DISH Price Increases

[Scott Greczkowski]

So you are saying if my old 2 year contract is up and I am presently not on any contract I will not be grandfathered to present prices and I will have to pay new prices?

Correct. However your monthly equipment rates will not go up. But your programming will.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

What exactly are Public, Private, and MDU accounts?

Those are commerical accounts.

Public is like for a TV in a Hotel Lobby or Bar.
Private is for a private commercial office.
MDU is bulk accounts such as an apartment building that offers DISH as programming provider.

 

[charlesrshell]

Based on the description of how it works, even buying it would be a change to your account, removing the grandfathering.

WOW, that sure doesn't look good for all grandfathered equipment folks that want to get a 4K Joey!

 

[Hall]

WOW, that sure doesn't look good for all grandfathered equipment folks that want to get a 4K Joey!

Let's see if Dish doesn't make the 4K Joey available until after the price increase date.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

WOW, that sure doesn't look good for all grandfathered equipment folks that want to get a 4K Joey!

Maybe... Maybe not...

We haven't heard any special offers for upgrading yet to the 4K Joey or whatever else is coming down the road. And we probably won't until CES.

 

[charlesrshell]

Correct. However your monthly equipment rates will not go up. But your programming will.

Well, I am thankful they are not raising the Movie Pack, Heartland, and Outdoor Pack.

 

[charlesrshell]

Those are commerical accounts.

Public is like for a TV in a Hotel Lobby or Bar.
Private is for a private commercial office.
MDU is bulk accounts such as an apartment building that offers DISH as programming provider.

Thanks, guess I should have figured that out. All the equipment I have it feels like an apartment in my home. Need to start cutting back I guess.

 

[charlesrshell]

Let's see if Dish doesn't make the 4K Joey available until after the price increase date.

Well, the last I heard from the on line retailer I like is 14 January for the 4K Joey. Same as "D" day!

 

[charlesrshell]

Maybe... Maybe not...

We haven't heard any special offers for upgrading yet to the 4K Joey or whatever else is coming down the road. And we probably won't until CES.

OK, thanks. This is going to be fun!

 

[harshness]

What exactly are Public, Private, and MDU accounts?

Public and Private are here:

http://commercial.dish.com/business/packages/

MDU is short for multiple dwelling units: what DISH calls "Properties"

http://commercial.dish.com/property/

 

[king3pj]

I know it isn't all on the Satellite Providers as they have to pass on the price increases that are coming from the content providers and creators. With an HBO or Showtime you can argue that shows like "Game of Thrones" or "Homeland" have production costs on par with a major motion picture. But those are add-ons to your "basic cable" service. Reality programming has pretty much taken over basic cable as the "affordable" alternative to scripted shows. So lets point a spotlight at sports.

I would argue that America's obsession with organized sports is at the root of this annual price increase. ESPN has to pass on their carriage fees that are used to pay the professional sports organizations which in turn make it possible to pay for someone to take a football from one end of a field to another or hit a baseball thrown by another person making an equally large amount of money for entertainment. Instead of concrete, durable goods, you have this multi-billion dollar industry that turns out recreational entertainment that amounts to cost everyone $5/month more to watch or ignore.

[/soapbox]

Sports are also the only reason many people still have cable/satellite. Everything else can easily be streamed through the internet. Local blackouts on streaming services like MLB.tv make that tough for the average person. Location spoofing services make it possible to get around the blackouts. I did it for 2 years as a cord cutter and MLB.tv premium subscriber but the average person won't know how to do that.

I agree that sports channels are one of the primary reasons cable/satellite prices have gone up. It's hard to cut them off when they are one of the last things cable/satellite providers have to hold over potential cord cutters' heads though.

They are in tough situation. Cut off ESPN, FS1, NFL Network, MLB Network, RSNs, etc and people who were only staying because live sports are hard to stream will leave. Don't cut them off and people who are sick of the price continuing to go up will leave.

With this current hike it looks like I will be downgrading my parents Dish account from AT120+ to AT120 at least until baseball season. They were AT 250 customers for years but they have been downgrading around this time every year lately.

I'm currently in a double play promo with Charter but the promo pricing is set to expire in a couple months. If they won't extend it again I'll be going back to OTA and streaming because cable/satellite is just not worth the amount of money these companies charge to me anymore.

 

[charlesrshell]

Public and Private are here:

http://commercial.dish.com/business/packages/

MDU is short for multiple dwelling units: what DISH calls "Properties"

http://commercial.dish.com/property/

Thanks for the info.

 

[Scherrman]

Sports are also the only reason many people still have cable/satellite. Everything else can easily be streamed through the internet. Local blackouts on streaming services like MLB.tv make that tough for the average person. Location spoofing services make it possible to get around the blackouts. I did it for 2 years as a cord cutter and MLB.tv premium subscriber but the average person won't know how to do that.

I agree that sports channels are one of the primary reasons cable/satellite prices have gone up. It's hard to cut them off when they are one of the last things cable/satellite providers have to hold over potential cord cutters' heads though.

They are in tough situation. Cut off ESPN, FS1, NFL Network, MLB Network, RSNs, etc and people who were only staying because live sports are hard to stream will leave. Don't cut them off and people who are sick of the price continuing to go up will leave.

With this current hike it looks like I will be downgrading my parents Dish account from AT120+ to AT120 at least until baseball season. They were AT 250 customers for years but they have been downgrading around this time every year.

I'm currently in a double play promo with Charter but the promo pricing is set to expire in a couple months. If they won't extend it again I'll be going back to OTA and streaming because cable/satellite is just not worth the amount of money these companies charge to me anymore.

Without sports why would anyone keep pay TV? Pretty much everything else I watch can be found online. Poor internet service would be a big reason for keeping pay TV service I suppose.

 

[ChadT41]

The introduction of 4K channels on ESPN in early 2016 May just give us some light.

 

[Ronnie-]

Without sports why would anyone keep pay TV? Pretty much everything else I watch can be found online. Poor internet service would be a big reason for keeping pay TV service I suppose.

That and the convenience of same day watching for the wife on some shows are the only reasons we have, but with a friends watch espn log in info for the sports, she will likely have to come to terms with next day viewing.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Exactly right. Dish needs internet to survive as a major player. Satellite internet doesn't count because it really does suck if you have other options. It's looking more and more likely that the people who said that Charlie bought up all of the spectrum just to sell at a profit were correct.

I was curious about what Dish offers for internet since they mention it on their website. In my area, Detroit suburbs, they don't have any teleco partners. Instead they offer sat service. WTF? Someone is going to get overpriced sat internet when there's Comcast and UVerse around? Now since ATT is the local teleco service, I can see that Dish isn't able to use them as a internet partner. But DSL Extreme uses UVerse infrastructure to provide uncapped internet here. Why wouldn't Dish try to partner with them to provide service?

Comcast, Uverse, are the 2 major players around here. You may be able to get WOW, but im not impressed with them very much.

 

[Claude Greiner]

What exactly are Public, Private, and MDU accounts?

There are several different types of accounts (Directv)

Business Viewing - Doctors offices, Auto repair Centers, small offices. Programming is shown to customers. Key here is no movie channels

Private Viewing - Same is business viewing, but in a back office where customers will not be viewing it. Movie Channels are allowed.

Public Viewing - Bars, Resturants, any place that serves food or drink.

MDU Lite - Apartment building less than 20 units that is wired for Directv. 1 Dish, each resident gets their own bill

MDU - Apartment building 1 Dish, the apartment management pays for part of the customers Directv bill such as purchasing a basic package, customers pay for extras like HBO.

L&I (Lodging and institutions) - Hotels, Hospitals, nursing homes. Programming is bill out per room, or in some cases per TV. Also referred as to bulk accounts.

The same applies for Dish, but they do not have a true private viewing with movie channels

 

[lparsons21]

Without sports why would anyone keep pay TV? Pretty much everything else I watch can be found online. Poor internet service would be a big reason for keeping pay TV service I suppose.

Sports certainly is a big reason, but in homes with multiple TVs, streaming isn't all it is cracked up to be either. And it certainly isn't more convenient.


Sent from my iPad Pro using Tapatalk

 

[king3pj]

That and the convenience of same day watching for the wife on some shows are the only reasons we have, but with a friends watch espn log in info for the sports, she will likely have to come to terms with next day viewing.

For me same day viewing is important for a couple shows like Walking Dead and Game of Thrones just because the fanbases for those shows is so crazy. It can be hard to not accidentally see or hear a spoiler if I don't watch them the night they air.

For most other shows I actually prefer to wait until the season is over or nearly over to start watching. Netflix has ruined regular TV schedules for me. If an episode ends on a cliffhanger or I am invested enough to want to see what happens next I like to be able to just watch as many episodes in a row as I want.

Season 2 of Fargo is a good example. I just let the episodes build up on my Tivo until last night. When I started watching I was hooked enough to watch the first 4 episodes in 1 sitting.

A side benefit is that by the time I start watching most shows the Rotten Tomato reviews and general impressions around the internet, including Satellite Guys have built up to the point where I know if I actually want to watch a show or not. It saves me time I would have otherwise wasted watching 3 episodes of a show that gets canceled before the first season ends because it's so bad.

 

[dvrexpander]

We knew that was coming, just hope the new hopper makes it worthwhile.

what new hopper? I ain't been on in a while.

As for the price hikes - are they flipping nuts!?!? NO way in hell I'm going to pay that much in a rate hike! They are asking for $3 for each of my hoppers that is $6 + $5 for my package. Now it would be different if they gave me the $4 off each for HBO and Starz that I already have ahead of that being a long time customer but they are damn crazy!!! I'll call retention dept but I won't accept no discount- more like grand father me in to whatever I'm at now or I'm gone and cord cut!