AT&T expands area in which they offer Dish Network

[CDH]

In this morning's paper for Greenville, SC:
AT&T to provide Dish Network in Southeast | GreenvilleOnline.com | The Greenville News

Excerpt:

"For almost four years until Wednesday, AT&T and its predecessor, BellSouth Corp., sold the DirecTV satellite television service as part of a package of bundled services offered to try and stay competitive with Charter Communications Inc., the Upstate's dominant cable television company.

On Wednesday, however, AT&T said it will now sell the Dish Network service instead of DirecTV in South Carolina and eight other Southeastern states.

And for the first time, South Carolinians buying satellite television service from AT&T will get only one bill, said AT&T spokeswoman Della Bowling. In addition, she said, AT&T will provide customer service for its Dish Network customers, so "one call does it."

AT&T customers can now buy Dish Network as part of a service package that also includes local and long-distance telephone service, wireless telephone service and high-speed Internet access.

However, South Carolinians who already subscribe to Dish Network can't sign up for AT&T's bundled service package -- and the volume discounts that go with it -- until they have fulfilled their existing 18-month or two-year contracts with Dish Network, said Francie Bauer, spokeswoman for Dish Network Corp."

 

[CDH]

From AT&T's site:
AT&T- News Room
AT&T | DISH Network Digital Satellite TV  Residential

 

[mdonnelly]

...
However, South Carolinians who already subscribe to Dish Network can't sign up for AT&T's bundled service package -- and the volume discounts that go with it -- until they have fulfilled their existing 18-month or two-year contracts with Dish Network, said Francie Bauer, spokeswoman for Dish Network Corp."

Now that's an interesting comment. Is this something new? Everything I had heard about ATT/Dish before said that current Dish customers weren't eligible for an ATT/Dish package.

 

[jtrippe]

Now that's an interesting comment. Is this something new? Everything I had heard about ATT/Dish before said that current Dish customers weren't eligible for an ATT/Dish package.

I have Dish and ATT(Bellsouth) in Alabama. I've fulfilled my contract obligations with Dish. However, I called ATT yesterday and they would not let me bundle and get a discount. You have to be a new Dish customer.

Edit: I just talked to ATT. You can bundle if your contract was fulfilled. However, you can bundle for billing purposes only. You will not receive a discount. The only advantage is a single bill. I didn't do this because I heard that I might lose my Cinnemax for a penny deal.

 

[eacalhoun]

I was going to call AT&T about this, but my questions have been answered here. I am an existing customer and still have several months to go in my contract, so that eliminates me. But, if they are not offering a discount on DISH programming (I previously got $2, $3, or $5 off when DirecTV partnered with AT&T/BellSouth--discount based upon number of calling features, internet, etc) then I wouldn't want this bundle. The "all-in-one" bill convenience is not that big of a deal if you use some type of auto-pay with Dish. Also, I figured such bundling would void the penny Cinemax offer.

Eric