New Directv Prices

[satjay]

I just looked into FiOS and I can get an internet and TV bundle (Extreme HD) with 1 HD Receiver, 1 HD DVR, and home media service for $117/month. This rate will be locked for 2 years.

Once DirecTV raises their price and I lose my discounts (no more free HD for 24 months and no more $10 off my bill for 12 months), my TV and Internet (TWC Internet) with the same setup and no home media service will be $128/month. Once my TWC internet bills goes up $10/month more in about 6 months I will be paying $138/month total for both TV and Internet.

It looks like FiOs is becoming more to my liking.

What kept me away from FiOs was that I could not take it with me to our place in Mammoth like I can DirecTV. Now that our place in Mammoth finally got high speed internet and I have a Sling Box, I can Sling my TV from my house to our place in Mammoth through my Laptop connected to the TV.

I am hopeful that the free HD fee will not go away, plus I am hopeful that they will continue top provide credits, I guess we will see.

Sent from my iPad!!

 

[harshness]

This just makes it that much easier to convince the wife to go full OTA with TiVo.

I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $19.99/month for one OTA DVR. That's just wrong.

 

[Jimbo]

I just looked into FiOS and I can get an internet and TV bundle (Extreme HD) with 1 HD Receiver, 1 HD DVR, and home media service for $117/month. This rate will be locked for 2 years.

Once DirecTV raises their price and I lose my discounts (no more free HD for 24 months and no more $10 off my bill for 12 months), my TV and Internet (TWC Internet) with the same setup and no home media service will be $128/month. Once my TWC internet bills goes up $10/month more in about 6 months I will be paying $138/month total for both TV and Internet.

It looks like FiOs is becoming more to my liking.

What kept me away from FiOs was that I could not take it with me to our place in Mammoth like I can DirecTV. Now that our place in Mammoth finally got high speed internet and I have a Sling Box, I can Sling my TV from my house to our place in Mammoth through my Laptop connected to the TV.

You don't KNOW if they will even have a HD FEE after this ... after most peoples 24 month free deal is done.

 

[harshness]

even better is when you pick how many TV's you need even if you hook it directly to the HDTV (lifeline is QAM..the rest needs a box) if you select 1 TV like that they will charge you $14 for install

I was wallowing around on the Comcast site today and they offer some manner of self-install kit for $30. The mind verily boggles.

I remember when I wanted a DVR with an S-video output. They told me I had to have it delivered ($50 charge) to get one.

 

[DodgerKing]

I am hopeful that the free HD fee will not go away, plus I am hopeful that they will continue top provide credits, I guess we will see.

Sent from my iPad!!

My $10 off for 12 months was just a discount they gave me because I called and asked if they could give me RZ for free. I still ended up getting RZ for free anyway.

The free HD for 24 months will expire in about a year. So next year I am looking at paying $20 more per month without the price increase. And the price increase for me will be $5.50 more per month because I am under the old Total Choice Plus plan which they are getting rid of. In one year from now I will be paying at least $25.50 more per month and that does not include following year's price increase.

 

[DodgerKing]

You don't KNOW if they will even have a HD FEE after this ... after most peoples 24 month free deal is done.

True. But they will have to make up for the costs somewhere. I have a feeling that if they do get rid of the additional HD fee that the cost will be added to HD equipment, like many cable companies do.

 

[stardust3]

True. But they will have to make up for the costs somewhere. I have a feeling that if they do get rid of the additional HD fee that the cost will be added to HD equipment, like many cable companies do.

What about mpeg4 markets, there is nearly 30 of them.

 

[DodgerKing]

What about mpeg4 markets, there is nearly 30 of them.

Good point. Perhaps an SD equipment fee as long as you use your HD equipment as SD only?

 

[Mr Tony]

My brother is a new D* sub on his 3rd billing cycle. 4 TVs, dvr, whole home, choice extra w/auto pay for hd. They debited his account yesterday for $287, he was beside himself. Turned out it was a computer error, going to take 3-5 days to be credited back the difference. I told him about the upcoming price increase, that just added insult to injury, but wasn't sure if it effected everyone or what? Either way he has a pretty sour taste for satellite service in general.

I think the promo pricing (29.99/34.99/39.99) is good for one year. Then month 13 the promos change (I know it was like $16 off a month then)

 

[Mr Tony]

I was wallowing around on the Comcast site today and they offer some manner of self-install kit for $30. The mind verily boggles.

I remember when I wanted a DVR with an S-video output. They told me I had to have it delivered ($50 charge) to get one.

even better is their 29.99 teaser rate but $10 for HD and 16.95 per EACH HD DVR and its sexy 20 hour HD capacity

 

[Mr Tony]

I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $19.99/month for one OTA DVR. That's just wrong.

dual tuner OTA + streaming options? Doesn't sound too bad

 

[IcEWoLF]

Lets pull a stunt on DirecTV!
Lets do a "Netflix" on them.

On a serious note, damn, prices are just going through the roof.

 

[Jimbo]

True. But they will have to make up for the costs somewhere. I have a feeling that if they do get rid of the additional HD fee that the cost will be added to HD equipment, like many cable companies do.

I don't see this happening ... at least I hope, if they did they better GF those and make it effective for NEW subs as they come aboard.

 

[DodgerKing]

If you think about it, DirecTV is pretty much the only provider that does not have different rates for different types of equipment. They are the only one to charge one flat additional receiver fee regardless of which receiver you have. DirecTV also has a history of being one of the last provider to change pricing and packaging options to line up with what other providers have already been doing. I hate to say it, but I do see them doing something like this in the future.

 

[ts7]

I believe that the biggest problem with the annual price increase in DBS/Cable programming all boils down to the exorbent prices that the cable networks (ESPN) and broadcast networks pay for programming from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA, etc... The solution, which will never be allowed to happen, is to break out all ESPN channels, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, etc.. and place them in a seperate premium programming package. If you want the sports programming, fine, but you pay for it. Do not force subscribers that have little or no interest in sports programming to subsidize the programming cost. The only way that this would ever happen is if the FCC required that the programmers (Disney, NBCU, CBS, News Corp, etc..) allow the DBS and cable companies to break these channels out into "theme" type packages, or make the program providers allow the distributors to do real A-la-carte. I would like a theme type approach, like Shaw Direct and Bell Expressvu use. You can pick "x" number of theme packages for $x. If the sports type programming would still make the pacakge too expensive, then make ESPN and the Fox Sports networks just like HBO and Showtime are, if you want them then you pay more for them. Of course this is choice, and is something that neither the FCC, the DBS providers, nor the program providers want us to have. Oh, for the good old days of TVRO when you could actually pick what you wanted to watch and pay for only what you wanted.

+1

 

[satjay]

If you think about it, DirecTV is pretty much the only provider that does not have different rates for different types of equipment. They are the only one to charge one flat additional receiver fee regardless of which receiver you have. DirecTV also has a history of being one of the last provider to change pricing and packaging options to line up with what other providers have already been doing. I hate to say it, but I do see them doing something like this in the future.

This right now is what is putting them at a price advantage (for me at least) over comcast-though I have never been impressed with there service, and with Dish as we know if you have more then one reciever its a bit higher. It will be intresting to see if they continue the Free "HD" that many of us have.

The sad things in my area, prices are pretty much the same. I live in a part of Michigan where my choices are Comcast, Dish, or Direct, I have been with Direct for about 12/13 years minus almost two years as I was curious to see how the water was on the Dish side.

Overall happy with Direct, I am intrested to see what the "entertainment" package is and if I can keep the "free HD" if I think that package is ok....Might be my own version of "el la carte"

My personal experience with Direct is they do seem to soften the blow a bit with some credits, though maybe those may be few in the future as I have read Direct wants to tighten the belt in programming and such

 

[ncted]

I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $19.99/month for one OTA DVR. That's just wrong.

They had a deal earlier this year where OTA customers only paid $9.99, and the deal is expected to come back again in 2012. That said, you'd probably be better off getting a used HD and paying $12.95 as the OTA tuner is supposed to work better.

-Ted

 

[Mr Tony]

Overall happy with Direct, I am intrested to see what the "entertainment" package is and if I can keep the "free HD" if I think that package is ok....Might be my own version of "el la carte"

yeah I'm wondering about that package too

 

[Mr Tony]

They had a deal earlier this year where OTA customers only paid $9.99, and the deal is expected to come back again in 2012.

good to know. I know I can't stream anything with my badass 1.5MB DSL so the streaming is kinda out of the question

 

[ncted]

good to know. I know I can't stream anything with my badass 1.5MB DSL so the streaming is kinda out of the question

I have a 30Mb Road Runner connection, and I can't stream things at times. This is one reason I dropped NetFlix. Too many times I could not stream shows or movies during primetime. I couldn't even get my Blu-Ray player to connect to their servers. Packet analysis showed no acks being returned. Ironically, I could stream on my laptop, so they are obviously using different CDNs for different clients. I prefer the iTunes model where items are downloaded personally. Streaming relies too havily on content distribution networks, some of which, are under provisionsed. That said, I do have Amazon Prime for the shipping, and they are adding new content all the time, so I occassionally stream content from them, although not always problem-free.

-Ted