Will the ecnomice downturn affect your E* programing package?

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Paradox-SJ

Paradox-SJ

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Nov 20, 2003
1,636
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San Jose, California
With the economic downturn, layoffs and on going recession, are you reducing your E* programming package to reduce your household expediters?


I am thinking about downgrading from AEP+locals, HD GOld and two DVR's....to something less expensive and one DVR...just have not decided what yet?

What about you?
 
Paradox-SJ said:
With the economic downturn, layoffs and on going recession, are you reducing your E* programming package to reduce your household expediters?


I am thinking about downgrading from AEP+locals, HD GOld and two DVR's....to something less expensive and one DVR...just have not decided what yet?

What about you?
Click to expand...

When my dvr advantage price increase takes affect, I will drop hbo and prehaps even downgrade from platiumum hd to gold hd.
 
I went down from having 2-622's to 1-622 and 1-508, also I dropped AT200 to AT100. Saved about $20.00 a month. I miss NFL network, but I have the internet to check the scores.
 
Still haven't found out what the new pricing will be.

I am on HD Absolute and my bill due 2/3/09 is still the same, except for $.49 in additional sales tax (don't know why).

I tried to check my billing again today and I can't get signed in...
 
I just looked at my bill and I'm getting clobbered with huge taxes. They look to be 14% of the total bill. Must be fricking Florida crap. I didn't have them back in Illinois. No price increases yet but didn't expect any until the next billing period.
 
When I find out what happens to us absolute subs, I'll make a decision. I'm only willing to spend so much. If possible (grandfathered?), I'll stay with absolute unless they dangle a very enticing carrot in the form of new HD. Right now, my bill is only $57.XX with taxes, locals, absolute, and Starz included.
 
Yes it definitely affected me. I made the following changes to my account.

Dropped off the second 722 and added a 211k with an external hard drive for my 8 year old son in his room. He watches only recorded cartoon shows so no big deal . Swapped an old 622 sitting around for the new 211k and it costed me nothing from Dishdepot.com. Mark did a complete free swap and paid for shipping and handling. NO MORE DVR FEEs! I save $5.98 a month now instead of pay it to DISH.

Added a pal plus dvr from Echostar for ota recordings in hd for my master bedroom. My wife and I can share the main 722 in the living room. NO FEE to record two ota stations at the same time and all of my ota stations are in HD! This will come in handy when she wants to watch decorating shows . I can move into the bedroom or watch tv 2 of the 722 in the computer room.

Dropped my premium programming: Hbo and Starz . Saved about 20.00 right there. So now my programming is :

49.99- top 200 dvr advantage includes locals and one dvr fee
10.00- top 250 bonus pack
10.00- Gold hd pack
00.01- Cinemax pack
07.00-additional receiver fee for 211k
-------------------------------------
$77.00 before tax

Of course come 2/02/09 they will go up by $8.00 freaking dollars on the top 200 dvr advantage pack ,but I offset it by dropping Starz /Hbo-20.00 and dropping off the 722 and the extra dvr fee 5.98=25.98 . So now I will pay $17.98 less than I did before 2/01/09 price increase-25.98-8.00 increase=17.98.

Going to sell the extra 722 on E-bay and it will pay for the new dtv pal plus dvr from Echostar. It is amazing how much you can save when you actually think about it. Next year I guess I will drop down to just the top 200 +hd pack if there is another big price increase like this year. I still think that 8.00 increase is ridiculous in this economy. DISH should of fought harder to stop this from happening or offset the increase by doing something visionary. How about making the dvr advantage for ALL dvrs on your account? I wouldn't of had to sell my extra 722 dvr. Last year I gave up using my 622 to save the 7.00 + 5.98 =12.98 fees to offset last years price increase.


The funniest thing is that I realize that we watch the majority of our programming on our locals anyway. IF it wasn't for my kid and his kid programming, I would of downgraded to just top 100 and been just fine with my programming. Most of what I watch is in that pack anyway. I am going to continue to look at alternatives like the fee free dvr from Echostar and other programming alternatives in the future. I will not pay anymore than what I am right now for tv programming from now on , unless I come into some big raises at work. I don't see that happening since I work for the cheap state of Texas.

Oh by the way I am dropping XM sat radio in my two cars also ,since they are going up as well on the extra receiver fees. Its the principle of the thing . I can listen to most of what I listen to on fm radio just fine. Especially since I live only 5 minutes from work anyway. How often do I get to actually listen to XM anyway? Also dropped my landline phone to just a single line for like 10.00 amonth and of course my dsl is still on there and I only pay about 55.00 a month now. I have to have a land line contact line for work. Use my cell for anyone who knows me and I will cut that out next January when my two year commitment is up. There is more ways to save money in this economy if you think about it. I found that I was spending a lot of money a month that I really didn't have to . My lot rent went up by 10.00 ,my house insurance went up by 10.00 a month also. Federal Flood insurance rose my about 26.00 a year also. I just keep on cutting my spending and it is offsetting most of the increases.
 
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As soon as I see how much my bill is going up, I will be making some changes. As soon as the 222k is available to be used with an external hard drive, I will drop one of my 722's. May have to drop the extra sports package too. Sure don't want to drop the HD programming, but man, this economy is getting worse.
 
I am probably changing to the Bronze Turbo DVR plan with locals next month and when the company I work for files chapter 11 next month I may have to drop Dish for the DTVPal DVR and just go OTA only with no fees and no monthly charges.
 
I dropped all of the premium movie channels and saved $30 and spent $18 to subscribe to netflix. The warehouse is one business day away so my turnaround is fast and there has not been anything on any of them that impresses me since John Adams on HBO. I just want my Rochester locals in HD......
 
I have already taken action. Six months ago I dropped the Platiumum package. Two months ago I downgraded from the AT250 Gold to the AT200 Silver. If things keep getting worse with the economy and the price increases and no more HD Nationals, I will be I will be going to the AT100 Bronze package. After that who knows, maybe OTA only.
 
No, as thus far the downturn hasn't effected my finances.

Still, I've always been as frugal as possible (no good reason to waste money even in good times). Currently have HD absolute and penny Cinemax, will move to TurboHD Silver when Comedy Central is launched.
 
I already dropped from DVR advantage 200 to Top 100. I did finally get HD with a 622, so I eliminated the second receiver fee I was paying. Even though I'm gonna be paying an extra $10 a month for HD, it will still be cheaper than what I would have paid come Feb. 1.
 
I have given myself a $60 TV budget.

I was DDA AT200 and SilverHD which put me at $60. With the upcoming price increasing that will take me above my budget.

So I have switched to DDA TurboHD Gold. This is currently $50. Come the increase it will go to $60.

Depending on how the new HD channels get placed, I have been thinking I might drop down to DDA TurboHD Silver which will be $50 when the price increase kicks in and use the other $10 for a Netflix/Blockbuster to rent Blu-Ray movies. I really like Encore HD though ...
 
I will be dropping my AT250 + HD down to TurboHD Silver as soon as they allow current subscribers to do so

Is that Feb 1st or some date later in February?
 

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