Smithsonian HD dropped and replaced with Crime & Investigation HD

Hopefully they will drop the fishing channel and replace it too.

I am sure my views do not coincide with most of the views I have read in this thread so far so please take that into consideration. I wonder if this is another case of Dish knowing which channels are most popular based on viewing habits. Let me say I watched Voom all the time, but the channels they said were the most viewed on there were absolutely not the most viewed by me personally and I viewed a lot of Voom, just not the channels they said were the most popular. I got that concept about Voom from postings about that situation with Voom and Dish I read about right here on this website. Perhaps this is why The Smithsonian Channel was taken down. Again I watched Voom all the time and when I pulled up the guide for Smithsonian the only programs that looked like I would enjoy were the ones that looked like they were straight off of Equator on Voom. The other original type programming from Smithsonian just did not interest me. So maybe this is why they took this channel down and for once they got it right, but I did keep this channel in my favorites list because it was eye candy. I just never watched it because I was really not interested in their programming that much. This is just my one cents worth and by the way I get tired of hearng Mr. Ergen get the blame and by the way this situation does not really upset me. Dish is great.
 
I am sure my views do not coincide with most of the views I have read in this thread so far so please take that into consideration. I wonder if this is another case of Dish knowing which channels are most popular based on viewing habits. Let me say I watched Voom all the time, but the channels they said were the most viewed on there were absolutely not the most viewed by me personally and I viewed a lot of Voom, just not the channels they said were the most popular. I got that concept about Voom from postings about that situation with Voom and Dish I read about right here on this website. Perhaps this is why The Smithsonian Channel was taken down. Again I watched Voom all the time and when I pulled up the guide for Smithsonian the only programs that looked like I would enjoy were the ones that looked like they were straight off of Equator on Voom. The other original type programming from Smithsonian just did not interest me. So maybe this is why they took this channel down and for once they got it right, but I did keep this channel in my favorites list because it was eye candy. I just never watched it because I was really not interested in their programming that much. This is just my one cents worth and by the way I get tired of hearng Mr. Ergen get the blame and by the way this situation does not really upset me. Dish is great.

:up:up:up Give that man an award!
 
I am sure my views do not coincide with most of the views I have read in this thread so far so please take that into consideration. I wonder if this is another case of Dish knowing which channels are most popular based on viewing habits. Let me say I watched Voom all the time, but the channels they said were the most viewed on there were absolutely not the most viewed by me personally and I viewed a lot of Voom, just not the channels they said were the most popular. I got that concept about Voom from postings about that situation with Voom and Dish I read about right here on this website. Perhaps this is why The Smithsonian Channel was taken down. Again I watched Voom all the time and when I pulled up the guide for Smithsonian the only programs that looked like I would enjoy were the ones that looked like they were straight off of Equator on Voom. The other original type programming from Smithsonian just did not interest me. So maybe this is why they took this channel down and for once they got it right, but I did keep this channel in my favorites list because it was eye candy. I just never watched it because I was really not interested in their programming that much. This is just my one cents worth and by the way I get tired of hearng Mr. Ergen get the blame and by the way this situation does not really upset me. Dish is great.

So you're saying that Charlie checked with you first to see if he should pull the channel? :)

Many, if not most, channels are popular with only a small fraction of subscribers. If we followed the criterion you suggest Charlie would be pulling probably 80% of our programming and we might be left with locals only (I know, don't give him any ideas).

How many Dish subscribers do you think are really into NASCAR? Would you suggest Charlie pull SPEED next?
 
The Platinum package is just so packed with value that there's no way they could add another channel to it.:rolleyes:

It seems odd that they would be able to back out of their contract so soon. Hasn't it only been on, like 8 months?
 
Just a theory...Sundance should be coming out of the Showtime package soon and moving to a basic package, since it's no longer run by Showtime. Perhaps Smithsonian will be added to Showtime?

Pretty unlikely, but who knows with these guys.
 
I'm new to this site today. Good info here, unavailable elsewhere. I have had Dish TV since 2000 when I couldn't get a cable feed to a new house I built. I have really liked it for the most part. But early last year I switched to Direct TV solely because they were going to televise about a dozen more Astros games in HD. While I liked Direct TV, I thought their equipment wasn't as good as Dish, nor was their on-screen programming guide as good. We also missed the Dish PIP function in the remote (great for college sports on Saturday)which Direct did not have. The movie review ratings, the "star ratings", we found to be an excellent guide on Dish. So last August I went back to Dish at a cost of $360 to exit my Direct contract ($20/mo for 18 months remaining). When I came back to Dish after 6 months, the programming had improved dramatically.

I think there are advantages to both systems. But since we are still in the early stages of HD programming, I will not jump again unless I see a profound difference.

And I am ticked off about the removal of the Smithsonian Channel. I watched it a lot.
 
I've been meaning to drop Platinum (again)...maybe I'll do it now and say it's because they dropped Smithsonian. Really I don't care...I just buy it for the two movie channels. But I can use it as an excuse to make a point.
 
The Platinum package is just so packed with value that there's no way they could add another channel to it.:rolleyes:

It seems odd that they would be able to back out of their contract so soon. Hasn't it only been on, like 8 months?
They are in negotiations for a new contract. Apparently the contract has expired.
 
So you're saying that Charlie checked with you first to see if he should pull the channel? :)

No, this is not what I am saying. I just get tired of hearing Mr. Ergen get blamed for everything, and no what I stated was the reasoning I heard regarding Voom. Some said Dish wanted to keep the best channels from Voom based on viewership. The five they would have kept from Voom were not the ones I viewed the most on Voom which I watched a lot and therefor I was saying that perhaps they got it right this time using that same criteria as the basis for their decision to get rid of Smithsonian coinciding with my viewing habits, I never watched Smithsonian.
 
dumb question..What happens after 3 months? Does it go away or do I have to call in and pay a $5 downgrade fee?

You have to call, they should waive the downgrade fee. I've downgraded my core package before, and as a courtesy they have waived the downgrade fee w/o even asking. As long as you don't do it to often!
 
I was told a while back that anyone with a DVR Advantage pack can't change programming online (for fear that we might alter the programming such that we no longer qualify for it's discount). This may be why some of us can't see any deals on our accounts. I called in to complain and they didn't offer me anything. They just went ahead and dropped the platinum pack from my account without offering me anything that has been mentioned in this thread. When I asked about promotions they let me know that I could get 3 months of HBO and Starz WITH a 24 month commitment. I kindly said no thanks.
 
I was told a while back that anyone with a DVR Advantage pack can't change programming online (for fear that we might alter the programming such that we no longer qualify for it's discount). This may be why some of us can't see any deals on our accounts. I called in to complain and they didn't offer me anything. They just went ahead and dropped the platinum pack from my account without offering me anything that has been mentioned in this thread. When I asked about promotions they let me know that I could get 3 months of HBO and Starz WITH a 24 month commitment. I kindly said no thanks.

That explains a lot since I have DDA.
 
Well, Dish just save me $10/month. I canceled the PlatinumHD pack. They were nice enough to waive the $5 downgrade fee.

Smithsonian was the only one of those channels that I watched. Let me know if anything exciting happens on the World Fishing Network. :)
 
Well, Dish just save me $10/month. I canceled the PlatinumHD pack. They were nice enough to waive the $5 downgrade fee.

Smithsonian was the only one of those channels that I watched. Let me know if anything exciting happens on the World Fishing Network. :)

When I cancelled my Plat-HD earlier today they waived the fee. They are good about the fees so far as I can attest to. The Fishing Network... LOL
Then again, I'd pay for MLB Network so 'to each their own'. I'm glad the fishermen can have their network at least.
 
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It's the principle of the thing. They remove channels to keep costs down, yet my base package is going up by $8 as of this month. Seems to me that keeping costs down is not being passed on to us consumers. I honestly should have dropped the Platinum pack when they dropped Voom, the newest drop reminded me of the issues Platinum has. The package just isn't worth $10 a month.
 
Log into your account under programming or Programming Offers and see what you may qualify for HBO and Starz free for 3 months, and maybe a Loyal Customer offer $10 per month for 12 months.

I just got HBO and Starz free for 3 months and $10/month off for a year! :) Thanks for the tip! I need to remember to check the offers more often... :)
 

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