why complain about price increases ?

[Tom Bombadil]

Those certainly are different experiences than mine. Over 8.5 years I've had 4000, 4700, 7100, 510, 811, 942, and 622 receivers. None have ever had the slightest repair-related problem. The old 4700 is still in operation. Nearly all of them were in service for 3+ years.

No LNB or switch failures either. I ran my original legacy LNBs and SW21 switches for 8 years.

Never swapped out anything during its original manufacturer's warranty period either. The stuff has been bulletproof.

 

[M Sparks]

I find $3 or even $5 reasonable when you look at how much everything else is going up.

So do I. I think most of the irritation is in the $10 price increase for HD Platnum with no explanation. It's a bit of a slap in the face to their best customers.

I think they could have avoided any backlash if they had just priced HD Platnum $5 higher to begin with. At the time, the HD price increase made sense...they were increasing the number of HD channels dramatically, with the promise of a few more. I mean, from a logical viewpoint, the new pricing makes sense. AEP is already packed with large savings between the DVR fees and premium discounts. There's no reason we should have expected an additional $5 discount on HD. But the fact is, they gave it to us, and then yanked it away a few months later.

Now, they seem to have stagnated. I think they're too comfortable- DirecTV doesn't really seem to be competing with them on National HD channels. There's no real indication that anything new is on the way. I think even something simple like adding Cinemax HD would have made me not notice the increase. But now, I'm thinking "Why am I paying for Cinemax...even if it's only a buck or 2...if I'm not getting HD?"

I'm not going to whine about it, but I am going to consider getting rid of some something. I will likely wind up with a bill lower than it is now. I've had the "biggest" package since the days of DirecTV/USSB. The only thing I've ever dropped is Superstations a few years back. That was indirectly in response to a price increase, but really just because I didn't watch them.

 

[M Sparks]

\
THe hd pack in itself is not worth $20.00. They should include all HD versions of the sd channels for FREE , just like they do the HBO,Showtime and STARZ premium channels in HD. THey should not charge for these channels if you already have the sd version in your programming packs.

It depends on the contracts AND on the programming content. Since HBO, Showtime, & Starz are direct simulcasts, they are offered for free.

I think you're absolutely right about TNT, ESPN 1 & 2, NFL and National Geographic. If you get the SD channels, you should get the HD versions. I don't know if the contracts are actually structured that way, but they should be.

However, channels like Food and HGTV are actually different than their SD counterparts, so I would expect them to be negotiated differently. Remember when Universal HD was called Bravo HD+? The "plus" was to differentiate the service from Bravo...it was actually quite different.

When they began pricing HD at $20, I assumed it was to allow some breathing room for pricing. Over pricing it a bit would allow them to add HD channels as they came on the air, without raising prices a buck or 2 every few months. But it seems like all the buzz has just died. It's absurd that they aren't carrying MHD, which would really add a lot of value for many of us. (I saw it on Cox in Vegas, and it puts Rave to shame.)

However, at least they haven't been all talk, like DirecTV.

 

[stone phillips420]

However, at least they haven't been all talk, like DirecTV.

well when dtv puts up new sats at least they work unlike 105 121 and 129
*ish pull your head out of your Ergen!

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I dropped the SuperStations last year, along with the RSN Sports package, to offset a price increase.

Now I'm down to only HD-Platinum. Nothing else to trim without breaking up the pack. Could drop down to AT200 and HBO/SHO, which I wouldn't hesitate to do except for losing two channels: NGHD and StarzHD.