That statement needs to be emphasized and will no doubt be repeated over and over and over for many months. So long as 61.5/110/119/129 exist, current customers do not need anything related to Eastern Arc. They may want this setup, but Dish has no reason or obligation to switch people over,
This is true. Eastern Arc is a test, and part of the slow transition to an all MPEG4 service nationwide. You can still get everything you subscribe to on Western Arc. Other than the "cool factor" of having all MPEG4, there is no benefit.
even down to providing them a new smart card. They could do something as simple as not provide the mechanism in their systems to allow current customers to switch or add the new, req'd smart card.
Wrong. This new smartcard is not just for Eastern Arc. It's going out to EVERYONE by the end of the year. As anyone who's been paying attention knows, Dish's encryption has been compromised, and MUST be updated to prevent further signal theft.