What is magic about the February date?

[joeyjojojnr]

I see a lot of mentions in various threads about the 'Feb 9' date. What, exactly, is going to be happening with dish on that date?

I'm looking at getting TurboHD/DVR as a new subscriber. Should I be holding out until Feb?

 

[KAB]

I see a lot of mentions in various threads about the 'Feb 9' date. What, exactly, is going to be happening with dish on that date?

I'm looking at getting TurboHD/DVR as a new subscriber. Should I be holding out until Feb?

The Feb date is when CURRENT subscribers can get Turbo. No need for you to wait.

 

[Jerryinvirginia]

Go for it.....Feb 9 refers to date given by FCC for OTA broadcast stations to turn off their analog signals and go digital. Doesn't have anything to do with your plans.

 

[jeepers94]

It is also the date that many will lose price protection,and dish can(will) raise prices!
So,ir is not all good for the feb date!

 

[Slamminc11]

Go for it.....Feb 9 refers to date given by FCC for OTA broadcast stations to turn off their analog signals and go digital. Doesn't have anything to do with your plans.

actually that is Febuary 17th.

It is also the date that many will lose price protection,and dish can(will) raise prices!
So,ir is not all good for the feb date!

To be fair, all sat and cable companies raise their prices each year, maybe not in February per se, but they all do...

 

[joeyjojojnr]

oh! Duh...of course...that's the switch to digital. Thanks for the info.

Sounds like, if anything, I should sign up BEFORE then to snag a couple of years of price protection.

 

[goaliebob99]

actually that is Febuary 17th.



To be fair, all sat and cable companies raise their prices each year, maybe not in February per se, but they all do...

Actually it looks like Directv is locking in their prices untill next year, dont know about dish.

 

[mike123abc]

It is speculated that there will be a new programming package realignment out of Dish once they allow all subs to subscribe to Turbo HD. Right now they do not allow existing subs to switch.

There is a lot of speculation since why would existing subs want to subscribe to existing AT packs when they can get most of the same channels in the HD pack at a lower cost and not have to pay the $10/month HD fee. Will Dish raise the cost of the Turbo packs to be the same as AT+$10, will they remove the $10 fee to compete with cable claim of free HD, or will they do something completely different.

One can currently view the Turbo packages as a new subscriber discount. Like saving $X/month for X months. The question is how they are going to reconcile the packages.

 

[jeffdan]

actually that is Febuary 17th.



To be fair, all sat and cable companies raise their prices each year, maybe not in February per se, but they all do...

well if you can beliveve this. i switched to dish about 1 month ago. i got the all hd pack + max for .1 . now charter is giving the everything pack with hd for 14.99 less then 1 month ago. and the price locks for one year. so i would say it's safe to assume that not everybody will be raised. well, except for the anuall "dish raise" in feb. that's is guaranteed.

 

[Slamminc11]

Actually it looks like Directv is locking in their prices untill next year, dont know about dish.

on some of Dish's packages, they locked them for two years that ends in Feb. So if there is a price increase on those, it could be understandable. I believe it was the family pack and the AT100.

 

[kwindrem]

Go for it.....Feb 9 refers to date given by FCC for OTA broadcast stations to turn off their analog signals and go digital.

Actually the end of analog TV broadcast is Feb 17th, 2009. After that date, consumers watching TV off the air will need a converter box for their analog TV (or new TV). Converter boxes are showing up on store shelves and can be purchased for almost nothing with the goverment-sponsored rebate.

"DTV" doesn't necessarily mean HD. SD content can still be broadcast digitally (ATSC standards).

Cable and satellite services must convert their off-air reception equipment to receive DTV by Feb 17, 2009 so as not to disrupt their customers. This most likely means that any HD content will be down-converted to SD at the reception point so existing distribution networks and channels can still be used.

Doesn't have anything to do with your plans.

I agree. No reason to wait.

 

[dennispap]

Actually the end of analog TV broadcast is Feb 17th, 2009. After that date, consumers watching TV off the air will need a converter box for their analog TV (or new TV). Converter boxes are showing up on store shelves and can be purchased for almost nothing with the goverment-sponsored rebate.

"DTV" doesn't necessarily mean HD. SD content can still be broadcast digitally (ATSC standards).

Cable and satellite services must convert their off-air reception equipment to receive DTV by Feb 17, 2009 so as not to disrupt their customers. This most likely means that any HD content will be down-converted to SD at the reception point so existing distribution networks and channels can still be used.

I agree. No reason to wait.

Not sure what you mean by new?

HDTV tuners

Over the air: By law, as of March 1, 2007, almost all televisions should include a built-in tuner (called HDTV, digital, or ATSC tuners) that can receive high-definition programs over the air by simply connecting an antenna. If your Older HDTV doesn't have such a tuner, you'll also need to connect an external tuner (or cable or satellite box) to watch high-definition programming. External over-the-air HDTV tuners currently cost at least $150.

FCC tuner mandate: You may have heard that all TVs will have to be HDTVs by a certain date. That's not technically correct. The FCC has mandated that as of March 1, 2007, all new TV and video products imported into the U.S. or shipped to retailers that include an analog (NTSC) tuner need to have a digital ATSC tuner as well. There's a loophole though: if the product contains no tuner whatsoever--for TVs, this means it's a "monitor"--then the mandate does not apply. As a result of the mandate, nearly all televisions sold after that date should be ready for the analog switch-off.

 

[AriesGodofWar]

Feb date is when your bill magically increases. You can then look back and think how you lost value in your current package as GolTV and Voom were ripped away and then curse Charlie.

 

[John Kotches]

Actually it looks like Directv is locking in their prices untill next year, dont know about dish.

You need to be a bit more specific about next year. "Until next year" in the most literal sense is just 32 days away.

Did you mean until 2010?