No Offers From Dish?

[Scroll]

As we near the end of January and technically we could lose SA any day within the next 60 or so days I am only a little surprised that Dish has made no effort to win us over to their service. Such an offer well may never come.

I can't say if they are contractually bound not to make any such contact to make an offer before March 31 or if they just have absolutely no intention of trying to attract such a large pool of potential subscribers who already have their equipment installed. The latter would be totally foolish from a business perspective and I rather doubt the former because they used to call me all the time trying to get me to up my programming until I just told them I wanted no more unsolicited calls.

I have been weighing my options. I have the equipment to receive GloryStar but so far have had no luck with getting it to work, mainly due to my lack of experience with FTA as opposed to DBS.

I'm still not completely sure whether I should just rip out all the Dish equipment and send it off to eBay or a thrift store or reconsider Dish as one of my providers. But then I have always had rain fade issues with Dish and with Florida's rainy season just around the corner I know my annual signal loss aggravation is not far away.

So maybe it's just that I'm not done venting my displeasure at a sad, unfair situation, being a "lifetime" subscriber to SA with feelings of being misled, betrayed, and manipulated. I know some will take exception to that but many of us are feeling the same way even if we're not outright saying it.

So I don't know. But what I do know is I recently connected my previously subscribed 2nd Dish receiver just to see what unscrambled programming it had available and learned that about the only thing on it worth watching was NASA, so there's no benefit in that regard.

The irony here is that even if I intended to go with IPTV it STILL isn't even available as of today.

 

[retiredTech]

a bigger dish would help with rain fade

 

[Scroll]

I have a Dish 500 connected to a Dish 300 antenna by a SW-21. It seems like when either antenna gets blocked the whole shabang goes haywire.

I bought mom a larger sized antenna for her Direct TV and it hardly ever goes out, but then she is only using the 101 position.

 

[catkoko]

don't throw it away just yet. dish is supposed be be offing some sort of religious channel pkg after 2/1 So far all the rumors have turned out to be true so I am hanging in there for a little bit longer. Obviously we can't expect them to honor lifetime as it was sky angle who took our $, but a similar package would be nice !

 

[MellowYBird]

don't throw it away just yet. dish is supposed be be offing some sort of religious channel pkg after 2/1 So far all the rumors have turned out to be true so I am hanging in there for a little bit longer. Obviously we can't expect them to honor lifetime as it was sky angle who took our $, but a similar package would be nice !

I hope this is true! I've never had a problem with any of DISH network's equipment or reception. I didn't have a problem with DISHfamily, I just didn't like the commercials and I had a lot of the channels blocked, so I stuck with Sky Angel only and blocked the "special secular" channels.

~MYB~

 

[BabaLouie]

Has anyone heard anything more about a special Dish Network package to be offered to former SA customers? There was speculation that we would see something about this after 2/1.......

 

[stilllearning]

I chatted with a Dish rep about a month ago. He indicated that Dish was looking into offering a religious package but that a firm decision had not been made.

I'm not sure where the 2/1 date came from but it's my understanding that Dish has a contract with SA that prohibits Dish from offering any additional religious channels for the life of the contract with SA. Since SA isn't going out of the DBS business until 3/31 (per the letter that SA sent to subscribers) I have a feeling that we won't see a religious package offering from Dish until after that date, if at all.

 

[Bob Haller]

march 31st sky angel goes dark.

i hope they get sued and put out of business

 

[ShaneLinder]

I have a feeling they won't have to get sued in order to go out of business. They use to be only one of three fish in the DBS market. As IPTV catches on, they are going to be one of many, many fish in the IPTV market.

 

[Scroll]

I got a mailing from Dominion today. Guess what? Nothing but eventually the same old pamphlet about the IPTV packages. No cover letter, nothin.

If they are wasting postage like this, not even a good marketing appeal, then I'd say there could be a coverage gap between the 3/31 SA shut down and the actual IPTV launch date. Maybe not. We'll see.

But I really doubt they'll be around at all for a 2nd Christmas special myself. I just wonder if the box will have any value after IPTV goes dark?

 

[ShaneLinder]

Of course there is the big unknown of whether IPTV will go the way of the 8-track. That is, will another technology come along that will make it obsolete.

 

[catkoko]

waste of $$

The supposedly "noted my account" of my cmplaint, that I wouldn't pay for IPTV etc. yet they continue to send me IPTV brochures. One hand doesn't know what the other is doing.

Not impressive brochures, they look like those inserts you throw away without reading, too small to catch your eye if you know what I mean.

 

[stilllearning]

Are there any Dish insiders on this board who know if Dish is going to offer a religious package after SA goes dark?

 

[chapelrun]

Wondering this myself

I had never done FTA but went that way since Sky Angel is going away.

I really do think DISH is missing out by not making some offer to Sky Angel users.

Some ideas that might work

1. DISH could offer a 61.5 only offering for less than $19.99 per month
2. Offer a very similar package to Sky Angel (maybe they already plan this)

I don't know what the numbers are but from a pure marketing standpoint it would seem crazy not to at least try. Especially since all these Sky Angel customers already have DISH equipment.

 

[Scroll]

Except we are being told 61.5 is failing, that being the reason SA supposedly could not continue.

I too would have liked to see Dish offer more of the channels. From what I can see Direct TV family offers a better value.

 

[catkoko]

Actually hasn't a replacement for 61/5 been launched? I thought I saw something on the dish forum

 

[Mr Tony]

correct. But that has spotbeams and is mainly goign to be used for HD and their new service (Echostar's)

Technically there are 2 satellites already there ay 61.5
Rainbow 1 which was Vooms satellite and E3. They mainly handle HD

 

[elder]

Echostar seems a bit dense in understanding and responding to questions! The following exchanges are in chronological order of most recent first:

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for your response, but you avoided my question. I was trying to determine if Dish is going to offer a package to those of us that own our receivers and are pointed at 61.5. Sky Angel is dumping us so it is history, but we are potential Dish customers if you can offer Christian and family friendly programming on E*3. Surely you know what you plan to use the transponders for and can give us a heads up on what might be available, otherwise our Dishes will go to a thrift store or to recycling.

thanks,

----- Original Message -----

From:
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 4:09 PM
Subject: RE: Sky Angel Transponders sent to erin



Thank you for your E-mail. Dominion (Sky Angel) and DISH Network are not affiliated. In the past we leased space on our satellite for their broadcasts. Unfortunately we do not have any information about how their life time members will be transitioned into their new online broadcasts. All questions about the Dominion service will need to be answered by them. You may reach Dominion at 1-800-SKY-ANGEL.

Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 2:12 PM
To: CEO
Subject: Sky Angel Transponders sent to erin


How about a heads up on what you plan to offer those of us at 61.5 ? Sky Angel so far hasn't the nerve to even tell the lifetime partners that we are being ditched. Will you talk to us ?



thanks,


​

 

[TheKrell]

The "avoiding the question" comment sounds a little hostile to me. I'd make it simple so that even Dish execs can understand the question. "Now that Sky Angel is going to ground, does Dish expect to pick up any former Sky Angel subscribers? A package of religious programming on 61.5 is of obvious interest, but a similar package on regular Dish Network orbital locations might also be attractive since we already have the hardware and need only a repoint."

 

[Mr Tony]

removed e-mail and phone number

Seriously, Dish probably doesnt even know yet until 3/31 when SA officially "ceases" as DBS