UPDATED - New Dish Pricing Info!

[ts7]

Come on, let's put this in perspective...
*IF* this alleged price increase actually happens, you have a legitimate beef with DISH . . .

Your big *IF* depends upon how vigorous those of us with 4-6 HD DVR's/Boxes let Dish know through this forum and via emails what we think of Dish's test balloon (Please, this was intentionally leaked by Dish to test the waters) regarding the possible fee restructuring will slam those of us who are AEP with a lot of HD DVR's. So, if this fee restructuring is somehow altered for the better, it is because of us who do get worked up and let Dish know our sentiments rather than your method laying prostrate willing to let Dish stick it to us.

Finally, if you are not an AEP with at least 4-6 HD DVR's and boxes, then you really have no business telling any of US not to get worked up. So far, the only ones who have expressed the Pollyanna, reefer induced, "chill-out, man," attitude have been those with only a few boxes and below AEP. Considering that the talked about fee restructure may result in even a buck or two savings for some subs with one or two boxes, good for them. I am really happy for them. But that means that this possible fee restructure and it's effect on high-end, high HD box, AEP + other services subscribers really doesn't concern them and their calls to sit back and wait sounds about as irrational as you may view our vigor in letting Dish know through this forum and emails or other methods that we don't like what MAY come, and we are wise to scream and doom and gloom about it because facing a possible $30 + increase on the monthly bill is something to scream about. Since you are so relaxed, please take a nap while the rest of us facing over a 20% increase in our bills discuss how this affects US. Over a $30 per month increase that works out to over a 20% increase in the monthly bill for AEP, high-end, high number HD DVR and boxes: how's that for putting it "in perspective." A rhetorical question because I already know and don't care for your answer.

You missed my point...

I was pointing out the absurdity of getting upset with the CEO account for not responding to the poster. For CEO to respond would confirm the "rumor", which Dish is obviously not ready to do, especially to those that are so vocal about it. Did you seriously expect a response?

I was NOT suggesting that anyone didn't have reason to get upset!

As for your other comments about those who don't have AEP (which I don't, but I do have multiple receivers), it is somewhat offensive that you would just assume that if you don't have AEP, then you are not affected. Perhaps you should be reminded that many who don't have AEP would like to have it but already can't afford it, perhaps barely being able to pay for a basic package. Any increase, no matter how minute, may be the difference between having service or not having service. Granted, if the rate increases, as rumored, are accurate, then those with AEP and multiple receivers will bear what would seem to be an unfair brunt of the increase (perhaps Charlie figures if you have enough disposable income to pay for AEP and multiple receivers then you can afford the higher rates) BUT don't assume that the rumored increase won't hit others hard as well.

Now, with that off my chest, here's another wild, random thought...

Could there be any reason that Charlie might DELIBERATELY be trying to reduce the number of AEP subscribers? Maybe in preparation for some kind of ala carte packages that could generate more subscription revenue but less payout to the programmers?

 

[Kheldar]

If someone like me wants that much equipment, then we can't complain when fees are added or increased that relates to the number of boxes in the house. Dump equipment, or reduced programming, like I will be doing, to let Dish know I don't appreciate the increases. Bye bye Fox Sports package and probably premium movie channels. Followed by a letter to Charlie that says "Raise my costs and I will keep cutting back."

If DishNet raises prices to the point where customers reduce programming to keep their costs the same, this is exactly what DishNet would want to do. Why?

Because if someone drops a package, that is less outgoing money that DishNet has to pay the programming providers, assuming their programming payment contracts are based on the number of actual subscribers to each channel/package.

So, although they keep the same income level, they are paying out less money to the channel providers, which means more income for themselves.

Since the manufacturing costs of the leased equipment usually trends downward, any additional income they get by raising lease/rental/additional receiver fees is practically free money for DishNet or sister company EchoStar.

So with raising equipment costs to the point where people are dropping programming packages, they are shifting more money away from their programming partners and into their own pockets.

 

[Bob Haller]

First is is never good to irritate your customers, since they ultimately pay the bills and provide your profit!

Now the idea the less programming E sells the greater the profit makes no sense at all. and E dropped the AEP price a little so margins must be OK

hey why push big packages? higher tier customers are more bucks for everyone.

and the CEOs office REFUSING TO RESPOND?

who is a business owner here?

do you refuse to respond to customers? just a were aware of the issue and will get back to you, is far better than plain old not returning phone calls.

E booth at CES refuses to talk about the increase, just told scott his leaked info was more accurate than they would like.

ME? I am going to try contacting the media, both local and national

Theres a juicy story here

Frankly I think this was a poorly planned rate increase, and E is in dish array trying to decide what to do.

I wish I were at CES I would ask the tough questions

 

[emjay]

Can anyone give me a breakdown, on how much my bill will change?

Monthly Charges
Jan 19 - Feb 18 Classic Silver 200 With DVR 57.99
HBO & STARZ 22.00
DISH Home Protection Plan (DHPP) 5.99
DVR Receiver 12.00​

HD & Platinum 10.00
Total
$ 107.98


vip722k - lease
vip 622 - own
-both connected to broadband

 

[Mike_H]

Dish's large problem is their large base of existing customers that have been with their service for a long time. That means they have a number of customers that have memory, and know what the value proposition was when we signed up. They work these pricing schemes with what appears to be the view of customer acquisition and little thought to customer retention. Unfortunately, companies with similar issues rarely learn them until customers get to the point that they are even willing to pay more somewhere else than deal with the disdain of their current service provider.

 

[Stargazer]

Look, Dish Network is going to make more money if a subscriber has AEP than if he does not. It is that plain and simple. It is very silly to think that they will actually make less money if you choose even more programming to purchase. If people drop down from AEP then they are going to lose money from AEP. Now, maybe the increase in prices will help absorb some of the loss from those AEP customers but they will still lose money. For those that do not have AEP, if a customer drops programming, the additional fees might make up for the profit they lost but they still will not gain anything.

Dish Network gets 60% gross profit (not net profit) on these programming packages from something I read on one of the forums in the past. Dish Network gets near 100% profit on these additional fees. That means for every channel/package that is $10 it takes $6 of these fees to make up for them. Dish may have had to add additional fees to make up for those that dropped programming back or increase net profit per subscriber to try to catch up to Directv's net profit per customer.

 

[andrewj0781]

Is TV2 on your primary receiver still free? I guess I'm dropping my 322.

My bill will increase $10.00

America’s Top 250 will be $62.99
HD with Plat. $10.00
DVR Fee $6.00
322 receiver $14.00
Total $ 92.99 + tax

I'm paying
Classic Gold 250 With DVR 67.99
Duo Receiver 5.00
HD & Platinum 10.00
$ 82.99

I'm billed through Feb 9 will my next bill add on the increase from Feb 1 - 8?

 

[Lt Disher]

However from what I am hearing you will want to have them hooked up.


I've been intrigued by this sentence in your original post. Is the reason for your comment the new sling products announced at CES or is there something else coming?

 

[TheKrell]

Could there be any reason that Charlie might DELIBERATELY be trying to reduce the number of AEP subscribers? Maybe in preparation for some kind of ala carte packages that could generate more subscription revenue but less payout to the programmers?

Remember that the programming package costs are going down, not up. It's the equipment fee that's (for most) going up due (mostly) to the $7/tuner and $5 TV2 fee, neither of which are avoidable any longer. So, Dish is apparently discouraging multiple receiver ownership/lease, or at minimum discouraging Duo receiver owners/leasees. The need (from what I see of the CES announcements) is to encourage place-shifting devices rather than independent tuners.

If DishNet raises prices to the point where customers reduce programming to keep their costs the same, this is exactly what DishNet would want to do.

I don't buy that argument either! These ghastly new fees are all about discouraging receiver/tuner counts, not programming packages.

 

[ValentinaRose]

Maybe the customers need to go on strike if this pay increase goes through exactly how everyone is thinking it will. Refuse to pay it and go picket Dish Network and tell them what you really think of how they are treating their customers.

That is what everyone else does when they feel like they are getting the short end of the stick. Baseball players do it. Actor/actresses do it. The airlines and others do it. So why not Dish Customers.

 

[MikeD-C05]

However from what I am hearing you will want to have them hooked up.


I've been intrigued by this sentence in your original post. Is the reason for your comment the new sling products announced at CES or is there something else coming?

Probably a Large increase in tv 2 fees if you don't.

 

[primestar31]

So have you actually seen that increase on an actual bill or are you just guessing based on what people have posted? If the former, please post a break down of what exactly went up in price.

YES, I have that increase on my latest autopay bill. Since I'm on autopay, I don't check my bill each month, unless something is off on it when I received the notice in my email account.

Ok, I checked my statements going back a couple months. So, what happened was, they gave me Showtime and HBO 3 months free, when I called in to drop the Platinum $10 a month charge like everybody else was doing in July.

After that 90day time expired, they jumped my bill up to full price for HBO and Showtime, and I was billed for that on the next statement. Like $101 something. As soon as I checked my bill to see why it went up so high, I called and canceled HBO and Showtime. They then credited back the amount they had previously billed, bringing it down to the $63 whatever.

So, the jump now, is basically taking me back to what I originally paid back in July, before they removed the $10 Platinum charge...

By the way, they are back to billing me the original $10 for Platinum HD, so my net gain is 0 again. I thought that charge was supposed to be rolled in to other costs?

 

[bobvick]

I thought that I would give a try at contacting my State Attorney General's office. I called an they told me to submit a form online regarding my issue. I told them that I had contacted Dish Network to receive a copy of the customer agreement that I signed in May 2009. I was told that it should arrive within 10-14 days, who knows if that will happen.
Anyway, I have the fellows name at Dish Network and the name of the lady at the AG's office, so I will have to see what happens.
At any rate, if I have to pay more, I suppose that I will. I figured that ,it was worth a shot anyway, and me and anyone else here that contacts the AG office in their respective State owes much if not all of the idea to dolmer.

 

[Chris Freeland]

Anyone know what the current monthly fees are for a Comcast dual tuner DVR? I'll bet it's less than $17. We're being asked to pay $17 per box, plus a $6 per account fee!?

I have a Comcast Moto DVR, it is $15.95, for the first one, the dvr fee is an upgrade even for the first. If you want more then one DVR, it is $15.95 + $6.95 extra outlet fee, for a total of $23.90 for each additional DVR. Plus the Moto dvr is a pos. The new E* pricing is cheep compared to CoNcast, at least with E* you are only paying the $6 dvr fee for that first one and the $10 or $17 is at least all inclusive and includes the 1 or 2 outlet fees, so in reality you are only paying a $3 upgrade fee for an extra E* dvr and no upgrade fee for the first one beyond the $6 dvr service fee. E* is cheap compared with CoNcast, if I could get a line of site to E* satellites, I would return to E* in a hartbeat.

 

[KAB]

I have a Comcast Moto DVR, it is $15.95, for the first one, the dvr fee is an upgrade even for the first. If you want more then one DVR, it is $15.95 + $6.95 extra outlet fee, for a total of $23.90 for each additional DVR. Plus the Moto dvr is a pos. The new E* pricing is cheep compared to CoNcast, at least with E* you are only paying the $6 dvr fee for that first one and the $10 or $17 is at least all inclusive and includes the 1 or 2 outlet fees, so in reality you are only paying a $3 upgrade fee for an extra E* dvr and no upgrade fee for the first one beyond the $6 dvr service fee. E* is cheap compared with CoNcast, if I could get a line of site to E* satellites, I would return to E* in a hartbeat.

Did you read this BOB HALLER????? BOB??? HALLER?? BOB???

 

[Kheldar]

Did you read this BOB HALLER????? BOB??? HALLER?? BOB???

Bueller? Bueller?

Dude, don't have an aneurysm.

 

[ts7]

I thought that I would give a try at contacting my State Attorney General's office. I called an they told me to submit a form online regarding my issue. I told them that I had contacted Dish Network to receive a copy of the customer agreement that I signed in May 2009. I was told that it should arrive within 10-14 days, who knows if that will happen.
Anyway, I have the fellows name at Dish Network and the name of the lady at the AG's office, so I will have to see what happens.
At any rate, if I have to pay more, I suppose that I will. I figured that ,it was worth a shot anyway, and me and anyone else here that contacts the AG office in their respective State owes much if not all of the idea to dolmer.

Good luck with that, but until you are actually charged the higher rates (or some other part of your contract is materially breached) there isn't much the AG can or will do. AND, given Dish's overall penetration, the number of constituents affected will hardly be motivation for an AG to launch any significant investigation. Sorry for the cynicism - that's just the way the system usually works.

 

[Bob Haller]

Did you read this BOB HALLER????? BOB??? HALLER?? BOB???

Verizon FIOS is sending me info. have lots of friends who appear happy with it

just over a 100 bucks a month for tv, phone and 15 meg down 3 meg up internet.

about the cost of E currently. saving money is usually a good thing.

although i dont like FIOS the thousands of on demand shows would be nice...........

I think E is attempting to pick the pockets
of its top CUSTOMERS

 

[lakebum431]

Bob, I thought you hated Fios more than anything? I bet I've read more than 20 posts from you saying how much you hated Fios.

 

[CFGuy]

I have a Comcast Moto DVR, it is $15.95, for the first one, the dvr fee is an upgrade even for the first. If you want more then one DVR, it is $15.95 + $6.95 extra outlet fee, for a total of $23.90 for each additional DVR. Plus the Moto dvr is a pos. The new E* pricing is cheep compared to CoNcast, at least with E* you are only paying the $6 dvr fee for that first one and the $10 or $17 is at least all inclusive and includes the 1 or 2 outlet fees, so in reality you are only paying a $3 upgrade fee for an extra E* dvr and no upgrade fee for the first one beyond the $6 dvr service fee. E* is cheap compared with CoNcast, if I could get a line of site to E* satellites, I would return to E* in a hartbeat.

We actually have a pretty good cable company here in Lawrence, KS.
There were two things that kept me with DISH over the years.

The first was Sky Angel and the second was no DVR fees. Sky Angel went away a few years ago. I had 721s and 508s which were the "No DVR Fees" receivers. So I haven't had any DVR fees until next month.

Now that the fees are going up so much I checked with the cable company.

I can get a multi room DVR setup for 4 tvs for a total of $45. 9 simultaneous HD streams. Record up to 6 programs at the same time. I haven't checked into them past the pricing so far, so I'm still undecided.

With Dish, as of Feb, my fees will be $57 ($17 X3 + 6). They had been $15.