raising rates on dish

[MikeD-C05]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I have seen no official announcement of a rate increase.

I did however see news of Dish Network's packages changing names.

Can someone point me to something OFFICIAL from Dish saying rates are going up?

Talked to two different csrs at Dish on two different days and yes they will be going up on Feb 1,2004. I even commented on the cable pig campaign and the guy said that is what they said when the price increase was announced. Bad timing , but they are still cheaper than Directv and cable is what the response from the Management said ,according to the csr.

[Tampa8]

CSR told me much of what has already been posted. Name change and - TOP 60 price remains the same. Top 120 increase is $1. Top 180 increase is $2 and AEP increase is $3.

Not unreasonable to me but, seems like the great PIG ad campaign loses alot of impact if Cable points out Dish just raised their prices too!

[jcruz]

My yearly subscription for Dish Latino Max is schedule to be renew on 2/7.
Yesterday, I got a letter from DISH (in spanish) telling me that the rates will increase. But the rate that they quote was the increase from last year (from $451 to 462).
I called DISH today and talk to a CSR. He was confuse about the letter, because (he said) they where expecting to go out until next week. He said that the new rate for my package will be $495. But he was not sure, if I will be lock to the old rate or will get the new one because of the date being to close to the 2/1 (where the new rate takes effect).

[James Long]

Man you think they would have announced it at CES and could at least have given us something interesting from CES to talk about.

Do you think Charlie should have announced the rate change standing next to the pig?

OK ... You have inspired me!
Here's the lineup for Monday's Charlie Chat:

20 minutes of coverage of CES, including pretty girls in an oinking contest next to the pig
10 minutes of bragging about market 100 last month plus announcements of the five other markets to be added this month (forgetting the other six that they promised in December) --- possibly a mention of the next 14 markets of the 20 that were posted at the CES booth
5 minutes of Viacom bashing trying to explain their position without making it obvious that the content Viacom is trying to ram down our throats is the same content that E* customers have been asking for for a long time. Charts with no scale optional.
5 more minutes of Time Warner/Turner commentary.

20 minutes left in the show and far away from the pig at the beginning --- we are restructuring our programming! AT60 replaces AT50 AT THE SAME PRICE! AT120 replaces AT100 (at only a dollar more), AT180 replaces AT150 (at only two dollars more) -- blame all price increases on program providers.

5 minutes of HDTV promotion saying how well it has been received ... trying to get to all orders as quickly as possible ... very popular deal -- not too promotional as they really don't want calls from existing subscribers!

10 minutes left for phone calls. They take two, eliminating by Caller ID anyone who attempted to call in within the first 45 minutes. Got to block those internet users! Several questions on notecards.

End of program.

JL

[METFAN757]

Can someone point me to something OFFICIAL from Dish saying rates are going up?

From Multichannel News web site:
"Ergen told reporters EchoStar will probably hike its rates for the programming packages this year, and the new rates may be tied to a renewal EchoStar is negotiating with Viacom Corp"

Though not chiseled in stone, sounds like it's going to happen.
For full atricle:
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA374076?display=Top+Stories

[Stargazer]

jcruz, I received a similar letter about the annual renewal, only stating how the rates had increased during the year and the new prices are what was charged for last year. If they try to charge even higher than that I will tell them to drop the programming amount down. It will cost them, not me.