December 18th Dish Retailer Chat Recap

[foghorn2]

I think the Sat and Cable companies are using the economy as there strategy to justify big jumps. We have heard them say "Well now people are staying at home, with the TV as there entertainment"

I dont think that means....Jack up increases to hi levels, since people are staying home.

They are right in that more people are staying home....unemployed!

So they want to increase prices?

 

[DennisTheSatellite]

How/when/where to upgrade from 622 to 722 (or better?)

<They mention that the new receiver names will go into effect on February 1st when the price changes happen. (I don't know if I were wanting a 722k as it offers dual off air tuning with the tuner cartridge and all I can order is a "Enhanced HD Duo DVR Receiver" and I just got a standard 722 I would be pissed.>

Please help, Scott. I was getting ready to sign the 24 mo agreement to switch from my 622 to the 722. Would you please explain the 722k features. I don't understand what they do. Will Dish offer the best DVR. Should I wait until Feb? Do I need to buy retail?

THANK YOU for your help.
Dennis

 

[indianafanatic]

Dennis,
There's a whole thread about the 722k, found here:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/155304-722k-ota-tuner-up-close.html

 

[LER]

LER deleted the offending post as spam. Perhaps you could kill the quote as well, so the guy doesn't get the free ad.

One step ahead of you

 

[DIRANONI]

Any word on HD absolute package, will it continue to exist past February 2009.

Thanks

 

[satjay]

If a new customer signed up in January....would they then have a bill hike in February or would there be some lock in??

 

[dembinskij]

If anyone signs up with Dish in January they better have some vaseline becase they will get the shaft just like the rest of us. Only difference their's will come a lot sooner. Good luck with the lawyers Charlie!!!

 

[satjay]

If anyone signs up with Dish in January they better have some vaseline becase they will get the shaft just like the rest of us. Only difference their's will come a lot sooner. Good luck with the lawyers Charlie!!!

,
LOL....Too funny, I thought about researching Dish in the new year, but that price jump is pretty steep and again we will see what Direct's increase will be, I think I will be sticking with Directv, but we will see what 09 will bring

 

[Jim5506]

Unless internet "TV" greatly improves the picture quality it cannot compete with HD TV of any kind.

And I'm not dropping a $60 Satellite bill in order to pay a $100 broadband bill so I can get HD video through the net.

 

[foghorn2]

Unless internet "TV" greatly improves the picture quality it cannot compete with HD TV of any kind.

And I'm not dropping a $60 Satellite bill in order to pay a $100 broadband bill so I can get HD video through the net.

I pay $40 for broadband and HD looks pretty darn good.

 

[jdmacor]

I pay $40 for broadband and HD looks pretty darn good.

And for many people, it is good enough. But they are still not of the same quality. And even if you can watch most network shows for free on the net, you have NO option for live things (sports, award shows, etc.). Again, this may be good enough for some people, but internet content distribution is not up to snuff yet for me.

 

[HDRoberts]

I pay $40 for broadband and HD looks pretty darn good.

You are one of the lucky few. Here in Cleveland, $47 with TWC gives you all of 7 down/512k up. 15 down/768k up for $10 more.

That, and I could easily see if HD over IP becomes common, bandwidth caps could easily come into play.

Sorry, but TV over internet is a long way away. Not until most homes get true FTTP connections, not the paltry 3% or so that can get Fios.

 

[eacalhoun]

Can someone verify if THIS will be my increase -- my equipment is a DVR 625 and a non-dvr 322 with AT200 DVR Advantage.

Dish DVR Advantage ---- 49.99 (old); 57.99 (new)
Additional receiver ------- 5.00 (some posters have indicated this to be 6.00)
DHPP -------------------- 5.99 (no price increase)
TOTAL w/o tax ---------- 60.98 (old); 68.98 (new)

The only question I really have is whether there will be a price increase for my additional non-DVR receiver.

Thanks.

Eric

 

[Tyralak]

Well, I suppose it's time to drop the seldom watched HBO and Showtime packages I have. I'll wait to see exactly what the increase to my bill will be in February, but I may drop at least one of them.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Looks like UVERSE is going up as well.

AT&T pushing up some U-verse TV prices in February 2009 - Engadget HD

 

[thomasjk]

I pay $40 for broadband and HD looks pretty darn good.

And its 49.95 for stand alone RR broadband here in Charlotte NC.

 

[dishcomm]

Next up is Q1 2009 Promotions... this is going to be the hot topic.. I can feel it in my blood.

New packages, new rates new receiver names...

We start with the new receiver names... (Who's dumb ass idea was this?) ALL current receivers are changing their names. (See the second slide below)

They mention that the new receiver names will go into effect on February 1st when the price changes happen. (I don't know if I were wanting a 722k as it offers dual off air tuning with the tuner cartridge and all I can order is a "Enhanced HD Duo DVR Receiver" and I just got a standard 722 I would be pissed. )

These new names will also make it hard for SatelliteGuys members to search for support on their equipment, as HD Duo Receiver is likely to get you a lot more hits (and garbage) then if you just typed in 222k receiver. Who ever thought of this amazing idea should be taken out behind the woodshed and... well you get the idea.

Next up is another amazing harebrained idea. renaming all the SD packages... (see slide 3 below)

For example, Americas Top 100 will now be known as "Classic Bronze 100", Americas Everything Pack will become the "Classic Americas Everything Pack."

Man its going to get busy behind that woodshed.

Now we go into price changes (i can feel another Woodshed comment coming up from your truly!)

They say these changes are nominal as programming becomes more expensive each year, and as margins get squeezed they make some nominal changes to the pricing of programming packages. (I think I hate the word Nominal)

Turbo HD is going UP

Turbo HD Bronze is going up $5 a month
Turbo HD Silver is going up $7 a month
Turbo HD Gold i s going up $10 a month

(No I am not kidding...) Jim says more HD services are coming which will make the price increase worth it.

There is NO CHANGE in the HD add on package which remains at $10 a month extra.

AT 100 going up $2
AT 200 going up $3
AT 250 going up $3
Americas Everything Pack going up $3

But get this... many of the Dish Latino packages with locals are going DOWN in price. (Dish Latino without locals however are going UP in price (see the slide below) essentially Locals will be included in the Dish Latino package for no extra charge...

Dish Latino Bonus pack remains the same.

Some big increases to the Dish DVR Advantage packages... anywhere from a $2 a month increase up to a $10 a month increase! (ouch!)

Note that starting on February 1st on your first dual tuner receiver there is no additional $5 a month fee if the box is not hooked up to a phone line or broadband, however the fee remains on all other dual tuners in the house if they are not hooked to a phoneline or broadband.

On Premium channels HBO and Playboy are going up $1 a month.

Some international programming packages are going up as well.

Additional Receiver fees are going down if you have DishDVR advantage (a savings of 98 cents a month)

The HD enabling fee is going down $2 a month from $7 to $5 a month.

And that's it for price changes.

These people are idiots.
Are the receivers going to be manufactured with these ridiculous names on them? And the programming name changes?....Stick my finger down my throat..
Scott if tghere is one aggrevating featrure about people who have little else to do but justify their paychecks and this is.....create change for the sake of change...

The EA thing is also stupid...One of the main attractions of DBS was the SMALL dish..Over the last 15 years the dishes have gotten larger AND many customers may need more than one....
Hate to say this but while Dish is losing cuctomers and bashing's it's head against a wall trying to find it's way. Directv isn't doing any of this nonsense.
As a technician , I am going to have to spend that much more time reselling this product. Time that I do not have and am wasting now. Sales partners are telling the custimers less and less. I have lost two jobs in the last four days because of retailer neglect. Now that there is even more information to give to the prospective customer, I suspect that will result in that much more information that will be left out of the sales call and more we as techs will have to explain once we get on site...I can only imagine the reaction when I tell a customer "yes you're going to have to get two dishes 25 inches of more in diameter mounted on your roof/house /in your yard....
Sorry if this appears to be a rant. But I am looking at trouble here.
One question I do have is Dish going to "take away" the WA from EA eligible customers. MY concern surrounds NLOS to EA. Right now we have two places to aim at. That allows for many more jobs to be completed. If WA is barred, then Dish is creating a problem where one does not exist..

Now on the marketing and hardware side, I can see the logic in all EA eligbile custs getting MPEG4 EQ.. If in the future those customers want HD programming, there is no need for a change in hardware. No need for a tech to go to the custs home.

 

[dishcomm]

I wouldn't say its fair until we know what we are getting. 5 channels? 10 channels? 1 channel? More locals? A split of another channel (how great would it be if they split that eco channel into 2 channels? Since there are only two shows on it, we would have a dedicated 'Emeril Green' channel and that weird 'Tommy Lee vs. Ludacris' environment saving channel...)?

That is what I mean by concrete... Pushing up prices before delivering anything is a bad idea... Then having the audacity to tell us that it is to increase their margin? What about my margin? I am lucky enough to be able to afford it, but it still sucks...

I think that with current economic conditions increasing the price of anything to "increase margins" is unwise and anti consumer.

 

[dishcomm]

I think that the marketing department at DISH is still rearranging packs and renaming them and renaming the receivers , and taking 98 cents off the dvr pack and combining it with the additional receiver fee to make two fees look like one new one at 12.00. All I can say is BRING ON ALA CARTE. I keep cutting down my programming packs and this year I eliminated a dvr off of my account. I guess next year I will have to drop down to one dvr . I said a while back that DISH needed to get back to basics and eliminate the extra fees. I also said they should Keep It Simple Stupid . They just keep on playing musical chairs with the programming pack names ,but they are still going up every year. Satellite tv will soon price themselves right out of business. IN recessionary times like we will be in for the next 2 - 3 years, It makes absolutely no sense to raise prices this much. I would like to see DISH take the bold move and eliminate charging extra for dvrs and GOD forbid stop charging extra for HD add ons. I see cutting one receiver from the phone line connection is their way of stopping excess fees, PLEASE! I am totaly disappointed in DISH this year with the new price increases. The only solace is that DIRECTV will soon go up on their prices as much if not more. BUT one thing that DIRECTV will not have is confusing programming names and higher fees than DISH. Directv is still charging one dvr fee per house hold and it is only 5.99. Additional receiver and lease fees are still just 4.99 like they were years ago. COME ON DISH you could of cut back the price of your fees a bit and been bold and offset this with a bold move like NO MORE DVR FEES if you have dvr advantage and maybe no more additional receiver fees if you have 3 receivers on your account. THINK outside of the box here Charlie! You are feeing your subs to death. I predict that the next quarter will bring even more churn for DISH. At this rate they will be down to 12 million subs by the end of next year.

Fees......When I see tha word my thoughts immediate translate it into "money grab"...Fees suck. They are extra charges piled upon consumers. This is done because they can..For once I'd like to see a company with enough balls to price things as is. In other words, run their ads with THE price the customer will be paying..Not these come on adds with the small print and other friggin surpises.

 

[dishcomm]

What ever happened to the 722 with a slingbox in it?

I for one will not be using this idiotic new name list.