Just Downgraded Programming

[minnow]

I've been toying with the idea for a couple of months now and after really finally seriously looking at the stations we watch on our current AT120 and what we would give up be going down to AT60, I found that we were paying 10 bucks extra each month for three offerings that we would miss a little. So after talking it over with the wife who was really all for the downgrade, I called this morning and pulled the plug on AT120. And while I was at it I had a third receiver deactivated and the $1.99 extended warranty taken off as well. Dropped the bill by $18.00 a month.
I figure if anything goes bad with one of the two remaining activated receivers I can just reactivate the one we had disconnected. And if something really blows up, I'll just call TW and sign up for the three in one service and end up saving even more money that what were forking out right now.
It's just getting to be too much money each month for internet/tv and telephone.
I wonder how many others are downgrading as well ? I wonder if E* is listening ?

 

[Widescreen]

I wonder how many others are downgrading as well ? I wonder if E* is listening ?

It sounded like you were downgrading for financial reasons. Then at the end you tacked on the above. Were you saving money or sending some kind of message? If it was supposed to be a message, what was it?

 

[minnow]

Simple. Downgraded for financial reason as the cost for monthly TV is getting too high. I Wondered if others are in agreement and if anyone else has downgraded as well. And I wondered that if enough current sub's are doing this, if E* was getting the message.

 

[Minsk1]

Simple. Downgraded for financial reason as the cost for monthly TV is getting too high. I Wondered if others are in agreement and if anyone else has downgraded as well. And I wondered that if enough current sub's are doing this, if E* was getting the message.

No, I have AEP, HD and Voom and looking to upgrade to HD Platinum on 12.01 a.m. April 1, 2006

 

[ronfelder]

Simple. Downgraded for financial reason as the cost for monthly TV is getting too high. I Wondered if others are in agreement and if anyone else has downgraded as well. And I wondered that if enough current sub's are doing this, if E* was getting the message.

Not ME!!! Not as tight with my money and do watch things., I don't watch HBO much but have it for the Soipranos. I btw have at-180, locals, superstations, hbo, dvr fee and lease of a 522. Don't like paying 486 but find it worth it for the enjoyment i get from it. I even subscribe to sirius.
Ron

 

[Mike0616]

Not ME!!! Not as tight with my money and do watch things., I don't watch HBO much but have it for the Soipranos. I btw have at-180, locals, superstations, hbo, dvr fee and lease of a 522. Don't like paying 486 but find it worth it for the enjoyment i get from it. I even subscribe to sirius.
Ron

You really must be enjoying it, if that is not a typo.:devil:

I see what the original poster is saying, that there is no need to over-subscribe to shows you don't watch. Personally, have had HBO, SHO, etc. and dropped them when PPV started working years ago. Also, change from 120 to 180 for ESPNU during football and basketball seasons, but drop them during the off-season (nope, lacrosse, tiddly-winks, et. al. are not my thing and there is not another channel on that package that I would care if they went dark.) My wife likes a few of the channels in 120 or would have the 60 or do only OTA myself. ESPN and news channels are on 60, so would do me fine.

It all comes down to preferences. like anything else. Its like cars, homes, etc. - a matter of what you want throttled back to what you can afford.

 

[Widescreen]

Dish's programming prices are decent. It's all the fees that give me heartburn. And since I'm addicted to DVR, I just have to take it.

 

[mpeltz]

I recently downgraded my plan from AT180 to AT120 to save $10 month and it feels good. Dish raised their rates on the programming plans and this was my way of protesting. They even increased the DVR fee, but didn't provided any additional features/service for this increase. I'm still waiting for them to add support for an external hard drive for the 942.

Now I'm a reasonable person. I understand that prices increase over time, but I'm tired of Dish (and the content providers plus other distributors) bundling packages that make no sense. I want a la carte or at least a sensible breakdown of packages that are contextually related. Sports should definitely be segmented out because they are the most expensive. Why should I supplement $100 million dollar player salaries.

Dish wanted to charge me $4 more a month for nothing, but I struck back and reduced my plan by $10, netting a savings of $6 month. Just my little way of stickin' it to Dish.

 

[will53033]

Dish's programming prices are decent. It's all the fees that give me heartburn. And since I'm addicted to DVR, I just have to take it.

Yes, DVR is very addictive! I am willing to pay the price for this "luxury".

 

[RobertsD]

Yes, DVR is very addictive! I am willing to pay the price for this "luxury".

Deffinantly

 

[Stargazer]

I downgraded recently and it was due to how high things were getting, additional fees, and trying to keep a budget better. I also cut back on the number of receivers that I have. I have dual tuner receivers with the dual tv outputs to save on having additional receivers and the additional outlet fees. The fees still add up though to $22 additional onto what the programming is. I think that is just too much.

Most people look at the cost at a replacement receiver or to add another one on and they just switch providers (most of the time from Dish Network to DirecTv) because they can get up to four boxes for free. They dont see having to pay $40+ for a used one plus installation or $100 for a new one plus installation for each one that they want to add onto their account or having to pay that much if one goes bad. They get the switchover to DirecTv for free, get their movie channels free and price reduction for a while. That clinches the deal.

Dish Network and DirecTv loses customers to each other because of this. They should allow each customer that has their service on for an extended period of time to get a free replacement of the basic receiver (or at least a reduced price for a premium receiver) if one goes bad at least once every two or three years without having to pay additional money for a warranty. DirecTv's new heart program would be a good example as to have customers earn it by paying the bill on time and the amount of programming that the customer has.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I recently downgraded due to Dish not honoring a verbal offer that they made to me. I've written about it here before. In a nutshell, they upgraded a lease for me and agreed to give me a credit from an older lease, then later reneged on giving me the credit. And while they were at it, they tacked on an additional $5/mo fee that was never discussed with me.

So I downgraded programming to compensate for the extra charges. I didn't want to, but I couldn't let them get away with lying to me. And as the lease upgrade carried a new 12 month commitment, I couldn't walk away without paying additional penalties. If I stay at my present programming level for the next year, I will end up paying them about $200 less than if they had honored their upgrade offer.

 

[jerryez]

I downgraded just to send a statement that they cannot keep raising prices. I downgraded to AT60, since the only thing I would have missed was in at120 was LMN and they moved it to AT180. Also dropped CMax, since I do not really watch it. Dropped distant locals, since they would not give me the HD out of NY. I get OTA locals in HD and the 211 receiver receives them pretty good.

 

[redline65]

Simple. Downgraded for financial reason as the cost for monthly TV is getting too high. I Wondered if others are in agreement and if anyone else has downgraded as well. And I wondered that if enough current sub's are doing this, if E* was getting the message.

I did too. The bill has gone up for the past three years, and with the recent $5/month increase it exceeded my $80/month limit. So I cut the $9.99 HD pack. Saving ten bucks a month for 5 channels I rarely watch was a pretty easy decision. Next time it gets over $80 either a movie channel or an additional receiver will go.

 

[Van]

You think that dish programming is expensive?? I dont know how to break this to you but TW wont be cheap once the promo expires, there isnt a cheap provider out there that offers all the channels you would want at an afordable rate, nor is there a cheap phone provider and internet provider unless you do some creative bundling such as cable internet with voip phone services such as sun rocket or tomatoe vine and you get a free to air blindscan system or some rabbit ears. One thing you should have kept is the $1.99 warranty considering that the current warranty is $5.99. But what I dont understand is why your still with dish if as you said TW has a better deal, honestly when someone says that another provider has a better deal but they havent made the atempt to get said service that its just a bunch of posturing.

I agrea that its a pain to see some of the additional charges such as the dvr fee wich I still dont understand why its needed other than to help pay for someones monthly mansion morgage, but finally we ( techs ) have gotten a well deserved raise in our pay considering the amount of work we are having to do now. One thing that always seems to get missed is that programming costs do go up on the end of the providers such as espn, viacom, ect ect ect and as long as it isnt something outrageous such a with life time recently or with oln/comcast and in the past viacom then dish will tell them take a hike as they have done with all three.

Honestly though theres only a few options but not much that anyone can do, prices are going up on everything as is normal, gas is higher, food is higher, utilities are higher, homes are higher, property is higher, medical costs are higher, and there is nothing that anyone can do except shop for a better deal or start cutting out services and going without.

 

[stone phillips420]

i also downgeraded thanks to the treatment i got form the audit team
i had aep plus ten extacy and playboy on 8 recievers, then the audit team wouldnt stop hassling me eventhough i met all their requirements
so i told them go *uck themselves and cancelled all together, then after a day i decided id get the family pack on one reciever
so my bill dropped by about 160.00 usd per month
pull your head out of your clavin charlie

 

[Widescreen]

i had aep plus ten extacy and playboy on 8 recievers

i decided id get the family pack on one reciever

That has to be one of the most interesting programming changes I've ever seen.

 

[stone phillips420]

yup, the persitent bothering from the audit dept caused this
4-5 audits in 3 months passed all but they wouldnt leave me alone and they didnt thank me for being a customer, they treated me and many others like dogshit
i can get my porn elsewhere
starchoice has hustler tv
plus dtv has all the same movie offerings ie hbo, showtime and so on

 

[jrbdmb]

Original poster didn't mention whether he had DVRs or not, but esp. if he does, the $1.99 warranty is a hot deal. I would have kept this if only to get a new remote if the old one breaks or wears out.

 

[jerryez]

I don't have a cell phone, I sold my 3/4 ton truck and bought a small truck, I downgraded my Dish programming and may dowgrade again, if prices keep going up. Do we really need all these services or just want to keep up with the Jones. I can aford them, but will not pay the raising cost just to keep up with the Jones. Just because Direct and cable keep going up does not justify Dish raising their rates too. They are just playing keep up with the Jones toooo.