Dish Network Ad Warns On ‘Cord-Cutting’

(Satellite Business News) — The two faces of Dish Network were again on display this week, with the company arguing that online video services are a “superior product” while at the same time airing a new TV commercial that says those consumers who switch to online video services will “miss out” on live local programming, sports, weather and other shows.

During Dish Network’s quarterly conference call with financial analysts and the media earlier this week, company Chairman Charles William Ergen repeatedly touted on-line services — such as his company’s Sling TV. He said on-line video services “will take share away” from traditional satellite TV and cable services, both of which “will be smaller five years from now” in terms of subscribers than their current numbers.

But in a new commercial, Dish Network warns consumers about so-called “cord-cutting,” a phrase generally used by many to note when a subscriber to a traditional video service switches to a on-line video service. In the ad, a husband and wife are sitting on a couch watching TV. The husband says, “trust me, we’ll cut the cord and not miss any of our favorite shows.” But when the wife wants to watch certain shows, like sports and local weather, it is up to the couple’s two children to act out the shows because they cannot be watched on-line. After several instances of this are portrayed, the wife says: “You can get live sports with Dish” and “that’s it, no cord cutting.” A voiceover announcer then says: “Stick with Dish and don’t miss out” on local news, weather or live sports.

In many ways, the spot echoes — only in reverse — a TV commercial Dish Network once ran for Sling TV, in which it made fun of those who subscribed to traditional TV services, especially ones — including Dish Network’s DBS service — which require subscribers to make a two-year commitment to signup.

But given the company’s comments this week about online services and traditional video services, the timing of the appearance of the new ad might strike some as strange. During the call earlier this week, Ergen also acknowledged that the on-line video service “model probably initially is going to be a license to lose money” because services will “price things below cost.” But, he noted, that will “sort its way out” over the long run and there will be “several different strategies” in the on-line video business.

Several times, he said that his strategic view is that “maybe you should go north, but maybe you should go northwest.” Whether that includes running TV commercials in completely opposite directions was not immediately clear.

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