December 18th Dish Retailer Chat Recap

[Sileny Jizda]

Ours broke down to..

AT250 = 4% of channels
AT200 = 10% of channels
AT100 = 10% of channels

Not all that worth it anymore. Charlie has become the pig.

[AngryStamen]

So, I was literally about to call dish and sign up my parents for TurboHD Bronze service, but I have to pull back now, after seeing that it will be increasing from $25/month to $30/ month (a 20% increase!!) Is there any sort of price lock if they signed up in January (before the February price increases), or would they basically pay $25 for January and $30/month after that?

Also, I heard about DirectTV having some sort of price lock until 2010...I may have to explore that, since my parents are on a limited income. Getting ANY kind of pay-TV is a jump for them (they've been using antenna since I was a kid!)

any help is appreciated, thanks!

[jdmacor]

So, I was literally about to call dish and sign up my parents for TurboHD Bronze service, but I have to pull back now, after seeing that it will be increasing from $25/month to $30/ month (a 20% increase!!) Is there any sort of price lock if they signed up in January (before the February price increases), or would they basically pay $25 for January and $30/month after that?

Also, I heard about DirectTV having some sort of price lock until 2010...I may have to explore that, since my parents are on a limited income. Getting ANY kind of pay-TV is a jump for them (they've been using antenna since I was a kid!)

any help is appreciated, thanks!

From what I understand, with Dish and the Turbo packages (or any of its packages in a while), your price is NOT locked. It goes up and down at Charlie's whim; and down is not actually an option.

[M Sparks]

you want to sell your house and move to a specific neighborhood for TV? WOW!

No, I want to move for a myriad of reasons, dumping DISH is just the one relevant to this discussion.

OK, I skimmed this whole thread and didn't see anyone address this. Maybe I'm just reading this wrong, because this should have set off an s-load of outrage. READ these slides carefully...


OK, so AT100 is going up $2, and AT200 is going up $3. Perfectly fair, normal, and expected. Now check out the DDA packages.


DDR "Bronze" is going up $5. Minus the $2 increase for the regular AT100 package, that's an increase of $3 just for locals and DVR fees. According to this...



...DVR fees are not going up. I don't think locals were mentioned. We'll assume they are also staying the same. Fine, whatever. It's still a savings.

But "Silver" DDR is seeing an EIGHT dollar increase. Minus the three dollar increase in the AT200, that's a FIVE dollar increase in Locals/DVR fees.

Why are the people with the more expensive package seeing a bigger increase in fees for the same thing?

Now that I've broken it down, I can see. AT200's were getting a bigger DISCOUNT before than AT100s. That will no longer be the case. It's actually MORE fair.

But that doesn't make it right. Trying to squeeze a few extra bucks from the customers who are already spending more is a dreadful way to run your business. You're supposed to reward your best customers, not punish them.

[MikeD-C05]

AMEN! My sentiments exactly!!!

Trying to charge more per sub on an ever decreasing supply of existing customers, seems to be the very definition of insanity. They are assuring that more people will leave DISH over the ever increasing fees & price increases. DVR advantage my ass! There is no more advantage . Not even a dollar ,only 98 cents.

THANKS FOR NOTHING CHARLIE!!

[M Sparks]

AMEN! My sentiments exactly!!!

Trying to charge more per sub on an ever decreasing supply of existing customers, seems to be the very definition of insanity. They are assuring that more people will leave DISH over the ever increasing fees & price increases. DVR advantage my ass! There is no more advantage . Not even a dollar ,only 98 cents.

THANKS FOR NOTHING CHARLIE!!

Geez, you're right! I thought it was a $1.99 savings.

[M Sparks]

I just did the math...even with the increases, Dish is $4.99 cheaper that DirecTV's current price for what I want. If I don't get MGM and HDNet Movies, it's $10 cheaper.

I guess I need to quit bitching until I move somewhere that has other options. FIOS would be just another $5 cheaper than DISH, but you get a LOT more for the money. Until then, I guess DISH is still my best option.

[mhowie]

I just did the math...even with the increases, Dish is $4.99 cheaper that DirecTV's current price for what I want. If I don't get MGM and HDNet Movies, it's $10 cheaper.

I guess I need to quit bitching until I move somewhere that has other options. FIOS would be just another $5 cheaper than DISH, but you get a LOT more for the money. Until then, I guess DISH is still my best option.

Sadly, this is the predicament many of us find ourselves in.

[MikeD-C05]

Sadly, this is the predicament many of us find ourselves in.

Agreed. DISH is still lower over all for programming , but the extra fees don't help with the price.

[Stargazer]

They realized just how much cheaper they were and decided that they did not need to be THAT much cheaper and raised prices.