Only 5% of Dish subs get "premium" package

[Tampa8]

I completely agree with you. Can you list some of those favorite shows you've seen?

I only get and for any length of time have only had HBO of the national premium packages. They have had numerous original programs far too many to list all that I liked and for years won many of the awards. My all time number one series Deadwood, Soprano's, Big Little Lies, West World, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry Sanders, Barry, True Detective (1st year lets see about 3rd year) Hard Knocks, Real Sports, and on and on... HBO is my go to set of channels when I can't find anything that gets my interest.

 

[EarDemon]

Current running series:

HBO - Silicon Valley, Ballers, True Detective, Room 104
Cinemax - Outcast, Relik, Tales From The Tour Bus
Showtime - Homeland, The Chi, Billions, The Affair, Ray Donovan, Shameless, DarkNet
Epix - Berlin Station, Deep State

Series from the not too distant past:

HBO - The Leftovers, The Brink, Boardwalk Empire, Vinyl
Cinemax - Banshee, Quarry, The Knick
Showtime - Masters of Sex, Roadies, House of Lies, Dice

I tried watching Westworld, but couldn't get into it, same goes for Penny Dreadful. Used to watch Real Sports, but I can't stand the skinny Gumbel and the political agenda he pushes. They covered some interesting topics, but I needed to shower in bleach after some of the crap spewed on that show. Also used to watch Hard Knocks and Inside The NFL as well, but I have no use for the National Felons League anymore.

 

[Bobby]

and then there is Game of Thrones! Arguably the greatest TV series ever....

 

[ChadT41]

and then there is Game of Thrones! Arguably the greatest TV series ever....

Arguably?

 

[Bobby]

and then there is Game of Thrones! Arguably the greatest TV series ever....

There are some who might think the The Sopranos is just as worthy....

 

[ekilgus]

There are some who might think the The Sopranos is just as worthy....

Hasn’t anyone watched Spartacus? I thought it was the best non HBO series I’ve seen. Rome at its most decadent.

 

[Bobby]

Hasn’t anyone watched Spartacus? I thought it was the best non HBO series I’ve seen. Rome at its most decadent.

And then there was Black Sails on Starz....

 

[ChadT41]

I was a huge fan of Camelot on Starz, but they cancelled that after one season a few years back.

 

[ekilgus]

It seems the premium channels, fully aware that they can no longer get by with just showing movies, develop their own movies/series that most times are far superior to anything broadcast TV has to offer. And virtually all the series listed by previous posters are better than anything on broadcast TV.

Chad, I agree the cancelling of "Camelot" was annoying as was HBO's shortening of their series "Rome", but their abrupt cancellation of "Deadwood" was absolutely maddening.

 

[Bobby]

and Carnivale too!

 

[odbrv]

My wife and I use to go to the movie theater a couple times a week. When it started to cost $25 plus food costs each visit, we decided to quit that habit. That saved over $200 per month. We used 1/4 of the savings and got all the premium movie channels on Dish. We have since added Netflix and Amazon Prime. We have used the still $130 per month savings to upgrade our TVs and surround sound. We still have enough left over to subsidize our Dish non premium monthly costs by about 50%. We also avoid all the folks who think the movie theater is their kids babysitter and the obnoxious folks with cell phones lit up texting. As premiums increase in cost , we are now exploring if their is a lower cost alternative to premiums with similar content.

 

[Tampa8]

..... but their abrupt cancellation of "Deadwood" was absolutely maddening.

I'll fix that for you.

"but their abrupt cancellation of "Deadwood" was absolutely maddening criminal."

 

[ncted]

My wife and I use to go to the movie theater a couple times a week. When it started to cost $25 plus food costs each visit, we decided to quit that habit. That saved over $200 per month. We used 1/4 of the savings and got all the premium movie channels on Dish. We have since added Netflix and Amazon Prime. We have used the still $130 per month savings to upgrade our TVs and surround sound. We still have enough left over to subsidize our Dish non premium monthly costs by about 50%. We also avoid all the folks who think the movie theater is their kids babysitter and the obnoxious folks with cell phones lit up texting. As premiums increase in cost , we are now exploring if their is a lower cost alternative to premiums with similar content.

For years I followed much the same path as you. However, as theaters have improved where we live, we find ourselves going to the movies again more regularly. Comfy, leather, reserved, reclining seats, adult beverages, and high-quality food make it more of an event and therefore more worth the money. The rewards programs they offer also make it an ok deal. The cost, the reduced number of seats, and the generally high-end experience tends to limit the obnoxious people and our exposure to them. We only go a couple of times per month, but it is still more than we used to, and it is nice to see films in the theater that benefit from the screen size, etc.

 

[BamaFan2]

It seems like Dish wants everyone to switch to a la carte. BBC News channel is only available in the News pack. You can’t get certain packs if you have a premium package. I have the All Everyting package which I have discoverd doesn’t include everything. Extra for locals. Extra for Dish Movie Channel. Channels always get dropped, but not always added.

I looked into going a la carte. i listed the channels I usually watch. Buying all the packs to get these channels turned out to match my current bill, plus the hassle involved. Just didn’t make sense for me. There are other ways to view BBC News.