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What Was That?August 12, 2008Last night many technical fans of Dish Network turned off the Olympics and tuned into the quarterly Dish Network “Tech Forum.” What viewers got last night was anything but technical. Instead viewers expecting to hear about new Dish Equipment and software updates were treated back to school ideas from Target. Gone were Echostar Technologies President Mark Jackson and Dan Minnick the VP of Software for Echostar. Instead we were greeted by Steve Gottsegan and Leslie Harper in a pre-taped slightly polished show done in a pseudo news magazine style format. I got to admit it when the show first started I was impressed with the layout and the feel of the show. The opening was well done and fast paced, and immediately they went into Dish Network news by doing an interview with Charlie who was sitting on the “Charlie Chat” set. The interview was done well and again was fast paced, with Charlie giving answers to the host’s questions. Up until here the show had a great feel. But from there it was all downhill. Up next the hosts introduced Dish Networks Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Insalaco, who then took over the show for the next couple of minutes. Jessica was also on the Charlie Chat set and told us about Dish Networks 1080p Video on Demand breakthrough. She then showed us a TurboHD commercial and ran another commercial about all the HD that Dish Network carries. The entire faced paced exciting feel of the new format was completely blown out of the water by Ms. Insalaco. Instead of her being there and telling us all the exciting things Dish Network was doing, she should have been like the Charlie Ergen segment before her, she should have been interviewed like Charlie was, instead of being just a big marketing spiel it could have been a fun interactive marketing spiel with Ms. Insalaco playing off of the show’s hosts. Up next we were shown a video from NBC showing us what it takes to bring the Olympics to us. While it was neat to see it was also boring and again did not fit the new format of the show, it was long and drawn out, it could have been edited differently and been a lot more exciting to watch and would have kept with the great start this show had. If they want to keep this new format they really need to keep the same feel throughout the entire show. (And was I the only one who said “What?” when the host said that Dish Network is carrying 3,600 hours of the Olympics this year when their press release last week said 800 hours?) From there things continued to go downhill with Leslie Harper showing us some cool gadgets from Target. The gadgets were indeed cool, but there were too many of them and this segment went on way too long… and besides what does buying gadgets from Target have to do with Dish Network? Don’t get me wrong Leslie did good here as a host, but it was way too long. Keep Leslie doing what she does best and that is telling us about cool new things coming to Dish Network. Leslie is the ultimate “Tech Chick” and has lots of fans who tune in to see her, but they would rather see her talking Dish Network Tech, not new tech from Target. With that they told us that they no longer accept live calls from viewers but did answer some canned email questions and then as they were going off the air they told us all our technical questions would be answered for the next hour with “Dr. Dish” at the Dish Network website. Going to the website there was no mention of this one hour chat with “Dr. Dish” instead on the bottom left corner of the page there was a “click here to chat” icon. Clicking on that icon put you in a queue to talk one on one with a Dish Network tech support specialist. This was also a huge disappointment to me because of the way they built up this chat with “Dr Dish” on the broadcast. I was also scratching my head wondering how that man who has been known as Dr. Dish for over 25 years Christian Mass felt about Dish Network using his Dr. Dish name. Dr. Dish was known by his writings here in the states and now hosts The Dr. Dish television show which is seen worldwide. The next “Tech Forum” show will be in November, and I hope that the folks at Dish Network realize the mistakes they made on this edition. I would love to see Mark, Dan and Leslie back in November doing what they do best… talking tech! Did you tune in last night? Leave your feelings in our comments section and let Dish Network know how you felt about last night’s new “Tech Forum.” Posted by Scott Greczkowski on August 12, 2008 | Comments (33)
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? duke commented: Absolutely agree. They need to go back to the old format. There was nothing tech about last nights show.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? tomcrown1 commented: it was a waste of time. I would like to know how much bribe money Target paid to dish.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Disappointed commented: This is what happens when a company lets their marketing team get control of something. Within 30 seconds of the start of the show, it was clear that Tech Forum had been hijacked by marketing and no useful dialog would be presented. This shouldn't have been a surprise, because the same thing happend in the last Charlie Chat.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Disappointed commented: A forum is supposed to be like? It's clear they had no interest to actually host a public Q&A session with thier customers.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Guest commented: This tech chat was terrible, nothing like what I have come to expect from previous tech chats, very disappointing, glad I dvr'd it, after reading how it was presented just watched brief segments and definitely skipped the target info commercials
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Minac commented: I actually thought I tuned into the wrong channel. I thought it was a new shop-at-home channel, DISH can always use another one :)
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Lost commented: I would like to know who I can contact at Dish about getting that half hour of my life back. I tune in to salivate over the cool new gadgets and receivers and tech dish has on the horizon, not to see the same commercials that I can see at any given time (I mean really, these are the commercials they have to get people to subscribe, I already subscribe, why do I need to see an ad for what I already have?) or to see a live rendition of the Target ad from my Sunday paper. Shame on you Dish for putting up this colossal waste of time and conning me into watching it by giving it the name Tech Chat.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Bob commented: I wonder if they will do this to the next "Charlie Chat?" They might do this to avoid questions about going contractual struggles with GOL TV and various local broadcast stations.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? BobMurdoch commented: I wonder if Mike Jackson was miffed that he had to lie through his teeth during the last chat, as he bragged about the addition of those additional HD channels, three hours before they killed Voom.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? dishshmish commented: ha! dish is gone. the company we knew is no longer the company we knew. the stock price and Ergen's renewed interest in a D*/E* merger now takes front stage while customers are now left to bring up the rear. in short, "
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? dishshmish commented: ...in short, *Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.* dish is dead, melting away like the bad witch...
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Jeffro commented: I tuned in... and then quickly TUNED OUT. This is not a Tech Chat or a Tech Forum. It was an obvious disappointment, and DISH should have seen this before they ever aired it. I enjoy DISH a lot... but this I cannot say I enjoyed. If they had any viewership following before for the TECH Chat, it just diminished drastically. Are they aiming for the "new" Dish subs or for those they wish to keep? I would think they would aim try to cater the programming for the current DISH subs that they might want to keep... seeing how they lost subs overall for the first time during the last quarter. We might as well just tune to channel 100. What's the difference? See ya Tech Chat.. I'll get my news else where. What a dis-service... or should I dare say.. dish-service? :-(
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Jeffro commented: I wanted to make one additional comment... Did anyone see the email segment? One of the questions asked if Dish was going to come out with a DVR with two HD Tuners. They answered saying that actually.. Dish does have a DVR with two Tuners, and went on to explain that both tuners record HD content, and actually that the OTA will record a third. The person asking the question obviously wanted to know if they were going to come out with a DVR that would OUTPUT to two HD displays. Leslie even as far as to point out that even though it will record the 2 or 3 HD tuners, it will only output to one HD device. Couldn't she have answered the original question? It was an email, it wasn't a question they got on the spot... they had plenty of time to address it. So the question is still out there for anyone who watched the show, will DISH come out with a HD DVR that will output to 2 HD devices?
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? what was that ? commented: Yea the Tech forum was borrrrring. Who cares about what Target has to offer.If I want to watch shopping channels I will.I mean Dish is king of that department.When people tune in to the Tech forum they want to know the latest about software or hardware from Dish.It was a complete waste of time.They looked like they tried to kill about 10 minutes of the show with Olympics highlights.I hope Dish abandons this and goes back to the way the Tech forum use to be.I liked the set however.Get the guys back that use to be on there.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? dijohn76 commented: It was pathetic! Like watching an infomercial for Target. Nothing Tech about it and doing canned questions rather than live gives the appearance of not wanting to or unable to answer certain questions.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? LER commented: We got more information in the Satelliteguys.US Chat room than we got from this "Tech Forum".
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? tracyt commented: What "Tech Forum"
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Hemway commented: I wasted 30 minutes of my life last night that I’ll never get back or benefit from. If I want to watch commercials I’ll get rid of my DVR so I can’t skip past them when watching TV.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? gasman882001 commented: Missed the chat, busy watching the Olympics but after reading this I am sure glad I did!
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? gasman882001 commented: Missed the chat, busy watching the Olympics but after reading this I am sure glad I did!
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? ThomasTrain commented: I've grown accustomed to hearing about new features and equipment, as well as, answers to some well thought out questions. Last nights show was a complete joke! I felt like I was watching a Target infomercial just without the annoying red target they like to put everywhere in their commercials. To Dish: "When I want to hear reviews about tech stuff, I go to cnet. Keep the 'Tech Chat' TECHNICAL and kick the marketing team out of that part of the building."
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? ThomasTrain commented: I've grown accustomed to hearing about new features and equipment, as well as, answers to some well thought out questions. Last nights show was a complete joke! I felt like I was watching a Target infomercial just without the annoying red target they like to put everywhere in their commercials. To Dish: "When I want to hear reviews about tech stuff, I go to cnet. Keep the 'Tech Chat' TECHNICAL and kick the marketing team out of that part of the building."
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Joe commented: I was going to tune into the Tech Chat as I love to hear from the people actually developing the new technlogy and features what they are planning and how to get the best use out of the equipment already out. I LOVE that live calls can be taken and answered on the spot. But when I went to the Satelliteguys Chat before I got home to see what was going on... I got home and deleted the DVR event before i saw it.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? richtidd commented: I did not like the so called new Tech Chat.
August 12, 2008
In response to: What Was That? BC commented: This was a sales presentation, and not even close to a "Tech Chat".
August 13, 2008
In response to: What Was That? David B commented: The tech chat was a waste of time, I will never watch it again. only a small percentage of DISH customers may have watched the chat but it kept their tech savvy customers happy, they obviously no longer care about that segment of their customers base anymore, they don't really seem to care about any of their customers anymore or they wouldn't offer the new turbo HD package to new customers only. DISH is headed downhill fast.
August 13, 2008
In response to: What Was That? jerlev commented: I cannot believe what a waste of time that was. I expect a tech chat to be TECHNICAL. While I can see why you would explain things in a non-technical way, there should be SOME technical content. The whole Target thing was completely inappropriate. I did not plan to watch an infomercial. Keep the new set, but ditch the new format.
August 13, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Peter commented: I was disappointed and thought we would have what we did in the past. At least they gave Satelliteguys a mention for the DTVPAL spot.
August 13, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Vidmon commented: In two words; IT SUCKED!
August 13, 2008
In response to: What Was That? TQ commented: who directed this piece of junk CNET & Target
August 13, 2008
In response to: What Was That? apollog commented: That was the worst half hour of TV that I have ever watched. Things at DN at just getting worse and worse. The person who decided to change the format should taken out behind the studio and SHOT !!!! By the way, I"m really getting tired of hearing about TurboHD, Directv is adding 30 new channels in a few days, they are still kicking TurboHD A** !!!!
August 13, 2008
In response to: What Was That? apollog commented: Degeneration X has to words for DN and the new Tech Forum "Suck IT" !!!!!!!!
November 10, 2008
In response to: What Was That? Rappster commented: I have always hoped for MORE tech, not less. The old tech forums were hardly tech, and the new one is even less! It looks like they figured it out though. I just watched the next one, and they went back to the old format. They had a good segment on the Cheyenne uplink center, and several at least partially tech segments. At least we're back to status quo.
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