Satellite TV Bills to increase

[harshness]

Do the networks charge the TV providers a fee for every receiver when they make these contacts? I'm curious if they do because that would make sense why all providers charge a monthly fee for them regardless of them being owned or not.

I don't know the answer to that. I observe that the concept of outlet fees seems to come and go with cable operators. While cable no longer charges the fees, they've effectively reinstated them by pretty much forcing cable boxes.

If you're trying to get down and dirty on your negotiations, I suppose you would have to take away much of the wishy-washy language involving averages and worst case.

 

[king3pj]

Do the networks charge the TV providers a fee for every receiver when they make these contacts? I'm curious if they do because that would make sense why all providers charge a monthly fee for them regardless of them being owned or not.

I don't know the answer to that. I observe that the concept of outlet fees seems to come and go with cable operators. While cable no longer charges the fees, they've effectively reinstated them by pretty much forcing cable boxes.

If you're trying to get down and dirty on your negotiations, I suppose you would have to take away much of the wishy-washy language involving averages and worst case.

I don't know the answer either. I'm certainly no Tivo expert but I believe the Roamio can use up to 6 tuners with a single CableCard. I know for sure that the HDHomerun Prime has 3 tuners and only requires 1 cable card. You can use multiple HDHomeruns to give your PC 6 or more tuners. I believe Charter charges something like $2.50 per month for a CableCard.

Look at it this way. The Tivo Roamio is basically a Hopper and the Tivo Mini is basically a Joey. The Tivo Roamio could serve 6 rooms with Tivo Minis live TV for the price of that single $2.50 CableCard. Yes, the Tivo $15 per month is too much in my opinion but at least they don't have a fee on the Mini. Knowing that I would say that the networks can't be charging by the tuner or room. If they were Cable would be loosing lots of money by allowing 6 outlets for a total of $2.50.

I don't think Dish charges $7 per month for a Joey because it costs them that much. They do it because it's an extra revenue stream. It's the same reason every provider charges per box. Luckily there are 3rd party CableCard options that can be used instead of paying for equipment fees.

 

[mdavej]

I don't know the answer either. I'm certainly no Tivo expert but I believe the Roamio can use up to 6 tuners with a single CableCard. I know for sure that the HDHomerun Prime has 3 tuners and only requires 1 cable card. You can use multiple HDHomeruns to give your PC 6 or more tuners. I believe Charter charges something like $2.50 per month for a CableCard.

Look at it this way. The Tivo Roamio is basically a Hopper and the Tivo Mini is basically a Joey. The Tivo Roamio could serve 6 rooms with Tivo Minis live TV for the price of that single $2.50 CableCard. Yes, the Tivo $15 per month is too much in my opinion but at least they don't have a fee on the Mini. Knowing that I would say that the networks can't be charging by the tuner or room. If they were Cable would be loosing lots of money by allowing 6 outlets for a total of $2.50.

I don't think Dish charges $7 per month for a Joey because it costs them that much. They do it because it's an extra revenue stream. It's the same reason every provider charges per box. Luckily there are 3rd party CableCard options that can be used instead of paying for equipment fees.

My Ceton is 6 tuners on a single cable card, which is actually just $2 on Charter. So for $2, I'm running 5 TVs, which is equivalent to 2 Hoppers and 3 Joeys. In that scenario, the Dish fees would be around $45 plus $10 for HD (Charter doesn't charge extra for HD). (If I used Tivo or the cable company's equipment (shudder), costs would probably be about the same as Dish.) My TV package with Charter also has a lot more channels for a lot less. I essentially have AT250 plus HBO/MAX/SHO and tons of additional HD channels for $80 (currently discounted to $60 for 2 years). Charter just added 20 new foreign language HD channels last week, bringing them to 80 more HD channels than Dish or DirecTV.

Eariler, someone mentioned WAF with a PC based system. In my case it's 100%, including kids, guests and babysitters. For about the first year my wife actually thought we still had Dish but with a new interface. When I showed her how we could also do Netflix and browse the web and stream our own movie library, I couldn't fool her anymore. Honestly, a PC based system today can be totally transparent to the end user if you set it up right. Mine rarely reboots (only after a power outage). But when it does, it boots straight to media center and works with a normal remote. So the underlying operating system is never seen, just like with a satellite DVR or Tivo. Same goes for all my other TVs. All you have access to is media center. And those can boot straight to live TV, recording list, guide, whatever you choose.

Until cable card goes away, I don't see myself every going back to satellite.

 

[3HaloODST]

This is why the other guys have gone to calling it a "TV fee" (similar to cable's old "outlet fee").

A good portion of what they pay is based on how many unique views you have available; independent of who owns whatever is creating the view.

You have to be very motivated to not take advantage of the leasing program; especially considering the increasingly short useful life of the equipment involved and what it does to the resale value.

The only reason I own two Hoppers is because you can't lease more than two Hoppers.

 

[MikeD-C05]

One must always remember the differences between the conventional TiVos and the special models like the Roamio OTA. Among the most important is that the Roamio OTA doesn't have a Lifetime Subscription available and it is not eligible for multi-unit discounts. (TiVo has recently updated their fine print to reflect the earlier press release claims).


And for the cord nevers, the Roamio OTA MUST have a broadband Internet connection.

Well there is always a catch..........

 

[acostapimps]

You'd need a lot of equipment or a very small package for that statement to be accurate.

I hope you didn't mean what you said
If you know what I mean

 

[MikeD-C05]

I hope you didn't mean what you said
If you know what I mean

???

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

You'd need a lot of equipment or a very small package for that statement to be accurate.

I hope you didn't mean what you said
If you know what I mean

You needed to use this smiley emoticon to convey your "in the gutter" thought.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

???

You have to put your mind in the gutter to understand.

 

[harshness]

Until cable card goes away, I don't see myself every going back to satellite.

If STAVRA passes without an amendment postponing the CableCARD sunset, the end of CableCARD may be nearer than you think.

 

[Robc]

basically an isp can say that a company is pushing a competing service across our networks so pay up.
dish already does something similar to this when customers want to sign up for dishnet they ask are you going to use it to stream video/ net flix or online game. if a customer says yes they refer them to somebody else. now dish has no issues streaming in blockbuster at home to dishnet customers, which is the same as net flix.

Actually they do, its because of the limited bandwith of satellite internet. Blockbuster does not work with dishnet

 

[bigjohnok]

Actually they do, its because of the limited bandwith of satellite internet. Blockbuster does not work with dishnet

yes it does.

 

[ChadT41]

I think there should be clarification. Blockbuster and Netflix both will work with dishnet. Until you run out of your alloted usuage. Then it slows it down.

 

[MikeD-C05]

You have to put your mind in the gutter to understand.

I usually stay in the gutter, but today I guess I'm up on the curb.

 

[harshness]

I usually stay in the gutter, but today I guess I'm up on the curb.

And no doubt looking for fire hydrants to mark.

 

[Robc]

I think there should be clarification. Blockbuster and Netflix both will work with dishnet. Until you run out of your alloted usuage. Then it slows it down.

Which only takes one movie to eat your 5gb of data. I wouldn't exactly call that working

 

[ChadT41]

It was more in reference to net neutrality. Dish does not censor what webpage you go to.

 

[harshness]

It was more in reference to net neutrality. Dish does not censor what webpage you go to.

Ideally, I think the net neutrality is not so much about censorship but selective throttling of content.

 

[ChadT41]

They don't throttle certain content either. Would be censorship still. Censor those who don't pay them.

 

[harshness]

They don't throttle certain content either. Would be censorship still. Censor those who don't pay them.

Censorship is an outright denial. Intentionally slowing delivery is what I'm on about.