Motorsports Fan Disappointed in DISH

[mrgem]

I've been a faithful DISH subscriber since 1995. Always gotten their top-of-the-line America's Best package. I have 3 receivers that I never bother Dish about support for (I own the equipment and I do my own troubleshooting -- read: I don't cost them customer support money). They've made a ton of bucks off of me over the last 18 years and I am even considering moving to their DISHNET internet service...which means even more profit for them.

But recent developments at DISH have me wondering if it is not time to look for a new provider. I now have a list of complaints, and I'd love to hear if any of you share my concerns.

It seems as time goes by, the "Favorites" package is loaded with more and more Spanish language only programming. This is great for Spanish speakers, but of ZERO interest to me. There also seems to be more and more "Home Shopping" type channels, also something I have ZERO interest in. Why am I paying for this?

Furthermore, in May, I got a letter from DISH saying that they no longer would allow me to pre-pay for my subscription once a year. Why? Considering present values and customer fickleness -- it is ALWAYS better to lock in a subscription, rather than go month to month -- and risk having a subscriber leave you on a moment's notice...At least that's my take.


And finally, what may be the last straw in my relationship with DISH: One of my favorite channels, SPEED, was replaced by Fox Sports 1. This appears to be a garden variet football/baseball/basketball channel -- which I am sure most men would like -- but of little interest to me. I enjoy motorsports -- and working on cars and motorcycles -- and couldn't care less about ball sports.

When I realized that SPEED had been replaced, I went searching for alternatives. I found a recent article in my AutoWeek magazine that said MavTV had picked up contracts for many of my favorite programs that had been on SPEED. Searched my channel directory, using tips about where MavTV might be located, and came up empty handed.

Are people like me unique? Will I have to go to ComCast?

 

[Bobby]

Just so you know, as you should, Dish had nothing to do with the replacement of Speed to Fox Sports 1. Fox did that on their own. When you move over to Comcast you'll find, OMG, that they don't have Speed either, nor does anyone else. Fox has changed their channel lineup to: Speed became Fox Sports 1, Fuel became Fox Sports 2, and coming next month, Fox Soccer Channel becomes FXX...... MavTV is located on channel 248...

 

[boba]

I've been a faithful DISH subscriber since 1995. Always gotten their top-of-the-line America's Best package. I have 3 receivers that I never bother Dish about support for (I own the equipment and I do my own troubleshooting -- read: I don't cost them customer support money). They've made a ton of bucks off of me over the last 18 years and I am even considering moving to their DISHNET internet service...which means even more profit for them.

But recent developments at DISH have me wondering if it is not time to look for a new provider. I now have a list of complaints, and I'd love to hear if any of you share my concerns.

It seems as time goes by, the "Favorites" package is loaded with more and more Spanish language only programming. This is great for Spanish speakers, but of ZERO interest to me. There also seems to be more and more "Home Shopping" type channels, also something I have ZERO interest in. Why am I paying for this?

Furthermore, in May, I got a letter from DISH saying that they no longer would allow me to pre-pay for my subscription once a year. Why? Considering present values and customer fickleness -- it is ALWAYS better to lock in a subscription, rather than go month to month -- and risk having a subscriber leave you on a moment's notice...At least that's my take.


And finally, what may be the last straw in my relationship with DISH: One of my favorite channels, SPEED, was replaced by Fox Sports 1. This appears to be a garden variet football/baseball/basketball channel -- which I am sure most men would like -- but of little interest to me. I enjoy motorsports -- and working on cars and motorcycles -- and couldn't care less about ball sports.

When I realized that SPEED had been replaced, I went searching for alternatives. I found a recent article in my AutoWeek magazine that said MavTV had picked up contracts for many of my favorite programs that had been on SPEED. Searched my channel directory, using tips about where MavTV might be located, and came up empty handed.

Are people like me unique? Will I have to go to ComCast?

Your complaint about SPEED is value less DISH can't broadcast a channel that doesn't exist, I believe FOX bought SPEED. Shopping channels actually help keep your bill down, most PAY to be on the service. Spanish programming reflects the changing population of the U.S. how does it feel to be a minority group? Annual subscriptions well the discount cost DISH profits, it cost you more and they make more.

 

[mrgem]

Thanks for the quick response, Bobby.
Yes, I knew that the decision to give SPEED the axe was made by Fox...And that is their right, of course.
But the product people at DISH should have been able to look at their viewer stats for SPEED and realized that there was, in fact, a sizeable paying audience with an interest in Motosports TV...Which is why the people at MavTV are now offering many of SPEED's former programs -- if only DISH were willing to make it available as part of their America's Best package.
Unfortunately, channel 248 does not appear on my viewing guide. Not sure if I simply need to re-boot and reload the program guide (which happened automatically a few days ago) -- but it doesn't appear.
My frustration with Dish is that my guide is now loaded with more and more Info-Mercials and Spanish language stuff and it is getting more difficult to find the programming I do like. And that is something DISH has control over.
Don't mean to vent my spleen here, but I am less happy with DISH -- a service that I've loved and subscribed to for nearly 2 decades -- every month. Problem is that DirecTV, is even worse, by most accounts. So my only alternative may be cable.


Thanks again for weighing in!

 

[SomeDishGuy]

You don't pay for the info-mercial channels. Dish does not pay those folks to carry their channels, they pay Dish, so, in fact, they (the info-mercial channels) are subsidizing the rest of the programming.

As has already been said, Dish had no say in Speed becoming Fox Sports 1. Speed is dead, it exists on no television provider anywhere.

Annual billing did go away. At some point, long ago, Dish worked a compromise. If you'd pay up front for a year, Dish would give a discount, for the incentive of getting your money early. For whatever reason, Dish has decided it was not worth it financially. The customer can still send a big check ($600, $700, etc) to cover a year, and carry a credit each month, nothing to stop that, but you won't get a discount for doing so.

Spanish channels...as someone else said, that is a trend based on what's happening in our country. I won't delve into politics of immigration policy, my personal feelings, etc, but that is just a reality these days. No doubt somebody out there with Latino Dos is mad that they have English-speaking channels in their package. Nobody is ever going to be 100% satisfied with every channel in their package. I frankly watch maybe 10-15 channels of my AT250. It's been beaten to death why there isn't extensive ala carte programming. You'd get less channels, and pay about the same.

 

[Laddyboy]

Thanks for the quick response, Bobby.
Yes, I knew that the decision to give SPEED the axe was made by Fox...And that is their right, of course.
But the product people at DISH should have been able to look at their viewer stats for SPEED and realized that there was, in fact, a sizeable paying audience with an interest in Motosports TV...Which is why the people at MavTV are now offering many of SPEED's former programs -- if only DISH were willing to make it available as part of their America's Best package.
Unfortunately, channel 248 does not appear on my viewing guide. Not sure if I simply need to re-boot and reload the program guide (which happened automatically a few days ago) -- but it doesn't appear.
My frustration with Dish is that my guide is now loaded with more and more Info-Mercials and Spanish language stuff and it is getting more difficult to find the programming I do like. And that is something DISH has control over.
Don't mean to vent my spleen here, but I am less happy with DISH -- a service that I've loved and subscribed to for nearly 2 decades -- every month. Problem is that DirecTV, is even worse, by most accounts. So my only alternative may be cable.


Thanks again for weighing in!

MavTV is in the Blockbuster @ Home Pack, $10.

 

[dangue]

My frustration with Dish is that my guide is now loaded with more and more Info-Mercials and Spanish language stuff and it is getting more difficult to find the programming I do like. And that is something DISH has control over.

Why it create a custom channel list and lock out the channels you hate seeing? I've never bothered with that, but I'm sure someone here can walk you through the process. I imagine they'd need to know your receiver models to be of assistance.

 

[Tampa8]

You have the right to post what you did. I have the right to say you are ridiculous in most everything you said. You did lose the ability to pay in advance true enough. You pay nothing for the shopping channels, in fact they help to keep costs from going even higher, and there is maybe one or two more spanish language only channels now than over the last few years one being sports and I think it's the only Spanish sports channel in the regular English packages. You rant about Speed, a channel that no longer exists. Nothing would have changed if they notified you, would you have gone to another provider - for a channels that does not exist?

My frustration with Dish is that my guide is now loaded with more and more Info-Mercials and Spanish language stuff and it is getting more difficult to find the programming I do like. And that is something DISH has control over.

So by that statement, DISH needs to drop the channels you don't watch so they will not appear in your guide. It just does not make any sense. Make a custom list like everyone else does. And Direct TV is not better or worse, (or in this case Cable). Cable has the same infomercials (which once again is not controlled by DISH unless you mean the channels that pay to be on) and the same Spanish language channels.

If the cost of service is the real root of your complaint, that's a very different thing and not too many would disagree. But DISH is still lower in many situations than the other carriers, so while the cost of TV has become expensive, if you keep the same programming it will be higher other than new customer discounts other places.

 

[mrgem]

Again -- Thanks for the input.

Let me make one thing clear -- I never meant to give anyone the impression that DISH made the decision to kill SPEED. If I did so, my apologies. I know that this was a product decision on the part of their owner, Fox, who has decided that we need another traditional sports channel and that is where the money is to be made.
That said, DISH is missing an opportunity to keep loyal customers (who happen to be motorsports fans) happy, by adding MavTV or its equivalent to the packages that formerly included SPEED and/or Fuel.

You are correct in that I DID say that I "pay" for informercial programming and I continue to believe that. Yes, they pay DISH to appear on their lineup, but you and I also subsidize this programming by subscribing to packages that include this stuff (along with foreign language programming) in our subscriptions. The result is a program guide that has hundreds of channels, more and more of which is just fluff and/or useless to us.

Annual billing has its advantages. It amounts to an annual contract -- locking the customer into a 12-month commitment. If DISH thinks that their discounts for doing so were too generous, then they were free to adjust the discounts (or eliminate them). But in eliminating this option, they are basically emancipating their subscribers now who otherwise wouldn't have been able to move to the competition -- any time they wanted. This, in my view, is a marketing mistake. Hardly a week goes by that I am not accosted in malls and stores by DirecTV sales people asking me to switch. In the past, I could easily tell them that I still have 8 months on my current DISH subscription. That is no longer the case -- So DISH marketing (and no doubt accounting) people have miscalculated here.

It's starting to look as though the overall message here is that DISH doesn't value loyalty...They don't look at viewership for programming that needs to be replaced (when it is cancelled by its owners) , and they don't seem to care if I continue to buy their product, by essntially putting me on a monthly subscription. And that, in my humble opinion, is a huge mistake.

In closing, I am not alone in my concerns about the loss of SPEED. DISH should have anticipated this and found a replacement. Using Google, I found plenty of sites/forums with complaints... Here is one paragraph from a SportsGrip.com article by Jake O'Donnel:
" After reporting that the Speed channel was killed off in order to make room for ESPN-challenger Fox Sports 1, we got an unexpected amount of feedback from our readers — or, perhaps, Speed aficionados who learned from us that Speed was done and had something to say about it. The article has literally hundreds of comments that more or less say the same thing: “We want Speed, we don’t want Fox Sports 1.” This is a heretofore unheard sentiment that caught us by surprise. We also received many emails that seemed to put the blame for Speed’s demise on us. Why? Not sure. If you’re not a Speed fan, you’re probably wondering how mad someone could possibly be that a channel dedicated to motor sports is now a more general-interest sports network that includes NASCAR. We’d like to share just a few of the emails sent to us regarding this change, some of which seem to be raging at the universe, others upset with us directly (for some misinformed reason)..."

Thanks again to all who've responded.

 

[mrgem]

Thanks for the info, laddyboy!

 

[Tampa8]

But you give no channel that does that. What Channel should DISH go and get that has what is described? I am aware there has been many who wanted SPEED to stay, but that doesn't say what channel is available to take it's place. DISH has MavTV, and requesting it to be in the regular packages, or at least the Top250 to me is reasonable. But probably not under the present contract. Perhaps it will make it's way down, I would contact DISH and tell them you would like it in the Top250.

As for Annual Billing - it is too bad they dropped it. I thought I read in some posts they were giving a credit at least for awhile for those that had Annual billing. I could be remembering wrong.

 

[Slamminc11]

twice you have said Dish should carry MAVTV as a replacement for Speed (which Dish did not drop). It's on channel 248 on Dish. If you don't have that channel then upgrade your package, but it's there for anyone who wants it to watch...on Dish.
The rest of your argument is with Fox, not Dish. Because all Dish did was continue to air what was being sent by the channel owner.

 

[KAB]

So, are you blaming Dish for not starting or funding it's own Speed-like channel? That would be the only way to pay back loyalty as you position it. You can't serve a BLT without the lettuce.

 

[satjay]

So, are you blaming Dish for not starting or funding it's own Speed-like channel? That would be the only way to pay back loyalty as you position it. You can't serve a BLT without the lettuce.

Umm...BLT sounds good about now

 

[KAB]

Umm...BLT sounds good about now

Sure DID. Just made one.

 

[Skee7ix]

Where is the more and more Spanish stuff? I had Dish Latino and we have the same channels...

Maybe it was just last month that 3 channels from Dish Latino were on Free Preview, but those channels have always been there.