Free Previews

Dish otta waive my next moths bill. All these channels I'm paying for.:mad:
I empathize. (See my post number 595 above.) I ought to at least get my $10 back, since I would not have added Latino Bonus Pack this soon if I had known in advance about the Disney XD preview.

Giving Dish the benefit of the doubt, I suppose it is possible that the very first wave of previews that they added in the middle of March were the ones that they had originally been planning to launch at the beginning of April. They already had the rights to do those previews, so they went ahead and launched them early. If that is the case, then it probably left Dish scrambling to find new free preview channels to add at the regularly-scheduled time, to replace the ones expiring at the end of March. So, it is possible that Dish could not have announced the Disney ones any sooner, since they did not even have the rights to put them in preview until a new agreement was reached with Disney to allow it. That would explain why all of the Disney-owned preview channels (Disney XD, Disney Jr., FXM, and NatGeo Wild) launched at the same time.

I just hope that Dish gets caught up enough with their negotiations and free preview planning that they can bring back the section of the free preview page on the website that used to list upcoming free previews. That section has been missing ever since the huge wave (more like a gradual trickle, but I am not complaining) of additional free previews started in the middle of March. Is it possible that the website page simply does not have enough memory available to accommodate all of these free previews? Anyway, until Dish starts announcing previews in advance again, I will keep this thread updated to list all of the newest free previews as soon as I spot them.
 
Dish otta waive my next moths bill. All these channels I'm paying for.:mad:
Let's see, I've had the everything package for over 20 years. All of those years there have been multiple previews of HBO, Showtime, Sports and on and on. I was paying for those channels while they were giving them away, for a while, to people who were not interested in paying for them. I chalked it up to both DISH and the channel wanting to add interest into those channels. I listened to those same people moan and groan when they were unable to watch at some given hour or their recording didn't work properly, gift horse and all that. Now we come to today. The world is bit different than it was a few months back. DISH is offering channels to people to help them through cabin fever and now we still have people moaning and groaning about how they are paying for these same channels that others are now, for a time, getting for free. I'm trying to stay out of the pit here, but, get a grip people, times are a bit strange right now. I'm sorry that timing didn't work for you when you just subbed to some channel that is now free, not. I'm sorry that DISH is trying to give people something to do to keep them indoors as has been ordered, not...
 
Let's see, I've had the everything package for over 20 years. All of those years there have been multiple previews of HBO, Showtime, Sports and on and on. I was paying for those channels while they were giving them away, for a while, to people who were not interested in paying for them. ...
I have always said, at least for the premium packages, that every time they do a free preview, they should put a prorated credit (for the number of days in preview) on the bills of subscribers who are paying for them. That way, everyone gets those channels for free during the preview. For non-premium channels, it would be a little bit harder to itemize that, since they are just a small part of a much larger package.

I suspect that part of the motivation for not having the Showtime preview last an entire month (like most of the other previews that started around the same time are) and not announcing that preview in advance, is that if both of those things had happened (and Showtime subscribers knew about it) then they would drop the package for that month, and save that money. I suppose it is possible by carefully managing your account (and not subscribing to the everything pack) you can still accomplish a prorated savings by dropping the package yourself at the beginning of the preview, and then add it back when the preview is over. However, most people will not bother to do this for short previews, but they might do so if they could save the cost of an entire month. Dish also has a $5 Programming Change penalty for dropping and adding these premium packages within a month of the last change, which would also make it economically non-viable to do this (drop and add back) for short previews.

... I'm sorry that timing didn't work for you when you just subbed to some channel that is now free...
I accept your apology. ;) :p :nana2
 
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I'd love to "get a grip", but I too have been paying for these "free" channels for a long time. Don't you think the highest paying subs should get a bone thrown to us occasionally as well?
 
I'd love to "get a grip", but I too have been paying for these "free" channels for a long time. Don't you think the highest paying subs should get a bone thrown to us occasionally as well?
I am sure Dish would love to give you Multi-Sport for free. However, they gutted that package with all of the regional sports disputes, and now all of the games have been cancelled anyway. What else is not already included in the highest package, that you would like to see added?
 
I am sure Dish would love to give you Multi-Sport for free. However, they gutted that package with all of the regional sports disputes, and now all of the games have been cancelled anyway. What else is not already included in the highest package, that you would like to see added?

I still love the fact how Dish advertises the multi-sports pack:

"Living in a different state than your favorite team shouldn’t mean you have to miss your games. Multi-Sport Pack includes a ton of Regional Sports Networks that give you local sports coverage from outside your local market "


(I added the bold and italics for emphasis)
 
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I still love the fact how Dish advertises the multi-sports pack:

"Living in a different state than your favorite team shouldn’t mean you have to miss your games. Multi-Sport Pack includes a ton of Regional Sports Networks that give you local sports coverage from outside your local market "


(I added the bold and italics for emphasis)
To be fair, we do not know how much each of the remaining Regional Sports Networks weighs, so a ton may in fact be an accurate description. ;)

The more obvious error is the ad for Multi-Sport in the Gamefinder app. (This is about all that app is still good for now, since no games are being played.) With the latest Application Software version AN419a, the ad in Gamefinder still lists Multi-Sport as having "Over 35 channels of your favorite sports networks." Today (April 1) that ad may be appropriate. However, that ad is like that all the time, not just on April Fool's Day. :(
 
I am sure Dish would love to give you Multi-Sport for free. However, they gutted that package with all of the regional sports disputes, and now all of the games have been cancelled anyway. What else is not already included in the highest package, that you would like to see added?

Now I must apologize.
  1. I don't have and don't want any sports package.
  2. I don't have the highest package, but rather AT250 + Movie Pack.
What I was thinking was your idea of a prorated credit. Computers could easily do this. But then Dish would have to pay a programmer when they don't have to pay anybody and just continue to soak us.

On the other hand, bobby has a point. We don't have to bitch and moan all the time about these freebees which aren't free to us, even though it's our God-given right to do so. ;)
 
Didn't they have Epix listed as previewing on the upcoming page? I have it on my calendar as April 4-17.
Yes, it was there. I almost forgot about that one, since that section was removed from the free preview webpage. So, I would expect Epix to be the replacement for the Showtime preview. Then, there will probably a preview of StarzEncore when the Epix preview ends, to promote the newly-added Encore HD feeds.
 
Dish updated their free preview page again today. I will point out that the preview of Oxygen (channel 127) has been extended. It was originally set to expire March 31. Now, it is listed until April 20.

Other new previews now listed there are CNN En Espanol, Baby TV, and NBC Universo.
(I already had those channels in Latino Bonus Pack, so I had no way to confirm that they were actually in preview until Dish officially listed them.)
 
Thought this thread used to be only about Free Previews! Now it’s no different than any other thread that gets taken over by complaints Or o5her off topic discussions.
This thread has gotten rather cluttered. I had some ideas on how to fix that. My first idea was that perhaps this thread should only list the channels that are currently in free preview. Posts about old previews should be deleted after those previews expire. That would keep this sticky thread short, with relevant information that is easy to find. (I have the same suggestion about the 4K Events Non-Discussion thread, since I really see no need to keep events that have already aired in a sticky thread. Just list the upcoming events there, and keep that thread short and to-the-point.)

However, if it is decided that there is still a need to keep an archive of the listings and discussions about the old previews, then my second idea was that this sticky thread should be replaced by a brand-new sticky thread each month, only listing that month's previews. Since the previews usually do not end right at the end of the month, there would be a little bit of overlap. Thus, previews that had already started the previous month would need to be posted again at the beginning of the new month's thread. However, this seems like it would be the best way to make sure the sticky Free Previews thread remains short and topical.
 
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Let's see, I've had the everything package for over 20 years. All of those years there have been multiple previews of HBO, Showtime, Sports and on and on. I was paying for those channels while they were giving them away, for a while, to people who were not interested in paying for them. I chalked it up to both DISH and the channel wanting to add interest into those channels. I listened to those same people moan and groan when they were unable to watch at some given hour or their recording didn't work properly, gift horse and all that. Now we come to today. The world is bit different than it was a few months back. DISH is offering channels to people to help them through cabin fever and now we still have people moaning and groaning about how they are paying for these same channels that others are now, for a time, getting for free. I'm trying to stay out of the pit here, but, get a grip people, times are a bit strange right now. I'm sorry that timing didn't work for you when you just subbed to some channel that is now free, not. I'm sorry that DISH is trying to give people something to do to keep them indoors as has been ordered, not...
Yes but you decided to get these packages. Dish usually has three to 5 free previews each month. I don't have a beef about that but letting people get as many shows that they have now in free preview I don't like. If they wanted to do that just open up all the channels in free previews.
 
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Thought this thread used to be only about Free Previews! Now it’s no different than any other thread that gets taken over by complaints Or o5her off topic discussions.

Yes, Yes, Yes. I come to this thread to learn about free previews. Now, it is just wasting my time.
Could we please take the complaining to a regular thread where I can ignore it?

I subscribe to the AT250 package because it has the channels I want. I don't care when others get some of "my" channels for free; good for them. Dish doesn't need to track this & comp me. I can pay for what I want. If I can't, I'll drop back to what I can afford. You are welcome to argue this point....somewhere else.
 
Thought this thread used to be only about Free Previews! Now it’s no different than any other thread that gets taken over by complaints Or o5her off topic discussions.
Yes, Yes, Yes. I come to this thread to learn about free previews. Now, it is just wasting my time.
Could we please take the complaining to a regular thread where I can ignore it?
You are now in luck. I have implemented my idea of starting a new (hopefully soon-to-be sticky) Non Discussion thread for Free Previews. Please look here for the current (April 2020) list: Attn Mods! Free Previews (No Discussion) Thread - April 2020
 
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