Thanks for the responses. I called my homeowners insurance and have that ball rolling. I don't have the dish protection plan, so that won't work for me. How much will dish charge for a service call?
I think in theory it's $95 without the protection plan and $15 with. In reality, I've had Dish folks out here twice for free, and I don't have a protection plan. When I called up and spoke with a CSR and they offered to send people out, I just said "That's free, right?" and they said yes each time. Of course, your mileage may vary, and it's worth noting that in my case the Dish had just come lose and lost it's signal, and was in a spot I couldn't reach, so they didn't actually have to provide any new equipment or anything (Maybe new screws to secure it?). It's probably worth calling and seeing if they'll do it for free, or at least come out and assess the situation for free.
You'll get a lot of varying opinions on this, and everyone has the right to do or not do what they want to do or don't want to do, but I personally wouldn't pay $95 or roughly $50 (thinking the cost of protection plan that I think has to be carried for six months plus a service call on the plan) for people to fix something that has gone wrong on equipment they own and are providing to me as part of a service I pay for every month, unless I was under contract and it sort of forced my hand, and then I'd just fume about it (or pay an ETF if were less than the repair costs).
If I have to pay them every month and then mail it back in the event that I discontinue my service, it's their job to keep it running to ensure that I'm getting the service I pay for, in my opinion. If I had a problem and they wanted to charge me to fix it, unless it was due to some sort of gross negligence on my part, I'd probably say "I'd like to cancel my account please" and switch to cable with their new customer promos. If I still felt like I'd prefer Dish after the cable promo ran out, I'd call Dish and see if I could get their new customer promo again and maybe better equipment at that juncture.
I don't feel that way about everything. If I get a computer or something, I do expect the company I buy it from to provide warranty service for a year, which is about standard. After that, I realize I'm on my own. But I'm not buying a subscription service from them, and I don't have to mail the computer back at any point. It's my equipment, so the responsibility shifts to me unless they have sold me a lemon (Which I define as something that breaks during the first year of normal use). Also, a computer can be used with various different Internet services, or even without the Internet at all for limited purposes (Music, word processing, some games, calculator, an encyclopedia or dictionary, DVD player if there's a DVD drive, watching pre-downloaded movies, etc..) or if it's a laptop taken to a McDonald's, a library, or a coffee shop that offers free wifi. A Dish can be used only to access Dish Network's pay service and typically isn't owned (Technically you can buy the things, and occasionally some people do, but I personally don't like the idea of buying something that turns into an expensive brick the second I stop paying a service fee from one specific company- I'd rather lease it for the duration of the service and then return it.).
I guess if Dish offered equipment that could do something other than just access the Dish service when paid for monthly, I'd think of it more in the vein of something I wanted to own and might pay to get serviced after the first year or two if it broke. It it were a box you buy that, yeah, could access Dish while you're subscribed, but also could be used to subscribe to Directv if you wanted to switch to Directv, and had features that worked without subscribing to anything at all (Maybe an OTA antenna that works superwell [Normal OTA attennas get nothing in my area], a DVR that stays functional after you cancel service and records OTA stuff or stuff off cable for no monthly fee, something that pulls programming off the Internet [similar to a Roku, etc.].). But if it's just the Dish box that just works when you pay Dish a fee, and it's provided to me temporarily to access Dish programming as long as I pay for it and it stops functioning and must be sent back when I'm finished, I feel like it's on them to maintain it, within reason. The cable company repairs their equipment gratis in similar circumstances.
And, to Dish's credit, they've done right by me when I've needed a tech, even if it's not their official policy. So I personally haven't had any issues there so far. Like I said, worth calling and seeing if they'll fix it for free for you, even if you don't intend to pay to get it fixed. If they tell you it's going to cost you while you're on the phone, you can always just say "No thanks, I'd like to cancel my service". Or you can call, see if you can get it fixed for no additional charge, and then, if they say no, and you are willing to pay, agree to do so at that juncture.
to SatelliteGuys and soory to hear what happened and hope you get everything fixed.I would call Dish and see what they say and then you may have to call your Homeowners Insurance but may have to call your Insurance to see if anything else was damaged 
