CONFIRMED(?)- Dish Discontinuing Absolute HD Package

Well, I've been wondering for a few months if I could actually live with Netflix Streaming and OTA being my only source of TV entertainment...and other than HBO and Showtime original series and the tennis that I watch on ESPN2 and Tennis Channel, I reckon that I could. Yeah, I love Absolute, and its $30 price, but I also fork over another $50 to E* each month in the form of Movie Premiums and Insurance. Charlie will lose $80 in revenue (not just $30) from me, if I kick them to the curb for evicting me from Absolute. Think about that Charlie and Company...
 
Bob Haller said:
scott have you called charlie on this?

Why would I call Charlie about it? What could Charlie do about it?

They have known this was going to happen for awhile now and I am sure they had many meetings on it.

Let him enjoy his trip with his family.
 
I would accept a deal as long as they didn't make me sign another 2 yr contract...but I know that isn't going to happen. So I think it's time for me to hit the road. The few channels I watch is not worth it to pay this much.

Think I'll snag the the cable co's bundle for a bit... with no contract...maybe try out a cablecard tuner for the HTPC and get it going again.

If you go that route, let me know how the cablecard thing goes. I have a media center box (my main pc) and I watch video using media center on my Xbox's almost as much as I do Dish. I really like the media center interface and have thought about adding tuners to my box. It is a very easy way to get your tv all over your house.

I actually wish dish made a cable card style device. I would buy that in a heartbeat.
 
This is why a la carte is needed now more than ever. A recession and content providers still raise prices and force carriage of their secondary channels to boost the number of subs and sub fees. Rain or shine they raise prices.
 
If you go that route, let me know how the cablecard thing goes. I have a media center box (my main pc) and I watch video using media center on my Xbox's almost as much as I do Dish. I really like the media center interface and have thought about adding tuners to my box. It is a very easy way to get your tv all over your house.

I actually wish dish made a cable card style device. I would buy that in a heartbeat.

Cable card experience depends a lot on the cable company. But at my second home I have TiVo with cable card and it works great. The TiVo has worked great, never missing a recording. A lot better than I can say about my 922 which still misses 1-2 recordings a week.
 
How many people in these 24 pages have actually gotten this phone call?

I lost my Absolute 2 days ago when activating a replacement receiver. The ERT team changed me from AT-200 - Annual to AT-200 when I contacted the CEO email address. I called her back to complain and sent an email to the CEO address when I didn't get a response in 24 hours. Those requests have not been acknowledged. I won't get this (the OP) phone call because I don't have Absolute anymore and I am not eligible for the discounts the OP mentioned.
 
I lost my Absolute 2 days ago when activating a replacement receiver. The ERT team changed me from AT-200 - Annual to AT-200 when I contacted the CEO email address. I called her back to complain and sent an email to the CEO address when I didn't get a response in 24 hours. Those requests have not been acknowledged. I won't get this (the OP) phone call because I don't have Absolute anymore and I am not eligible for the discounts the OP mentioned.

Your mistake was relying on a regular CS person. Always call Executive office for special handling.
 
Your mistake was relying on a regular CS person. Always call Executive office for special handling.

The ERT team is the executive office. I wouldn't use them to activate a receiver. I only contacted them when the CSR removed my Absolute programming.
 
Last note before I leave. As a DirecTV sub, this bother me because I want to see Dish do well. Competition makes my DirecTV service better and keeps my prices down as well. Since all companies allow grandfathered packages to continue for the life of a service, I don't want to see anyone do away with this practice. Once one does it, it opens up a door for others to follow.
well here's the thing DK, i too was in a grandfathered package with D*. so 3 months ago they offered 3 months free of the HD extra pack. i went to remove it a few days ago and guess what buddy? D told me if i wanted to remove the HD extra pack i had to upgrade to the newer programming packages........ So i agreed. They gave me no choice and was surprised that they would've tricked me this way to force me to upgrade to the newer packages. what is helping me is that they did give me free HD for 24 months. so it evened out for now. if not for that i would be paying about $10 more a month :(. its not only dish with this BS. :)
 
i still dont get why people think that dish has any obligation to make sure they retain a customer who is costing them more money then its worth by not ending absolute. its not good business to keep selling a non-profitable product.

dish not only has to satisfy customers, they also have to satisfy the stockholders. stockholders would rather see the company make more money then to lose money by letting self entitled people keep their precious hd absolute.
 
might be just a money grab, E is excellent at that..:(

I mean you can try to defend it if you want, but all defense is speculation.

we know E has the bean counters running the show..... sub numbers reflect their hard work, although profits are up...

I think you hit the nail on the head.
 
I've read the the thread and from what I understand Dish was in a no win situation here. Because of programmer demands Dish had to abandon Absolute, thus pissing off these customers (and others just on principle). If they would have kept Absolute the programmers most likely would have pulled more channels, thus pissing off customers (way more in this scenario).

What would you have them do in this situation?

I have issues with Dish regarding the receiver fees and constant lawsuits (I'm going to downgrade my programming in a couple days because of this), but I just don't see how they can be blamed here if indeed the programmers had big problems with the Absolute package.

Believe me, as far as carriage agreements go, Dish does a bad job there, but just wait and I'm predicting you'll see many of these carriage agreements get really nasty with Direct, the cablecos, and the telcos as well.
 

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