Posted on 02/19/2008 6:02:11 AM PST by JZelle
You'd think that in a slowing economy, companies would be trying to hold on to every potential customer. Not DirecTV. The satellite operator is weeding out customers, and it has no problem with fewer people signing up.
In a conference call with analysts this week, CEO Chase Carey said the company has a new focus on "quality subscribers" (read: ones with money). It finds these subscribers by analyzing their income, age, home ownership, education and other metrics, Carey said in an earnings call with analysts. (Transcript here). DirecTV puts those customers into different categories to figure out who's valuable and who's not, and it's going after the valuable ones.
"We developed in the last couple of years a much more sophisticated customer segmentation set of tools that are unique to us," he said.
Does that seem the tiniest bit creepy to you? I know companies do this kind of demographic research all the time, but I'm always surprised to hear about how thorough they are.
Another mark of a "quality" subscriber is that he (or she) won't quit, and in that respect DirecTV is doing something right: Monthly churn has hit an eight-year low of 1.42% -- a desirable number for any subscription service.
The flip side of this focus, of course, is that DirecTV is steering clear of subscribers it has deemed less than desirable. It's mainly doing this with two policies: requiring that customers have a credit card and that they commit for 18 months (up from 12 months).
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.moneycentral.msn.com ...
Now, if they can just promise me the signal won’t disappear every time a cloud or flock of birds goes over...................
I’ll stick with Comcast - The cable company that cares enough to continue giving me crappy service.
Dish Network’s menus are about 100 times more readable and easy to navigate than DirecTV’s.
I prefer Comcast because I don't have to purchase HD-DVR equipment from them. I can rent it if I choose. Although I have not been thrilled with some aspects of Comcast's service, the $500 in upfront costs I'd have to pony up with either satellite provider to purchase 2 HD-DVRs completely turns me off to the prospect of switching.
Start the countdown now until Jackson/Sharpton or one of their minions calls this policy racist. Maybe Congress can hold hearings - its not like they’re busy with anything important...
And we were worried about big brother watching us being the Government. Silly us.
I’m switching from DirectTV at the end of the month and I have been with them for over 10 years. Their service has really gotten crappy for the price...$98.00/mo. and there’s nothing on but old reruns... and you can never reach technical support.
What we need is for Congress to pass a law stating that satellite TV is a God-given right, and to force the providers to make it available at below-cost
Then, when the providers go bankrupt, we need a government bailout to ‘save the industry’ and ‘the ability of viewers to get the information that it is their right to have’
It ain’t a great game but it is the best game in town. I’ve got both Comcast TV and internet and will likely get cable phone service when it arrives in my area.
One thing I would like from Comcast is the ability to pick and pay for the channels I want. I don’t need 4 home shopping channels nor do I need the golf or outdoor channels. I could stand to dump the learning channel too since they’ve become the home remodeling channel.
I have had DTV for 3 years in North TX, which gets some bad weather farly often. During that time, I had 1 serious interruption for 20 minutes and a handful of momentary or minutes long disruptions during some SEVERE T-storms.
All in all, about comparable with my cable back in CA. And I have not had one problem with my NFL Sunday Ticket or MLB Extra Innings packages, which are not even offered by Comcast.
In a true free market economy, businesses as well as consumers are allowed to choose those with whom they are willing to do business. Businesses sink or swim based on the corporate decisions they take and the consumers’ reactions to those decisions.
Oh, but wait: That’s right! The U.S. doesn’t HAVE a free market economy any more. We have the National Socialist style economy we have been begging for lo’ these many years. SO BRING ON THE GOVERNMENT TO FIX THIS “PROBLEM” RIGHT AWAY.
I dropped DTV 15 months ago because my local cable company requires me to carry basic cable if I want Internet. I save about $50 a month.
That’s funny, I had Dish Network installed at my home with 2 DVRs and it didn’t cost me a cent.
Then again, I don’t believe the commercials Comcast keeps running to try and keep customers ;)
By far, that is the thing I miss the most after switching from Dish to Directv. I can also only have 2 favorite channel lists with Directv.
However, with Directv, I can still get distant networks (NBC, FOX, etc). DishNetwork cut them off thanks to Congress, and then stopped fighting for it.
I know that the low-def DVRs can be had at little cost. But each time I try to order on the website and price out the HD-DVRs I always get a ridiculous number like $500 or so. None of the discount coupons we receive cover the HD equipment either.
The picture and signal are excellent, I installed the equipment in 1995 I believe when the network stations were still saying they weren’t sure the signal would work! Has been trouble free.
Back then you could call in and get good tech support.
Directv & Cable IMO needs to offer individual channel choices.
***Their service has really gotten crappy for the price...$98.00/mo. and there’s nothing on but old reruns... and you can never reach technical support.***
We keep Directv for Boomerang and Discovery Kids.
Otherwise we would be on rabbit ears. Living in Detroit, we are close enough to Windsor to get all the Canadian stations. Their TVO plays kids shows from 6am to 6pm. With that and movies on the internet, we don’t need much else.
Not as creepy as the RFID chip in your wallet telling a store your "customer" rating when you walk through the doors.
I live in Mass, so maybe it’s different here, but I love my Dish Network, I’ve only had issues a few times, and that was only during a severe electrical storm, during the snow storms I never lost my picture.
I got rid of Comcast for cable because I got sick of the way they stick things in your bill, my favorite was getting their Platinum Digital TV package, and then finding out I also had to pay for full analog cable along with the digital.
At least with Dish Network the charges are up front, and as of right now, I’m saving $50 a month and have more channels than Comcast.
And I’ve literally had to call customer service once since I’ve gotten it, and they answer fast!
How ironic. I’m right in DTV’s demographic sweet spot, yet they totally screwed up my installation yesterday. I guess the word hasn’t got down from the CEO to the installers yet.
I didn't need to hear that, Comcast just bought my old cablle provider, Insight Communications. No problems.....yet.
No, I have one of each DVR, and they didn’t charge me anything.
All the phone, cable, and satellite companies I’ve dealt with are pretty much rotten.
Oh no... they are much too busy trying to nail Clemens to the wall
Frequent signal loss with satellite dishes is a myth spread by the cable companies.
If someone with satellite has a problem with disappearing signals it is generally caused by a poorly aimed dish or an obstruction such as trees.
Here is a good forum on satellite TV to help educate you on dish reception:
Wait till Comcast unleashes the telemarketers on you. You’re about to get very popular. It’s their SOP. Buy up a local cable company and then optimize the cash flow. Look for your previously favorite channels to be replaced with something else. Don’t dispair. For more money you might be able to get them back.
Well, I know my dish is’nt pointed straight up — I remember some one mentioning a long time ago that the further north you are, the lower the angle on the dish which means more interference and poorer reception — the phrase that I remember was “aspect angle” or “aspect ratio”.
We get a lot of storms from the south, too. All that tropical air meeting up with the cold north air...As long as the storm clouds are’nt spinning, that’s OK with me. The other ones, well, let’s just say I’m glad I don’t live in Upper Texas (Oklahoma).
Low income Blacks sitting on their fat asses watching TV and drawing welfare?
I used to have Comcast Digital and now I have DirecTV.
The ONLY reason I have it now is because Comcast isn’t out here in Iowa, the cable company gets awful reviews for its service and DirecTV has the NFL Ticket.
I love the NFL but I hate that they decided to continue to stick it to cable subscribers and people who want CHOICES by giving DirecTV the exclusive rights to the NFL out-of-area broadcasts.
I absolutely adored On-Demand, even though you couldn’t watch ALL of the shows, at least you didn’t have to pay for it and some things you could watch in advance of its air time and you didn’t NEED a DVR (not that I’ll pay for one right now anyway.)
You notice that, seems everyone believes those cable company ads saying satellite tv is horrible.
I have Dish Network and love it, the standard definition channels are as good as Comcast’s high def, and the high def is amazing.
Quire frankly I think more people should move to satellite, force the cable providers to actually compete for your business.
You may want to check your alignment or what you have it attached to. I have had DTV for many years, and can count the number of momentary outages I have had one one hand. They have only happened during HUGE rain downpours during big storms in the spring, and only during the really heavy downpours. I have not had one single interruption this winter, and we've had lots of storms, wind and snow so far.
Every time I hear (or read) these comments about interruptions, I just shake my head and wonder if they have the dish attached to a pole stuck in the ground or something.
Ha, I was going to say that that rarely happens but then I remembered that I live in the desert and it rarely rains.
I live in Florida. Except for last year’s drought, it rarely does NOT rain.......
I was a faithful customer of DirecTV for 5 years. I paid my bill on time and even had some extra for Starz and a TIVO. In November of 2005, my wife called to cancel since we had sold our home in Wisconsin and were moving to Las Vegas.
Two years later we were notified by a collections agency that we owed DirecTV about $280. When I called DirecTV I found out that they had turned on our service starting in July 2006 and we were billed for 6 months of service. Bills were sent to our former Wisconsin address and phone calls were made to our former Wisconsin phone number. My three receivers had been in a box in the attic the entire time.
I pointed this out to them twice by phone and three times by letter. They still think I owe them this money and are now threatening to ruin my credit rating. By the way, the receivers have to call DirecTV monthly to get new codes and determine what channels we are eligible for. DirecTV could check their computer records and confirm that my receivers never called in and therefore we never accessed their services. They were told this and refuse to do so.
Thus my tagline.
Menu navigation is a function of the DVR not the satellite provider.
That's why I'm holding onto my older HD tuner and 3 lnb dish. The newer dish requires a "professional" installation by DTV because of the complicated alignment issues. I like to do these things myself and don't trust the people DTV sends out. So I'm waiting until I absolutely have to switch. As long as I can still get the NFL in HD with my old equipment, I'll keep it. My other hangup is their two year commitment policy.
Yes, that's they way they are mounted here. Because of trees and powerlines, mine had to be done that way. Apartments and townhomes and many rental properties and condos will not allow attachment to the building, poles only. Many HOAs will not allow them to be visible from the street, backyards only.............
bttt
I’m in an outlying area so they’re slow to fix problems. The other thing I don’t like is that they don’t provide the Speed channel or SciFi channel in my area.
I have that same problem. The dish was set up by the DTV folks, Normally the signal is very strong, in the 90’s.
But about once a week a channel, usually just one or two, will go out for awhile.
Anyway... at that point I just gave up: we will keep the equipment we have until Verizon runs fiber to our door, at which point we will dump both DTV and our (unreliable) Comcast cable modem service.
Meanwhile CEO Chase Carey is doing OK: 2 million in salary and a 3.5 million "performance" bonus:
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/12/EASD.html
and who knows how much more he would be worth if his "performance" included managing his company well enough so that it was able to take a credit card payment over the phone?
I had to mount it on a post at my last house as well. I used an 8 foot 4X4, cemented it 3 feet deep in the ground and attached it with serious lag bolts. Had no problems.
You may be able to solve your issues if you have the option of shoring up the post.
Did you fill out a change of address with the post office when you moved? They are supposed to forward mail for 12 months if you did. I usually fill out the form again 12 months after moving to make sure I get any mail sent to the old address for 24 months.
Sounds like they automatically restarted you service after 6 months, something I think they do if you lease the equipment and it has not been returned. Do you own your receivers or did you lease them?
Even if you leased them they should have given you instruction on returning them when you stopped the service. When you cancelled if you told them to suspend service they may have assumed you were going to reactivate in the future.
No matter what, that was awful customer service by DTV.
Not quite true. I can’t speak for other companies, but Dish Network typically has campaigns giving away the equipment or selling it very cheaply if the customer commits to a certain amount of time (usually at least a year). They do this for current customers, too, not just new ones. I just got a brand spanking new DVR that does almost everything but dry the dishes and change the cat litter, professionally installed, for $75.
No, they do make these offers with hi-def. If you’re really interested, check again, might be better to call their 1-800 number and talk to a real person.
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