While I do not like the idea of DishNetwork lumping (heh! I almost typed "lumpkin" instead of lumping) all FTA receivers into a category that makes FTA'ers look like hackers, I do see at least one good thing about doing this. If dish installers are selling only dish equipment and FTA equipment, that looks curiously "bad". Basically, people who assume (or are told) FTA = Hacking, will see FTA and dish being sold out of the same shop, and assume that the FTA equipment is for Dish use - thus propagating the FTA - Hacker though process.
Personally, I think that Dish is making a terrible move that is going to put us legit users in a bind. If the FTA = Hacker idea is futher propagated by Dish .. and the majority of people see FTA as a hacking tool, I'll be getting out. I know what I'm doing is legit, but I just don't need the headaches over a little TV. That's just plain sad!
I wish Dish would fix their problem. And if they are going to bust peoples chops for selling FTA equipment, then police the sales such that they break down only on those who are selling modified equipment, or packages that are obviously designed for hackers (i.e. dish500 dish/lnbs + FTA receiver + programming cable). When you get right down to it, just about any DVB receiver can receive FTA in some form or another (heck there was some reading that people were modifying certain Dish receivers to work as a FTA receiver!), so if Dish wants to keep people from using FTA recievers, then they need to break down on every DVB capable receiver, pc card, etc (how about commercial recievers, transmitters, etc?... oh yeah, they don't have the FCC far enough in their pocket to do that YET!)