Spring Cleaning on my E* account...

[gcutler]

Decided that I'm not truly watching these channels very much lately, so decided to get rid of.

Showtime
Starz
Cinemax

My bill has been above $100 from day one in 1998, first time it is below that line. Was even contemplating getting rid of supers, but with my locals i'm only paying like $3 for supers so decided to hold onto them a little longer.

[Randy_B]

I think the PVRs are a good way of assessing whether a channel is worth the extra money. If you have never set a timer for it, I think you have to ask why am I keeping it?

[gcutler]

Actually that did play a big part. And it seemed that with the PVR I was watching less movie channels that I used to. And the extras of the DVDs made me more willing to watch a DVD than the movies. Only reason I kept HBO was because of their year round rotation of Originals.

[Mike123abc]

I have been considering trimming mine down a lot too, mine has crept up to $103/month now. When my cable bill went over $100 I screamed and jumpped to Dish. Now dish is over 100/month too.

I will wait to see what is in the HDTV pack. Thinking of going down to maybe just HBO/Sho and HDTV and get basic local service ($30 for 77 channels, normally $40 but since I use cable modem I will get $10 off cable modem to subscribe so net is $30). Basic service is pretty close to AT100 but does not have the music channels, so about the same number of actual video channels. Plus no $5 per extra TV on cable.

[DarrellP]

I did my Spring cleaning in the Winter. After I bought a house I had to cut costs somewhere and spending $85/month on channels I never watch seemed to be the logical choice.

I dropped down to the AT50 w/locals and the Encore Theme Pak and now my bill is half of what it was and I still don't watch 5% of the channels I have.

When Dish announces their HD package, I will probably drop the Theme Pak and maybe the Locals, I get them all OTA HD anyway, it's just convenient to have a guide handy since Dish WILL NEVER ENABLE THE FRICKIN PSIP GUIDE DATA on the 6000.

[Jacob S]

I think its a good idea to rid of the channels you hardly watch especially those that you do not set to record on the PVR. When you get a PVR you tend to not need as many channels since you can watch shows that you could not watch before anytime you want to and to be able to skip the commercials.

[Mike Richardson]

I will wait to see what is in the HDTV pack. Thinking of going down to maybe just HBO/Sho and HDTV and get basic local service ($30 for 77 channels, normally $40 but since I use cable modem I will get $10 off cable modem to subscribe so net is $30). Basic service is pretty close to AT100 but does not have the music channels, so about the same number of actual video channels. Plus no $5 per extra TV on cable.
Barf, I could not stand sparkly crappy old cable. It drove me insane. I did everything to rid myself of sparklies. Then we moved... and got Dish :)

[Chris Freeland]

Barf, I could not stand sparkly crappy old cable. It drove me insane. I did everything to rid myself of sparklies. Then we moved... and got Dish :)

Not to mention no epg with sparkly analog cable either ;) .

[Doug E]

DarrellP....I am not able to locate that top50 w/locals and Encore package on Dishnetwork.com. Is this something I have to talk to a CSR about? It sounds like it would be just right for my "spring cleaning" downsize. What is the monthly fee?

[angiodan]

I'd love to spring clean as well, but there seems to be a few channels that AT150 has that someone in my house watches. VH1 Classic, Action, and Boomerang are the ones that come to mind.

[IndyMichael]

We tried NetFlix and love it. We too are going to drop most of the movie channels, if not all. The only one we can't decide to drop or not is HBO.

[Jacob S]

I wonder how many more people are reducing their packages due to economic troubles? I know some customers cut out channels during the summer since they do not watch as much tv then like they do in the winter.

[ARKDTVfan]

I used to subscribe to Total Choice Platinum (back when it was called that) but now I only have TC Plus

[gcutler]

I wonder how many more people are reducing their packages due to economic troubles? I know some customers cut out channels during the summer since they do not watch as much tv then like they do in the winter.

If not for a change in my economic situation, I would have left my account alone with ALL premiums...

[IndyMichael]

We are dropping the movie channels, because we like just getting the movies we like through NetFlix, and now all the movies we watch will be widescreen, which the pay movie channels don't often do.

Very nice of Dish to charge me a $5 downgrade fee, little things like that just annoy me to the point I may not re-up with them, make $5 and potentially lose a customer, great idea. :rolleyes:

[IndyMichael]

OK, I'm happy again. They dropped the $5 fee, since this was the first time I've downgraded. Guess we all initially get that, thanks to the few who abuse it and often add and drop the movie channels they get.

[Jacob S]

I think some that order a lot if not all the movie channels end up getting tired of it and end up seeing a lot of repeats and then eventually drop it. The majority does this that I have seen.

[Nick]

AEP Pak + Atl locals + 2nd IRD = $84
Basic cable w/Sav & Jax locals = $28*

High price to pay for "lifeline" cable, huh?

I'm holding pat on my current programming packages.

Will soon add dish @ 61.5W for HD, and additional ATL locals.

[Jacob S]

Yes, thats a lot to pay to get ''lifeline'' cable just to get your locals when on Dish you can get it for $5.99 + $5.00 = $10.99 a month in digital format in which you can take travelling with you (more flexible). I dont even think DirecTv allows you to just buy the locals just as they dont allow you to just buy a movie package. Thats something about Dish that I like.

[Doug E]

On June 5th, DarrellP wrote:

"I dropped down to the AT50 w/locals and the Encore Theme Pak and now my bill is half of what it was and I still don't watch 5% of the channels I have."

I cannot locate this package on Dish Website. Does anyone know anything about its availability now?

[Jacob S]

I do not think they promote this package because it is not a very common package that they have just like the DishPix package they had where you got to choose from 10 channels for $10 (later went to $15).

[Steve Mehs]

The Encore Thematic package is an additional $4.99/month. It includes Encore West, Action, Westerns, True Stories, Love Stories and Mystery. Encore East and WAM are not included. Encore East is included in the Starz Super Pak, but there is no way to get WAM unless you sub to AT150 or AEP. The Encore package has never been promoted by E*, it might be listed on individule channel pages on E*s website for the Encores, but I'm not sure.

[Mike D-CO5]

Using the OnSat guide for Dish ( a weekly guide for satellite) I program my pvr to record a bunch of movies weekly on a large group of movie channels including the TCM ,AMC, FOX, I also watch a group of series that appear on HBO and Showtime . I 've had satellite longer than I 've had a DVD player and I just like having the movies that I like to watch in my sat receiver . Don't have to rent movies over the net or send them back etc. So over all AEP from Dish with locals is the best package for me all for $79.99. But I do understand in hard economic times like these you have to cut where you can.

[Jacob S]

For those that watch tv all of the time or a lot at least, like those that are at home a lot, disabled, have kids, family, and so forth then it is worth it to get all those channels but for some that do not watch it much and on a budget then it does not seem ideal to subscribe to as many channels.

[Mike D-CO5]

I am not disabled but I do work 4 on & 4 off on 12 hour shifts and when I am off I try to catch up with my shows. I also have a son who is 3, so going to the Movies or going to rent them all the time is out of the question. I think renting and sending them back and forth through the mail is kind of a step backwards as far as convience is concerned.

But then again ,watching Dvds if you like them for picture quality is understandable. If they ever get all the channels in High def someday I'm sure that Dvd rentals as well as Block Buster , etc will go the way of the beta vcr and the 8 track tape , cassete etc.

[IndyMichael]

[QUOTE=Mike D-CO5] I think renting and sending them back and forth through the mail is kind of a step backwards as far as convience is concerned.
[QUOTE]

Really? I find it to be at least one step, if not two, forward. Very nice to just walk out your front door and put the DVD's in your mail box to return them, as opposed to driving to the rental place to return them. Also, it's nice to pay NetFlix just $20 a month to see all the movies we want to see in widescreen, as opposed to paying Dish $32 for all the movie channels and watching the movies in pan and scan. I think I'll apply the $12 a month I'm saving, to get the ESPN Gameplan, and maybe the sports pak at Dish.

[Jacob S]

By the time you figure on paying $3 a day for a movie to rent to have something to watch that adds up to $90 a month and thats not counting wanting to watch more than just a movie, but thats all the time some have.

Some do not want to hassle with searching for movies and having to take them back and all of that. Netflix is a bit easier though seeing that you can send them through the mail for one flat fee and you get later releases too if I am not mistaken and more of a choice without having to go back and forth to the video store.