter financial performance, the Englewood,
Colo., broadcaster posted disappointing subscriber growth with 35,000
net new customers. That number compares with 310,000 in net customer
gains at the same time last year.
So what went so terribly wrong?
Well it turns out people want to fill their big new flat-panel TVs
with vibrant high-definition video. And in a hotly competitive market
with cable companies like Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) and Time Warner
Cable (TWC) bumping up their HD programming to match rival offerings
from phone shops like AT&T (T, Fortune 500) and Verizon (VZ, Fortune
500), eye-candy like high def is a crucial component.
EchoStar (DISH, Fortune 500) says "worsening economic conditions"
helped dampen sales and getting caught running behind in the HD race
made matters worse. "Satellite launch delays have slowed the growth of
our local HD markets which in turn has delayed our own aggressive
local HD marketing efforts," the company said in its quarterly filing
Tuesday.
To give this point a sharper picture look at DirecTV (DTV, Fortune
500), the perceived leader in HD with 95 channels. In the first
quarter the No.1 satellite outfit added 275,000 net new subscribers, a
growth rate of 17% over the 235,000 net adds a year ago.
"You're seeing a tale of two markets," Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett
wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. "At the high end of the market, it's all
about HDTV, and DirecTV has the upper hand right now. At the low end,
it's all about value."
"With high gas prices and a weak economy, the low end consumer is
getting squeezed," added Moffett, who likes the cable companies in
this scenario.
For EchoStar, which spurned a takeover offer from AT&T last year, the
subscriber stumble could signal the end of big growth for a while.
Dish, says Moffett, is "stuck in no man's land."
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