Now what do I do? Advice request for a wanna-be new Dish customer

[Nite]

First, some background:
I'm currently a DirecTV customer and have been for something like 14 years. In this past year my 6+ year old DirecTivo (R10) has been acting up and I started shopping around for a replacement. Since DirecTV doesn't seem to want to give me any sort of a package to keep me (although they would if I was a new customer, grr), I started looking at other companies. Dish seemed to give me everything I needed and more than I'm getting now for less than DirecTV, so I started trying to switch over to them.

The problem:
I'm in the Springfield(MA) DMA (zip 01007). For whatever reason, our Fox & ABC are not available on Dish. I don't mean they're not available in HD, I mean they're straight up not on Dish (although I'm getting Fox & ABC on DirecTV). I've been trying to call Dish every few months, as well as lurking in the forums here, to try and get an idea when they may become available. Obviously, the inability to get Fox and ABC is very much of a deal-killer for me.

The weirdness:
Today, after my Tivo rebooted again for no good reason, I called Dish again. The salesman on the phone was stunned to learn that there was somewhere that the locals weren't all available, did some digging, put me on hold, and came back on to tell me he was able to sign me up for ABC & Fox from NYC. I was, to say the least, somewhat surprised, since I [though I] knew that Dish didn't do the distant network thing themselves. He was insistent, though, that if I got the superstation package he'd be able to put the ABC & Fox in as well. I let him sign me up, scheduled an install, and hung up. A little later, still feeling pretty weird about it, I called back, got another guy, had him look over what I signed up for, and discovered, as I suspected, that ABC & Fox weren't, in fact, on the list of what I'd be getting. I canceled my order.

Request for advice:
Now what? I'm looking for, what I have to believe, is something fairly simple. The major over-the-air networks (Fox/ABC/CBS/NBC/PBS). A DVR with 2 rooms attached to it. HD on the main line stations (locals would be nice but not necessary). A moderate slate of the major "basic cable" channels (of the NickJR, ESPN, Discovery, NFL network type). I'd like to spend no more than I'm currently spending for basically that (minus the HD & with the DVR only in one room).
I would consider getting an external antenna and hooking it into the system to get those two channels, but I have no idea what kind of reception I get here (I've never used an over-the-air antenna here and I get lousy reception on radio & cell phone here as I'm nestled behind a small mountain, so it's probably pretty iffy) and I have no idea how well antennas play with DVRs in terms of being able to record off them.
Anyone have any suggestions as to what I might try next? I find it hard to believe there's no way in this entire DMA to get Fox and ABC; wouldn't that be as much of a deal killer for everyone else as it is for me? As I said, I've spent some time lurking in the forums so I see other people have complained about similar things, but I haven't seen any good resolution. Is there one?

I'd welcome and appreciate any input on this issue. Thanks!

 

[mike123abc]

If Dish has not worked out a carriage agreement with a station there is no telling when they may (if ever) do so.

You might also try PMing stonecold on this board to see how to get your DIRECTV stuff working better/upgraded if you are satisfied with DIRECTV it might still be the better choice.

 

[PhillipC@DISH Network]

Happy to hear that your interested in getting our service! I put in a request for both Fox & ABC in your area and we appreciate your feedback.

So just to clarify, these are the distant locals we currently provide in our Super Stations Package:
Los Angeles CW- KTLA (KTLA)
New York CW-WPIX (WPIX)
Denver CW-KWGN (KWGN)
Boston IND-WSBK (WSBK)
New York MNT-WWOR (WWOR)

Keep in mind that Sobongo has been approved to offer distant ABC, CBS, NBC and/or FOX network channels to eligible DISH Network customers using existing DISH network satellite equipment. You may be able to receive New York and San Francisco distant network channels from Sobongo using your existing DISH network satellite equipment! Call Sobongo at 1-800-909-9677 or visit their website www.allamericandirect.com to see if you qualify for FOX and ABC in your area.

I would recommend getting a VIP722k receiver and subscribing to our America's Top 200 Package with HD Free For Life, this includes all the channels you mentioned above.

 

[Dah-Henny]

Phillip, you might check that AAD site. They don't appear to be selling networks today.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

All American Direct is about done!

 

[mdram]

if they dont carry your locals you will need a waiver from the locals allowing distants, been there done that. getting that waiver is usually impossible.
dont belive what they tell you, been there done that too, even got a tshirt

dont know why they are suprised, there are other areas they dont carry them, mine for example, they are not even negoitiating. when they announced 100% local coverage i called them and told them they were flat out lying. got the same thing about distants that they could not deliver on.

 

[Jhon69]

The answer to the OP question is simple really.If your with DirecTV you call and ask to be transferred to the Retention Department,with Dish Network it's the Loyalty Department.Your offers will depend when you received your last upgrade,what package you subscribe to(the higher priced package the better,invest and you shall receive) how long you have been a customer and if you have always paid your bill on time.It also depends if you are still in a commitment.

If your still upset with the offer they give you then to receive a "new customer" discount you have to become a "new customer" with another service, it's as simple as that.

Good Luck!.

 

[powerhouse1960]

You might also try PMing stonecold on this board to see how to get your DIRECTV stuff working better/upgraded if you are satisfied with DIRECTV it might still be the better choice.

I agree I left after 15 years during the versus blackout they made me a great offer to stay I should have .

 

[patsfan72]

you could just "move" to either the hartford dma or the brattleboro VT dma. I am in W SPFLD and did the "move" to the Hartford DMA. i also have and external Antenna and pull in
wwlp
wggb abc
wggb fox
fox 61
cbs 3
wvit 30
wtxx 20
wtnh 8
pbs 24
pbs 57
all the spanish channels
and during winter i can pull in some Albany channels but once the trees start to bloom again i lose them.

 

[lparsons21]

If it is feasible to get the locals via OTA, then that would be a better way imo. Since the 722/722k can both get either 1 or 2 OTA channels giving you 3 or 4 recordable sources at once, it might be something to consider.

 

[kikenovic]

you could just "move" to either the hartford dma or the brattleboro VT dma. I am in W SPFLD and did the "move" to the Hartford DMA.

That's right. Get your new service installed as usual then a few days after you contact CSR via chat then tell them you moved to another market (a market where there is no dispute)
You have to pretended you indeed moved and self installed. There is a post about someone wanting Scranton, PA locals instead of NYC, that post explains everything pretty well.

 

[Nite]

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. It's greatly appreciated. I've gone ahead and spoken to retention at Directv and am considering their counter offer, but I'm still somewhat on the fence. The OTA is still a viable option, but since I've never had an antenna up here and my reception for *everything* is so bad, I'm concerned I'll commit, get the antenna up and find my reception is unusable. Decisions, decisions...

The "moving" idea is one I'm just not comfortable with. For one thing, I'd still like to get at least some local channels for weather, local news & school closings. But at least as importantly, I'm not happy about the idea of having to use fraud to get something that, IMO, should be available to me honestly. To be blunt about it, if Dish is unable to get me what is a reasonable request for a television providing company, why should I lie on their behalf?

I'll keep you guys updated on the egotistical assumption that anyone cares what I do. Right now I'm leaning back to staying with Directv. They've got me a decent deal, but I'd still like to get it so I don't need to pay for the wiring for the whole home dvr (which would be "free" to a new customer). We'll see...

 

[mdram]

its not really dish or directvs fault over the locals. some locals just wont budge.