(return to home page) WHO WE ARE About the company E-mail us! Address and phone numbers OUR PRODUCTS Satellite Business News FaxUPDATE Trade Show Dailies Trade Show Videos ONLINE NEWS & INFORMATION Changing Channels Digital TV Beat Scanning the Skies Industry Stats A Look Back: Satellite TV History SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Sign up for the magazine and the fax Get back issues Read past show news ADVERTISING INFORMATION Ads in the magazine Ads in the fax Trade Show Products Online ads: The latest, hippest way to get your name out there! About our readers

DECISIONS, DECISIONS... Taking the Plunge into Digital TV October 7, 1998 Satellite dealers are facing the looming question of whether to add digital TV to their product lines in coming months, which could quicken the already frantic pace of the holiday selling season--during which many satellite dealers do as much as half of their entire year's business. For those concerned about already tight profit margins in the satellite TV business, the decision is not an easy one. TV makers would have the buying public believe digital TV will be the biggest thing since analog sets went color back in the 1970s. The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, which represents the TV makers trying to generate enthusiasm for digital TV, predicts people will indeed buy digital TVs when they first hit the market--even in the several thousand dollar price range. But no one can pinpoint how many people will buy digital TVs, how much they will spend, or where they will go to get them. These are critical questions for a retailer without the marketing and buying power of a major national consumer electronics chain. Many satellite dealers do not stock analog TVs now, even though the products they do carry--DBS systems, C-band dishes and receivers, off-air antennas, home theater systems--would be useless without them. Sources in the TV business say this is probably because smaller model TVs--27 inches and smaller--bring such small profit margins. And the bigger, more profitable models take up valuable space in the stockroom and are costly to carry in inventory. That is an attitude that must change if dealers are to survive, some hardware distributors argue. "We are all in the television business, not the satellite business," DSI/CSS Inc. co-owner Dave Robison says. "Everything we sell is a television accessory." DSI/CSS encourages satellite dealers to carry TVs, even if just two or three, and sell them using a pitch book instead of a store full of display models. Some dealers also note that, unlike with satellite systems, most analog TV buyers today do not need expert advice on how to operate it, which one to choose, and how to get the most out of it. They also do not require technical guidance or assistance to install it. Satellite dealers have thrived selling satellite systems in competition with the major CE chains because they are more complicated products. They have made themselves the local expert on satellite TV. That approach makes digital TV a perfect fit for satellite dealers, some say. "The reason we love satellite is it's a product that has to be explained," says Bob Lawrence, president of the buying group Associated Volume Buyers. Digital TVs, with their ability to connect to computers as well as standard entertainment components, with their potential to bring in data services as well as prettier pictures, will also need a lot of explaining, he noted. And the first models will all be large-screen versions, Robison noted, that will not fit on the back seat of the customer's car. "Somebody's got to deliver them. That's the satellite dealer," he says. "The independent guy has a real good opportunity here if he can just let the customer know he knows the answers." While the ultimate decision of whether to start pushing digital TVs lies with each individual dealer, Lawrence offered a piece of advice many dealers may find useful this year: Wait until next year. With many satellite dealers serving smaller markets, there is no need to panic for this holiday selling season, he argues. Digital and high-definition signals will not be available in a wide selection over the air or via satellite until next year. "The day that we get involved in HDTV will be the day that EchoStar, Primestar, and DirecTv are showing HDTV on a consistent basis," Lawrence says. --Mary Hillebrand OTHER DIGITAL TV BEATS HBO HDTV GETS READY: Titles Coming Up On HBO HDTV March 10, 1999 THE DATA HORIZON: PBS Tackles the Bandwidth Usage Question February 24, 1999 RESEARCH: The Reports Are in, But the Conclusions Are Confusing February 10, 1999   NEW FEES: There Is No Such Thing as Free Spectrum January 27, 1999   CES TV TALK: More Buzz than the Sequins on an Elvis Jacket January 13, 1999   CES: Bright Lights, Big Pictures to Hit Vegas December 16, 1998   LOCAL EFFORTS: Broadcasters Give Viewers A Boost Toward TV Purchase November 18, 1998   FIRSTS: Digital TV Broadcasts Hit the Airwaves November 4, 1998   THOMSON'S DBS BRAIN: Channels ARE Plentiful in New Digital TV World October 21, 1998   FIREWIRE: So the Blender Says to the Toaster, He Says... September 23, 1998 They're Here... September 9, 1998   GOT AN IDEA? E-mail it to: general.mail @satbiznews.com WANT TO SPONSOR A PAGE? Call 202-785-0505 or e-mail general.mail@satbiznews.com Please direct questions about this site to general.mail@satbiznews.com q 2000 Satellite Business News Inc. All rights reserved.