When will it end?

[satnewb]

Everybody understands the point you're trying to make. It's been argued ad nauseum. The bottom line is that paying more for tv than health insurance is a CHOICE that you are making. You have every right to choose differently.

The day my employee discount ends is the the day I will cancel my service. I get reliable OTA and could get baseball via MLB.tv. Would I miss my Hoppers? Sure, to some extent, but life would go on. I wouldn't have the convenience of the dvrs, but adding a Roku in some combination with Netflix/Hulu would be a reasonable substitute. My bill without discount would be somewhere around $170 (2H/2J, a 211, Top 250 plus the free premiums they give us), and it's just not worth it, to me. I probably watch 10 channels, including the locals.

Everybody is in a different situation, but if you think it's ridiculous, then cancel. The increases most likely will not be ending in the foreseeable future.

 

[shodobe]

I agree with Scott that whatever my wife wants she gets it. I am away from home the majority of the month and it doesn't seem much of a cost to make her happy. I can't get cable so sat is my only choice and I have tried Direct and do not like their service. I have been with Dish for going on 17 years and really have no complaints. Every company in the country has to look at all of their operating costs, and yes profits do motivate their bottom line. Technology is much better now than was just 5 years ago and I do applaud them for their constant vigilance in trying to keep customers happy. I am too far from town to enjoy what most take for granted, theaters, restaraunts, etc.. so my TV is my only real source of entertainment. So if I go to the movies twice a month and spend 20-30 dollars plus gas to get there I still are saving quite a bit over the increase in my Dish bill. Lucky for me I can afford the increases but do feel for those on a fixed income where just a few dollars make a difference. I do wish they would let us buy ala carte because there are so many channels I could do without.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Everybody is in a different situation, but if you think it's ridiculous, then cancel. The increases most likely will not be ending in the foreseeable future.

Everybody is in a different situation? I don't know about that. How do things change? They change when enough people say "enough is enough." Personally I think we're just about there.

 

[Neutron]

My wife doesn't mind us cutting TV out of our budget. When we moved we went with Verizon Fios. With a DVR and 2 standard boxes we were paying $40 in just equipment fees. We canceled the two set top boxes and left the DVR. In their place we will have Rokus and will just stream whatever we want into those rooms. We have Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions.

I told the wife if Verizon's internet only for Fios wasn't so dang expensive we would just have internet only and stream everything. We have Aereo for locals.

 

[satnewb]

Everybody is in a different situation? I don't know about that. How do things change? They change when enough people say "enough is enough." Personally I think we're just about there.

I meant different situation financially speaking.

 

[navychop]

"...What I pay for Dish each month (before credits) is more than what I pay per month for health insurance. I'm sorry, but that IS ridiculous...."

Yep. It's ridiculous that your share of your health insurance costs is so low. Must be nice.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[comfortably_numb]

I meant different situation financially speaking.

Yes and I agree. However, I'm referring to the average American. Most of us on this forum aren't your average TV consumer.

 

[satnewb]

The average tv consumer complains about their bill being high.

The average satguys member starts a thread about it.

/thread

 

[Yespage]

"...What I pay for Dish each month (before credits) is more than what I pay per month for health insurance. I'm sorry, but that IS ridiculous...."

Yep. It's ridiculous that your share of your health insurance costs is so low. Must be nice.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

Yeah... maybe the bimonthly payment, but not monthly! So either union (I don't mean that negatively, just as a matter of fact) or a super awesome benefit package.

Yes and I agree. However, I'm referring to the average American. Most of us on this forum aren't your average TV consumer.

I wouldn't say that. Most on this forum are more informed, or at least like to think that they are, than the average consumer, but there seems to be a large spectrum of users here, from the lower packages to the average package, to the power "I've got 72 hoppers and Dish won't let me have a 73rd... those monsters!" people.

 

[comfortably_numb]

The average tv consumer complains about their bill being high.

The average satguys member starts a thread about it.

/thread

Wow, that was insightful and very helpful.

 

[navychop]

I liked it.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Scherrman]

I see no reason to complain about TV prices ever. If it's out of you budget then drop some equipment, lower your package or quit pay TV service altogether. If it's so bad and you don't need all the extra crap then just get one receiver without DVR and subscribe to the Smart Pack or Welcome pack. You're not going to get much of a better deal than that. Don't forget that if you get a 211 receiver you can add an external hard drive to make it a DVR and also add the OTA module with antenna for more channels and an extra tuner.

The point I'm trying to make is that you can still get plenty of value, even from Dish, if you just give up the things that are not needed. If you feel you need separate HD programming with DVR on each TV in the house and you need to be able to watch your favorite sports teams then be prepared to pay more for it each year. This is how the industry is and has been. No reason to complain, I don't. At one point my bill was over $160 and now I have it down to around $120. It's still high but I am willing to pay for all the extras I have.

I remember how most people only had antenna growing up or just basic cable and it was only on 1 or 2 TVs. Before that people just listened to the radio. Think about how your lifestyle has changed and your wants, not needs, then tell me if prices are getting ridiculous. What's more ridiculous, the cost of what TV is or the demand from people to have this many channels in HD on every TV in the house with DVR all for a price similar to what they paid 10 years ago?

 

[king3pj]

Everybody is in a different situation? I don't know about that. How do things change? They change when enough people say "enough is enough." Personally I think we're just about there.

Go ahead and cancel if you think you will be comfortable doing that. I already had Amazon Prime for shipping and I'm a long time Netflix customer. I've been getting my baseball fix from MLB.tv for a few years and I can get all the major broadcast networks OTA. I decided that I already had more entertainment than I can watch from those sources so I canceled my Dish. I'm still doing fine and I don't find myself lacking for stuff to watch. The hardest part was just deciding to do it. Now that I have I'm finding that I don't miss it all that much.

 

[Teehar]

2 reasons I and probably a lot of others keep paying the piper if you will...1.Wife,you know that happy wife,happy life saying. 2.Sports,mainly NFL As much as it pains me to see our bill rise $5-$15 per year,I'll keep paying as long as I can,or until a viable alternative comes along. By the same token,I feel no remorse,or embarrassment to bitch,complain,and call and ask for better deals on our programming.

 

[comfortably_numb]

2 reasons I and probably a lot of others keep paying the piper if you will...1.Wife,you know that happy wife,happy life saying. 2.Sports,mainly NFL As much as it pains me to see our bill rise $5-$15 per year,I'll keep paying as long as I can,or until a viable alternative comes along. By the same token,I feel no remorse,or embarrassment to bitch,complain,and call and ask for better deals on our programming.

Luckily, my girlfriend could care less about TV. I don't think she even knows how to turn it on!! She spends all her time on her laptop and on Facebook on her phone. She'd never know if I turned the service off!

 

[slick1ru2]

The question really is... what other choices are there?

As I posted earlier to move to cable and have 6 HD DVR's in my house its $17 per box.

DISH is still cheaper by miles. I don't like the price change myself, but when you start shopping around you might find what you have now isn't so bad.

Wow Scott? 6 DVRs? Do you live in a commune or a dorm? LOL.

 

[satnewb]

With the NFL, a large majority is on broadcast tv. More so this year with 8 (I believe) of the Thursday night games moving to CBS. Granted you can get 24/7 commentary on espn and nfl network, but most of that is just repetitive drivel from the talking heads.

 

[sam_gordon]

With the NFL, a large majority is on broadcast tv. More so this year with 8 (I believe) of the Thursday night games moving to CBS. Granted you can get 24/7 commentary on espn and nfl network, but most of that is just repetitive drivel from the talking heads.

I agree with you. For me it's college sports. I think it's safe to say the large majority of college sports (football, basketball, and "non-revenue") is only available via pay tv. If that wasn't enough, my kids are still young enough that I like them watching Nick, Disney, & Cartoon Network. I can probably get those shows via Netflix or something, but there's still no answer for live sports yet.

 

[comfortably_numb]

...Granted you can get 24/7 commentary on espn and nfl network, but most of that is just repetitive drivel from the talking heads.

Ain't that the truth. Pretty much the same with MLB network.

 

[brgmgb]

My point is, the pricing structure as it currently is, in my opinion, unreasonable. Most of us grew up as children in households with some form of cable TV or satellite (I know my parents always had cable) and I don't remember them ever complaining that it was outrageously expensive. Today, I can't tell you one person I know who says "Yeah, I think cable TV (or satellite) is affordable." In fact, they all bemoan all of the increases in price for the little quality they seem to receive. Most people have just a few channels they like, but end up paying lots of money for mainly channels they don't.

I am old enough that we did not have cable when I was a kid. My first experience with cable was when I moved to Indianapolis. It was 1988 and basic cable was less than $5 per month for as many televisions as I had. What gets me about Dish's increases is that the increase is not just on programming. In one room, we have the same box we received when we subscribed in 2005. Two other rooms are sharing the DVR we got in 2007. Did they suddenly increase in value? And I can't get upgrades to the equipment without paying through the nose.

I know some channel prices have increased and Dish needs to pass those costs on to the customer. It just is frustrating when an 9-year customer is essentially told that if he wants upgrades, he'll have to go to DirectTV. That's not a direct quote, but it was something very close to that.

Why do we still have Dish? It is in my wife's name and she still wants it. Besides a couple hours of cable news over the last week, I have been enjoying the free HD Olympics broadcasting on NBC. If only the OTA networks would always have something worth watching...