why doesn't DirecTV let you prepay for a whole year(or two) at a discount?

[bluemoose]

why doesn't DirecTV let you prepay for a whole year(or two) at a discount?

I'd be glad to prepay for the next two years right now, if they give me a
discount. For example, get 24 months of programming, but only pay for
22 months.

The reason I'm asking is that I just found that several of the int'l program
providers on DirecTV does just that....

[bt-rtp]

Maybe there is some FCC regulation at work here that prohibits it.

[Bob Coxner]

Maybe there is some FCC regulation at work here that prohibits it.

Dish Network has annual pre-pay as an option.

[RAD]

Maybe it's so thay can raise their programming fees and change packages whenever they want and not have to worry about people with 1 or 2 year pre-pay's that they wouldn't get the increase out of.

[dhhaines]

Maybe it's so thay can raise their programming fees and change packages whenever they want and not have to worry about people with 1 or 2 year pre-pay's that they wouldn't get the increase out of.

That would be such a small percentage and be very insignificant. There must be other reasons for this.

[Ken S]

It's a bit of an accounting and reporting headache.
The discount might be somewhere around 2% - 5% and that's not going to attract enough people to make it worthwhile.
It would also cost them more as they couldn't then collect on their annual fee increase of 3% - 5%.

So...if you're DirecTV why do this...especially if you don't need the cash.

[djstough]

It's a bit of an accounting and reporting headache.
The discount might be somewhere around 2% - 5% and that's not going to attract enough people to make it worthwhile.
It would also cost them more as they couldn't then collect on their annual fee increase of 3% - 5%.

So...if you're DirecTV why do this...especially if you don't need the cash.

I don't have any paperwork from back then, but I actually thought I did this when I first signed up in 1996. I prepaid the entire year with DirecTV and USSB.

Does anyone else recall this? Or is it just my old age showing?

[JDubbs413]

I wish I had that much money to pay ahead of time.

[dhhaines]

I don't have any paperwork from back then, but I actually thought I did this when I first signed up in 1996. I prepaid the entire year with DirecTV and USSB.

Does anyone else recall this? Or is it just my old age showing?

I seem to remember the same thing from my first year or two with Directv and USSB. I think that I prepaid for at least the first year.

Or maybe we're both just showing our old age..:rolleyes: :grin:

[golfnut-n-nh]

It's a bit of an accounting and reporting headache.
The discount might be somewhere around 2% - 5% and that's not going to attract enough people to make it worthwhile.
It would also cost them more as they couldn't then collect on their annual fee increase of 3% - 5%.

So...if you're DirecTV why do this...especially if you don't need the cash.

Proper investment in the financial markets would more than make up the lost 3% to 5%.

[bonscott87]

I don't have any paperwork from back then, but I actually thought I did this when I first signed up in 1996. I prepaid the entire year with DirecTV and USSB.

Does anyone else recall this? Or is it just my old age showing?

Yes, DirecTV had this option back in 1996 when I first signed up. The deal was that with your $700 single LNB receiver/dish combo you got a bunch of coupons. One of them was prepay for a year of DirecTV (the base package was $29 then) and you got a $100 rebate. It was a sweet deal and I did it. So for the first year the only bill I got was from USSB for the Viacom channels and HBO. I think it was like $14 a month or something.

[Ken S]

Proper investment in the financial markets would more than make up the lost 3% to 5%.

Right, but it wouldn't make up for the discount and lost increases. Plus remember it's not like they're either getting it all at once or all at the end of the year.

There are times companies do this kind of program...usually when you need cash and the discount works out to be less than borrowing from other sources or selling more equity.

I'm not saying it's an impossibility, but I'm sure they also don't want to mention many places that someone may be signing up for over $1,000 a year.

Hey...if someone wants to do it...they should give them a call...maybe they still have a program.

[TANK]

Maybe they have some research that subs wouldn't add the high dollar sports programming ( NFLST,NHLCI,etc ) or buy pay per view movies .

[joed32]

Programming on C-Band used to have annual payment as an option, it came out to paying for 11 months and getting 1 month free.