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One reason why Dish fared better
in the third quarter than DIRECTV:
DIRECTV reported that its 'churn rate' -- the number of
people who dropped the service -- rose from 1.64 percent a year
ago to 1.72 percent in the third quarter.
However, Dish's churn rate was just 1.57 percent in the third
quarter, again lower than Wall Street estimates.
In addition, Dish Network has continued to add high-def channels
while DIRECTV, which bills itself as the HD leader, has added
just a handful of new HD channels over the last 18 months.
Dish actually now has more HD channels than its satellite rival.
Finally, Dish has offered a free preview of the Versus sports
channel for the past six weeks after DIRECTV pulled the channel
off the air following a programming fee dispute with its owner,
Comcast. Dish's free preview is scheduled to end at the end of
the month.
Swanni's Take:
Two things:
1. Once again, Wall Street proves that it doesn't have a clue
when it comes to new technology companies and products; analysts
consistently are wrong about which services will fail or succeed
in the marketplace -- and why.
In fact, analyst Moffett now has to acknowledge today that
Dish's third quarter gain came directly from DIRECTV.
“Dish gained
a substantial amount of market share from DIRECTV during the
quarter when it was running its head-to-head comparison
campaign,” Moffett said, according to Bloomberg News.
2. DIRECTV continues to ignore new high-def channels at its own
peril. If it wants sub growth to slow further, keep it up.
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Phillip Swann is president and publisher of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com
or at 703-505-3064.
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