Dish Network to raise rates on 2/1/03
 

Just a heads up to those of you with Dish Network. If you want, you can lock in your current rate by paying for a year in advance (before February 1, 2003). It looks like rates are going up $1 to $2 / package.

Here are the new prices:

On February 1, 2003, DISH Network will have new package pricing. The new pricing will be as follows:

Package Monthly Price Annual Price
America’s Top 50 $24.99 $275.00
America’s Top 100 $33.99 $374.00
America’s Top 150 $42.99 $473.00
America’s Everything Pak $74.99 N/A
Fox Multisport $5.99 $71.88
DISH Latino $21.99 $242.00
DISH Latino Max $41.99 $462.00

I really boo this. I wish I had the money to pay the year in advance, but alas, I do not. Thanks for the info though.

This stinks...on top, I think they charge $5 fee to switch plans right?

Only to go down.

Still the best deal around, imo.

Thanks, and I agree. I called and switched to the annual rate of $352 for AT100. Just hope I dont have to canx them before the yr is out. I kept the local channel and 2nd receiver on a month to month charge as there's no price break for this.

I had Dish Network from '97 to '01, and switched to DirectTV last February to get some new equipment.

Dish Network is a better system, but in my case I want both Spanish and English language programming, and DirectTV has a better package in that category. I had anticipated switching after my year with DirectTV was up, but I think I will stick with what I have for now (DirectTV Ulitma Para Todos).

With regard to Dish Network, they base their package yearly rate on 11 months (pay for 11, get one month free). Thus if you went yearly now, you'd pay at the current rate for 11 months and get one month "free" (which is how Pato1 got AT100 for what works out to $29.33/month).

Yeah, DirecTV is raising their rates too. But, we all know the $1-$2 that the satellites want don't even remotely compare to the hikes cable sticks people with. I'll take the $1 increase every other year or so, thanks.

No doubt about getting screwed by the cable company. I'd love to get DirecTV, but I need my broadband (ie. cable modem) and I can't get DSL in my area. :(

I have cable modem and Direct TV. You can't just get cable modem? Thats a rip.

I've just got the letter today :(. This suck, I get crappy channels and have to pay more for channels I don't watch.

I have cable modem from ATT and get satellite from Dish and Directv (all on 1 dish). I got in on the $9/month deal with DISH and will probably keep the basic package just for the HDTV offerings once my contract is up. I signed up for DTV a couple of months ago to take advantage of the directivo promotions ($99 from CC) and love it. I won't ever go back to cable with its godawful PQ and overcompression. You'd think that with that much bandwidth available to them, ATT would put out better quality channels. The only way I would ever go back to cable now is if they suddenly came up with a 50-channel HD-package; I wouldn't mind paying $50+ for that.

Oh well $3 for top 150. Still glad they don't charge a service fee for the Dish PVR.

I got my notice in the mail yesterday - personally it doesn't bother me. I also noticed if you currently subscribe to HBO then you can add Cinemax for an extra $3/month. Says 5 channels, but I only see 3 showing up on the program guide? Normally you can see channels you aren't subscribed to in Red. Thats a pretty good deal though. I already have HBO + Showtime already and really don't need another movie channel - although Cinemax is showing a few good movies this month that aren't on the other movie channels. If they got a Hi-Def Cinemax channel though, I'd be signing up.

The only way Cox allows you to have a cable modem is if you at least have basic cable service, which is about $15. I hate them with a passion, but it's not cost-effective yet to have basic cable + cable modem + DirecTV just yet. :(

We're about to buy a house and hopefully it'll be in the area to get DSL. If it is, I'll be giving Cox the proverbial finger and going with DSL and DirectTV.

Cheaper than cable...especially COX cable.

Doesn't bother me. I have DirecTV (same situation soon), and they gave me a new oval satellite + all my HD channels + a new receiver for $8 in shipping. An extra buck or two every few years is certainly worth the channels they've added on top of the natural inflation in our economy. It's still infinitely better than cable.

One thing that seems odd though is the timing. Comcast (who was briefly gobbled up by the evil monsters at AT&T) is now on the warpath trying to get their customers back. They just called me and offered me $400 (I guess in credit) to switch to them. I told them any company that sleep's with AT&T can suck my nuts; but then I heard an ad on the radio yesterday using this Dish price hike as a selling point. Just seems like bad timing from a business sense. Maybe their plan is to get people into annual contracts so they won't leave, but they would need to do that earlier than now. Or maybe they just don't care about Comcast. :)

das

Thats wierd because I have cox too. They must do it different by region. It does cost me 50 bucks a month though and I had to buy my own modem. Probably works out to about the same.

Ack! It seems that Charlie Ergen, CEO of Dishnetwork, is in talks to sell Dishnetwork to Rupert Murdoch (NewsCorp owner). As many of us know, Murdoch seems to be against HDTV in its proper form (480p is NOT hdtv). This totally sucks for us DBS users.

For those with DirecTV, are there taxes and franchise fees tacked onto the rates that you see online? I get about $8 in fees from Cox and wondered if the sat companies do the same.

Also, I just called Cox and they said I could get a cable modem for $39.95/month with $75 modem purchase, but would have to pay $15.75 for basic in order to be able to use it. Cable companies suck ass.

Hey das, did I read correctly? Did you get a HD receiver for only $8 in shipping costs? If so how did you get this?

Thanx Chris

<BLOCKQUOTE> • Quoth mrpayroll •<HR SIZE=1>Hey das, did I read correctly? Did you get a HD receiver for only $8 in shipping costs? If so how did you get this?<HR SIZE=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry about that. No, you didn't read it correctly. [Kenny Mayne]I think that would be a record or something.[/Kenny Mayne]

I got my HD channels for free (with the packages I currently had)
I got the oval satellite free (necessary for receiving HD channels)
I got a generic SD receiver free
+ $8 in shipping

Btw, they also threw in professional installation for free.

Sorry if I wasn't clear on what kind of receiver it was. Still a free receiver is always nice. It's a much better model than the one I had (which, interestingly enough, was also free).

das

I'm just waiting for the HD receivers to come down in price to about $200 or so. Or even better, is the impending release of the HD Tivo's later this year. I've never seen a HD picture, but I've heard that it is incredible. I know that I would finally get a great network picture thru Directv, on my Philips 60" HDTV.

Chris

<BLOCKQUOTE> • Quoth mrpayroll •<HR SIZE=1>I'm just waiting for the HD receivers to come down in price to about $200 or so. Or even better, is the impending release of the HD Tivo's later this year. I've never seen a HD picture, but I've heard that it is incredible. I know that I would finally get a great network picture thru Directv, on my Philips 60" HDTV.

Chris <HR SIZE=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, it's pretty freakin' incredible. I paid around $500 for my receiver about a year ago. At the time, it was a damn good price. It sucks how much they cost right now, and I too am anxiously awaiting those HD DirecTiVo's. Holy carp, that's going to kick ass.

das

In Illinois, there are no taxes or other fees tacked on to the bill for both Dish Network and DirectTV (probably because neither Dish nor DirectTV has a physical presence in the state, plus Illinois does not tax services (is a satellite signal considered a service?)).

Put it this way, if I see a package that says that it costs $32.99, I write a check for $32.99. Nothing is tacked on.

In Texas it should be the same, but you might want to check with any of your friends who have a satellite dish.

ActionMax and 5StarMax are being uplinked on 110 now, and will be available on 2/1.