waltinvt said:
It's so friggen simple, my 10 year old can see it. Dish could have done their press release exactly the way they did except for 2 simple changes and 90% of the discontent that's permiating these discussion groups would never have happened.
1. Stated clearly up front that all existing customers with HD equipment would be the first to recieve an equivilent MPEG-4 replacement and at minimal cost.
2. Uplinked the 3 remaining HD DNS this weekend in MEPG2 to all O&O AND any customer that can not currently recieve them OTA (per the existing L-R signal prediction model) along with a public statement that as soon as HD LiLs become available in your DMA, you loose the HD DNS. I believe this would meet FCC scrutney and miniumize afilliate complaints. The national nets want us to have their HD programming anyway.
These steps would have cut the complaining of current customers to a minimum.
Another thing that could have (should have?) been done would have been to include a brief snippet in the 942´s paperwork concerning this changeover.
As I have no life or job, (Which is why TV means so much to me
) I've been spending some quality time on the telephone recently with Dish front-line CSR's.
Today's call (I try to call a couple of time a day so that people with real problems can't get through, I've told them about my 942's bad HDMI to DVI cable and my 921's B/W SD output on 12/29/05. The "magic e-mail" was supposedly sent but I haven't been called, so I like to keep in touch) was concerning the absence of La Liga Spanish Premier League Soccer matches from Rush HD. I searched here, but found nothing.
The first CSR told me they games were probably blacked out. I assured her that I lived no where near either Barcelona or Madrid as they were several timezones to my right so this probably wasn't the case. She then said it was a problem for Advanced Tech, and I was being transferred. I guess when the "wait time" at 1-800-333-3474 goes up over 15 minutes "transferred" becomes "hung up on," as that is what I was.
I called back and tried to get the answer to my simple question (to which I think the answer is--They are being shown at the Las Vegas Convention Center) and spoke to "Tech Support."
While I explained to this Spanish Speaking person that La Liga was a SPANISH football league with some the best players in the game, and one of the very few things that appear on VOOM I actually watch, I asked if him had activated any receivers today. "Yes," was the reply. I then asked if any were HD receivers, "Yes," said he. I then wondered if he had mentioned anything about the MPEG-4 deal. "No, we haven't been told to say anything," was his curt reply.
I am tired of whipping this dead horse as I have other fish to fry. (The famous "Surf and Turf" metaphor). But I mean really, don't you--even the Dish-aid drinkers--think a small mention of the fact that the new customers might need a completely new receiver--for which they will be charged MORE MONEY-- in three weeks would be in order?
