HD Free For Life (reg $10)

[dvrexpander]

Here is how I see things happening. In a two years or very shortly there after Dish will shut off the standard def feeds because lets face it they are all but obsolete now. Stores quit selling Standard def tvs 6 years ago and I do not know anyone that even still has a standard def tv and it is not like I hang with rich folks. At this point high def service will just become the standard service and not something that is line item charged more for. They will then raise the cost of everyone's service and the free hd for life will be pointless because they are no longer making an additional charge for HD

They could cut off Standard Def feeds but that requires them moving channels over to at least a few main satellites such as 110 and 119 instead of just 129 or 77. Just send notices out that they will be shipping them all new HD equipment and instructions on how to put them in, do certain regions only thruout a whole year so not to overwhelm everyone as in service providers and be done with it. But again you would have to move all HD channels to a few main satellites so those with old Dish500 systems or those only aiming at 61.5 and 72 or whatever other EA sats would be able to get it with a simple receiver swap and no need for a tech sent out to re-aim sats. Many people with old Dish500 systems just can't get 129 or even some Eastern Arc sats so it is a must do situation to make that happen.

 

[lakebum431]

Lol sirius radio same way. Crybabies can call and whine to get free stuff. Welcome to america the welfare state. Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

Then I guess I am a crybaby. I call every year when my satellite radio bills come and they are absurdly high. To me the service is worth no more than $7 a month (I'm well aware it can be had even cheaper than that but I have zero desire to talk to them every 3 months). As long as they will continue to give it to me at that rate or better the. I'm fine. If they want to charge more then I have many other options. This has gone on for many years now. If Sirius would have rejected my offer years ago then they would never have gotten any of the money that they did get from me. I am never rude or "crying" when I call in I simply state what I said above. I have a hard time understanding how that makes America a "welfare state". Quite the opposite in fact. A service provider is able to choose which price they want to charge to its consumers or to decline to offer them their service.

 

[dare2be]

Don't pay attention to the inane babblings of an agenda.

 

[mike123abc]

If Dish really starts to charge $10/month/HD it will just make more customers switch after 2 years.

Note I said "if" they could always have a new promotion a couple years from now that negates that.

 

[Tampa8]

I must admit I have done a complete change about asking for discounts. It's the way some companies do business, so why not do business that way too. DISH could reduce your bill by some % for each year or set of years you subscribe, and not give other discounts. But they choose (And not just DISH) to give the upfront discounts to new customers, and give some 1/2 price and other discounts to current customers. Some of the other discounts include the ones you have to ask for.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

If Dish really starts to charge $10/month/HD it will just make more customers switch after 2 years.

Move to where? DIRECTV is $10 a month too, and Cable around here charges $14 for your first HD box.

 

[renegade734]

Here is how I see things happening. In a two years or very shortly there after Dish will shut off the standard def feeds because lets face it they are all but obsolete now. Stores quit selling Standard def tvs 6 years ago and I do not know anyone that even still has a standard def tv and it is not like I hang with rich folks. At this point high def service will just become the standard service and not something that is line item charged more for. They will then raise the cost of everyone's service and the free hd for life will be pointless because they are no longer making an additional charge for HD

Yeah, but first they'll get another $10/month from each of us.

 

[mike123abc]

Move to where? DIRECTV is $10 a month too, and Cable around here charges $14 for your first HD box.

But a new customer deal from DIRECTV or the cable company for 2 years will probably offset all that and then you will be able to change back to Dish to get it free again. It is a silly game that they insist on playing. I used to ignore it since the savings was never that great. Once the cable company came in $50/month cheaper for 2 years, well I guess I will have to play that game too now. Who knows, in two years I might be back with Dish - and as soon as they jack up the fees/costs, I will switch again. I am tired of being abused for being a loyal customer. If they want loyal customers, they should give some sort of deal after 2 years, not go full priced and hope that you will be too lazy to notice.

 

[dare2be]

But a new customer deal from DIRECTV or the cable company for 2 years will probably offset all that and then you will be able to change back to Dish to get it free again. It is a silly game that they insist on playing.

Or as some like to say, a welfare state game.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

But a new customer deal from DIRECTV or the cable company for 2 years will probably offset all that and then you will be able to change back to Dish to get it free again.

But its the same with DISH, if your a new customer you get free HD for 2 years.

Remember exisiting customers with Free HD for Life, whos account remains in good standing will continue to have Free HD for Life. That is not going away.

We are only talking new customers here.

 

[mike123abc]

Or as some like to say, a welfare state game.

No, it is a customer abuse game. Why should the cost go up after 2 years? Your installation and equipment are already in place and you have been paying on them for 2 years? The current characters in the game think it is better to try to steal customers away from other players than to try to hold on to their own. Which really costs them a ton of money since they have to pay for all the marketing and installs over and over again. Dish used to be cheap enough that the deals from Cable/DIRECTV were not that big a deal. $10-$15/month to switch was not really worth the hassle. But, now after years of huge price increases and the deals are $50/month well it is a different story.

Dish gave up on being the low price leader and just joined DIRECTV/Cable in the pricing game.

 

[mike123abc]

But its the same with DISH, if your a new customer you get free HD for 2 years.

Remember exisiting customers with Free HD for Life, whos account remains in good standing will continue to have Free HD for Life. That is not going away.

We are only talking new customers here.

True, but if you save $50/month for switching for 2 years, it is well worth giving up free HD for life. You get the big discount for 2 years when you come back to Dish anyways. My point is that by having it expire for new customers after 2 years will just force more of them to switch to save money.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

True and I agree with what your saying.

Just want to clarify things as I already had a bunch of members PM me or email me upset that their free HD for life was going away.... as ITS NOT!

 

[Tampa8]

Well Scott, it is all your fault.

 

[dare2be]

No, it is a customer abuse game.

I agree with you. I wasn't the one who made the "welfare state" comment.

 

[MikeD-C05]

But its the same with DISH, if your a new customer you get free HD for 2 years.

Remember exisiting customers with Free HD for Life, whos account remains in good standing will continue to have Free HD for Life. That is not going away.

We are only talking new customers here.

FOR NOW..................

 

[mnevar]

FOR NOW..................

I'd really like to hear the spin they put on charging for HD to someone who has/had 'Free HD for life'. Almost makes me want it to happen. Almost.

 

[catnap1972]

I'd really like to hear the spin they put on charging for HD to someone who has/had 'Free HD for life'. Almost makes me want it to happen. Almost.

What was the excuse when they started charging fees on those 5xx DVRs?

In any event, everyone seems to be moving to a $20-25/month household equipment/service fee. Comcast does it. Directv does it. Dish sort of does it (but not to everyone....YET)

 

[mnevar]

What was the excuse when they started charging fees on those 5xx DVRs?

In any event, everyone seems to be moving to a $20-25/month household equipment/service fee. Comcast does it. Directv does it. Dish sort of does it (but not to everyone....YET)

The name of the free HD promotion includes the words 'for life'. Though they advertised the no DVR fee back then, I don't recall it being advertised as free 'for life'.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Actually when the 501/721/921 pvrs came out around 12 or 13 years ago, Charlie bragged on Charlie Chats in depth, about how the other guys ( DIRECTV),charge you $9.00 a month to record shows and we charge you nothing to do the same thing. Because of the "no fee tapeless" pvrs , DISH grew over 2 million subs in a short time. The most they had ever added up to that point so quickly. It forced DIRECTV to lower their fees down to around $5.00 to compete. Then GREED entered in to the picture and the fees were added to all pvrs /dvrs and the sub growth stopped and we have hovered in the 13 million to 14 million sub area for years now. Losing and re-gaining the same low number of subs as they ping back and forth between the competition and back to get the new customer deals. IF DISH ever wanted to see more sub growth the first area they could attack would be to lower and eliminate the "charge it because we can" DISH FEES.