Dish DVR Service Fee

[boba]

Just looked at my first bill. What is this $11.96 DVR service fee? What service are they providing? They had me buy my DVR. They are not providing the DVR as part of the service, that's why I had to purchase it in addition to a programming commitment. This made this very clear when I ordered. It doesn't rely on anything outside of my 622 to record. All of the 1's and 0's for the guide, programs, and show meta-data are in the 622 in the course of being available to watch live. I don't get it. Am I missing something here? How can they get off charging me for this?

Are these guys in bed with the cable company?

Are you sure you bought your DVR the 622 is $500 to purchase and $199 to lease. I'll bet you are leasing and don't even know that and you are bitching about a $5.98 fee.

 

[Zookster]

The $11.96 is for the 1st and 2nd month to use your DVR. And like the DVR, I don't think the OTA tuner works anymore when you and Dish get a divorce.

The OTA continues to work on my 811 after service disconnect as long as I am connected to the satellite dish. I still get guide data and a few non-OTA channels (NASA, CCTV, 101) and I think even software upgrades. Don't know about the 622, however.

 

[Juan]

Maybe after congress tells the cable companies that they must sell individual channels to their customers, they will then tell the satellite companies to do the same.

I still wish I could just buy The Weather Channel, HNN, and the TVGC (so that I can see what I'm not paying for)!

sure They will charge 99 cents a channel..then add a 40 dollar delivery charge ,10 dollar receiver lease charge..etc

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

How much you spend a month on blank DVDs?

oh yeah, those don't go "poof" at the end of the month either

I use RWs they work great!

 

[miguelaqui]

Back in early to mid 2003, an E* rep said that they did not have to charge the DVR fee, like D*, because D* was using TIVO and their (D*'s) DVR fee was for the TIVO service. Being that E* did not have to use TIVO , they did not have to charge the fee.

That all changed with the release of the 510.

What sucks it that they went up on it! I really thought that was unfair.

 

[gbjbany]

The DVR benefit is not just recording, you get the ability to skip, hold etc live programming also. Plus i guess if you buy a DVR recorder, cables and disc's it still costs something, the DVR fee's are $60 dollars a year, so im guessing you break even on the dvd-recorder in year 2.

 

[techweb]

I'm only paying cable $6 a month to rent a HD DVR. No upfront costs, no commitment, and certainly no addtional fee for the right to actually record. For those who think I'm blowing smoke, here's the text from the HD part of my most recent bill:

07/25/2006 08/24/2006 HD ADVANTAGE $3.00
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 DIGITAL HD $0
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 HD PVR $6.00
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 FCC USER FEE $0.07
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 SERVICE DISCOUNT $-3.89

 

[miguelaqui]

DVR fees is one reason why I have the Canadian HD DVR!! I get East and West nets also!! The local cable company charges $8.50 for their DVR fee..what a rip-off.

 

[SRW1000]

The DVR benefit is not just recording, you get the ability to skip, hold etc live programming also. Plus i guess if you buy a DVR recorder, cables and disc's it still costs something, the DVR fee's are $60 dollars a year, so im guessing you break even on the dvd-recorder in year 2.

The problem is that all those benefits are a function of the hardware, which customers have already paid for, either directly or indirectly through a lease.

In comparison to a DVD recorder, there are models available that either record to a hard drive, DVD-RAM, or DVD-+RW, so the media can be reused many times.

Scott

 

[DishSubLA]

It is unfortunate that the per box and DVR service are monthly fees that are standard throughout satellite and cable. While I'm sure these fees allow for substantial dollars to be reinvested or for good looking quarterly reports, they do smell of a "rip-off" fees. Those fees are a pretty good portion of my bill, too. In fact, I would gladly live with all the other things that make-up my bill (programming, publications) if they all would just get rid of those stupid per box monthlies. That would be a huge discount. I'm an AEP sub, so I do not currently suffer the DVR fees.

 

[DishDave]

Does Tivo work with Dish ? You can get a year for $83.40 with the box..

 

[Andyman33]

how can I see that the hd platinum doesn't have this 5.98 fee??? I do dishbuilder and it still shows up as 5.98 dvr fee. . .also showed up when I ordered everything. . .install is tomorrow morning.. .

 

[teachsac]

I'm only paying cable $6 a month to rent a HD DVR. No upfront costs, no commitment, and certainly no addtional fee for the right to actually record. For those who think I'm blowing smoke, here's the text from the HD part of my most recent bill:

07/25/2006 08/24/2006 HD ADVANTAGE $3.00
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 DIGITAL HD $0
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 HD PVR $6.00
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 FCC USER FEE $0.07
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 SERVICE DISCOUNT $-3.89

C* charges 9.95/mo and it only records 15 hours of HD. 5.00/mo. for a non-dvr receiver.

 

[psumattDE]

how can I see that the hd platinum doesn't have this 5.98 fee??? I do dishbuilder and it still shows up as 5.98 dvr fee. . .also showed up when I ordered everything. . .install is tomorrow morning.. .

Andyman-
IT's all in the small fine print on the webpage. Believe me, it's waived for the Platinum.

 

[gbjbany]

The problem is that all those benefits are a function of the hardware, which customers have already paid for, either directly or indirectly through a lease.

In comparison to a DVD recorder, there are models available that either record to a hard drive, DVD-RAM, or DVD-+RW, so the media can be reused many times.

Scott

I guess i was proposing that DVD recorders dont offer this feature so not really the same benefit but maybe you are saying that they do, in which case i stand corrected.

 

[BFG]

Andyman-
IT's all in the small fine print on the webpage. Believe me, it's waived for the Platinum.

how did you get HD Platinum w/ locals for $99.99 thats messed up, so you're getting the locals for free?

 

[psumattDE]

BFG-
Wow, ya know, I never realized that?

Shhhh...

 

[DVR625]

Dam the rip off Cablevision (optimum in NY) gets $5 for a Cable box and then $10 more for a DVR box. So $15 a month to rent a DVR box, can you say WTF?
$180 a year!!!!!!:down :yikes
Thats why I don't have cable.

 

[tkorcal]

comcast in GR Michigan

I'm only paying cable $6 a month to rent a HD DVR. No upfront costs, no commitment, and certainly no addtional fee for the right to actually record. For those who think I'm blowing smoke, here's the text from the HD part of my most recent bill:

07/25/2006 08/24/2006 HD ADVANTAGE $3.00
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 DIGITAL HD $0
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 HD PVR $6.00
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 FCC USER FEE $0.07
07/25/2006 08/24/2006 SERVICE DISCOUNT $-3.89

CHEAPEST digital package 77.99 plus 10.00 for dvr. All on only ONE tv!!What a deal! WTF!!This is NOT HD either.