Ok, I hate this fee just as much as any one of you here, but here is the reasoning behind it...
First of all if you had Directv or cable, they only have single Tuner receivers so technically you would be paying the TV 2 Receiver connection fee anyways with any other provider because it would require the rental of a receiver.
Second of all it is to enhance the customer experence. Dish can perform receiver dionostics remotely, you can order PPV or view and pay your bill on channel 100.
Finally, it helps prevent account stacking.
What I do not agree with is DISH Networks connection policy when it comes to installation, as their installers refuse to run the necessary wiring to hook it up. If running a phone line is not part of the basic installation, then why charge customers a penalty for not connecting it up?
Back in the Primestar days, they required a phone line with all their installations and every single Primestar installation had a new phone line ran as part of the standard installation. Why can't this happen with DISH Network? Ok, so I hear that they don't want their installers messing with customers phone lines, thats fine then they should provide a Dishcomm modem or waive the fees in cases where a receiver cannot be hooked up due to their being no phone line in the room.