AMC vs. DISH: Weighing Important Decisions

AMC is not on DISH?

My friends and I religiously get together each Sunday to watch AMC's The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. AMC has recently decided not to provide this channel to DISH users, for whatever reason. It frequently makes a disclaimer that AMC is not on DISH during its commercials. My first thought was, "I wonder how many customers are now switching from DISH to another provider because of this?"

Take that DISH!

Season 3 of The Walking Dead just started this last Sunday and I wanted to know what time the premiere started so I could DVR it (for those who don't know what DVR is: DVR stands for Digital Video Recorder and you can set it to record your favorite shows). While online at www.amctv.com searching for what time the seasons premiere started I came across this:

I literally laughed out loud. What a slap in the face to DISH! AMC not only says they aren't on DISH anymore but, they are providing leads to other providers that do. On this website (www.keepamc.com) you are able to see what providers carry AMC but you are also able to make a complaint against DISH. This leads me to believe that DISH was the one who pulled the trigger with not having AMC as one of their channels.

Who is going to hurt more?

AMC and DISH are both going to face some type of repercussions but, in my opinion, DISH is going to hurt more in the long term. I have several friends who have canceled their DISH subscription and decided to go with Comcast or Direct TV. This is because they love AMC and trust that they are going to keep bringing out awesome TV shows as the ones they love end.

AMC is one of the most popular cable networks each year at the Emmy's it wins more awards over paid networks (HBO, STARZ, etc.) that typically have a bigger budget for making their series. If you just lost one of your most popular cable networks you just lost thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of customers. Someone should have gotten fired or should be getting fired.

One more example: Apple Maps

Apple's apology about Maps problems.

Apple has recently brought out the iPhone 5 and with it the new operating system iOS 6 which is able to be downloaded onto older iPhones. iOS 6 has a lot of cooler features compared to iOS 5 however, people don't want to get iOS 6 because of one of the services that have changed. If you haven't heard on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform, Google Maps are no longer available on the iPhone once you upgrade to the iOS 6. This wouldn't be such a problem but the Apple Maps that replaced Google Maps isn't as affective and accurate, right now.

The reasoning behind why Apple did this was because they didn't want a competitors software to be one of the main used apps on the iPhone. In my opinion, this was a smart move because in the long run it will make your phone not reliable on a competitor to provide a service. Apple Maps has a lot of potential but, right now its failing. Apple may might not have as many people buy the iPhone 5 or upgrade to iOS 6 but, mark my words, by the time iPhone 5s (or whatever the next iPhone is called) comes out Apple Maps will be just as good as Google Maps or better.

Weigh your decisions.

It doesn't matter what your product or service is, you need to build reliability! You need to weigh all options to each decision you make, especially if its to take away or change a service or product that your customer expects. If your decision doesn't help you out in the long run, you most likely should NOT do it!

Friday, October 19, 2012