This is a big moment in time for cable TV providers, like Charlotte's Time Warner, and satellite providers, DirecTV and DISH.
The battle is for the HDTV customer, the high end guy, and all the services are lining up their pitches to him.
DISH has recently launched a suite of new HDTV channels, bringing their total to an industry best 38 -- for $20 per month. DirecTV has nine or 10 national channels, depending on package, for $10 per month. DirecTV also offers ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox locals here in Charlotte.
DirecTV will launch more than 70 HDTV channels next month, instantly making themselves the national leader.
Time Warner in Charlotte offers 10 national channels, all the local channels and some HDTV on demand programming. Costs vary per package but a direct HDTV add on with one box is $13.45 per month. Cable is working on a solution called Switched Digital Video that will allow it to expand HD offerings in the future.
I think the ultimate winner will be customers who should get better choice, more channels and hopefully better quality. The satellite networks have been peppered by criticisms over their "HD-Lite" picture quality by viewers and industry insiders. The thinking is the sat companies have to stretch their limited bandwidth and "downrez" their signals. DirecTV won't have those problems in a few weeks.
But here's my question, which service do you guys think is best now, and which do you think will be best in 12 months?
Monday, August 27, 2007
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13 comments:
LW, great blog! I am a TWC customer now, but I'm switching to D* if they return to their old picture quality. i had D* back in the old days when the sound quality was CD quality and the picture quality was DVD. I remember when the installer hooked me in back in '98. I was floored. D* has gone downhill as we all know when the downrezzing and everything and don't get me started on their HD. I miss Sunday Ticket and TWC is too expensive and customer service stinks. I have not tried DISH but have heard terrible things about the CSRs to. So if D* gets it together with picture quality I'm going back (pending your review of the HR-20 receiver, OK)
Like the other guy said, I'm on the fence. The best right now is probably D*. I mean is TWC still not offering NFL or even Fox HD? Can't see the Panthers in HD, no sub for me. I'm a DISh guy and the new HDTV channels are SOFT! When will these guys understand we want good picture quality.
This is easy Langston. D* has NFL ST, best overall picture quality (non-digital channels on TWC are UNWATCHABLE). DISH is OK. So 1. D*; 2. DISH. 3. TWC
DISH b/c it has the most HD right now. Next week, maybe D*. 2 years from now, who nows. It's a moving target.
I applaud Time Warner for their battle with the NFL. I still want the channel so cable is out for me. DISH has no ST. Directv for me!
This is a no-brainer for anyone who has ever had DirecTV. I've had it since '99 and wouldn't even consider going back to TWC. Customer service at TWC is non-existent. Their channel lineup is a joke. And they CHARGE you for having channels that are digital. DirecTV doesn't even have a channel that is not digital. And now that DirecTV is upgrading their HDTV capability, they have blown by the competition. The only thing TWC has over any other provider is the OnDemand feature. But TiVo and DVR takes care of that.
Funny how TWC wants to balk at the NFL for the price they charge for NFL Network, but DirecTV, DISH, and several other cable providers don't seem to have an issue with the price. DirecTV even offers the channel on their second tier package, which is far less then TWC's standard package. Yet TWC has no problems charging other providers a comparable fee for TWC channels. So they don't mind charging others this high price, but they simply won't pay it to anyone else. Playing both sides of that fence.
Where are the folks that switch to Dish for their HD going to get High Speed Internet from? Also, here is a list of the Charlotte lineup.
201 UNC (PBS) HD
220 WCNC-DT
225 WBTV-DT
230 WTVI-DT
235 WSOC-DT
240 WCCB Fox
250 WJZY HDTV
255 WMYT HDTV
280 Discovery HD Theater
281 TNT HD
285 ESPN-HD
286 ESPN2 High Definition
HDTV Premium
318 HBO East High Definition
358 Showtime High Definition
HDTV Tier
290 MOJO
291 Universal HD
292 HD Net
I had cable installed when I moved here two years ago. My wife and I were coming from a Comcast city. What a difference. The picture quality on non digital programming was terrible (we were told by CSRs that all programming was delivered digitally).
Worse, the costs were high, even for cable. We switched first to Dish then to Direct. Other than Rupert running our show (for now), all's fine over here. DVR working great and quality is getting better. When the new bird lights up in two weeks, everyone else will be scrambling
Cable is a joke. I think DISH and Direct will battle. now if we ever get Fios here, it will be another story!
Im a TWC customer and I think it is funny that you get charged extra for something that will be free, industry wide in a few years. You get the privledge of watching HD when it is free over the air. What a joke.
I have had D*. It was good. Know people who have it now, and not overly happy with it. Had TWC for a year. Cost to much and didn't offer a lot. On Dish now. Like it most so far. Comparing cost, cheaper than D*. You can get a receiver (and DVR) that can work in 2 rooms, which saves $ on receivers compared to D*. Some of the HD's are not needed. Can get update receiver on home network if you don't have a land line.
Waiting for U-Verse from AT&T. My community is already wired with fiber. My guess is that they will need to run copper to the house so it's a FTTP (fiber to the pole) setup. Currently you can only get HD on 1 tv but that is supposed to change early next year. I will get the triple play action with phone, tv and internet. Internet speed maxes out at 6mps but that should be enough for me.
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