The way HD pricing should be

[cincyguy2k4]

This new pricing is really frustrating for me. Granted I will only pay 3 more for my package AT250 + HD + Locals (I think?).

The thing that gets me is that if you sub to the regular channel you should get the HD version included just like if you sub for a premimum channel.

If that is not feasible, then give us an option on the voom channels for crying out loud. They all stink IMHO and there should be an option for us who never touch the channels.

For me I dont watch a lot of the HD channels unless its NFL Network or ESPN... Sometimes I watch a little TNT or Discovery if there is something really good on.

These days I watch more HD on my locals than anything else. We dont have HD Locals through Dish in Cincinnati but I use the OTA tuner all the time.

There should be a good option for people like me instead of all these fees if you drop their lackluster HD pack.

I jumped on the bandwagon after last years CES when the 622 was going to have all these features (usb storage anyone?), lots of new HD channels by year end and the hope that Dish would have HD Locals in Cincinnati by now.

Remember when they touted On Demand from the Vip Series? Last time I checked (5 min ago) there were a whopping 6 titles and no "compelling" reason to watch any of em. On Demand is a waste of precious hard drive space they should open up for us to use.

This is coming from a sub since 1997. I have seen the glory days of dish when they cared about price. Now they care more about finding every single way of squeezing a dollar out of their customers.

At this point I would like to be able to simply use my 622 for my OTA recording and not have any of their HD lineup. I already pay for the locals... why have to pay this "enabling fee" especially when their competition (cable) already has the locals in HD on their DVR's in this market, WITHOUT an enabling fee.

Thats my holiday rant. Feel free to bash or praise the ideas above at will.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!!!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think next year we may see the HD pricing change to this model.

Cable gives customers the HD versions of channels they get already for no extra cost, DBS needs to do the same thing. Why pay for ESPN, ESPN2, National Geographic HD again when we get the SD versions for free.

 

[Julien]

I never watch SD channels so give me a package of HD's that cost less and delete all SD's.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I think next year we may see the HD pricing change to this model.

Cable gives customers the HD versions of channels they get already for no extra cost, DBS needs to do the same thing. Why pay for ESPN, ESPN2, National Geographic HD again when we get the SD versions for free.

IF Dish doesn't change to this model by next year and keeps going up on the hd price for their hd subs then they will start to see their hd subs erode. It is ridiculous to expect their best high end subs with the Hd plat pack to now pay 10.00 more for the same programming we had before the price increase. We gained nothing of any consequence this year to merit this increase.

I have never , never ,never seen a price increase in Cable or Directv that is $10.00 in a single year. This will drive people to the lower packs without hd to escape these price increases. I for one will now go with a lower pack like the top 120/soon to be 200 for now to escape the increase.

I will also supplement my Dish account with Blockbuster.com to give me my movie fix that I used to pay Dish for with the Plat pack. I will still save money over all even with the fees. Next year if it goes up again this much I will seriously consider cutting my account down to the top 60/100 and if it goes up again the next year then I will cut it off all together .

I have been a AEP sub for the last 5 or 6 years but this years$10.00 increase is outrageous. There comes a time when you have to draw a line in the sand and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I love Dish and the dish hd dvrs but I can no longer keep paying for channels I rarely watch. The Voom channels I rarely watch and the other hd channels in the pack are nice to look at but are not worth 20.00 to watch old movies and reruns from the 80s. The best hd shows are on the networks anyway. I get both my locals ota and from Dish in hd so my $5.00 is worth it on this account.

So Dish you will lose close to $50.00 from me monthly now because of your whole hd pack pricing strategy . That is $600.00 a year just in money I used to pay you to enjoy your hd pack. Giving your high end customers a $5.00 break was good marketing strategy and rewarded high end subs to stay with the most programming . THis new strategy is going to make more people sub to lower packs and cut out all hd all together to escape the fess. I wish I had never upgraded to the 622 hd metallic packs now that I see that Dish is going stick it in dry with no reach around. I no longer will feed the SATELLITE PIG!

Dish since 1/18/97 - 3 dish accounts.

 

[gqmagic]

It's about time

More and more folks get fed up with the cost of service. I remember threads where people would proudly say they don't mind paying more $ for there service.
Bull sh!t!!!! When dish reads how anxious people were for HD etc, and willing to pay more of course they'll gladly stick it to us without the vaseline. Every other technology there is has come down in price over the last few years, DSL as an example as come down quite a bit, even the flat screen tv's have dropped. But if people keep saying how happy they'll pay more for a few more channels ( voom) then thats what we 'll get. I havn't upgraded from the original HD pak and won't anytime soon, the only channel that might interest me is ESPN2 but like another poster said, those channels that we get in SD we should get free in HD, ESPN, ESPN2,TNT,etc. like with HBO and Showtime if you subcribe to that you get it. And the bogus DVR fee per reciever instead of account, total BS, pure greed!!!!. Lets all voice how we really feel instead of laying down like sheep.

 

[Mr.Pinkeye]

When dish reads how anxious people were for HD etc, and willing to pay more of course they'll gladly stick it to us without the vaseline.

Ewww. Graphic.

 

[Neutron]

I plan on dropping the HD pak and just paying the $6 enabling fee. At least I'd be saving $14 a month.

 

[Stacy A]

I remember when I ordered the HD programming from Dish. I had a 6000 and they had just added Discovery HD Theater the day or two before I got mine installed (I did it myself). It cost me $10.00 and there was some indication from Charlie at the time that any new HD channels added would not increase the price of that HD pack. Of course, that went by the wayside when HDNET or ESPN was added. I can't remember which. There were several people here that predicted exactly what's happening here. I don't like having to pay $20.00 extra, but I think its a more fair pricing scheme. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking that I will go ahead and order a 622 upgrade in mid January. However, Dish needs to understand there should NEVER be another price increase of the HD pack associated with the addition of a new HD channel. Any increases should occur with normal increases. Oh. and by the way, I agree that if you already get the SD version of a channel, you should get the HD version as well. And, the opposite of that should hold true as well. If I subscribe to the HD pack, I should get National Geopgraphic HD even though I may not be subscribed to the high enough pack to get the SD version. If I'm paying you $20.00/month for your HD offerings, then I'm entitled to them all. If you don't make it that way, then you need to ala carte your HD channels and let me pick and choose which ones I want.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

E* will not do away with the $20 premium for HD until competition forces them too.

The $20 is justified if it costs E* that much more to provide HD channels. But even if it isn't justified by their costs, if they can sell it for that, who is to blame them for doing it?

However if it doesn't cost that much, and their competitors are able to gain a price advantage due to E* overcharging, then they will begin to lose customers. That isn't happening as yet, at least not enough for E* to have to lower the price. Indeed, the new price schedule increases the HD premium for some of their customers.

 

[Mr.Pinkeye]

putting on my swanni hat.

Once D* gets its satellites up in the air AND fios makes serious inroads, then we will have a real battle for our hd dollars. Until then, though, the gouging will continue. And who can blame them? They charge twice as much as the other guys, but they also offer twice as many channels.

Sure, we're getting screwed now, but once a price war starts we'll reap the benefits. Gotta love a buyer's market. :

 

[daboogas94e]

they don't gouge.......just charge what they feel is appropriate for the amount they offer

 

[Chris Freeland]

I think next year we may see the HD pricing change to this model.

Cable gives customers the HD versions of channels they get already for no extra cost, DBS needs to do the same thing. Why pay for ESPN, ESPN2, National Geographic HD again when we get the SD versions for free.

I agree that E* should do this and may be forced to in the future, but I doubt that it will happen within the next year. When you add the extra $20/mo to your AT100/200/250 package and factor in the TV/Internet bundling deals, you will end up paying more for E* then with cable, not as many National channels on cable however.

I think E* will find it difficult to give up that extra $20/mo, if E* included all the HD channels that had SD equivalents in their respective AT100/200/250 packages, this would leave only HDNet, HDNet movies, possibly Universal HD, and the 15 VoomHD channels in the HD package, how many people would be willing to pay an extra $20/mo for just those channels? And would the contracts for the above channels even allow this?

 

[MikeD-C05]

I will seriously consider cutting out HD althogether if the gouging , YES I said Gouging , continues. The hd pack while nice in variety is redundant in its repeats. IF they offered the newest stuff in HD instead of old movies and repeats from the 80s I would say cool but that is not the case. The repeats on Universal from last years Battle star Galactica are nice but I don't like to wait a year to see it in hd.

I hope that Directv does add a bunch of national hd channels and gives Dish a run for its money but something tells me they will just do the same thing in pricing as Dish or even higher. They are already higher in price on the programming now for Total Choice Premier pack and their hd pack is anemic.

Hd channels should replace the sd equivalent and be for free not in addition to the regular sd pack. Who wants to pay the equivalent of two programming packs just to get hd? IF they keep adding hd channels and keep raising the price to justify it then they will price themselves right out of the market. THey already have for me. Maybe in a few years the pricing structure will change and we will once again get value for our money with Dish , but not in 2007 with their $10.00 price increase on hd +AEP subs.

 

[Jim5506]

I know HD costs me $20 more per month. That is what I agreed to.

What a bunch of whiners. Every year when Dish adds $2-3 to the programming packages its the same whine - whine whine.

But now Dish has been really naughty, they've eliminated the $5 price break for the top HD tier, sounds like people griping about having to pay $5 or connect a phone line - Good Grief! Oh, and in that highest tier, you pay no DVR fees, is that right?

There, I feel much better! Your turn, flame away!

 

[MikeD-C05]

You know Jim I'm not going to flame you. You are entitled to your opinion even if it is wrong in my eyes. I hope that you can always afford the $10.00 a month increases each year.

But have you ever thought why Dish offered the $5.00 discount on the Plat pack in the first place? It was to move their hd customers to the new mpeg 4 vip hd receivers. The $5.00 discount was a bonus to those who did so. It helped to further the mpeg 4 transition with hd customers being upgraded first. It also got people to look at all the new hd channels and want them. Once the Plat hd customers got hooked on them ... WHAMO ! They take the $5.00 discount away.

In two years when the SD subs have to upgrade to mpeg 4 receivers and they find out that they will be hit with not only higher price increases every year, but bullsh*t fees like the hd enabeling fees at $6.00 per receiver and the redundant $5.98 dvr fee per receiver , if they try to sub to a lower pack or one without hd involved, do you think that they will be pleased and pay up or do you think that they will just churn to another provider?

This is not in the best interest in the over all scheme of things if Dish wants to transition all their customers to mpeg4 to save bandwith in the next two years. THey origionaly wanted to transition the hd customers first to mpeg 4 then the sd subs by 2009. HIking the price up and doing away with the discount for subbing to all sd and hd is not the way to do that. Neither is it wise to hit same customers with Bullsh*t fees if they don't sub to the higher programming hd pack.

But if all you care about is whether you can afford the price increase then fine. But I have never ,NEVER , NEVER heard of a Cable or Sat company asking for a single $10.00 a month increase EVER. Have you JIM?

 

[M Sparks]

I never watch SD channels so give me a package of HD's that cost less and delete all SD's.

Uhhh, they do. It's $30.

Note- that argument doesn't apply to the Premiums. Premium multiplexes are sold at the same price for one channel or all. So you might as well get the extra SD channels as well.

 

[Kikkenit2]

I just tried to get HD channels only and they said no. What color is HD only? But if I understand the new pricing as of feb 07 HD only will be available. Can anybody confirm this?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I thought E* stopped selling the $30 Standalone HD pack about 6 months ago. I know a number of people who attempted to purchase it since then were denied.

 

[BFG]

dish really blew it with the bundling of voom and the $20 jump for an HD pack

I'm still using the 811 cause I wont accept there false pushed promotions for "mpeg4"

directv was smart when they lowered their hd pack o $9.99 and have espn2 and universal hd, the only channels I really want to view that I don' have now

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I certainly hoped to get more from VOOM than I have. And I think that I'm in the upper 10%-20% of customers who like VOOM the most. There are 5 VOOM channels in my regular rotation of channels that I watch most.

Given this, if I had the option of dropping VOOM and lowering my bill $10/month, I would take it. As I suspect a good 80%+ of all E* HD customers would also do. Hmmm ... maybe I will start a poll.