Does E* want us to wait?

[bobhaze]

I just noticed in this month's Dish on Dish that regarding the HD upgrades they say "Learn more about the special offers available to you and how you can save even more on select services when you wait to upgrade". This is in the special offers section down.
It seems pretty unusual to incentivise people not to take advantage of the latest offer. Apparently they know they are not yet really ready yet for this transition.
It makes me wonder if there may be something more in addition to the $200 rebate on 622's coming up.

Bob

 

[Weezknight]

I'm hoping that in anticipation of them switching all HD to MPEG-4 that my 811 might get the free upgrade to the 211 at some point in the future, but I'm guessing that's a little while down the road.

 

[Indy]

I believe this is the way Dish deals with a shortage of 622's. You have a better chance of luring new customers with a HD DVR and Mpeg 4. If the existing subs wait, there are more 622's for new customers and more new revenue. This is why the $200 rebate in April if existing subs are willing to wait. Everone has their price, question is will you sell out for $200?

 

[way2rude4u]

Does anyone know if existing subs will get the rebate deal on other leased DVR's such as the 522?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

That would seem unlikely. Dish has no reason to drive people to the MPEG2 522.

 

[sonnyboy11]

Does anyone know if existing subs will get the rebate deal on other leased DVR's such as the 522?

That's not going to happen. CSRs at Dish have been telling people this though and it is creating confusion. The $200 rebate was only offered to help offset the cost of a recently purchased MPEG-2 pvr (942) making the upgrade to the 622 a little less painful ($299 for everyone else).

 

[navychop]

Nor would they see a need to get 522 users to move to the ViP622 for less than the current $299 offer. Maybe in another year- or maybe not.

I suspect the 522/625 will not be long for this world. E* will simply move to only offering ViP series receivers, as they become readily available. Then you'd use the ViP622 just like a 721, 625 etc- just for SD. When you pay for HD, they'd send a signal activating that part, just like they do today for a move from AT60 to AT120.

I wonder how long it'll be before the "ATxxx" packages vanish, leaving just the metallic packages? 2 years? 3? Longer?

 

[dwcobb]

I believe this is the way Dish deals with a shortage of 622's. You have a better chance of luring new customers with a HD DVR and Mpeg 4. If the existing subs wait, there are more 622's for new customers and more new revenue. This is why the $200 rebate in April if existing subs are willing to wait. Everone has their price, question is will you sell out for $200?

Sell out for $200....plus the strong odds that the receiver will have bugs to work through in the first couple of months.

Rumors of those HDMI problems on the 211 have me very relieved that I decided to wait.

 

[dwcobb]

I wonder how long it'll be before the "ATxxx" packages vanish, leaving just the metallic packages? 2 years? 3? Longer?

I simply can't imagine they will want their CSR's to have to deal with the very complex rate structures they have right now for longer than a year or so.

The longer they draw out the transition, the harder it is going to get for them to deal with customer service issues.

Who gets what channels? What is your rate? It will be a big mess for the near term. They will be very motivated to retire the ATXX packages in about a year I think.

 

[redline65]

I simply can't imagine they will want their CSR's to have to deal with the very complex rate structures they have right now for longer than a year or so.

The longer they draw out the transition, the harder it is going to get for them to deal with customer service issues.

Who gets what channels? What is your rate? It will be a big mess for the near term. They will be very motivated to retire the ATXX packages in about a year I think.

But for people like me who have the AT120 package and the $10 HD package, they can't just retire it and put us on the Silver HD package because that would be about a $10 rate increase for us. I don't think they will be able to retire the ATXX packages until they have upgraded everyone to the new hardware so we can get the additional HD channels. (I'm waiting for Dish to pay for my upgrade)

 

[navychop]

Sure they can. And in about a year, they WILL. In about a year they will convert all HD to MPEG-4. At least, that seems to be their current plan.

And they can raise rates anytime they want. In fact, it would be smart of them to raise the current HD packs to equal or exceed the metallic packs rates. Then folks would see the dollars, and move over on their own. I wouldn't be surprised to see that at some point in the future.

But as a last resort, Dish may in fact pay for your upgrade. You might not like what is offered. Think 111.

IIRC, I was on a cableco plan once that was discontinued. I was automatically "upgraded" to the next higher plan, at higher cost. I guess they're under no requirement to continue offering any given product.

 

[shanewalker]

I was going to say what 'navychop' said for me...

The short answer to this thread is, "Yes, they want existing subs to wait to upgrade." They're strapped for equipment resources and want to use what they have as carrots for new subs. Understandable, but frustrating--and nothing new, apparently.

Let's hope it get's rosier for existing customers in a couple of months once things ramp up.

 

[redline65]

Sure they can. And in about a year, they WILL. In about a year they will convert all HD to MPEG-4. At least, that seems to be their current plan.

They will when they upgrade our hardware to MPEG-4. I'm fine with paying the new rates as long as I have the hardware for it that will allow me to view all of the channels I'm paying for.

And they can raise rates anytime they want. In fact, it would be smart of them to raise the current HD packs to equal or exceed the metallic packs rates. Then folks would see the dollars, and move over on their own. I wouldn't be surprised to see that at some point in the future.

Sure they CAN raise rates anytime, but how would they explain a $10 rate increase to ATXXX + HD pack customers who would not be getting any additional channels? People aren't going to pay for channels they can't watch. I would just drop the $10 HD pack if they wanted $20 for it, unless of course they upgrade me to MPEG-4 and Dish1000.

 

[dwcobb]

If I recall correctly the prevailing rates for base HD and Voom were both positioned as special discounts. No specific terms on when they would go up, and to what.

10 channels of Voom for $5 when 5 or 6 channels of other stuff are hmm $9.99? seems like a given for a price increase.

 

[Michael252]

Of course, if Dish wanted to increase their cashflow (and satisfy their customers at the same time), they would make the new HD channels (you know? the MPEG2s with an MPEG4 header?) available to us existing HD subscribers at the new package price until a good supply of 622s can arrive arrive.

 

[dwcobb]

I'll go you one better.

They should have made them MPEG2 but only give them to people who advance commit to an April upgrade (or maybe even an upgrade to happen between 4/1 and 6/30 so they can spread them out more), and said that they were switching over to MPEG4 in June to give themselves some upgrade time.

Two+ months of extra cash flow on the programming (since chances are good that they will be backlogged in April for the upgrade offer anyway and many who order won't be able to get an install for weeks and weeks), and better pre-order info so they can plan their upgrades a bit better.

But at this point that ship has sailed. I will just wait it out.

 

[navychop]

Actually, that sounds like a pretty good idea.....