John, DISH does use 3rd party distributors to help reach the TVRO dealers. Also,distributors allow odd lot purchases, versus DISH, who will sell only in skids of 20.
Recently, Sears had announced that they have begun selling thr JVC brand DISH equipment in their stores. This *may* help boost sales a bit. I caution to say that this will generate massive sales. Primestar tried to do the same thing by using Radio Shack to distribute their system, but was not the big success that they thought it would be. Now they are back-peddling and going back to the independent CE dealers. Knowing that DISH definitely has a much better lineup and competetive pricing,this will give them a little better edge..
PPV services may grow in time, depending on their plan of implementation with the new satellite. They seem to be using their available bandwidth for more specialized programming, with services like AgCast, Sky Angel,and a variety of ethnic broadcasts.This appears to capture markets that very few have been able to attain..
Truthfully, I specifically do not know at this time exactly what their margins would be based on recurring income, but keeping everything under one roof may create errosion of those margins if one sector of the business is failing. It seems that 1 million consumers has been a goal of Mr Ergen's, but I'm sure that he would feel more comfortable with 2 million - Jeff |
