No Justice for Flex Pack (no Grit, either)
- Thread starter pattykay
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I got three free months of Heartland Package by complaining about losing BUZZR, so at least I get GSN now. According to the tech support CSR that I spoke with, Dish has already gotten hundreds of complaints from Flex Pack subscribers about losing BUZZR.
Not sure I get what you are saying. It isn't OTA or you would get it. It isn't in all packages, it was in preview.
From James Long;
245 BUZZR Buzzer 110° TP 21 SD - Preview Ended Package Flag Change (was SD Preview) x8C: Channel Group(s) Changed (9) End Preview (x8C)
245 BUZZR Buzzer 61.5° TP 15 SD MPEG4 - Preview Ended Package Flag Change (was SD MPEG4 Preview) x8C: Channel Group(s) Changed (9)
Did you follow the link in the post you quoted? It leads to my post in the other thread:
My point is that Dish never listed BUZZR as a preview channel on SD channel 103, nor was BUZZR listed as a preview on the website. We had no advance warning that the preview was about to end. The section of that page that lists expired previews also does not show BUZZR, so Dish is not even acknowledging the preview after the fact.Great, so it was just Flex Pack that lost it.I love how Dish announces these changes.
BUZZR was not listed as a free preview on the Dish Perks Free Preview page on the Dish website, and it is still not listed there under "Last Month's Free Previews" either.
Here since they added it;
BUZZR (BUZZR) on DISH | MyDISH Station Details
That's the best usually accurate place to look. DISH often previews newly added channels then they reside in the packages they will end up in. But not always.
But where was the list of packages that are supposed to include BUZZR, in the thread that originally announced that BUZZR had been added?
You even Liked my post number 50 in this very thread, where I said BUZZR had been added to Flex Pack.
Did you check that link you just provided before yesterday? If you had checked it then, I would bet that Flex Pack was listed there. Dish has done that many times to many other channels that were just a free preview.
I checked it when someone else wondered if it would stay in the Flex pack. I don't agree about DISH listing incorrectly there, only in the listings. (Which I disagree they should do)
You disagree that Dish should list all of the free preview channels on the Free Preview page on the Dish website?
https://www.mydish.com/filestream.ashx?ID=17781&inline=true
This looks to be a pretty up-to-date listing as it already has American Heros Channel listed in HD even though it is only uplinked in HD and not available yet. And it lists Buzzer as not being in the Flex Pack.
This looks to be a pretty up-to-date listing as it already has American Heros Channel listed in HD even though it is only uplinked in HD and not available yet. And it lists Buzzer as not being in the Flex Pack.
What I disagree with is putting freeviews in the channel lists in packages where they are not going to stay which has been discussed before.
There's lots of things DISH should do but do not every time. Yes it probably is a good idea to be in the freeview list. But it isn't the first time a new channel added to the lineup does not show up in that list I think because it was not planned as the others are. It's possible no new channel gets put on that list.
Right, but then that just causes confusion when the freeview finally ends, sometimes after several months. The freeviews that caused me to start this thread (Justice and Grit) are a good example. Weather Nation was another long freeview (more than four months) when that channel launched, and I specifically remember that one being listed as being in all packages, as well as being listed on the Welcome Pack page on the Dish website. When I specifically asked a DIRT member about the (apparently) unplanned, more than four month long freeviews of FXX and National Geographic, the reply was that the "preview" listing in the uplink reports is unofficial, and they cannot go by that to confirm that there is a freeview. They had no clue why we were getting those channels for free. It also doesn't help that many channels that are free all of the time (such as shopping channels and some of the religious channels) are also listed as "preview" in the uplink reports. So, it can get confusing to try to figure out which channels we are supposed to get, and for how long.
Even if a freeview is unplanned, Dish should at least post a message after the fact on the freeview page on the website, to explain what happened, why we are no longer receiving that channel, and how we can get that channel back. Ideally, there should also be some advance notice given before a freeview (even an unplanned one) ends. I highly doubt that the uplink engineers go to work that day with absolutely no clue what they are going to be doing that day. These changes must be planned at least a little bit in advance, so it would be nice if Dish would post a notice about the freeview ending, as soon as they know that they are planning to do so.
A lot of the channels that Dish keeps out of the Flex Pack are channels that cost Dish nothing or perhaps a couple of cents. CSPAN 2, Grit, GetTV, Buzzr, etc. They keep them out because they are afraid the Flex Pack will become too good of a deal and more people will drop their overpriced AT plans and choose Flex instead.
Which is a sound business decision in my opinion. After all when you literally put billions of dollars into the hardware, satellites, receivers, and the like, you don't give away the store....
Well, they aren't losing all of these subscribers because they are being too generous with their channel packages. Quite the opposite.
Why should they charge us for channels that they get absolutely free? They charge us fees for all the equipment and paid channels.
Why should they charge us for channels that they get absolutely free? They charge us fees for all the equipment and paid channels.
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All they have to do to keep the Flex Pack from "becoming too much of a bargain" or "giving away the store" is move some channels to add-ons instead of just not carrying them or removing them. Problem solved. Those who want the channels will pay for the add-ons, those who don't, won't.
I get what you're saying but from a marketing perspective, the more channels they could pad with it for free, the better it is to market. Saying "get 80 channels for $35" vs "get 50 channels for $35" sounds good, doesn't it? Maybe the people here know there are a lot of channels in the pack that Dish doesn't pay for or are pennies but the average person likely doesn't know that.
Anyway, it's moot now since Dish isn't advertising it or even making it available to new customers.
Do we know that for sure? Dish is no longer discounting Flex Pack for new subscribers (or at least not advertising a discount or even advertising the package at all) but are we sure that new subscribers can't get Flex Pack at all? If so, it seems silly to keep the Flex Pack and Channel Pack advertising slate channels in the 9000's active.
I'm not sure we know it isn't available to new customers.
I don't believe there was a discount. You got $5 for autopay and $5 off the DVR fee if that is what you mean. Again do we know that isn't a new customer option?
