ESPNU and CSTV

[jrock21]

I am having D* installed for the first time this Wednesday. Will I be able to get ESPNU and/or CSTV by purchasing the channels individually or will I be required to buy the Sports Pack?

 

[Tvfan24/7]

They are only available with the Sports Pack.

 

[shugo77]

D* is unwilling to offer channels a la carte. This really aggravates me too. I would love to have SHOHD, HBOHD, & ESPNU. I don't know why they don't offer individual channels for about $3 ea, instead you have to pay $12 to get the whole package. Especialy when you are talking about HBO, there have been times when I saw the same movie on 3 or 4 channles at the same time, or the same move 6 times in a day because of all the East and West feeds. It's a waste of money to make someone pay for the whole pack just to get one channel.

I am not about to pay over $30 for three channels, but I would gladly pay about $3 ea for those extra channles.

Sorry about the rant, I couldn't help it, I just wish a la carte programming was available. I think I heard awhile back that some people in Congress were thinking about trying to push Cable TV providers to provide a la carte programming.

Before anyone freaks out, I am not suggesting that there should not be packages, I know some people like having the entire package, I just wish that there was a choice.

 

[bronzetree]

i agree,i really enjoyed the days when c-band was hot and you could order only what channels you really wanted to subscribe to hopefully someday that will happen to DBS but VOD seems to be in the making so that should be pretty cool.i would love to subscribe to just the HD channels.

 

[smackman]

I was able to get the Outdoor Channel added a-la carte... But like you guys said, no go on ESPNU when I tried at launch last year...

 

[jrock21]

Thanks guys. Everything you said is true. I contacted D* about adding either of these channels and it was a no. As smackman said, OLN can be added a-la carte. I went ahead signed up for the Sports Pack, really want to give it a try.

 

[maogdamian]

Its a matter of bandwidth too. I know they got rid of the golf channel a la carte awhile back and that freed up some bandwidth. Thats why they offered it in tc plus. It takes alot more bandwidth to launch one channel than to group them together. We all know dtv's hurting for bandwidth after there recent anouncment of no ppv's on sundays for nfl. Thats probably why theres a cost for the superfan. They have to replace that money somehow. Im sure ppv is a huge money maker for dtv. Especialy on the weekends. A huge sacrafice for its hd custs and some hd cust still arnt happy. Im honored that they did it. oh well i know where i stand.

 

[silversurfer]

Its a matter of bandwidth too. I know they got rid of the golf channel a la carte awhile back and that freed up some bandwidth. Thats why they offered it in tc plus. It takes alot more bandwidth to launch one channel than to group them together. We all know dtv's hurting for bandwidth after there recent anouncment of no ppv's on sundays for nfl. Thats probably why theres a cost for the superfan. They have to replace that money somehow. Im sure ppv is a huge money maker for dtv. Especialy on the weekends. A huge sacrafice for its hd custs and some hd cust still arnt happy. Im honored that they did it. oh well i know where i stand.

Sorry but it doesn't take any more bandwidth to offer a channel al la carte. There is no bandwidth difference between a single channel and one that is "grouped" together.

The real problem is that producers of these channels want their channels to be available to as wide of an audience as possible. To ensure this they negotiate what tier they will be in during contract negotiations. It would be cost prohibitive for D* to provide channels al la carte for this reason.

 

[maogdamian]

Oh okay, Makes since. My Bad. I just know thats the case with compressing like music online and sending. If i compress a whole cd and send it rather than one song. But yeah i know 2 totally different technologys.