DIRECTV Will Raise Prices Next Month

[inazsully]

It seems like maybe they should address the current equipment short comings, like the stuttering frame freezing clients that according to many of the good people here, has been acknowledged by "D" for quite awhile now. By the way, who is the actual manufacture of our Clients?

 

[Jimbo]

It seems like maybe they should address the current equipment short comings, like the stuttering frame freezing clients that according to many of the good people here, has been acknowledged by "D" for quite awhile now. By the way, who is the actual manufacture of our Clients?

Many of us here prefer them to stabilize software over offering the newest item possible.
Others would rather have the newest thing, buggy or not.

 

[inazsully]

No truer words have ever been spoken Jimbo. The same can be said for much electronic equipment. Take TV'S for instance. With the current influx from Asia it will be continuingly difficult in determining the quality of product construction. As is always the case, let the buyer beware.

 

[Jimbo]

No truer words have ever been spoken Jimbo. The same can be said for much electronic equipment. Take TV'S for instance. With the current influx from Asia it will be continuingly difficult in determining the quality of product construction. As is always the case, let the buyer beware.

As for the TV's, I usually look into it to see who is actually making it, at least the panel.

MANY of the Lower cost TVs out there these days are Not made by the person who's name is on it.
If it looks too good to be true, its probably not made by the name on the front.

 

[inazsully]

Not just lower end brands. Sony has not made their own panels in many years. Even Samsung buys some of their panels from China.

 

[Jimbo]

Not just lower end brands. Sony has not made their own panels in many years. Even Samsung buys some of their panels from China.

I think you need to check that again ... I believe the High End of the lines make thier own, or have another highly regarded company that they work with.
I remember when Pioneer Elites ended production, most of the info was passed along to another Major company to continue the technology.

 

[lparsons21]

The big 3 of panel makers are LG, Sharp and Samsung. As of 2014 only Sharp made 70" and larger panels. In smaller sizes there are a few other mfgs, at least a couple are joint ventures with smaller companies.

If I'm remembering right I think the Pioneer tech was passed to Sharp. Overall it doesn't appear that the high end lines are producing their own panels.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Troch77]

Sharp does an excellent job with those big panels.

 

[inazsully]

Sony has manufactured none of their own panels for years. The term "panel lottery" has been mentioned many times and refers to the several Chinese panel manufactures that supply the majority of large, 70 inch and up, panels. It's all about cutting costs. Companies like Sony, Samsung etc may develop the technology but they farm out the production to the lowest bidder.

 

[nvguy38]

Preferred Xtra will be $2 less than the Regular Xtra package, and does not have an RSN fee.

You keep major national sports channels like ESPN 1/2 and FS1.
You lose all minor sports channels and regional sports channels.

You gain most channels from the Ultimate package except the Starz/Encore channels.

You can only order by calling into DirecTV. It is a regularly available package, just not promoted on the website.

Just switched today to the Preferred....seems I lost all the FX channels and some other non-sport channels here and there. Did add a few back...Cloo...Boomerang....and some other the family watches. They actually have a lineup available now once you switch that can be compared to the other readily available packages. The key there is you have to switch first....

 

[Soccernut]

Just switched today to the Preferred....seems I lost all the FX channels and some other non-sport channels here and there. Did add a few back...Cloo...Boomerang....and some other the family watches. They actually have a lineup available now once you switch that can be compared to the other readily available packages. The key there is you have to switch first....

Do you get 220 NBCSHD and 618 FS2HD?

 

[nvguy38]

Do you get 220 NBCSHD and 618 FS2HD?

I'll have to check and let you know....not sure off the top of my head....

 

[jamieh1]

Can someone with preferred extra post channels that are missing.

 

[PAHOKIE77]

Almost ready to pull the plug on D*. I only watch ESPN, RSN, The Weather Channel and Fox News. Rarely anything lese. Doesn't warrant paying a $100 per month bill. I get my locals OTA and I guess I can watch a lot less sports.

 

[SpaethCo]

Even with discounts it's becoming ridiculously easy to beat DirecTV pricing for a number of scenarios.

We basically watch hockey and premium channel movies / original programming. This year we looked at just doing NHL.tv since the quality has really improved with 60fps streams, but there are still some games where the quality is unwatchable and having access to the HD feeds via satellite is worth the expense.

Our monthly bill for DirecTV with 2 TVs would have been: (on top of the $140-ish for the season of Center Ice)

Choice Xtra $87.99
HBO $7 off for 6 months (2 months in)
SHO
Starz $7 off for 6 months (2 months in)
$29.99 (down from $43.99)

2nd TV $7
HD fee $10
DVR fee $10
Whole Home $3
RSN fee $4.53

$152.51 /mo

We dropped a receiver, fitted both TVs with Apple TVs. Dropped DirecTV down to the Family Pack + Center Ice which still gets us NHL network + all the non-national games. We subscribed to Playstation Vue to cover NBC Sports Network and a couple of the other channels we lost by dropping to the Family pack.

Family Pack $29.99
HD fee $10
DVR fee $10
Whole Home $3

DirecTV Cost: $52.99

Playstation Vue Ultra
includes HBO, Showtime $54.99

Starz app subscription $8.99

Total monthly price: $116.97

AND we can suspend DirecTV over the summer until hockey starts up again for more savings.

 

[nvguy38]

Can someone with preferred extra post channels that are missing.

Hopefully, this will help. A channel listing but it's for my area which may have some differences?

 

[linus259]

I switched to Preferred Extra last April so I wouldn't have pay the RSN fee. The funny thing is I get FXM and FXX even though it's not listed.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I am so sick of providers charging for regional sports fees as a separate line item.

Either roll it into the base package, or give the customer the option to remove the regional sports channel to avoid the fee

 

[mdram]

I am so sick of providers charging for regional sports fees as a separate line item.

Either roll it into the base package, or give the customer the option to remove the regional sports channel to avoid the fee

i predict you will see a local station fee eventually
locals keep wanting more money, and it would allow providers to show the customer what their local station is paying.

 

[jcrandall]

Between the price increase for Xtra and the increase in RSN fee my bill is going up about $10, on top of about $10 last year.

We made the decision to drop to Choice, which more than wiped out that difference. While there are a few channels that we occasionally watch, there was nothing that was overly critical.
Eventually as enough people switch with their wallet (i.e. cord cutting or downgrading) they will have to address the concept of nearly double-digit percentage price increases not being long-term viable. (or at least, as a consumer, I would hope some day).