"10 Things I hate about Directv"

[Hemi 6.1]

 The 10 Things I Hate About DIRECTV


Just thought some of you guys would like to see this.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

When I saw this I thought oh god not not another Swanni rant, but this one for the most part was well thought out and I actually agree with him on a number of his points.

I was kind of surprised when he talked about 3D he didn't mention that DIRECTV does not carry ESPN 3D 24 hours a day now that it is a 24/7 channel.

 

[Ronnie-]

I say .........
As I do to most of his columns.

 

[dfergie]

Swanni must not have had HD in the early days or forgot what little content there was available in those days from his comment on 3D...

 

[satjay]

Yes he brings up some good points...I was wondering if this would get posted, looking foward to his "Ten things he loves about Directv" coming soon...

 

[mdram]

i really hate it that you have to have the dish aligned too, its so annoying, why cant i just point it anyplace..............................

 

[teachsac]

A lot of them apply to E*, also.

S~

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

A lot of them apply to E*, also.

S~

I agree with this as well.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

When I saw this I thought oh god not not another Swanni rant, but this one for the most part was well thought out and I actually agree with him on a number of his points.

I was kind of surprised when he talked about 3D he didn't mention that DIRECTV does not carry ESPN 3D 24 hours a day now that it is a 24/7 channel.

I agree with 2-7 . There is a fair amount of truth in those.
The rest really mean nothing to me.

 

[DS0816]

I don't have the best-trained eye for the quality of high-definition picture to, say, compare it to other services. In fact, I've tried to check out some other providers for comparison. They do a great job of not making available displays for their potential customers.

Going through Phillip Swann's list, I can't comment too much. But I am in his corner with the argument that DirecTV has been deliberately behind on core high-definition channels it should have added sometime ago. There is no excuse for not carrying GSN HD (which is owned 50% by DirecTV). Last August, AMC HD was added by Dish Network. Six months have passed, and am I to believe DirecTV has been laboring over a contract with Rainbow Media for this much-sought-after channel (which won key drama Emmys at the 2010 ceremony!)? That DirecTV can't get a deal on other Rainbow Media channels: IFC HD, We HD, and FUSE HD? That DirecTV cannot get a deal with Turner's HLN HD or CNNI HD or Turner Classic Movies HD (TCM HD) or truTV HD? That DirecTV can't get a deal with Comcast and/or NBC Universal for: E! HD, Style HD, a return of G4 HD, TVOne HD, SPROUT HD, and Oxygen HD? That DirecTV that can't get a deal with A&E Networks for: Lifetime Movie Network HD (LMN HD) of History International HD (HInt'l HD)?

Unless a big announcement is about to happen, I don't believe there's been much effort for even half of the above.

I could go on, but I will say this: I am concerned about where DirecTV is heading. If it is neglecting customers craving more HD, because it insists the new phenom is 3D, then DirecTV is badly out of touch. My opinion of the company has been lowered. I'd like to see more core HD channels, of the SDs located in the 200s and 300s, get added in 2011. It's hard to imagine, for competitive reasons, this not happening. (But then again, it is surprising that this company has been so laxed.)

 

[televisionarchives]

9. They Are Threatening to Remove Channels


G4 had a job to do. Get good ratings. They failed. Just look at the pathetic programming lineup they had. I remember when everyone thought it was going to be so cool to have all these channels. Trouble is most of them are junk.

 

[Mr Tony]

1. They Lie About HD Channel Counts

yep and Dish doesn't? Dont they tout 200 HD channels on their site yet like 75 are VOD channels?

2. They Have Stopped Adding HD Channels

agree

3. They're Pretending That 3D Is Great For Subscribers

agree!

8. They Require Your Dish to Be Positioned Just So

yep I just hate it has to be a southern view. Why can't it be a northern view? Damn I guess Bell, Shaw, Dish, C-Band and KU Band require it to be positioned "just so" too....damn

9. They Are Threatening to Remove Channels

fine by me

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

As someone who recently came back to DIRECTV the most disapointing thing about DIRECTV is how they have fallen behind in the rollout of national HD channels. When DIRECTV 12 went up many people (myself included) expected a wave of new national HD channels and what they got instead was a wave of HD PPV channels.

DIRECTV has not lived up to its HD promises from a few years ago, and that is too bad honestly because they were on a good roll. I got excited to see each new one flipped on.

I was surprised not to see them launch ESPN 3D full time when they were the first to have ESPN 3D. This month DIRECTV customers are only going to see a total of 2 live events on ESPN 3D, which to me is underwhelming.

Over the years I have seen DIRECTV go many times from the leader to the sitting duck and now it appears we are back on the sitting duck wave. Its time for DIRECTV to stop wasting its money on A List celebrity events like we saw over Super Bowl weeksn and invest in its programming so it can ramain the leader it wants to be. It has the brand name, and with the new HR24's it has improved its equipment its time to work on programming again and I am not talking about deleting channels or adding more HD PPV.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

yep and Dish doesn't? Dont they tout 200 HD channels on their site yet like 75 are VOD channels?

See, but thats what I'm always trying to tell people, Just because Dish does it , doesn't mean it makes it ok , or for that matter Right.

D* is not Dish.

 

[raoul5788]

See, but thats what I'm always trying to tell people, Just because Dish does it , doesn't mean it makes it ok , or for that matter Right.

D* is not Dish.

I think Iceberg's point is that the article is about Directv, but if the same things are true about Dish, then Swanni's argument loses some merit. Not that his arguments usually have any merit to begin with!

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I think Iceberg's point is that the article is about Directv, but if the same things are true about Dish, then Swanni's argument loses some merit. Not that his arguments usually have any merit to begin with!

I understand that, But Swanni is a long time D* subscriber.

I just can't stand it when , """ well the Other guys do it too"" bit is used.
IMO thats a very poor defensive answer.

He will be releasing his top 10 Likes as well. So it will be interesting how people will all of a sudden agree with him.
If you catch my drift.

 

[raoul5788]

I understand that, But Swanni is a long time D* subscriber.

I just can't stand it when , """ well the Other guys do it too"" bit is used.
IMO thats a very poor defensive answer.

He will be releasing his top 10 Likes as well. So it will be interesting how people will all of a sudden agree with him.
If you catch my drift.

I do!

 

[Mr Tony]

See, but thats what I'm always trying to tell people, Just because Dish does it , doesn't mean it makes it ok , or for that matter Right.

D* is not Dish.

but there is a difference between what he put
"DIRECTV ran a misleading ad campaign last year saying that it had a '200 HD channel capacity.' "

and Dish saying "200 HD channels" and plastering it all over their site

capacity is a big word in the difference.

 

[StanUbankit]

I don't guess we'll see "10 things I hate about Swanni's predictions"?

I noticed on his site that he touts "over 10,000 subscribers to his daily emails", so that would average getting 1000 subscribers a year, for the 10 years he's been online, what's wrong with that picture.......

 

[satjay]

I would hope that in 2011 Directv is not idle on the National HD, there are some channels I would like them to add. I enjoy the service and enjoy the sports options but national HD is appealing as well.