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-   -   Direct tv price increase (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/453418-direct-tv-price-increase.html)

harpoonipa 01-24-06 02:20 PM

Direct tv price increase
 
I just go the e-mail.
Effective Mar 1st
I still think it's better than cable.

TOTAL CHOICE® PLUS $48.99/mo.

New customers on an introductory TOTAL CHOICE PLUS offer will move to the $48.99 monthly price when their offer period ends.




DIRECTV® DVR service
DIRECTV® HD package
$5.99/mo.
$9.99/mo.


Sign in to your account at DIRECTV.com to change your package selection. See DIRECTV.com/packages for complete packaging information.

TOTAL CHOICE PLUS service includes local channels where available. Eligibility for local channels based on service address. If you do not receive local channels in your TOTAL CHOICE PLUS package, your new price is $45.99/mo.

huzefa 01-24-06 03:05 PM

Bummer. But it's still not a better deal than cable if you add in the cost of internet. With cable TV service, my cable modem bill is just $20/month (that's with me threatening to cancel every 6 months and getting the promotion renewed).

Also, isn't DishNetwork cheaper than DirecTV or are they the same now?

Jeeden 01-24-06 03:52 PM

I love my directv and will gladly hand over the money.

My cable internet bill is only $20 a month and I threaten to leave them every 6 months also, but don't have cable tv.

As soon as I move, have FIOS available or DSL I will be losing the cable modem too. I hate writing the $20 to THE CABLE COMPANY.

DVD Josh 01-24-06 06:57 PM

In no way is DTV better than cable. Once you add a DVR and HD, the deal becomes horrifically worse.

Jeremy517 01-24-06 07:44 PM


Originally Posted by DVD Josh
In no way is DTV better than cable. Once you add a DVR and HD, the deal becomes horrifically worse.

Speak for yourself. An equivalent package from Comcast would cost me $20 more a month.

huzefa 01-24-06 08:09 PM


Originally Posted by Jeremy517
Speak for yourself. An equivalent package from Comcast would cost me $20 more a month.

Again, not if you threaten to cancel. My promo just ran out at the end of december; for 6 months I had the gold package (2nd best package) with HBO/Starz/Cinemax included + all the HD Channels and the HD receiver all for $55/month ($50 for the package, $5 for the receiver); my total bill was $75 incl. internet. I realize that it was a promo, but still I saved a bunch of money.

Jeremy517 01-24-06 09:16 PM


Originally Posted by huzefa
Again, not if you threaten to cancel. My promo just ran out at the end of december; for 6 months I had the gold package (2nd best package) with HBO/Starz/Cinemax included + all the HD Channels and the HD receiver all for $55/month ($50 for the package, $5 for the receiver); my total bill was $75 incl. internet. I realize that it was a promo, but still I saved a bunch of money.

The same thing works with DirecTV. You can threaten to cancel and get tons of freebies and discounts.

huzefa 01-24-06 09:25 PM


Originally Posted by Jeremy517
The same thing works with DirecTV. You can threaten to cancel and get tons of freebies and discounts.

Cool. Good to know; I had Dish but it never really worked with them (all they offered was 6 mths of free HD :( ).

tasha99 01-24-06 11:04 PM

I just looked this up at Comcast:

70.99 Digital Silver
9.99 DVR
29.99 Three extra receivers (maybe I'd only get charged for 2 if the DVR counts as an extra)

Total: $109.95 And I'd only get one DVR (I'm actually upgrading from 2 to 4 Directivo's this weekend)

With Directv I get:

48.99 (I haven't seen the increase, but assuming I'll get it soon)
12.00 HBO
5.99 DVR (for all of them)
15.00 3 extra receivers (all DVRs)
total $81.98

These are both assuming no discounts, but I've had much better luck getting freebies from Directv than Comcast.

Chew 01-25-06 06:07 AM

About the only complaint I have about DirecTV is the serious lack of national HD channels. But having a TiVo trumps that (regardless of how long I will be using it).

DVD Josh 01-25-06 06:37 AM


Originally Posted by tasha99
I just looked this up at Comcast:

70.99 Digital Silver
9.99 DVR
29.99 Three extra receivers (maybe I'd only get charged for 2 if the DVR counts as an extra)

Total: $109.95 And I'd only get one DVR (I'm actually upgrading from 2 to 4 Directivo's this weekend)

With Directv I get:

48.99 (I haven't seen the increase, but assuming I'll get it soon)
12.00 HBO
5.99 DVR (for all of them)
15.00 3 extra receivers (all DVRs)
total $81.98

These are both assuming no discounts, but I've had much better luck getting freebies from Directv than Comcast.

You aren't counting the fact that you have to pay for the DVR. Plus, once you ad HD, there's another $400 charge, and it's gets worse if you want more than one HD receiver.

Believe me, I WANT DTV. I hate Comcast, and my apt faces south (good for me). Their quality is for shit and their CS is also for shit. But the additional $600 outlay for HD and DVR is ridiculous, and I won't pay it.

nevermind 01-25-06 06:45 AM

They didn't raise prices for a few years and now this is like the 3rd in 2 years, isn't it?

If Comcast gets Tivo software on their DVRs and increase the hard drive space by the time our new house is ready (August), I may go back to them completely, at least for a while. I figure I'll let them buy back some of my DirecTV equipment for a really good intro deal.

I can always go back later.

Chew 01-25-06 06:47 AM


Originally Posted by DVD Josh
But the additional $600 outlay for HD and DVR is ridiculous, and I won't pay it.

DirecTV is also moving to a leasing option in March to coincide with this price increase. You shouldn't have to buy anything (eg HD DVR) in a few weeks. :)

nevermind 01-25-06 06:49 AM


Originally Posted by DVD Josh
You aren't counting the fact that you have to pay for the DVR. Plus, once you ad HD, there's another $400 charge, and it's gets worse if you want more than one HD receiver.

Isn't the DirecTV HD package $10.99/month, too?

DVD Josh 01-25-06 07:30 AM


Originally Posted by Chew
DirecTV is also moving to a leasing option in March to coincide with this price increase. You shouldn't have to buy anything (eg HD DVR) in a few weeks. :)

Well fuck a duck. I will have to check that out. Just in time for March Madness.

Chew 01-25-06 07:36 AM

Hmmm, I guess the lease option isn't nearly as good as I thought in the HD DVR area. From avsforum:


Adopting a strategy used by cable operators, DirecTV Inc. in March will begin leasing its set-top boxes and digital video recorders to its customers instead of selling them.

The nation’s biggest direct-broadcast satellite provider this month notified its retailers that it was migrating to a lease program effective March 1.

Those dealers were told they would only be paid commissions for leasing DirecTV’s hardware to customers, not selling those receivers.

The change in strategy aims to ultimately help drive the roll out of advanced services like HDTV and interactive, which offer new revenue streams.

“Most of our multichannel competitors use this model [leasing],” said Jim Arnold, DirecTV’s senior vice president of sales and distribution. “It’s our version of it, and we think it’s very competitive with what they do.”

Down the road, DirecTV believes the leasing program will make it easier to get advanced set-top boxes more widely distributed. In most cases, new customers won’t face big out-of-pocket expenses, though it will still cost $299 after rebate to lease the provider’s HD-DVR set-top. Even so, DirecTV believes the lease program will make it easier for customers to obtain better boxes and, thus, make it easier for the company to offer new services, such as high-definition channels.

“Consumers have expressed concern over the years that, 'Gee, do I have to buy this equipment?,’ particularly as we get into the advanced products, and what happens if that product gets obsolete and they’re stuck with old equipment,” Arnold said.

In a way, DirecTV’s move toward leasing and not selling its set-tops to consumers is ironic. Cable’s long-standing modus operandi has been to lease its hardware to subscribers.

On the flip side, cable — long mindful of DBS’s big presence in consumer-electronics stores — at times has tested selling, rather than leasing, set-tops.

Currently, DirecTV substantially subsidizes the cost of its set-tops to retailers.

Initially, the switch to leasing won’t impact consumers too much. For example, right now subscribers with basic $39.99 service already get their first standard receiver for free.

And a current promotion for the DirecTV Plus DVR won’t change. Subscribers will have to pay $99 for it, but can mail in a $100 rebate form. With leasing, a customer will pay $5.99 per month for digital recording service, get a standard set-top for free, and pay $4.99 to lease a second receiver that includes a DVR.
-ohbfrank- That's still a purchase price. But, it is about the same as Dish's leasing option though.

DVD Josh 01-25-06 08:50 AM

Sat TV will never overtake cable until they get rid of that outlandish charge for HD and DVR boxes.

That and the trees. :)

Red Dog 01-25-06 08:59 AM

Expect more increases as they'll have to pay that enormous fee to the NFL for Sunday Ticket (the new one begins this season) - they'll get it from Sunday Ticket subscribers and non-subscribers.



Sat TV will never overtake cable until they get rid of that outlandish charge for HD and DVR boxes.
And until they somehow figure out how to hook up people who don't have a LOS (which means most of your areas with high population densities).

Red Dog 01-25-06 09:00 AM


Originally Posted by nevermind

If Comcast gets Tivo software on their DVRs


I can't wait for that.

tasha99 01-25-06 09:29 AM


Originally Posted by DVD Josh
You aren't counting the fact that you have to pay for the DVR.

:hscratch:
The DVR's are really cheap--like $50 each for a 70 hour one (Compared to the standalone Tivo I used to have when I had Comcast years ago, this is a bargain). You've got me on HDTV DVR's though--I haven't priced them since I don't have HDTV, but I've heard they're expensive.


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