Free DVRs and No Monthly Fee? [Archive]

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cnsf

08-25-03, 11:13 AM

cnsf

08-25-03, 12:03 PM

Seems like they forgot to mention the new DVR fees and the significantly inferior quality of the Dish DVR software compared to Tivo.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1620&ncid=1211&e=3&u=/sv/20030825/tc_sv/dishnetworkgiveawayputspressureontivo

Email I sent to the author today (mailto:sdiaz@mercurynews.com):

"In your article "Dish Network giveaway puts pressure
on TiVo," you mention Dish Network will have no DVR
fee. This is, in fact, wrong. They are not only
coming out with a DVR fee for new PVRs/DVRs, but they
will be charging it for EACH DVR unit, not one overall
fee like DirecTV, regardless of the number of units.

In fact, if you purchase Total Choice Premier
w/DirecTV, you have no DVR fee (ranging $0-$13). I
believe Dish is matching this with their America's
Everything Pak: no DVR fees with that plan.

Existing DirecTV customers can also upgrade to
DirecTivo for $199 and free installation.

Tivo units are also easily upgraded while the Dish
units are not. Instructions can be found at
www.tivocommunity.com. This voids the warranty from
what I understand, and does not appear to be expressly
forbidden at this point in time.

Hope this helps"

cnsf

08-25-03, 12:47 PM

Email I sent to the author today (mailto:sdiaz@mercurynews.com):

Authors response (very impressed he personally responded btw) and my second note:

"Sam,

No problem. First, I would contact DirecTV and get
your fee removed. If you have Total Choice Premier
(the top package), you should have no Tivo fee.

Second, the Dish Network fee is for the new 510 PVRs.
Existing customers are grandfathered for the fee. It
is actually $4.9X PER DVR. Not easily palatable for
most. It's been a sore point on
http://www.dbstalk.com - many Echostar subs jumping
ship for this very reason.

I would definitely confirm with both DirecTV and
Echostar on this. Keep in mind the Echostar fees are
brand new.

Hope this helps"

--- "Diaz, Sam" <SDiaz@mercurynews.com> wrote:
> Thanks for the info... but I don't know if it's
> completely accurate.
>
> My understanding is no fee for DVR service through
> Dish Network. I
> double-checked that with one of my colleagues who
> has the service - still no
> fee. And that's been one of the major selling points
> of Dish Network's DVR
> (which is inferior to TiVo's service) but that's a
> different story.
>
> Likewise, I don't know that your info about DirecTV
> and TiVo is correct
> either. I have the DirecTV service that you mention
> - with the premium
> package - and I still pay monthly for TiVo.
>
> Either way, I should do some further checking.
> Thanks for bringing it my
> attention.
>
> Sam Diaz
> ----------------------------------
> Sam Diaz
> Technology Reporter
> San Jose Mercury News
> 408.920.5021"