DISH Guarantees $250 Savings to Satellite Pay-TV Customers Who Switch

[Bronxiniowa]

They are the size they are because cable was SOOOOO BAAAAADDDD! Both sat services were so greatly superior to cable, including customer services, that both Dish and DirecTV poached from cable, NOT many first time payTV customers except for rural, but the big numbers for sat in actually in areas served by cable TV. Competition and superior PQ and everything else from sat is why they are big.

That's largely no longer the case. Cable as an industry has closed the gap over the last several years.

It all depends on your operator, but if you're getting digital service, and most cable operators have converted to all digital, the picture quality is virtually indistinguishable from satellite. Also technology has come to cable, which now routinely offers whole-home DVR service. And regarding price, because cable also furnishes broadband and phone in many areas, they can bundle all three services and charge you less than you might pay if you subscribe to satellite and cobble the others together.

Satellite's major advantage now seems to be for the sports fan, in being able to offer out-of-market regional sports networks, as well as season packages such as NHL GameCentre. Either the cable operator can't spare the bandwidth or doesn't want to pay the leagues for the access. Also benefiting are folks who can't get enough HBO or Showtime channels. Cable seems to offer fewer of those.

 

[lparsons21]

Cable has and continues to offer somewhat less selection with the Premium channels. For years, before the additional premiums came along, Cable had HBO or whichever, but only the one for your area (ie; east or west). That still is true in most cases, but they have added some of the 'special' channels the Premiums came up with.

 

[Tampa8]

Most correct. I would have to bundle at triple pay to POSSIBLEY save a LITTTLE BIT of money for what I get today, but for that meager savings I also get the crappy cable co DVR (in my area back to a seperate DVR for each room and in every other way inferior to Hopper or Genie) and pay the FULL fees for each DVR and OTHER fees that, upon adding it all up, actually cost me MORE than my top tier package, premium with several add-ons and 2 Hoppers and many Joeys--and that is getting from cable what I get today from Dish. Now, as much as I would LOVE to have the option of FiOS, it works out to being a bit more than $20 per month MORE expensive for the same programming and comparable equipment I get with Dish, but the savings with a bundle disappears once the bundles are added on top.

FWIW: I have Ooma, and even cable telephone can't come close to the massive savings with Ooma (and far more and powerful features). So the cable co would expect me to increase my monthly phone bill 3 to 4 times what it is today for a "savings" bundle. Then I have to add the ISP to that, as well, and that kills the bundled "savings". For me, my current set-up of Dish for TV, Ooma for phone, and cable co for ISP (I have NO OTHER CHOICE for broadband--certainly not since the FCC's new definition of broadband) actually works at CHEAPER than if I dared to bundle with the cable co--and get the cable co crap DVR and other problems. I'm glad if some people do save money on bundling, but I think many people don't really run the numbers or feel wedded to a bundle just for the notion it is a cost saving move, while often complaining about how bad their cable TV service is.

You said probably better than I have but that is exactly what I have found when I did do a real comparison. Change out VoicePulse for Ooma in my case and the result is the same.
I stand by what I posted 100% - if you are not interested in checking out the available services and paying three different bills, then bundling is for you. It will save you over and usually only over the regular prices of that particular cable provider. It will not necessarily save you over getting three separate services and probably will not give the best features for the money.

 

[Mochuf]

I also have Time Warner Cable run to my computer for internet. I split it to two runs and ran to my tv in my computer room on another input. I checked to see the quality of the picture and it hadn't changed . Some were great ,some were fuzzy, some were really bad and interesting enough, some of my ota channels were there too, inserted over the cable complete with signal strength antenna in the corner of the screen. I still would stay with DISH every time over cable.

You compared the PQ of clear QAM to that of a digital box? Not a fair comparison at all. How about comparing the PQ of clear QAM to that of connecting the cable straight from your dish to your tv (bypassing the receiver) and then let us know which is better.

The problem most people on this thread have when comparing cable bundles to that of using Dish plus other services is the equipment. I've been using Tivo's and HTPC's for years for both cable and ota use. Using your own equipment saves a lot of money over leasing from the cable and satellite providers.

Another thing about using your own equipment is the fact that you can use it with any cable provider or ota AND keep your recordings. Something Dish and DirecTV won't let you do. I really do hate closed systems and thus owning my equipment is important to me. Tivo even allows me to transfer recordings to my pc which I can convert to other formats and watch through my pc's and tablets (or even send back to a Tivo).

 

[Claude Greiner]

When I first subbed to Dish in 2001 or thereabouts, our cable operator had 2 cables with 60 analog channels each! PQ was pretty bad (slightly snowy) on all channels, whereas Dish was perfect.

I have seen a few of those 2 wire systems. How did that work?

 

[TheKrell]

I have seen a few of those 2 wire systems. How did that work?

IIRC it carried 60 analog channels on each cable, which gave .... Ah... I think they were called "Media General" back then. So Media General could give us 120 channels rather than only 60. The picture was stable and reasonably good on all channels, but with a very small amount of video noise which I suspect came from the repeater amps that they had to use to get the signal all over our very large county.

I bought two VCRs back then so that I could record any channel. Shortly thereafter, they scrambled the signal making those two VCRs pretty worthless (other than for rentals).

 

[Tampa8]

.....Using your own equipment saves a lot of money over leasing from the cable and satellite providers.

....

Except... DISH has no leasing fees.

 

[Claude Greiner]

IIRC it carried 60 analog channels on each cable, which gave .... Ah... I think they were called "Media General" back then. So Media General could give us 120 channels rather than only 60. The picture was stable and reasonably good on all channels, but with a very small amount of video noise which I suspect came from the repeater amps that they had to use to get the signal all over our very large county.

I bought two VCRs back then so that I could record any channel. Shortly thereafter, they scrambled the signal making those two VCRs pretty worthless (other than for rentals).

I'm surprised because you can fit 125 channels on analog these days

I bet now if they still use the 2 wire system they could do easily 1000 HD atleast using QAM256 modulation.

 

[bobsie]

Don't be surprised if DirecTV counters with an identical offer. DTV can play hardball with Charlie all day long.

I dunno about that. I've often wondered why it is that in all the TV commercials I see for Dish and DTV, Dish is always comparing itself to DTV but DTV compares itself to cable companies, not Dish. It has been that way for years. Maybe there is truth to the Dish ads? The funny thing is, I'm considering returning to cable when my contract with Dish expires in July or even earlier since the cable company will buyout my contract now if I switch. The capability of their DVR may make or break my decision though.

 

[ChadT41]

Which cable company?

 

[Claude Greiner]

I dunno about that. I've often wondered why it is that in all the TV commercials I see for Dish and DTV, Dish is always comparing itself to DTV but DTV compares itself to cable companies, not Dish. It has been that way for years. Maybe there is truth to the Dish ads? The funny thing is, I'm considering returning to cable when my contract with Dish expires in July or even earlier since the cable company will buyout my contract now if I switch. The capability of their DVR may make or break my decision though.

Because Directv is better than Dish.

It's like comparing the Chevrolet Suburban to the Cadillac Escalade.

If your the Chevy then you need to show people why your the better choice.

When your the Cadillac, you don't compare yourself to lesser products.

 

[ChadT41]

Because Directv is better than Dish.

It's like comparing the Chevrolet Suburban to the Cadillac Escalade.

If your the Chevy then you need to show people why your the better choice.

When your the Cadillac, you don't compare yourself to lesser products.

Did you just call cable the Porsche?

 

[bobsie]

... When your the Cadillac, you don't compare yourself to lesser products.

Based on your logic, that means cable is better than DTV since you only compare yourself to a better product?

 

[Claude Greiner]

Based on your logic, that means cable is better than DTV since you only compare yourself to a better product?

Not really, but I see your point.

Dish should be more concerned going after cable than directv

 

[bobsie]

Not really, but I see your point.

Dish should be more concerned going after cable than directv

As I see it, Dish doesn't say they are better than DTV, just cheaper. Depending on the cable company, that may not be true.

 

[Claude Greiner]

As I see it, Dish doesn't say they are better than DTV, just cheaper. Depending on the cable company, that may not be true.

But why even try to compare yourself. If your above your competition there is no need to mention them.

Directv vs cable is a different animal

 

[ChadT41]

Because Directv is better than Dish.

It's like comparing the Chevrolet Suburban to the Cadillac Escalade.

If your the Chevy then you need to show people why your the better choice.

When your the Cadillac, you don't compare yourself to lesser products.

Verizon is the number one mobile provider. That said, they compare themselves to ATT, Sprint, T-Mobile all in the same commercial. Your ideology on this one is just plain wrong. It's marketing. You can take a Steve Jobs approach to it, and say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but just to remind you, it was called the HR44 before Dish came out with the Hopper. Suddenly, they thought to call it a Genie. All the companies compare themselves to somebody and it ends in full circle in the end. It is bare broad basic marketing and PR.

 

[Claude Greiner]

A genie is not a kids toy

 

[ChadT41]

A genie is not a kids toy

This used to be the first thought when people thought Genie.

 

[ChadT41]

There is this toy too. Although not from DTV, it is a toy none the less.