Direct TV or Dish? American consumers are still picking Direct TV in greater numbers. Direct TV and Dish recently reported their earnings for the third quarter, and once again Direct TV execs are smiling, while the higher ups at Dish have to be worried.
For the three months ending on September 30th, 2008 Direct TV added 156,000 net subscribers for the quarter. Overall, Direct TV now has about 17.3 million subscribers in the United States. For the third quarter, Dish Network lost 10,000 subscribers. Overall, they now claim 13.8 million subscribers.
Direct TV’s numbers were disappointing from the 2007 perspective. During the third quarter of ’07, Direct TV added about 240,000 new customers, so this year’s number represented about a 35% drop. Direct TV CEO Chase Carey remained upbeat, saying this was not due to the economy, but rather the loss of AT&T as a resale partner in the former Bell South territory.
Direct TV will once again enjoy a partnership with AT&T starting in February 2009, offering the latest Direct TV deals. AT&T currently sells Dish Network service as the third piece of a triple play offering, but only in neighborhoods where its own AT&T U-verse service is not available. While a potential AT&T-Dish Network marriage was a hot topic this time last year, it now looks to be completely dead.
Overall, the results show an uphill battle for Dish Network vs Direct TV. While Dish has finally leveled the playing field with Direct TV when it comes to HD, they have fallen far behind in subscribers. When potential subscribers now consider whether to go with Direct TV or Dish, they often think about which company has more of a presence. Direct TV advertisements are constantly playing, while Dish Network’s seem to be few and far between. I recently noticed Dish Network running ads for several weeks for their Turbo HD service, but those have too disappeared.
Direct TV will have bundling agreements with all three major local telcos in 2009, the aforementioned AT&T, as well as Verizon and Qwest. Verizon has a similar resale agreement, where their Verizon FiOS service isn’t deployed, they offer Direct TV as a video alternative. These too give Direct TV a leg up when the local phone company is suggesting Direct TV with combined billing over Dish.
Overall, things continue to look up for DirecTV over Dish Network. The year ahead will be an extremely challenging one as both companies look to build their subscriber base in an environment where consumers are cutting costs.
