Me too, Jim... I loved my C band when I could sit and watch a stock car race with no commercials, but my 2 daughters (now ages 2 and 6) will never again let me watch TV for 4 hours! Having a DISH system in the house already made it easy for me to get rid of the big dish. Like you said, it frees up the yard space.
Interestingly, I think that Primestar is really declaring the death of C band. By signaling openly that they want to attack the installed C band base, Primestar is simply widening the conflict past cable into another market. With their roots in C band, Echo knows all about C band subs. And DISH's distribution scheme has the largest concentration of satellite dealers, all of whom have lists of every C band system they have ever installed (and will be motivated enough by the prospect of losing their C band residuals when Primestar converts their subs). Do not be surprised if DISH sets a bounty on C band equipment to get there ahead of Primestar.
Once DISH jumps in, tag-a-long DIRECTV will not be far behind (despite their market share, they seem to copy anything DISH is doing, rather than develop their own programs), and the ensuing feeding frenzy will convert all but the most diehard C band subscriber.
The big loser in all of this is General Instrument, whose 4DTV digital C band receiver has at least slowed the defection rate to this point. General Instrument handles the conditional access for all of the C band programmers, and their main focus is the residual they get every month from 2 million C band authorizations.
Halving that number will hurt other C band companies, but it will cripple GI's C band authorization business. At some point, the number of subs will fall too far, and GI will raise all of the prices it charges programmers for authorizations, causing programming prices to climb, resulting in fewer subscriptions, etc., until GI decides it doesn't want the business anymore. At that point, C band is dead.
The amazing thing is that most C band subscribers are from rural areas. Primestar just doesn't seem to understand that this play for C band subs looks for all the world as another way to achieve growth without attacking cable.
The first time I see Primestar run an ad that proclaims "Dump Cable" in 60 point type, I'll believe Goodboy is right. But right now I'm sceptical...
Regards,
NOEL |
