hd pricing

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donnie0328

Well-Known SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Dec 10, 2006
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does any one else think that its wrong for dtv to charge another $5/month for hd extra pack chanels. we already pay extra fee for hd package. shouldnt this include theses channels? we are getting charged the same fees for the same service.
 
Well, let's see...

- E* charges $20 to get ANY of the national HD channels - you only have ONE choice in the HD package & it's either ALL or NOTHING. (including taking all that VOOM crap, which doesn't interest me one iota)

- Insight cable here charges $8 for ONLY 4 HD channels: HD Net, HD Movies, UHD & HDT. To get some of the other HD channels such as ESPN, ESPN2, TNT & MHD, you MUST also sub to their SD digital choice tier for $12. Even with all of these AND our locals HD channels combined, it's sure a far cry from what EITHER DBS co is offering. ;)

- So even paying D* the extra $5, it still only costing you $15 for ALL the HD channels that you have in your corresponding package.

So frankly, I don't see what the biggie is... :confused:

But I will say, I DO think that D* should have grandfathered in all of the legacy HD subs, at least with the 3 channels they already had before they starting upgrading the packages. If those same customers changed or deleted their package, then they should have lost them for good, just as they did with the legacy TC/TC+ subs.
 
I agree - I like having the choice. The rates were going up one way or another (and may still go up more, but that's another discussion), so I'd rather choose if I want to pay more rather than being forced to.

Then again, they did promise that the price wouldn't go up right away, so this could be seen as a sly way around that promise...
 
Us poor guys who jumped on the HD wagon early are the ones getting screwed. We are losing 3 of the 7 channels we get now. 5 channels aren't worth $10.00, the other 3 aren't worth another $5. If I don't get an upgrade deal I will probably drop the HD package and maybe switch to another provider.

Barry
 
I don't care really, And D* never promised anything. If anyone thought for one minute D* wasn't going to increase the HD price,then you need to have your head checked,Its a business,not the welfare office.There is no price increase untill January 1st anyway. And thats nothing new.
 
Us poor guys who jumped on the HD wagon early are the ones getting screwed. We are losing 3 of the 7 channels we get now. 5 channels aren't worth $10.00, the other 3 aren't worth another $5. If I don't get an upgrade deal I will probably drop the HD package and maybe switch to another provider.

You would have had the SAME problem at E* with older equip - ALL the new HD, including the VOOM is all MPEG4, with the rest to move in the near future. SAME difference.

OK, so tell us WHICH provider you're going to switch to, that's going to give THIS quantity of HD channels for the money? :confused:
Unless you are fortunate enough to have FiOS available, whom would this be?
(or maybe U-verse, which currently only lets you stream 1 HD feed at a time :rolleyes: )
 
I honestly think that people are just not going to care enough to spend the extra money, and that eventually these other channels are going to be rolled back into the regular HD package. I just hope though that they don't go the OTHER way and take away standard HD channels and put them in that higher tier...
 
I don't care really, And D* never promised anything. If anyone thought for one minute D* wasn't going to increase the HD price,then you need to have your head checked,Its a business,not the welfare office.There is no price increase untill January 1st anyway. And thats nothing new.

Actually it's normally March 1st

Jimbo
 
it just sucks they charge you $10 for the hd package so you can get hd programming but this doesn't include all hd channels. you then have to pay other fees if you want to see the programs you already subcribe to in hd. kind of like the nfl package. dont get me wrong i love dtv but it just seems like we get double billed.
 
it just sucks they charge you $10 for the hd package so you can get hd programming but this doesn't include all hd channels. you then have to pay other fees if you want to see the programs you already subcribe to in hd. kind of like the nfl package. dont get me wrong i love dtv but it just seems like we get double billed.
it makes sense when you think about it as the $10 allows you to see any SD channel that has a HD counterpart. $4.99 allows you to see those that dont. Perhaps in the future they will add more to it
 
Us poor guys who jumped on the HD wagon early are the ones getting screwed. We are losing 3 of the 7 channels we get now. 5 channels aren't worth $10.00, the other 3 aren't worth another $5. If I don't get an upgrade deal I will probably drop the HD package and maybe switch to another provider.

Barry
How are we getting screwed? We have had more HD added in the past month than anyone else even offers.
Where will you go to get a channel count even close to what you have now? And who offers anything cheaper?

Plus....the $4.99 is OPTIONAL
 
You would have had the SAME problem at E* with older equip - ALL the new HD, including the VOOM is all MPEG4, with the rest to move in the near future. SAME difference.

OK, so tell us WHICH provider you're going to switch to, that's going to give THIS quantity of HD channels for the money? :confused:
Unless you are fortunate enough to have FiOS available, whom would this be?
(or maybe U-verse, which currently only lets you stream 1 HD feed at a time :rolleyes: )
and neither of them at this time have the capability to give what D* is offereing. They are working on it, but cant now
 
The reason I fell screwed is the fact that I bought HD equipment when it first came out thinking I was getting ahead for the future. We are talking a RCA DTC-100 and Sony SAT-HD200. I paid big dollars for that equipment, D never gave me a rebate or credit, didn't ask for one. I bought and installed the phase III dish, no big deal or expense. I didn't even have a HDTV until last year. It was said new equipment would be needed to get locals in HD from the satellite but I don't care as I get them fine OTA and more than is offered anyway. Now there are a bunch of new HD channels and like you I think that is great and more than anyone else. What I don't think is great is all my equipment is now obsolete and they want me to buy new equipment that isn't even mine. If they want to lease the equipment that is fine but why have to buy it up front. Yes I have heard the car lease argument and if I was going from standard to HD service I could justify the price but not when I was already an HD customer. Off my rant to watch the race, have a good weekend.

Barry

Edit: I may have gone a little of topic in my response. I can see where loosing 5 channels you have and then pay more to get them back might upset someone. I was just kind of tounge in cheek saying it could be worse, you could only receive 7 channels now and will loose 3 of them. That to me would not be worth the price of admission until I upgrade. We are still paying less for more channels than the competition.
 
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I don't care really, And D* never promised anything. If anyone thought for one minute D* wasn't going to increase the HD price,then you need to have your head checked,Its a business,not the welfare office.There is no price increase untill January 1st anyway. And thats nothing new.
I really dont care either,but i wish people would stop saying they did not promise anything, this is a quote from D*'s website "The best part? Those new feeds won't cost HD subscribers an extra dime. There's a word for all this...heavenly."
 
Us poor guys who jumped on the HD wagon early are the ones getting screwed. We are losing 3 of the 7 channels we get now. 5 channels aren't worth $10.00, the other 3 aren't worth another $5. If I don't get an upgrade deal I will probably drop the HD package and maybe switch to another provider.

Barry
/wave
 
I really dont care either,but i wish people would stop saying they did not promise anything, this is a quote from D*'s website "The best part? Those new feeds won't cost HD subscribers an extra dime. There's a word for all this...heavenly."
Do the new feeds cost anyone more then 9.99. NO!!!! No one pays more then $9.99 for HD with D* . Starting in January you have the option to pay an extra $4.99 IF that is IF you want the extra 6 channels. And Post a link for your Direct Quote.
 
If I remember correctly, when I first signed up for HD service (2004?) it was $10.99 / month for a handful of channels. When they added the ESPN's and TNT they actually dropped the price to $9.99. Today I still only pay $9.99 and haven't lost a channel. Is D* saying that in January I'll need to pay an additional $4.99 to keep existing HD channels? I don't see that on their website currently.
 
If I remember correctly, when I first signed up for HD service (2004?) it was $10.99 / month for a handful of channels. When they added the ESPN's and TNT they actually dropped the price to $9.99. Today I still only pay $9.99 and haven't lost a channel. Is D* saying that in January I'll need to pay an additional $4.99 to keep existing HD channels? I don't see that on their website currently.
Its the HD extra pack. this whole thread is all about it, your answer is in there
 
Do the new feeds cost anyone more then 9.99. NO!!!! No one pays more then $9.99 for HD with D* . Starting in January you have the option to pay an extra $4.99 IF that is IF you want the extra 6 channels. And Post a link for your Direct Quote.
Here ya go, DIRECTV: HD Article

Yes an option to pay 4.99 extra for some channels we are already getting. Like I said, It doesn't make much different, jeeeez, i would pay it for MGM HD, but,,,, they stated in the article boasting about all this extra HD and it would not cost an extra dime, and the footer at the bottom of the page states its a reprint from d*'s magazine so they sure are getting a lot of press out of the not an extra dime article yet here comes the extra 4.99 a month,,,, jeeeeeeez, they should at least retract the statement.
 
Yup, there it is, plain as day "...won't cost HD subscribers an extra dime". Very misleading. Of course, when you think about it, they aren't lying. It doesn't cost AN extra dime, it costs 50 of them.

Ah, I'm not going to sweat an extra $5 a month when I got a $399 HD-DVR for free. Of course, I did pay $9.99 for 7 channels for how many years... But this argument about "well look what the others guys are charging" is disingenuous at best. I'll play the father card and say "If everyone were jumping off a bridge would you do it too?". Just because they charge more doesn't make it OK in D*'s situation.

BTW, what were the FCC guidelines regarding HD? Seems to me that if something's federally mandated, it shouldn't cost us more to receive it. Someone please correct me if I'm misunderstanding this.
 
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