I haven't had any 'good' offers from DirecTV in about 3 years. I've had a few small things, $5 off for 6 months, free redzone, and buy Showtime get Starz, etc. Nothing real special.
I've been with them 10 years but only out of contract for a year or so, as I bought a HR44 to upgrade from HR34 a while ago.
I've seriously been thinking about Dish, given the Hopper 3 and it's 16 tuners and better interface. Today Dish launched a 3 year price lock. I could get Top 200 (like xtra) for $80 with hopper, plus $7 per extra receiver which matches DirecTV. DirecTV is about $110 ($82 xtra, $23 HD/DVR/MRV, $2 RSN Fee), so moving to Dish would be a $30 savings guaranteed for 3 years, which would end up being $35 savings in year 2, $40 in year 3 with the typical $5/mo price increase each year.
I called this afternoon to verify my contract ended and see if they would do anything competitive to Dish, ask about the cancellation process, notice that needs to be given, etc. They asked about lowering my package and I said I wasn't interested in that. She then asked me to wait a minute and started going through some discounts. I don't remember everything, but the main things she was able to offer me was:
- $20 off for 24 months
- $30 off for 12 months
- Waived DVR fee for a year ($10 for 12 months)
- Free showtime for 4 months
This brings this year to $30 less than Dish, and next year to about $15 more that what I would have gotten with Dish.
I was very satisfied with this offering and accepted. I like the picture quality and Full-Time RSN channels on DirecTV, which Dish cannot offer due to compression and bandwidth limitations.
While the 16 tuners would be nice, I rarely use more than the 5 my Genie has and my wife has her own DVR with the HR24 that meets her needs.
I wish they would improve the interface, it is very dated, but the shortcoming in hardware is overcome with the picture quality and "always there content", as programming disputes are very rare on DirecTV, something Dish can't say.
The rep did say it was a 2 year commitment for the offer but I was never asked to verbally agree or anything, she just said it is discounts for agreeing to stay with Directv. That said, I doubt it is an actual agreement as no terms were discussed.
I'm happy for the next couple years, and hopefully they will stay competitive in the future, as switching providers is a significant pain I'd like to avoid.