[opendtv] Re: Smartphones encourage mobile user churn
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:53:12 -0400
At 7:40 PM -0500 9/23/10, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
The reason the MVPDs drag their feet on things like tru2way, and why
DBS never even bothered to participate in creating a standard that
might be comparable to DVB-T/C/S, is that the MVPDs prefer to keep
their proprietary solutions, to prevent subscriber churn.
No Bert. They are dragging their feet because they make tons of money
leasing these devices. The only time they can affect subscribe churn
is when one MVPD offers something the others do not offer. This was
the case early on for DBS, which introduces DVRs before cable, Near
video on demand before cable, and exclusive content like NFL Prime
ticket.
The parallel with the cellcos is, as soon as there's talk of the
iPhone going cellco-agnostic, there's a big uproar about the churn
that may cause. So, keep the smarts of the MVPD service inside a
proprietary box, and churn will be mitigated. If only AT&T could
manage to put all of the iPhone cleverness inside their network
core, retain the exclusivity, and let the consumers buy a stripped
down, generic handset.
There's a damn good reason why AT&T is worried about subscribe churn
if the iPhone exclusive goes away. Thier network is congested and
unreliable and there are many holes in coverage. Verison is more
reliable and has better coverage.
The ability to buy a STB rather than renting it from an MVPD would
actually make changing services MORE difficult, as each has
proprietary stuff in the box, so you box would only work with the
MVPD it is designed to work with. You may say that cable has an "open
standard," but in the cast majority of cities in the U.S. there is
only one cable system; so you alternative is DBS or in some cases a
telco service, neither of which use the same standards as cable.
At least with a rented box I can change MVPDs without throwing my
old box on the scrap heap...
Regards
Craig
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