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View Full Version : Free preview weekends

jellologin
06-08-04, 06:14 PM
Just by luck, once or twice I've caught when there's a free preview weekend for Starz or HBO, etc.

How often do these free previews happen? Is it a regular promotion that I just don't recognize the schedule for? Is there any consistent notification from either the dishnetwork.com website or this website when they do?
William_K_F
06-08-04, 07:56 PM
Sometimes there is an insert in the bill which advertises these.

Also, sometimes I found out about them on dbstalk.com.

I haven't noticed any pattern.
music_beans
06-08-04, 08:36 PM
There was a free preview of brazilian channel Record International this past weekend.
oyving
06-09-04, 04:08 AM
There was a free preview of brazilian channel Record International this past weekend.

DOH!!!!
finniganps
06-09-04, 03:54 PM
E* does a TERRIBLE job in advertising the free preview weekends in my opinion. If they want folks to subscribe they should TELL people when they're having the free preview weekends. I can only remember 1 time where I knew ahead of time. EVERY other time, I stumbled across it through the guide. Dumb policy.
Slordak
06-10-04, 07:28 AM
Based on my own experiences, I would say that Dish doesn't do premium channel previews as often as DirecTV. In the last year, I believe there have been only two premium channel weekends (one for HBO, one for Starz). Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, though.

When new international channels go up, they're often in free preview mode for a certain number of days (to let folks see what the new channels are about). So be on the lookout for new channels launching if you're interested in international / foreign content.
speedy882001
06-10-04, 01:49 PM
Seems to me like they use to do a better job of notifying you than they do now. I would be happy to get a 30 second message recorded to my PVR to let me know but not a long 6-7 minutes. When I have seen those I just delete it.
finniganps
06-10-04, 01:53 PM
I'm surprised they don't ask folks for their e-mail addresses for free preview weekends or special offers (721 for $249) to send to their existing customers. If folks don't want to get it, fine, but they just don't do a very good job to publicize things to existing customers....most of the effort is spent on new customers.
joshhyde
06-10-04, 03:34 PM
Based on my own experiences, I would say that Dish doesn't do premium channel previews as often as DirecTV. In the last year, I believe there have been only two premium channel weekends (one for HBO, one for Starz). Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, though.
I had a free preview of Showtime for 2 or 3 months last fall.
JM Anthony
06-10-04, 08:03 PM
It would be nice if E* did a better job of publicizing the freebies, but hey, that's one of the benefits of this site!!
speedy882001
06-11-04, 07:12 AM
It would be nice if E* did a better job of publicizing the freebies, but hey, that's one of the benefits of this site!!

Can't argue with that.
Lurker
06-12-04, 09:07 PM
This site doesn't do a consistent job of announcing the free previews either.
SimpleSimon
06-12-04, 09:46 PM
This site doesn't do a consistent job of announcing the free previews either.
You have just been assigned the position of:
Official Free Preview Announcer
You are now responsible for finding every free preview from all DBS companies and making sure they are posted on this site. :lol: :D :hurah: :nono2:
Lurker
06-15-04, 09:21 AM
Not a good idea! I am the last person to find out about them.

I just wish there was a consistent place we could look to find them (or to announce them). Now, it is a matter of searching multiple forums, looking in the programming calendar, etc., because it is always different.

It seems as if they intentionally make the previews secretive. They mostly want just the viewers who stumble upon them, as they are the ones most likely to make an impulsive purchase. They are not interested in viewers like me who only want to record the free movies.