DISH Guarantees $250 Savings to Satellite Pay-TV Customers Who Switch

[lparsons21]

The cable companies are getting aggressive.

With some of the deals Comcast has lately, with a 2 year price guarantee switching is a no brainer. Only issue with Comcast is their rental fees. By the time you add a Modem rental, with all the $10 fee here and there for extra receivers, the bundle is not as attractive.

At my house I own my own Modem and have a Tivo. Cuts the fees down significantly

You bet the cable guys are getting aggressive. Around here I've had Mediacom come to the door to make a sales pitch. They swear they can save me money over either sat provider and that is probably true though how much is always a question with Mediacom as they don't publish their rates and if you get a rate sheet from them by calling or the sales guy, what it says and what they will offer don't even come close to matching up. Total confusion.

And they charge for the oddest things. I got their 50/5 internet service and pay $5 a month for the modem. The modem is usually installed with their wireless service for 3 months then they charge if you use it. I had it turned off the day they installed, told them I didn't want it and 3 months later a fee for it appeared on the bill. I called they corrected, next bill had the credit and a charge to take it off.

 

[Hall]

The same can be said for some packages with Dish.

By you saying that, it kinda puts holes in your entire rant....

 

[ChadT41]

I saw a bunch of people talking to the wind, since apparently I had this person on ignore. Who was it?

Mitch

 

[Scherrman]

Just switched from DirecTV to Mediacom (something I swore I would never do!) and am paying about $60 per month less for phone, Internet and TV (channel package more or less equivalent to DirecTV Choice Xtra and AT 200 minus the sports networks, which Mediacom doesn't offer) than I was doing with DirecTV. Four rooms, HD, whole-home, TiVo on three sets. Price will rise $20 in my second year of a two-year contract, which means I'll be paying $40 a month less after one year. If either satco can match that, I'll come back.

Oh man, I feel sorry for you. Mediacom is so terrible regardless of their price. The only thing that seems to be decent is their internet and that's only because of fast speeds. Their quality of service has been terrible and they had a bad track record. Even if they were offering better programming for a cheaper price I wouldn't be able to put up with their horrible equipment. Using Tivo can clear up though.

Hopefully Mediacom works better for you than most of the people in Iowa.

 

[lparsons21]

While you can use a generic TIVO with Mediacom, they swear that if you do you lose some of the functionality that they offer in their 'made for cable' TIVO unit they rent. 4-tuners, 500Gb HD and NO support for external HD though it could be if MC didn't disable it.

I think they charge about $25 a month for it but I could certainly be misremembering.

Their other DVR offering is the pits.

But I will say that most I've talked to around here that have them, have been overall pleased (or at least tolerant) of their service if not their cost. To manage cost with them you have to argue about every two years, and I do mean 'argue' as they aren't the easiest to get stuff from after the contract is up.

 

[12Toes]

Cord cutter here. Cut over 3 years ago after 6 years with dish. Loved dish btw (best receivers/best prices), not a dish hater.

4 pages in this thread of who's cheaper/who's better. I think all this misses that point that the business model for sat tv is dead. How many quarters has dish/direct/cable lost subscribers? You think any of them will turn it around next quarter? in two quarters? in three quarters? How about 8 quarters? Me either.

And if you're loosing subscribers anyway, does is matter if one vs another is $10 per month cheaper?

For me, the value proposition inverted. Regardless of whose fault it is for the price increases (content producers vs content delivery), it just got to be too much money for not enough entertainment. That's why next quarter's subscriber numbers will be south of the previous quarters, with no end in sight. Kudos to charlie for rolling out Sling TV. That's the new model because the days of adding subscribers paying three times a water bill per month are over. You'll hold on to the old timers, but the generations after generation x will never pay for a landline phone, a newspaper subscription, or a north of $60 tv bill.

If you want to know why a la carte programming is coming, its because there won't be enough subscribers to sat/cable packages to support the bloat of the old model. ESPN/CNN/Disney for $20: Stand-alone HBO: Stand-alone anything: -That's the only business model with growth. The odds of stand-alone Showtime showing up in the next year are higher than the odds of cable/sat adding subscriptions in the next year.

Dish vs Direct pricing is like CD's vs vinyl records. There's an argument to be made, its just that less and less people are paying attention.

Anyway, killing a lunch break here.

 

[Scherrman]

Cord cutter here. Cut over 3 years ago after 6 years with dish. Loved dish btw (best receivers/best prices), not a dish hater.

4 pages in this thread of who's cheaper/who's better. I think all this misses that point that the business model for sat tv is dead. How many quarters has dish/direct/cable lost subscribers? You think any of them will turn it around next quarter? in two quarters? in three quarters? How about 8 quarters? Me either.

And if you're loosing subscribers anyway, does is matter if one vs another is $10 per month cheaper?

For me, the value proposition inverted. Regardless of whose fault it is for the price increases (content producers vs content delivery), it just got to be too much money for not enough entertainment. That's why next quarter's subscriber numbers will be south of the previous quarters, with no end in sight. Kudos to charlie for rolling out Sling TV. That's the new model because the days of adding subscribers paying three times a water bill per month are over. You'll hold on to the old timers, but the generations after generation x will never pay for a landline phone, a newspaper subscription, or a north of $60 tv bill.

If you want to know why a la carte programming is coming, its because there won't be enough subscribers to sat/cable packages to support the bloat of the old model. ESPN/CNN/Disney for $20: Stand-alone HBO: Stand-alone anything: -That's the only business model with growth. The odds of stand-alone Showtime showing up in the next year are higher than the odds of cable/sat adding subscriptions in the next year.

Dish vs Direct pricing is like CD's vs vinyl records. There's an argument to be made, its just that less and less people are paying attention.

Anyway, killing a lunch break here.

This isn't completely in control of the providers though. They have to work with the networks who own the channels. It's easy to say that a la carte is coming and will fix everything but I'm not sure it's entirely true. You have to convince the networks that they can make just as much if not more money by providing their channels independently. They would have to be willing to sacrifice some of their lower watched channels and focus more on a smaller number of channels with better content.

 

[Bronxiniowa]

While you can use a generic TIVO with Mediacom, they swear that if you do you lose some of the functionality that they offer in their 'made for cable' TIVO unit they rent. 4-tuners, 500Gb HD and NO support for external HD though it could be if MC didn't disable it.

I think they charge about $25 a month for it but I could certainly be misremembering.

Their other DVR offering is the pits.

But I will say that most I've talked to around here that have them, have been overall pleased (or at least tolerant) of their service if not their cost. To manage cost with them you have to argue about every two years, and I do mean 'argue' as they aren't the easiest to get stuff from after the contract is up.

LParsons I heard about some of the TiVo features they supposedly disabled. In fact a friend warned me about them. But their latest 6-tuner TiVo unit from Pace has none of these issues. They seemed to have awoken to the complaints.

So far the only thing I miss about DirecTV is the MLB, NHL and NBA network channels, the UEFA soccer channels, and all the NBC Sports Live Extra channels. (Mediacom does have two of them, although in SD, which is light years ahead of DirecTV's ion picture quality, I might add.) I seem to have everything else I was getting in Choice Xtra. Also I like being able to record my local sub-channels, which I couldn't do with DirecTV, as they didn't carry all of them.

 

[PortlandChris]

wow, getting desperate?

I doubt it because if you look at all the details on an apples to apples comparison and throw in the normal sign up deals Dish is already there. On a regular basis you'll probably save $100 or so annually. Add in the specials and it will be $250 or more.

 

[PortlandChris]

You really can't compare the packages Apple to Apple. Directv has select, entertainment, choice, choice extra and choice ultimate. With Dish you got Top120, Top200 and Top250.

Directv entertainment beats AT120 any day, as it has channels Dish has in the Top 200.

It's different for every customer, depending what package fits then best for the channels they watch.

You want BET, it's in Entertainment on Directv. On Dish you need AT200. If you get Top200 just for BET, where is your savings over Directv?

The same can be said for some packages with Dish.

With Dish it's a known fact you get less for less, and that's the only way your saving money over Directv

Yea, but tell me what channel Pac 12 is on w/Directv? To many of us on the west coast Directv gave us the finger.

 

[Stargazer]

I believe what is hitting satellite hard is the lack of bundling. When you have providers like Frontier that screws everybody's bills up it probably hurts Dish more than it helps when people bundle with Frontier.

 

[Scherrman]

I believe what is hitting satellite hard is the lack of bundling. When you have providers like Frontier that screws everybody's bills up it probably hurts Dish more than it helps when people bundle with Frontier.

Technically Dish does offer bundling but not near as well as how the cable companies do it. In a lot of areas a customer can bundle their TV service with a local phone company. This allows them to get on bill with their TV, internet and phone and they get a small bundled discount.

 

[Bronxiniowa]

Mediacom in Des Moines is using bundling very well! They get you to look at what you're spending for all three services. I already was using their Internet, and adding their TV and phone service is saving me $60 per month over what I was spending before, when I had Vonage for phone and DirecTV.

 

[lparsons21]

Here it is $140/month for practically all their channels, including Premium, sports and others with a TIVO, the phone service and their 50/5 internet service for the 1st year. They don't say what it would be after that other than 'retail'. The sales guy that came by said it would be $10/service more in the second year, but their terms of service says nothing about that, only that after the 1st year they can charge 'current retail'.

Added to that $140 would be a little over $7 for 'local access' and 'sports' fees.

It would save me a bit of money if I so chose to use them for the 1st year, and possibly after that also.

My E* (or D* for that matter) bill generally runs about $110 on average not counting any discounts I get along the way. The internet from Mediacom costs $50 for the 50/5 service for this 1st year and then goes up to $60 the next year and retail or whatever I can negotiate after that.

So $160 now vice $150 (roughly after taxes) with MC doesn't seem to be much of a deal.

 

[Hall]

They don't say what it would be after that other than 'retail'. The sales guy that came by said it would be $10/service more in the second year, but their terms of service says nothing about that, only that after the 1st year they can charge 'current retail'.

They can't tell you because they don't know at the time what will happen.... When I signed up with Time Warner for internet, I got a intro rate of $40/mo. As it approached a year, they sent a letter saying that 12-month rate was expiring soon and the regular rate will go into effect at $65 or so per month. Then they say "because you're a valued customer, we'd like to offer you the same great service for $53/mo" and then proclaim that they are saving me $12/month !!

I will admit, TW's bundled rates are really damn good, especially if you get TV, internet, and home phone.

 

[lparsons21]

They should be at least upfront enough to tell you what the 'current retail' is at the time. I know future rates will be higher, but knowing the retail rate now would give you some idea of what you exactly are 'saving' and what to expect when that goes away.

With Mediacom in the past when I had the 2 year deal, at the end they wouldn't offer anything. So I cancelled and THEN they were willing to talk, but it was too late. We'll see what happens the next time it comes up.

 

[Hall]

but knowing the retail rate now would give you some idea of what you exactly are 'saving' and what to expect when that goes away.

If they told people, I think a lot would have second thoughts about signing up ! In our old neighborhood, it was very densely populated so we got door-to-door sales people from Time Warner and ATT (for Uverse). They'd give me their spiel and partway through, I'd stop them and ask "what will I pay when these rates expire" and multiple reps from both companies couldn't tell me...

 

[lparsons21]

If they told people, I think a lot would have second thoughts about signing up ! In our old neighborhood, it was very densely populated so we got door-to-door sales people from Time Warner and ATT (for Uverse). They'd give me their spiel and partway through, I'd stop them and ask "what will I pay when these rates expire" and multiple reps from both companies couldn't tell me...

Yeah, that's what the sales guy I talked to said. You know damned well that they do know the current retail rate, but they want to make it a secret I guess. Oddly, both Dish and Direct show the discounted and retail rate for their deals and it doesn't seem to hurt them.

 

[empiretc]

I will admit, TW's bundled rates are really damn good, especially if you get TV, internet, and home phone.

not to mention you can hook up as many tvs as you want- and still get some HD. we were amazed to see how many channels are in HD on the sets without a box. if it's an option, it is something to consider. definitely more bang for the buck. if sat is the only option, then jumping back in forth every two years really is the only option to help keep these insanely inflated prices in check.

haven't let go of our dish equipment yet, but as hard as it is to admit, the task seems easier with each passing day. visiting this forum is a daily habit.... lol

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Just an update it appears Retailers can participate in this promotion as the following was taking from an email sent to retailers this morning.

February 11, 2015
The DISH Challenge launched only a few weeks ago and the feedback and results have been great. Every day more DirecTV customers are calling in or walking into stores to take the Challenge and they are learning about the incredible value DISH has to offer compared to what they’re currently paying.

As expected, the majority of these customers are saving at least $250 in their first year with DISH!

For the few customers who will not save $250 in their first year with DISH, we are making an update to how they receive their $250. Beginning today, eligible customers who complete the redemption process and are validated by DISH will receive $250 in the form of a check from DISH. Customers should allow 2-4 weeks after validation for delivery of the check. Previously, the $250 was sent in the form of a prepaid card.