2021 Dish Prices

[Jim5506]

Just received an email this morning informing me my Dish bill will be increasing by $45 a month. I’ve enjoyed interacting with you all here; but I’m forced now to seek other tv options after 14yrs. Good luck to you all, stay safe & happy new year.

How did you manage that with packages only going up $5 this year, even if you had a 2 year price lock the should only be a $10 increase. Perhaps you need to call and get some of your extra discounts renewed.

Mine went up $20 last year because my renewal did not time correctly with discounts Dish was offering until several months later and they would not rework my bill until the 2 year price lock expires next year.

Even at that I'm paying $120 per month for AT200 with an H3 and a J3 - no other add-ons.

 

[sam_gordon]

Even at that I'm paying $120 per month for AT200 with an H3 and a J3 - no other add-ons.

That seems high to me. I'm paying $87 total for AT200 with two Vip receivers. Even with the added costs of an H3/J3 (each are ~$7/month more than Vip, right?), that should still be ~$100/month.

 

[zippyfrog]

Just received an email this morning informing me my Dish bill will be increasing by $45 a month. I’ve enjoyed interacting with you all here; but I’m forced now to seek other tv options after 14yrs. Good luck to you all, stay safe & happy new year.

Wow! $45 is a huge increase! Did promotional pricing run out or a deal you cut with them expire?

 

[TheKrell]

Just received an email this morning informing me my Dish bill will be increasing by $45 a month.

Well, that sucks! Something almost as bad happened to me last year and I negotiated (without any difficulty) a reduction (and locked it in) for more than the increase. You might try the retentions number before you give up.

 

[rickmyers]

Wow! $45 is a huge increase! Did promotional pricing run out or a deal you cut with them expire?

I’m out of two yr contract. I have AT250, hopper 3 & 2 joeys. At250 went from $77.99 to $97.99. Additional $ has something to do with prorated charges of when my old contract was up (11-28) and new charges took effect I guess.

 

[TheKrell]

I’m out of two yr contract. I have AT250, hopper 3 & 2 joeys. At250 went from $77.99 to $97.99. Additional $ has something to do with prorated charges of when my old contract was up (11-28) and new charges took effect I guess.

That is exactly what I had last year when this happened. But your increase was even higher than mine! Anyhow, I'm still here because retentions did what they had to to keep me.

 

[PHXHoward]

Does Dish still have a Preferred Customer Offer? If so, what is the current price for flex and top 120?

 

[MsJungle]

How did you manage that with packages only going up $5 this year, even if you had a 2 year price lock the should only be a $10 increase. Perhaps you need to call and get some of your extra discounts renewed.

Mine went up $20 last year because my renewal did not time correctly with discounts Dish was offering until several months later and they would not rework my bill until the 2 year price lock expires next year.

Even at that I'm paying $120 per month for AT200 with an H3 and a J3 - no other add-ons.

What is a J3?

 

[MsJungle]

What is a j3

 

[pattykay]

Does Dish still have a Preferred Customer Offer? If so, what is the current price for flex and top 120?

$42.99 and $52.99

I finally got someone that could help me out but I think the rates for the new Preferred Customer Offer have increased compared to what is posted on the website. I have Americas Top 120, which has gone up by $10 (was previously $42.99).

�

Qualifying Programming Packages
Programming Package	Price*
Flex Pack	$42.99​
America's Top 120	$52.99​
America's Top 120+	$57.99​
America's Top 200	$67.99​
America's Top 250	$77.99​
Latino Clasico	$37.99​
Latino Plus	$39.99​
Latino Dos	$59.99​
Latino Max	$74.99​

 

[Bobby]

What is a j3

A J3 is a Joey 3...

 

[satjay]

This chart was on my most recent Dish bill, issued just a couple of days ago:
View attachment 149554
Note that this new chart does not list the Locals Only core package price increase. (In fact, it does not list that package at all.) It also does not mention anything about the lower equipment fees for purchased equipment. Both of those omissions are interesting, especially on my bill, since I subscribe to Locals Only, and I have purchased equipment.

However, from the fine print elsewhere on my bill comes this little note about various surcharge changes, which are not mentioned at all on the page in the mydish link:
"The following monthly surcharges are also increasing by the amount stated: Connecticut $0.12, Delaware $0.09, Kentucky $0.07, Ohio $0.01 and FCC $0.01. The monthly surcharge for Puerto Rico will decrease by $0.02."

Yeah, I know probably nobody here cares about an increase of only a few cents here or there, but I thought I should be thorough.

Welcome package not that far of from some of the other smaller packages as far as price

 

[pattykay]

Welcome package not that far of from some of the other smaller packages as far as price

There is a difference. Despite the note in the fine print about the locals not being included, locals are in fact included (for now?) in Welcome Pack. With all of the other packages, you would be charged the additional $12 per month if you want to add the locals.

 

[sktrus]

locals are in fact included (for now?)

Crodrules is correct. After getting ota channels, I called Dish to cancel locals pack, hoping to save $12. Told locals were included in Welcome pack. Oh well, I at least get some subs, and ready for next dispute.

 

[pattykay]

Crodrules is correct. After getting ota channels, I called Dish to cancel locals pack, hoping to save $12. Told locals were included in Welcome pack. Oh well, I at least get some subs, and ready for next dispute.

Well, to the earlier points about the price increases for Welcome Pack being out-of-line with the programming that is actually included in the package...

Welcome Pack $39.99*

* if you are a super cheap tightwad and have actually had this package since before 2019... I mean dude WTF?!... the price will be $35.99

622/722 (not a 722k, also don't own) down from $17 to $10... I pay $7 Equipment fee for the 722k DVR. So no change because not owned?

So my bill is going up due to the Welcome Pack $5 increase... plus tax then? $45 for Welcome Pack is really pushing it.

What really sucks is there is less on Television now (locals are pathetic other than sports), more of the better quality stuff has been shuffled to stream only, RSNs are gone... and the bill still went up!? What exactly on Welcome Pack deserves that $5 increase?

That is understood, but Directv's increases seem more inline with the average increase based on the programming provided. Dish just slapped $5 on each package. Welcome Pack is getting very pricey.

Welcome package not that far of from some of the other smaller packages as far as price

...perhaps this is all part of Dish's strategy. They are raising the price of Welcome Pack to the point where they can actually allow Welcome Pack subscribers to drop the locals, and still be able for Dish to afford to offer service to these customers. Dish has to make a certain average amount per subscriber in order to be profitable.

On the other hand, Dish's strategy (not advertising Welcome Pack as available, and raising the price very close to the price of other small packages) may be an effort to eliminate Welcome Pack entirely. In this case, Dish is likely hoping that enough Welcome Pack subscribers will either upgrade to another package on their own, or cancel service entirely, that there will not be very many affected subscribers who would be forced to switch packages when Dish does finally stop offering Welcome Pack.

 

[telstar_1]

OK, so this thread's about DiSH charges and has also significantly veered into "significantly viewed" and other matters relating to sat locals. I'm interested a little in the former, and more in the latter.

As a former dealer (out 10 years), I had been under the impression that lease fees were abated on purchased receivers. Or maybe abated just on owned receivers additional to the first one. But if they have been charging owners the same line-item lease fee as non-owners, maybe there's some consumer regulation they're responding to that prohibits this. However, what then is their replacement policy for bad rx's? I had thought they swapped out ANY failed rx free (leased or owned), as long as it had been active on account. I suppose that charging the leasing fee helps to indemnify DiSH against people quitting after just a couple years and not returning gear, but for a long-termer, owning would be a much better deal than paying $5, or $7(?)/mo. in a rental fee. Otherwise the $5 increase on every pkg option looks to be their standard annual practice.

On to the locals. This has hands-down been the biggest mess at DiSH. I remember back to when they started bringing on expanded locals markets (beyond their initial "big six"). This proceeded slowly and built out over a number of years until they covered most markets, but still not all. If there was some rule that they HAD to put ALL markets' locals up, I wasn't aware of it. My take was that they were doing it, i.e., going through all of this trouble & expense, simply not to lose business after they had been punished for past misbehavior in (improperly) turning on distant net affils by not being allowed to activate them any more even when local signals weren't good. Far as I knew, they could simply not uplink a market, and thus forego some business, and they did just that in a number of cases.

At this time they started talking about getting authorized to activate "significantly viewed" locals. For instance, I'm sitting where with a good antenna you can get the nets from 2 different DMA's, and the local cable puts on both sets of nets. However, I can only get 1 set from DiSH. If I were to reside just a mile to the west, I would still only be able to get 1 set, but it would be the OTHER set. You can imagine the position this placed me in as a dealer with customers who had regularly viewed locals that they would lose because they were on the wrong side of the county line, only to be replaced with unfamiliar ones. So I'm having to do crap like misreporting their address so they can get their proper (or at least their desired) locals.

So I was waiting for "significantly viewed", where presumably those addresses falling within the broadcast contour for more than one affil of the same net would be eligible to get both. Presumably the way it would work would be that in order to get locals from outside (but adjacent to) the DMA you're placed in, you'd have to also have the locals from within it activated. So you'd have both sets, like on cable. But this never happened. I had chalked it up to DiSH still being punished. AFAIK it still hasn't happened. Now we're saying here that they ARE activating significantly viewed?

As to the pay for locals retrans scheme, count me firmly in the camp that the service providers shouldn't have to give them a dime. What a bogus argument, that sat should be making up for diverting viewers' eyeballs to nonlocal attractions by paying them compensatory fees! What BS! That is only simple competition. Or that sat should be paying simply because being able to do locals helps them do better business. Bull! Here's the deal- The broadcasters were GIVEN (for free) control of (scarce) airwave spectrum and allowed to monetize it through advertising with the PROVISO that they serve in the community interest. That does NOT mean charging SOME of its audience hefty fees simply based on the routing of the signal amid claims of retrans infringement! Crap, sat is spending significant sums just to put all these locals up in support of their ad-supported viewership and to keep viewers connected to their locals rather than making it harder to see them and thus discourage viewing!

Locals want to charge extortionately for retrans? Let them have to purchase or start paying rent for their free broadcast spectrum, which has become a rather pricey commodity in the mobile-communications age.

 

[sam_gordon]

Locals want to charge extortionately for retrans? Let them have to purchase or start paying rent for their free broadcast spectrum, which has become a rather pricey commodity in the mobile-communications age.

Good to know you support retrans agreements! Broadcasters DO pay for their use of the spectrum. They have annual licensing fees they need to pay the FCC.
Now, if you want to argue they don't pay enough, that's one thing, but claiming they get free use of their frequency is incorrect.

 

[mwdxer1]

I also do not have an issue. As long as locals are sold separately so the consumer has the right to opt out of them. I never understand why have a dispute with locals, as charge what the market rate is. People can make their own choice if they want the locals or not. Many have opt out anyway as they have an antenna.

 

[NYDutch]

Is anyone aware of a DMA where Dish does not offer the locals? As far as I know, Dish offers all 210 of them including the few dual DMA areas like two counties in southern Vermont.

 

[pattykay]

I also do not have an issue. As long as locals are sold separately so the consumer has the right to opt out of them. I never understand why have a dispute with locals, as charge what the market rate is. People can make their own choice if they want the locals or not. Many have opt out anyway as they have an antenna.

The problem is that not all Dish packages have the ability to opt out of locals. Welcome Pack subscribers can't drop them. (Not easily, anyway. And the few who have done it ended up not saving very much on their bill, due to being penalized with an additional fee when they did not subscribe to locals.) The last time I checked, the very cheapest Latino core package also would not allow locals to be dropped.