Anyway to drop to Top 120 but keep kids channels?

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samalex

samalex

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
245
5
Waco, Texas
We're seriously thinking of dropping from the Top 250 to Top 120 because we just don't watch as much TV as we once did, but the problem is most of our kids' shows are on Boomerang and Nick Jr. Is there anyway to add these A La Cart if we were to drop down to a lower package? Sucks to spend an extra $25/month on the Top 250 package for one or two channels. Also didn't Dish used to have a Family package or something?

Just curious -- Thanks,

Sam
 
If I'm correct, you can still get the Family pack through the retention department and if you're not under contract. Either that or the welcome pack I think.

I agree it blows having to go all the way up for two or three channels. In my case Natgeo and Versus.
 
Yeah I did a new 2 year contract with the HD 4 Life, so I think I'm stuck with the Top packages. I'm just curious as to how they select which channels go into which packages... it's like they need to separate channels by category (Kids, Movies, Sports, Life, News, Music, etc) and let you choose which categories you want instead of cherry picking a few channels here and there for the top packages only.

I ended up dropping from Top 250 to Top 200 and canceling HD Platinum which will save $20/month, but yeah we could've gone down to the Top 120 if not for just a hand full of channels.
 
It has to do with how E* negotiates their contracts as they have to pay per subscriber fees.

In the case of a channel like Discovery which is in everyones homes, E* has to pay for everyone but it seems it's beneficial for them to have it on a lower tier (a combination on low per sub fees and marketing strategy perhaps) compared to what the per sub fees are (probably higher) for a channel like Natgeo or Boomerang where E* prefers to have it on a less popular pack like the AT250 and would have to pay less in subscriber fees.

Less than ideal and its up to us to determine what is closer to the best deal around (which is also less than ideal).
 
Another option

samalex said:
Yeah I did a new 2 year contract with the HD 4 Life, so I think I'm stuck with the Top packages. I'm just curious as to how they select which channels go into which packages... it's like they need to separate channels by category (Kids, Movies, Sports, Life, News, Music, etc) and let you choose which categories you want instead of cherry picking a few channels here and there for the top packages only.

I ended up dropping from Top 250 to Top 200 and canceling HD Platinum which will save $20/month, but yeah we could've gone down to the Top 120 if not for just a hand full of channels.
Click to expand...

You could save $2 if you switch to Latinomax, you keep Boomerang and lose Nick jr. some of Nick jr. programs are in Nick. I have latinomax, my boy is ten he watches disney, disney xd, cartoon network and hub. My 6 years old daughter is a fan of Boomerang mostly for the pink panther and tom & jerry. Check the line up maybe you could find some value on it.
 
samalex said:
We're seriously thinking of dropping from the Top 250 to Top 120 because we just don't watch as much TV as we once did, but the problem is most of our kids' shows are on Boomerang and Nick Jr. Is there anyway to add these A La Cart if we were to drop down to a lower package? Sucks to spend an extra $25/month on the Top 250 package for one or two channels. Also didn't Dish used to have a Family package or something?

If you are looking for Nick Jr. in another package, it will be difficult to find unless it is not advertised. However, Boomerang can be found in some lower packages.

Just curious -- Thanks,

Sam
Click to expand...

If you are looking for programming for your kids, then you may want to consider Dish Latino Dos (currently $39.99...soon to be $44.99 after programming increases), which has the following channels:
1. Boomerang
2. Cartoon Network (East) HD [except for Adult Swim programming, etc.]
3. Cartoon Network (west) [same exception message as above]
4. Disney XD
5. The Hub (formerly Discovery Kids)
6. Nickelodeon (East) HD
7. Nickelodeon (West)

There are also some Spanish family channels.

Nick Jr. shows also air on Nickelodeon. The West feed is handy for morning programming in the afternoon. However, a problem may arise for primetime viewing, but you could always put Boomerang on. The only difference is that some of your channels will move to the 800s, and your HD channels will be in the 5000s.

I should also caution in terms of the younger children that Playboy en Espanol is in the Dish Latino packages although I am not sure if it is optional or not. I am not sure if you have to say that you want it or not; it may be optional. It is under a la carte on the site.
I am not sure what kind of program that you like, but if you like movies, you could also add the Encore Movie Pack (341-346 and 377) a la carte for $5.00/month. It does not come with Encore East HD or Encore WAM. However, it does have Encore West, Encore Westerns, Encore Action, Encore Drama, Encore Mystery, Encore Love, and MoviePlex.

Here is an Excel worksheet that I created to compare the lower tier packages:
View attachment DishNetworkComparison.xls
 
I should also caution in terms of the younger children that Playboy en Espanol is in the Dish Latino packages although I am not sure if it is optional or not. I am not sure if you have to say that you want it or not; it may be optional. It is under a la carte on the site.
Click to expand...
its optional and you can also hide the adult channels and not have them show in the guide
 
i debated going to a lower package, but after carefully examining everything it would only save me $20/mo going from AT250 to AT120 and it was only going to save $13/mo during football season. It just isn't worth it at all. Really makes one understand why they configure the packages the way they do.
 
I didn't think of checking the Latino packages because we don't speak spanish... but comparing Top 120 to Dish Latino Dos it does give more of what we're looking for. Is there a spreadsheet out there like this but with also the Top 200 and 250 packages to compare all of them together? Just curious---

Also I'm checking out the channel list on Dish's website - http://www.dishnetwork.com/downloads/packages/spanishProgramming/DLDos.pdf - but how do I know which ones are Spanish? I assume most channels have Spanish as an option via SAP, but I don't want to assume.

Sam
 
samalex said:
I didn't think of checking the Latino packages because we don't speak spanish... but comparing Top 120 to Dish Latino Dos it does give more of what we're looking for. Is there a spreadsheet out there like this but with also the Top 200 and 250 packages to compare all of them together? Just curious---

Also I'm checking out the channel list on Dish's website - http://www.dishnetwork.com/downloads/packages/spanishProgramming/DLDos.pdf - but how do I know which ones are Spanish? I assume most channels have Spanish as an option via SAP, but I don't want to assume.

Sam
Click to expand...

All the regular "English" channels are in English, there is a subset of additional channels in Spanish.
 
In addition, some channels are bilingual in a sense. For example, mun2 has Spanish programming with English subtitles, and sometimes they air movies in English. Likewise, MTV Tres also airs English programming like Room Raiders, Next, George Lopez, etc. What is interesting is that they do air English music videos a lot more than some of the other "music" channels. From time to time, some English shows have Spanish times, and other times English programming has no Spanish subtitles.

I think that some of the channel lists on Dish may be a little outdated for these packages. For example, in Dos, AMC SD and HD along with IFC SD are included in the package currently.

I hope that helps. Let us know how it goes. :)
 
so...it was sorta answered here but i got a question? what if i have A120 and just want to add boomerang would that be possible? though i am on a contract (still in first year term) and have hd for life or which way would work out to be the least expensive for me to acquire it, if at all possible?
 
kitex2 said:
so...it was sorta answered here but i got a question? what if i have A120 and just want to add boomerang would that be possible? though i am on a contract (still in first year term) and have hd for life or which way would work out to be the least expensive for me to acquire it, if at all possible?
Click to expand...

It sounds like it's not possible... The only option is going to one of the packages that offers it since I don't think it can be added a la cart. When changing programming it says something about a $25 charge if programming is changed twice within 30 days, so since I've already moved to the Top 200 package I'll compare this to the Dish Latino Dos and if DL2 is a better fit (plus cheaper which is nice) I might jump over to it.
 
kitex2 said:
so...it was sorta answered here but i got a question? what if i have A120 and just want to add boomerang would that be possible? though i am on a contract (still in first year term) and have hd for life or which way would work out to be the least expensive for me to acquire it, if at all possible?
Click to expand...
not possible. You would need to upgrade to the package that carries that channel
 

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