Dish Network offers one year free to DirecTV customers in promotion
By Muhammed El-Hasan, Business Writer
dailybreezecom
04/19/2010
El Segundo-based DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite TV service and a trailblazer in the use of digital television signals, continues to be teased, tweaked and taunted by its smaller competitor.
Dish Network Corp., based in Englewood, Colo., appears to be ramping up its aggressive campaign to attract DirecTV's current and would-be subscribers.
Today, Dish plans to give away 2,000 free yearlong subscriptions to DirecTV customers at 10 nationwide events.
One of the events is scheduled for 11 a.m. at City Walk in Universal City, where the first 200 DirecTV customers will be given a one-year Dish subscription valued at more than $1,000.
Dish is advertising the offer in various newspapers including the Daily Breeze and on radio.
The promotion ostensibly is meant as a celebration of Dish reaching 200 high-definition channels before any other pay TV service in the United States.
However, Dish is using the promotion to again poke a stick in DirecTV's eye.
"It's kind of in celebration of us reaching this 200 HD channel milestone," Dish spokeswoman Allyson Mylrea said.
She added that the nationwide events did not represent a change in reaching out to DirecTV's customers.
Last week, DirecTV dropped a lawsuit that accused Dish of running a false advertising campaign on nationwide TV.
Filed in February, the suit alleged that Dish's ads were intentionally misleading in claiming that the Colorado-based firm charges $24 less each month for the same service as DirecTV.
Before DirecTV withdrew the suit, a federal judge in New York denied its request to immediately block the Dish ads.
Regardless of their validity, Dish's ad campaign comparing prices seems to have helped it reverse a negative subscriber trend.
For example, Dish lost 94,000 net subscribers in the first quarter of last before the ad campaign started.
However, the company went on to add 26,000 in the second quarter, its first increase in five quarters.
Dish added another 241,000 in the third quarter and 249,000 in the fourth quarter.
Dish had amassed 14.1 million subscribers, compared to DirecTV's more than 18.5 million.
Dish hopes its latest campaign to offer free subscriptions will continue this trend and narrow the gap with DirecTV.
Yet, DirecTV continued adding customers despite the Dish campaign. Last year, DirecTV added 939,000 net subscribers, a four-year high.
In a statement, DirecTV responded to Dish's free offer: "Have times gotten so tough at Dish Network, that the only way they can convince DirecTV customers to switch to their sub-standard service is to give it away? That sounds like a sustainable marketing strategy."
In an e-mail to the Daily Breeze, DirecTV spokeswoman Jade Ekstedt said the El Segundo firm has more than 130 high-definition channels, "but more are coming very soon."
The other nine markets where Dish will give away subscriptions include Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville, Phoenix and St. Louis.
DirecTV customers must bring a current copy of their DirecTV bill, appear in person and pass a standard credit check
