DTV Price Increase

[Dennis]

Read the last pararagraph

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030115/media_hughes_latam_1.html

[Jacob S]

I knew that DirecTv would raise its prices after Dish did. If Dish's prices are going up then so is DirecTv's. The advantage of DirecTv not raising theirs first is having people from Dish switch to their service while it is cheaper bc it makes them look better. When they finally do raise it them it would be about the same as Dish's, therefore less likely for DirecTv subs to go to Dish for a price increase.

[Karl Foster]

I don't know about where you live, but digital cable in my area (it is finally available throught AT&T) with an equivalent package as TC+ (comparable AT150 on Dish) is $51.94, so D* (and E* for that matter) is still a much better value for the dollar spent. YMMV, but they'd have to raise the price significantly above that of cable for me to convert - that's how bad my experience was.

[dlsnyder]

karl_f -

Same holds true out here in Adelphia country, Riverside County CA, but worse (if possible)! What you pay for basic cable plus digital is about what Adelphia charges for basic cable alone after taxes. Digital will run you an extra $9.95/mo plus box rental. More and more people in my community are saying "No thanks" and putting up dishes (mostly D*). We have better than 50% penetration now just in the two block area around my house. It's not just the cost, though, its also the quality and consistency of service. Adelphia began an upgrade here about 2 years ago and halted it suddenly when their financial problems started. They promised the city officials that they would have internet service city-wide by the end of last year. Now there is no estimate for completion. Meanwhile DSL continues to gain subscribers, even in the parts of town where Adelphia does offer Power Link, again because of cost and reliability issues. Powerlink costs about the same as DSL here but DSL is much more consistent and reliable.

If Adelphia is representative of the cable industry as a whole then DBS should have healthy growth potential for many years to come, in spite of any temporary setbacks from upcoming price increases. IMHO DBS is still the best deal in town (well at least in MY town!) :D

[RichW]

Blame a lot of the price increases upon the fact that the channel providers are raising their prices to DBS and cable. Many of the contracts are up for renewal this year. It is somewhat ironic, however, that the percentage increase has been the highest in the history of DBS while the economy is the weakest.

[dtcarson]

We just signed up for Dish, to be installed tomorrow, finally breaking away from cable. We visited my grandmother, who has digital cable, and she's paying less for her digital cable than we are for our analog. We priced the digital, and before the annual cable rate increase, and using the minimum price [the website has a range of prices for each item, which is slightly annoying], we figured the level of Dish that we wanted, plus the equipment lease fee, for two tv's, would be slightly less than digital cable on one tv with the analog piped into the other. Plus the fact that with cable, we're supporting a legislated monopoly; at least with DBS, there is some competition. Plus, with dish, we are getting the PVR which we'll get a lot of use out of.

[raj2001]

Plus the fact that with cable, we're supporting a legislated monopoly; at least with DBS, there is some competition.


Charlie was trying to get DBS (Echostar) to be a legislated monopoly too.

[Jacob S]

A monopoly for the most part among satellite companies (although ther is c-band as well and a new provider coming) but not a monopoly overall when there are several cable companies out there. He was wanting to compete against cable but at the same time he was wanting to dominate the satellite market.