Absolute vs Turbo

[Bobby H]

I'm not budging at all from HD Absolute until E* changes a few things.

The SD "classic" packages should not have any exclusives whatsoever in terms of HD channels. Channels like Fox News HD, etc. must show up somewhere in the Turbo HD-only packages. I have no interest at all in SD-only channels and SD channel packages. "Classic" can take a hike for all I care.

Making HD channels like Fox News HD available only for "classic" SD subscribers is flat out counter-productive in terms of getting subscribers to shift to HD quality programming and more efficient MPEG-4 based receivers. If I was still a AT200 SD-only subscriber, I'd have less incentive to switch to HD-quality programming than I did a year ago. Jerking around TurboHD customers is really very stupid and will just encourage even more negative churn.

It's great that Dish will be providing most of Viacom's HD channels. Right now, that's still not enough of a deal to get me to switch from HD Absolute. There's no guarantee those channels will show up in the TurboHD packages. There's not enough native HD content on those channels yet either. South Park, The Daily Show and Colbert Report (the most popular shows on Comedy Central) can be seen free on the Internet.

If Dish can get the rest of the HD channels from News Corp. (SpeedHD, FX HD, etc.) and Rainbow (I'm not talking about Voom channels, but AMC HD, IFC HD, etc.) then the Dish HD Absolute package won't be such a good deal anymore. That will be especially true if many of those additional national HD channels show up in the TurboHD Bronze and Silver packages.

 

[Laserich]

what makes you think turbo gold will get spike or any other channels. i would wait til after to upgrade.

To go further, TurboHD HD-Only packages will no longer necessarily offer all available HD channels. Fox News HD and Fox Business HD are not available to TurboHD HD-Only subscribers.

That is the reality. As of now, the TurboHD standalone packages are second-class packages (HD-Only itself would otherwise imply the packages are the best...state of the art!).

The Bronze, Silver, and Gold names that the HD programming share, imply that the HD add-on packages are identical to the HD standalone packages. This is no longer so.

Anyway, Dish Network have made the conscious decision to deceive customers, albeit not legally, but effectively.

What a boneheaded move.

 

[dmendenjr]

Well, BET-J in the absolute package today. Methinks I will be an absolute sub for as long as the package is there

 

[8bitbytes]

Looks like the Dish bean counters have determined that the vast majority of subs are still in SD land and the Turbo HD marketing was a huge failure. Dish wants to push the Turbo HD subs back to a classic plus package and dump the Turbo HD plans. Absolute subs are thrown a bone by being given the few new "HD" channels being currently added to the line-up.

 

[tsanders3]

It is possible that the FoxNews/Business was a one time deal. I admit, it does not look good but I am waiting until the new April 1st HD to see if they are added to the TurboHD. The TurboHD packages are still a big part of E* website. They could take the emphasis off of them if they wanted. So, I am patiently waiting to see. I am on TurboHD Gold and would expect to have all the HD that is not in Platinum HD.

 

[8bitbytes]

The Dish website is rarely accurate or helpful. It is usually so far behind and suffers from the same problem everyone else does. Who really knows what all the packages are at any given time.

 

[wii_dont_care]

Well, BET-J in the absolute package today. Methinks I will be an absolute sub for as long as the package is there

+1 :up

 

[rafski]

Well, BET-J in the absolute package today. Methinks I will be an absolute sub for as long as the package is there

Soo ... Absolute = Turbo Gold - Encore + Platinum - RSN

I hope they add FNC to Absolute when or if Dish adds it to Turbo.

 

[jetskier]

Can you add the Sirius channels to a Turbo package ala carte? If they only had Noggin too. The only SD I record is on noggin for the kids.

 

[dmendenjr]

The more channels they add, the less likely they are to get me to move. There must not be many HD Absolute subs out there; that's the only reason I can come up with as to why they keep adding channels to the pack... otherwise we would be -1 channel for the year (smithsonian) rather than +1 (CI and BETJ)

 

[reuben432]

Music Only Add-On to Turbo HD or Absolute

You can pay 5.99 a month for the add-on to just the Sirius Music stations.

 

[rafski]

The more channels they add, the less likely they are to get me to move. There must not be many HD Absolute subs out there; that's the only reason I can come up with as to why they keep adding channels to the pack... otherwise we would be -1 channel for the year (smithsonian) rather than +1 (CI and BETJ)

To me quality is more important than quantity. Smithsonian is worth more than CI + BETJ! And yes I was a big fan of no commercial VOOM for the same reason.

 

[skierrob]

You can add Dish CD for $4.99 a month, but you can NOT add Sirius ala-carte. I have tried numerous times... Sirius is only available with Silver Classic or higher.

 

[dmendenjr]

To me quality is more important than quantity. Smithsonian is worth more than CI + BETJ! And yes I was a big fan of no commercial VOOM for the same reason.

I wasn't trying to argue the merits of Smithsonian-HD. It was doomed regardless. Dish COULD dropped it from absolute and been "Sure we dropped Smithsonian, but we are not going to add anything back into the absolute pack, your loss."; but they didn't. That was my point.

 

[Mojo]

Well, BET-J in the absolute package today. Methinks I will be an absolute sub for as long as the package is there

Ditto