However Dish, left me with no choice but to switch to TWC last September, in order to get MSG-HD for the Buffalo Sabres and YES HD for the Yankees. I am not locked into a contract so, if or when Dish rectifies the situation I can readily jump back.
Plus TWC gave me a deal where I am saving $40 a month for two years, for what I was paying in the past for a combined Dish for TV and Roadrunner for internet. So if it takes a couple years, I have time to explore my options.
I called TWC yesterday to see what my bill would be. I'm only interested in HD. No internet. No phone. No movie packages. Just HD channels. $44.95 a month for programming for a year, then it jumps to 72.95 a month (plus fees and taxes of course). Fees include stuff like, "oh you want an HD DVR with that?", "You have 3 TVs? *gasp!*", etc.
HOWEVER, I think the only way I'd go to TWC is if I invested in a couple of TiVo Premiers. So the question of cable cards came up. Kapil (offshore) had no clue, so I called Kathy in the local office. Not much of a clue there either. They'll supply cable cards at $5.95 EACH PER MONTH! (I'd need a pair of "M" cards, one for each TiVo)
However.... and this just makes me laugh out loud at TWC and their complete idiocy.... the cable cards THAT THEY SUPPLY do not work properly with their new switched digital signaling. Channels drop out and don't come back.
Say WHAT?
Switching to D* would cost me an assload in up front charges.
At this point I'm really wondering how long it will take to get so completely frustrated at the hassle and expense of payTV in ANY flavor, that I just get rid of it all and go back to OTA (in which case the TiVo WOULD work just fine...or I could get a Channel Master 7000 which is like a dtvPAL).
Right now it is apparently worth the hassle and expense because I'm still here. I just wonder how long before I give up.