December 18th Dish Retailer Chat Recap

[harshness]

All they really needed to do was renumber the 625 and the 211 and they would be fine. Otherwise they are falling down the same hole that DIRECTV did with their naming system.

[dmendenjr]

As for pricing, even after the increase it is still a better deal than Comcast. (ESP if you want to have a DVR included and with the timely death of the VHS, it is nice to have a DVR...)

Case study, my local comcast (for zip code 17552). Take the basic standard package for each, add in HD channels and DVR service.

This compares:
Comcast Digital Starter
Dish Classic Bronze DDA (formerly AT100)

SD Chan
Comcast 73
Dish 110

HD Chan
Comcast 28
Dish 28

Reg Price
Comcast 66.50
Dish 44.99

HD "fee"
Comcast 6.50 ( for the HD box rental)
Dish 10.00 ( for the turbo upgrade)

DVR Fee
Comcast 15.95
Dish incl with DDA

Total
Comcast 88.95
Dish 54.99

The SD and HD Channel counts include available locals in the market that are carried on the respective service in HD or SD and all the garbage shopping and PI stations for each. This also assumes that concast won't raise their rates again in February (like they did in Feb 08 and Nov 08).

It sucks, but when you look at the alternatives... it sucks a tad bit less...

[harshness]

I hope you are right, but this is DISH, without warning they might just say,

"Hey your package is gone, now pay us $30 more dollars a month, we're switching you to TurboHD,.....but see, you also get your RSN!"

I can see them switching to the Turbo name representing the HD version of the channel. The "Classic" thing reminds me of the same foolishness Apple used to do with obsolete Macintosh platforms.

It really is unfortunate that they twisted "Turbo" to mean two different things.

[yaz96]

As for pricing, even after the increase it is still a better deal than Comcast. (ESP if you want to have a DVR included and with the timely death of the VHS, it is nice to have a DVR...)

Case study, my local comcast (for zip code 17552). Take the basic standard package for each, add in HD channels and DVR service.

This compares:
Comcast Digital Starter
Dish Classic Bronze DDA (formerly AT100)

SD Chan
Comcast 73
Dish 110

HD Chan
Comcast 28
Dish 28

Reg Price
Comcast 66.50 ($29.99 - 35 intro price for 6-12 months, factor that in)
Dish 44.99

HD "fee"
Comcast 6.50 ( for the HD box rental)
Dish 10.00 ( for the turbo upgrade)

DVR Fee
Comcast 15.95
Dish incl with DDA

Total
Comcast 88.95
Dish 54.99

The SD and HD Channel counts include available locals in the market that are carried on the respective service in HD or SD and all the garbage shopping and PI stations for each. This also assumes that concast won't raise their rates again in February (like they did in Feb 08 and Nov 08).

It sucks, but when you look at the alternatives... it sucks a tad bit less...

You only pay one of these. One is the HD rcvr, the other is the HD DVR.

[long_time_DNC]

What are the current prices of the Premium packages? I can't find prices for them on Dish's website, either under Programming or Premiums...

[Bulldog]

Do not forget all the litigation suits that E* was and still is involve in.

How do you think Charlie is going to pay these expenses?

[Frank Jr.]

You know push come to shove with everything going up I can just watch ota. Save 130 bucks a month. That's how I get my hd locals now anyway. Really don't want to do that but I can survive without DishNotwork. Hmmm........

[Bulldog]

Whatever happen to the idea of “a la carte” pricing?

It was around for a while and the providers (Satellite, Cable) stated that this would be more expensive for the consumer! And I have not heard anymore on this topic.

I wonder if it is still valid?

[mhowie]

Ladies and gentlemen,

Vote with your wallets!

[jerryez]

Every time Dish raises prices, I cut services to keep my pricing the same. Before long, I will still pay them $70 per month and just get my locals, which I can already get for free with my OTA. Guess what I will do then?