® ® To Quad or not to Quad: customers converting to cable digital phone (Verizon Bulks Up OUR SPOTLIGHT ON CURRENT DBS OFFERS for DIRECTV and DISH Network Bundles, Todd Spangler, Multichannel News, 2/5/2007). The that is the question. huge price tag on rolling out FiOS beyond its current footprint Information on these products as part of RBOC bundles can Ok, multiple choice: The Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, will keep Quad Play out of FiOS homes. be found on the chart inside. For more information, go to Additional Online Offer: Cox and Advance/Newhouse joint venture for the purchase of www.directv.com and www.dishnetwork.com. • Free installation wireless spectrum was to: In a recent Reuters interview (AT&T enters the “Quad-play” age, Sinead Carew, Reuters.com, 1/11/2007), AT&T’s Chief Marketing A full-service marketing company • Free portable DVD player DIRECTV A: offer wireless phone service as part of a Officer Rick Welday stated, “We’re all about the quadruple play.” • Free shipping ® “Quad Play” bundle Welday pointed to the transition of the Cingular Wireless brand PICK YOUR PACKAGE. LOCK YOUR PRICE. PLUS 3 into the new AT&T as the key to their Quad Play strategy. At this ® ® • Free HD or DVR upgrade FREE MONTHS OF HBO AND CINEMAX . B: use the spectrum for wireless applications for time, it is not known if this will include U-verse customers. What we know TM $10 bill credit per month locked in for 12 consecutive months the “last mile” of service to the home — a ® after mail-in coupon on these programming packages: DISH Network cable answer to Verizon’s FiOSSM service that Qwest is also joining the Quad Play game (Quadruple play is is in our name. uses fiber to the home on the way, Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News, 2/5/2007), • Choice Package $39.99/month for 12 months – regular Digital Home Advantage Lease Offer like Verizon offering DIRECTV along with DSL in its Quad bundle. Like A Bad Horror price $49.99/month (140+ channels, includes local • Lease of a DISH Network system with up to 4 receivers C: both of the above Video Acquisition channels where available) and remotes (maximum of 4 receivers with this plan) Because of these Quad Play threats from the Telcos, larger Movie, These Guys Just If you answered C, you are correct! MSOs have already begun to counter. Cable companies have Keep Coming Back! They’re doing it by delivering excellent customer - 3 FREE MONTHS OF HBO AND CINEMAX not available • “In-Home Service Plan®” been adding wireless in several areas: Comcast in Boston, Time service (DBS Tops Customer-Satisfaction Study, Winback with this package • Free delivery of all equipment Warner Cable in Cincinnati and Cox in Phoenix and San Diego. Just when cable Triple Play has brought a Digital Life America: DirecTV, EchoStar’s Dish sense of competitive security, cable nemeses • Choice Xtra Package $44.99/month for 12 months – It’s obvious that Verizon, Qwest and AT&T are forcing the hands Network Score High, Linda Moss, Multichannel DVR • Free standard installation of dish and each receiver Initially, cable wanted to deny or defer using the wireless from the past keep coming back to life regular price $54.99/month (185+ channels, includes local of cable to roll out limited Quad Play services. News, 3/19/2007) and niche programming, spectrum for Quad Play. All indications were pointing to the like horror movie villains. DTH, MMDS and channels where available) • $49.99 activation fee required – fee refunded with promising HDTV superiority and providing TV commitment to 18 months of qualifying programming use of WiMAX and long-term “last mile” applications (Time CableQuest will continue to provide information on the DSL continue to claw at cable’s dwindling service in telco bundles. Loyalty & Retention CQ- 3 FREE MONTHS OF HBO AND CINEMAX Warner to Avoid Marketing ‘Quad Play’, Tom Steinert-Threlkeld, market share ( competitions’ rollouts of Quad Play services, as shown on Cable Penetration Hits 17-Year Programming Offer - $100-Cash-Back ® ® ® • Plus Package $49.99/month for 12 months – regular price Multichannel News, 1/16/2007), but all bets seem to be off the inside pages of the CQ Competitive Review. For more Low, Steve Donohue, Multichannel News, AT&T , Verizon, Windstream and Qwest Digital Cable $59.99/month (185+ channels, includes local channels where • $100 credit (ten $10 credits) with programming since Verizon® and AT&T® began actively promoting their own information on marketing materials to combat 3/19/2007) at a time when cable thought it continue to prop up their DSL service by offering available) package of $29.98/month or higher “Quad Play” services. these and other competitive threats, go to had silenced these home intruders. DTH TV, adding phone service and calling it a Digital Phone - 3 FREE MONTHS OF HBO AND CINEMAX • Mail-in rebate required to get credits www.cablequestpartners.com or call us at bundle. AT&T added virtually no new U-verse Verizon is offering a bundle of services, 330-650-5300. The real long-term competition should TV subscribers in the 4th quarter of 2006, but is ® SM - DVR service with FREE DVR upgrade (after $99 • New residential customers only comprising its unlimited home phone come from Verizon FiOS (207,000 FiOS lurching back into several new markets this year. High Speed Data ® instant online rebate) • Must place order and activate system by 5/31/07 to be plan, DSL Internet service, DIRECTV and TV customers by the end of 2006) and it The U-verse version of FTTN is not much more • Choice Xtra + HD Package $54.98/month for 12 months eligible one of its existing wireless plans, primarily seems the eventual convergence of IPTV. than DSL in a fiber mask. Bundles – regular price $64.98/month (195+ channels, includes local in Florida and Texas. The move is really Technological advances, repackaging channels where available) $100 Back High-Speed Internet Offer intended to stop the bleeding of phone and good customer service have enabled “I’m not dead yet!” (Monty Python and the competitors from the past to maintain a pulse. Spring 2007 - 3 FREE MONTHS OF HBO AND CINEMAX • DSL purchased through DISH Network or DISH Network Holy Grail, Python Pictures, 1975) could be the High-Speed Internet Powered by WildBlue® mantra of Clearwire® Wireless Broadband, who Reports of the death of DBS have been greatly - HD Access with FREE HD receiver upgrade (after $99 has revived 1990s MMDS technology to provide instant online rebate) • Available to new and existing customers who purchase exaggerated. By the end of 2006, DIRECTV® and through 5/31/07 EchoStar Communications hit 25.2% penetration wireless Internet services. Despite lacking a • Plus HD Package $59.99/month for 12 months – regular price bundle, Clearwire is making cable hearts • Must submit completed Mail-In Redemption form with of the pay TV market! How can this be? These $69.99/month (195+ channels, includes local channels where beat faster with its WiMAX-like portable New Look – Same Book available) copies of billing statements within 60 days of your guys still don’t have a two-way answer and many are writing them out of future telecommunication broadband, recently launched VoIP service - 3 FREE MONTHS OF HBO AND CINEMAX high-speed Internet activation date Welcome to the new look, new name and scripts (see For DBS the Clock is Ticking, In a two- and aggressive marketing. Other restrictions and conditions apply, including credit - DVR service with FREE DVR upgrade (after $99 way world time is not on satellite’s side, Peter D. same competitive resolve of CableQuest’s approval and penalties for service cancellation. So what do all of these old villains have in instant online rebate) Shapiro, CableWorld, 1/8/2007). quarterly newsletter. The periodical formerly common? They are all coming back to life • Premier Package $65.99/month for 12 months – regular price known as the Quest Report is now the $89.99/month (250+ channels, includes local channels where Like the last scene from Carrie, Dr. John Malone in your franchised homes! Fortunately, one available) has his grasp back on one leg of the satellite cable marketing company — CableQuest aptly named CQ Competitive Review. We industry. It seems like just yesterday (actually it — has spent time researching these beasts - 3 FREE MONTHS OF HBO AND CINEMAX 330.650.5300 look forward to providing you with a useful 877.313.5300 was 1998) that the good doctor could not cure and developing marketing materials to drive - DVR service with FREE DVR upgrade (after $99 instant Kacy C. Wells Primestar’s wounds, and Primestar was eventually a stake into the heart of every one of them. snapshot of the market and competition, as online rebate) www.cablequestpartners.com transplanted into DIRECTV. Why would Malone’s Cable marketers can do what those helpless we have for the last seventeen issues! Liberty Media want to get back into this fray? - Includes 31 premium movie channels and over 30 1742 Georgetown Rd. horror victims never seem to think of: pick up specialty sports networks Suite A The fact is that satellite keeps taking market the phone and call for help! Offers end 5/1/2007 and are based on approved credit. New Hudson, OH 44236 Pete Rubin share from cable. DIRECTV finished 2006 with customers only (lease required). Lease fee $4.99/month for 15.13 million subscribers, up 5% over 2005. second and each additional receiver. DISH® Network added 1.065 million customers during 2006, finishing at 13.1 million subscribers.