Playin' the rate game

[shilton]

Ok,

Dish's rates just went up and the increase didn't seem too hard to swallow UNTIL DirectTV's rate increases were announced. For a long time, Direct was more expensive years ago, over time the gap was closing and now for some packs, Dish is like $10.00 more!!! (Comparing comparable services)
Surely Charlie HAS to realize that this cannot be good for business. Anyone have any insight as to when or if Charlie will begin playing some sort of "rate game" to become competitive once again? I mean comeon...$10.00 difference and you get your locals too! Even a die-hard Dishnet fan like me has to look long and hard at that one. Good thing locals aren't available in my area yet, cause I think that'd be the deciding factor.
If anyone knows anything, or cares to predict...what do you think we will see (a) more "Clubdish" and other similar incentive discounts for current customers (b) more "pak" pricing such as what Dish is doing now with HBO/Cinemax (c) addition of more channels to make the cost difference seem less drastic (d) a redesign of the packages to permit perhaps scaled down versions of currents (At-130 for example???) (e) anything else or (f) NOTHING!!!!
Just wondering? I've been in management for a long time and I'd hate to be the marketing guy trying to say "Hey....buy us...sure we cost more for less channels...but buy us anyway".
I look forward to anyone's thoughts and suggestions and perhaps some "words of wisdom from the inside"

[Mark Holtz]

The way I see things, the channel lineups between Total Choice Plus and AT150 except that Dish also carries the TMC-West/Encore-West/Encore Action Pack.

I'm now wondering if I would be better off getting DirecTV instead of Dish now. Things have changed (and improved) since 2001 when I had Dish installed.

[shilton]

Originally posted by Z'Loth
The way I see things, the channel lineups between Total Choice Plus and AT150 except that Dish also carries the TMC-West/Encore-West/Encore Action Pack.


Yes...so I have noticed. I have AT150 and I can tell you they could steal my TMC and ENCORE stations and I'd never miss them. Perhaps Charlie needs to offer a stripped down version without them too. But that would mean dropping AT100's price as well, since it is $10.00 less than AT150 now (and overpriced at that compared to DirecTV)

Gotta tell you...I have been a Dish customer for over 4 years and this is the 1st time I have contemplated seriously jumping ship! If he can't keep those of us loyal guys, what happens to the others?

[Mike123abc]

Dish seems to have gone after the high and low end of the market and for some reason is not competative in the middle. AT50 is cheap and The Everything Pack is competative at the high end (74.99 vs Total Choice Premier at 81.99).

So if you want cheap DBS go with Dish, if you want everything go with Dish, if you want something in the middle you have to go with DirectTV (assuming you are price shopping only which you would probably do as a new consumer).

[FTA Michael]

I've done the numbers, and If I switched to DirecTV with my current channels, the price would be about the same. Among channels I care about, I'd lose HBO Comedy and the Superstations, but I'd gain PBS Kids and Trio. Plus I'd gain access to MLB Extra Innings. IMHO, a dollar or two is a lot less important than getting the channels you want.

Inertia is a powerful force. It's a close call, but personally, I'm not planning to switch. Maybe when baseball season nears, D* will have some overwhelming EI-tiein deal that will knock me off the fence, but for now, I have no plans.

[papillo-j]

My brother in law just got Direct TV so I did a little receint pricing. Comparing my 100 pack with his whatever is equivalent pack, including locals, discounting the free premium channels that he gets for only 3 months they were EXACTLY the same price. I did like the DirecTV lineup a little better because while I (I have dish by the way) have more home shopping channels, they have more discovery and home improvement channels. The only reason I didn't switch to DirecTV is because I wanted to get a PVR and for dish it would be no monthly fee and you don't need the phone jack (except for pay per view) but with Direct you have the additional fee and you MUST have the phone jack working.

I don't have a working jack at the moment, while I am going to remedy that in the future, I didn't want it to become a priority.

Now since the price hike, Direct might be 2 bucks per month cheaper, I am not sure what numbers I was using.

-J

[Chris Freeland]

I agree that AT100 does not compare favorably with TC, which has more popular channels then AT100 ( AT100 does however have more channels over all then TC because it has more PI channels). However AT150 is still worth the extra $5-9 over TC+ because of the Encore theme channels, TMC, TMC Extra, Golf, FSW and Outdoor channel. To receive the Encore theme channels at D* will require the addition of the Starz Super pack to TC+, to receive TMC on D* requires the addition of the Showtime Unlimited pack to TC+, to receive Golf, FSW and Outdoor on D* requires the addition of the Sports pack to TC+. Just one of the above packages using the new March 18 D* pricing will add $12 to the price of TC+ $37.99 or $39.99 w\locals, any two of those packages will be an additional $23 and all three would add an additional $31. I admit that these are not perfect comparison but it does show that AT150 is still a competitive package and at least for me still a good value and not a deal breaker. I agree with the rest of Mike123abc points, AT50 is a cheaper basic English language package then what D* offers to new subs and E* AEP package and AT100/AT150 w\HBO and Cinamax Dish Value packs are better values then what D* offers. It still comes down to what channels are important to you as to which DBS provider offers the best value, however I do agree that E* has lost much of the pricing advantage that they once had with D* but they still have it in some combinations.

[Mark Holtz]

Whenever someone asks what to get, my first question is what programming do you want?

At this point in time, I'm on the Digital Home Plan which includes a 501, two 301s, AT150+locals+supers. In May, the rates will go up to $74 per month for me. And, I'm not watching the movie stations, and while the superstation pack is nice, it is no longer needed. The action channel has cut back drastically on the anime it shows, and the movie channels often pan-and-scan the movies.

According to American Satellite (who is sponsoring the Survivor contest), I can get a HDVR2, two GAEBOA receivers, and a dish that receives from 101, 110, and 119 for $409. This is much less than purchasing the 721, Dish's two-tuner PVR. Yeah, yeah, I'm not factoring in the cost of upgrading the drives in the HDVR2, but the end result would still be the same.

As for programming, the channels I would lose would be the supers, and channels which I wasn't watching anyways. Monthly cost: $39.95+$5 PVR + $10 additional receivers=$54.

The biggest question would be the Spanish language package. If I'm learning Spanish, I better watch Spanish channels, and not just dubbed programming.

I'm holding off until May, partially because of the fee increase, and partially because we will know what the fall schedules will look like. (Please, WB, renew Angel). That's why I'm researching now.

Overall, I've had a pleasant experience with Dish Network. But, what are you going to do? This is completely different than in August-September, 2001 when WB/UPN wasn't even offerred in markets, and the PVR fee was $9.95 per month.

[papillo-j]

In hind site, the reason I went with Dish over Direct was because at the time Direct would not offer me WB or Paramount and I figured that if I was actually going to PAY for TV, I was damn well going to get startrek.

Times have changed and I seriously thought about changing. The only reason I didn't was because Direct has that $5 per month TiVO subscription and Dish doesn't.