The thing is for Pay TV providers that do have discounts a common trend is during certain times of the year discounts would be less/non-existent during certain times of years. I've noticed with D* and more so when AT&T took them over is certain business quarters have more discounts available than others. It also depends on the market in your area and how competitive it is. You get more luck during Quarters 2 & 3 / Quarter 4 is a hit or miss / Quarter 1 is don't expect much. This kind of methodology also works for other providers like Dish, Comcast etc.
Now these are not set in stone like in Dish's case where they are losing more customers than is normal/comfortable and they are not signing up enough new customers to offset the loss they may ramp up offers outside of the typical trends.
Also with providers that have their own streaming services like Dish (Sling TV) & DirecTV (DirecTV Now) if signups for those services are going well they might not drastically shift their strategy since Sling TV & DirecTV Now subs are typically included with their parent company's traditional Pay TV service subscriber numbers.
But here are just some general trends I have observed through various online forums:
Quarter 1 / January - March / Providers offer less discounts during this period because it falls within the winter season and also due to price increase season.
For DTV: If your just coming off a big discount (like a $50 off for 12 months) they may only have $20 off for 12 months or less/none available. Typically competitive markets (Were talking at least 4 or more traditional pay TV providers or a local cable company has gotten very aggressive) or customers who may not have had a big discount in a while *might* be eligible for a larger discount.
For cable companies like Altice/Spectrum: forget it they won't offer anything and expect you to pay regular price
Quarter 2 / April - June / Offers start to ramp back up during this quarter typically around the mid-way point since the summer season is coming up and most people at this point likes to start taking vacations around late May and tend to disconnect/suspend more.
For DTV: Its possible if you were offered $20 off for 12 months (or less) last quarter and declined that the discount offer may have increased especially if you have been off a big discount for a few months by this point. In some cases the offer might be the same as last quarter or in few cases no offers might be available.
Quarter 3 / July - September / This is considered a high churn season because people are taking vacations, suspend one home and go to another, etc. This is also typically the quarter where people will switch around providers the most.
- Most Providers: Since the NFL Regular Season starts this quarter providers (except D*) typically start to offer discounted/free "sports tier" subscriptions during the NFL season for both new & existing customers as a way to lure D* subs over who just want the RedZone and keep existing subs from switching to D* for the free NFL Sunday Ticket Max package. U-Verse is the only exception to this and instead they may try to get the customer to migrate over to D* as a new customer if they want the Red Zone or NFL Sunday Ticket.
- DirecTV (no other AT&T services): NFL Sunday Ticket offers typically begin to appear for D* around mid-to-late August. While in 2016 D* didn't offer a free standalone RedZone loyalty option in 2017 they brought it back. So who knows if the free RedZone will appear in 2018. If you had Free NFL Sunday Ticket in 2017 you most likely won't qualify for another Free NFL Sunday Ticket season back to back but they may have discounted NFL ST available.
- DirecTV & AT&T Wireless (post paid w/smartphone): Customers who qualify for "Gold" as part of the AT&T Thanks (loyalty program) program might be eligible for a discounted NFL Sunday Ticket Max subscription.
In 2016 & 2017 the offer was one time payment of $99.96 or a 4-pay installment plan @ $29.99/per installment. After the discounted season the NFL Sunday Ticket Basic plan will auto-renew unless you called to cancel prior to the start of the next season. In 2016 customers were required to call into D* and opt in. In 2017 they sent emails to eligible customers with a time period they had to respond and opt in via the email.
- DirecTV/AT&T Internet (not DSL) & AT&T Wireless (post paid w/smartphone): Customers who are considered "Platinum" as part of AT&T Thanks (loyalty program) might get a complementary NFL Sunday Ticket Max subscription that does not auto-renew the following year at regular price. If you qualify AT&T typically sends out a letter or email.
AT&T did this in 2016 and 2017 and customers who were eligible were notified by email and didn't have to do anything to opt into this offer.
Quarter 4 / October - December / We have reached the end of the year and depending on the provider some will offer nothing, very little or want to finish the year out strong and will open up the discount pool.
Typically with D* this is where they start to wind down but still have significant discounts (2017 however was an exception where they were giving bigger discounts out like candy in late November though December as long as you didn't have 2 existing discounts on the account in most cases)
Hope this helps!