# Sat TV Pummels Cable in Second Quarter?



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

The first series of reports from the nation's top cable TV companies are in, and news concerning their basic subscriber counts appears to have become a sore point for the operators.

Does that mean second quarter was a winner for satellite TV?

Here are the numbers so far:

*Comcast, the nation's largest MSO, reported a loss of 96,000 basic customers

*At Time Warner Cable, a loss of 21,000 basic customers

*Cox Communications had a basic customer loss of more than 53,000

*Adelphia lost about 33,000 subscribers, state reports

*Losses for cable TV so far: About 204,000, according to Wall Street estimates

Due to the news from cable, Oppenheimer and Co. cable/satellite TV analyst Tom Eagan raised his second quarter net additions for DirecTV from 340,000 to 360,000 and his EchoStar/DISH Network subscriber estimate from 300,000 to 325,000.

In his analysis, Eagan said he assumes 70,000 to 80,000 basic cable customers were lost to disconnects, which are typically higher in the second quarter, and an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 were bad debt customers. About 40,000 to 60,000 of lost basic cable subscribers - figures that are over and above additions previously estimated by Oppenheimer and Co. - likely migrated to satellite TV during the three-month period, Eagan said.

In a research note released earlier this week, Eagan estimated that 30,000 to 40,000 of Comcast's lost customers migrated to satellite TV.

As for Time Warner Cable, Jordan Rohan of SoundView Technology said the loss of 21,000 basic subscribers for the nation's second largest MSO reflects continued targeting by DirecTV in key markets such as Charlotte, N.C., and Greenville, S.C.

Analyst John Hill, Rohan's colleague at SoundView, said the basic subscriber loss for Cox Communications "was a bit wider than we and consensus had estimated, even after accounting for the sale of systems."

"We don't doubt that satellite has gained share in second quarter, but in the specific case of Cox, third quarter and fourth quarter will be a far better indicator," Hill said in a research note. "Cox is generally avoided by both DISH and DirecTV, though less so than was the case a year ago."

Today, Insight Communications reports second quarter results. Next Thursday, Mediacom, a favorite satellite TV target, reports results and Cablevision releases its financial numbers Aug. 9. DirecTV reports next Thursday, and EchoStar releases second quarter results Aug. 10.

http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)


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## jc17981 (Jun 27, 2002)

The interesting thing about this is that I don't believe the cable companies are even trying to retain their customers. After having been a (cable and satellite) subscriber for 2 1/2 years, last March, I dropped Charter cable in order to go with satellite full-time. 

When I called the cable company to disconnect, there were no retention offers. Charter let a $95/month customer walk away without even asking why I was leaving. 

My point is that it appears that cable companies seem to have become too complacent with their competitive position in the market, and they are sluggish to respond to the wakeup call of the satellite companies. 

I am sorry, but cable is going to have to do better than a $400 offer for my dish. Cable's marketshare will continue to erode until they fill niches that satellite cannot possibly fill.


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## durl (Mar 27, 2003)

Cable seems to ignore one basic theory of business: it's far cheaper to keep a customer than to gain a new one. They're buying back dishes (and current cable customers are paying for them) when they probably should be working on retaining their current base.

One of the main reasons I left cable was because of lousy customer service. I'm far happier with satellite than I ever was with cable. I've had 2 price increases in 7-8 years while my friends on cable see one every year on average.


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## Cyclone (Jul 1, 2002)

I'm actually about to drop Comcast's Internet in favor of DSL soon. I wonder how they will take that? I'll also be going from $58/mo to $30.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Cyclone said:


> I'm actually about to drop Comcast's Internet in favor of DSL soon.


Make certain that you thoroughly research the offering on the DSL side. In many areas, DSL service is not what it claims to be relative to broadband cable.

I strongly advocate that you talk with current DSL subscribers about their experiences and their expectations. Where I live (Western Oregon) and where my sister lives (Bay Area), DSL is widely available and widely avoided due to service problems and considerably reduced performance relative to cable. My sister was pretty fed up with the filter gizmos too.


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## jc17981 (Jun 27, 2002)

It is my understanding that the speed capacity of cable internet is greater than that of DSL. However my experience was to the contrary. Though ping reports from dslreports.com shows the cable service to be "faster", to me, the DSL in Greenville (SC) "appears" to be faster than Charter's Pipeline. Maybe this is due to network setup, such as proxy servers. I don't know. But, I am very pleased with my move away from cable. Icing on the cake is that Bellsouth offers a $10 credit off the DirecTV bill.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I'm just happy to have DSL... period. While the higher speed is nice, the main reason is to have a dedicated connection and share it with several computers. This includes my mom's computer which has a wireless hookup. 

:backtotop


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## Selenna (Jun 18, 2004)

jc17981 said:


> The interesting thing about this is that I don't believe the cable companies are even trying to retain their customers. After having been a (cable and satellite) subscriber for 2 1/2 years, last March, I dropped Charter cable in order to go with satellite full-time.
> 
> When I called the cable company to disconnect, there were no retention offers. Charter let a $95/month customer walk away without even asking why I was leaving.
> 
> ...


Before I made my final decision to go to DirecTV I actually called Charter and asked them what they'd do for me to keep me as a customer since I was considering switching after their latest "we're changing plans and you need to pick a new one" ploy. The guy just bashed satellite until I asked if he could please answer my question to which he replied "if you mean will we offer you some special deal to keep your service, then no". OK, see ya :icon_stup


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## zman977 (Nov 9, 2003)

We have DSL at home and Cable internet access at work through "Insight". At work, the speed is great at certain times of the day and slow at others. Our DSL which is through "Inforamp" has always been fast. We had cable internet at home but we switched to DSL because our email took forever to get to our in box. We would get email a week or so after someone sent it. Other co workers who had Cable which was AT&T broadband at the time had the same problem with there email and we would call the cable company and complain and they would insist that the problem was not on there end. We finally got fed up and we all switched to DSL. Our internet access at work is now under "Insight" as I mentioned earlier and again the speed depends on what time of day your on line.


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## Grasschopper (Jun 21, 2004)

jc17981 said:


> The interesting thing about this is that I don't believe the cable companies are even trying to retain their customers. After having been a (cable and satellite) subscriber for 2 1/2 years, last March, I dropped Charter cable in order to go with satellite full-time.
> 
> When I called the cable company to disconnect, there were no retention offers. Charter let a $95/month customer walk away without even asking why I was leaving.
> 
> ...


This is not the case in this area. Adelphia has set up a retention group to try to keep customers that say they are disconnecting and getting dbs. When I called for my disconnect the guy on the other end of the phone transfered me to a different department. After asking why I was leaving (and of course I was honest) they said they would offer me a lower rate. I asked why they didn't do that before....the answer was because I hadn't asked for it...so I told the guy I guessed that lost them a sub. He then asked if I was also disconnecting my cable modem and when I said yes he asked why....so I told him Verizon DSL is $15 per month less....he said DSL is slower...well FYI to Adelphia my Verizon DSL has consistently given me faster download speeds than I had been getting with Adelphia Broadband.

A friend of mine had planned on getting DirecTV when he built his new house but his cable company gave him a deal he chose not to refuse, apparently a pretty darn good one too.

I am super happy so far with Dish Network. The PQ is SOOOOO much better than Adelphia ever was and it costs less...what more could you possibly ask for. Adelphia HAS to be hurting in this area.


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## MarkA (Mar 23, 2002)

Cable companies make great sign-on offers (the reason I've got cable now), but when my friend getting the dish I talked about in the DISH forum called to cancel cable it was "buh-bye, see ya". No retention offers whatsoever. Not even asked why she was canceling! On the other hand, for 16 months I've got 3 mbit Internet, Digital Cable+Starz!+Encore+HBO (including HBO VOD) for $75/month!

The basic channels picture quality is much worse than satellite, most digitals are a little worse to a little better depending on channel, HBO is about the same/slightly better (though I don't know how it looked on satellite) and HBO Video-On-Demand is excellent.


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## John R. Metzger (Apr 24, 2002)

Regarding Grasschopper's post above. I have not heard good reports form Adelphia Cable Modem Service in the Lewistown area. I have Verizon DSL and am very, very happy with it. Since I live outside Lewistown Adelphia was never an option. Atlantic Broadband (formerly Charter Communications) "serves" this area and they do not provide cable modem service. When I left cable TV, I left because of poor picture quality. There is no comparison in the picture quality on Dish and cable here. I actually spend more now but get far more channels. I really feel good about leaving cable TV and my decision to move to satellite. The number of homes in this area with dishes on the roof just keeps growing!


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