Dish Programming Changes (Effective August 1st)

[GRExpert]

Another easy satisfied customer. 5 minutes in online chat and away I go. Thanks Scott!

 

[KAB]

Got mine today, as well as a new 722K with the loyalty promotions (after I whined about being a 8 yr old sub.) $30.00 for the OTA mod.

 

[shodobe]

So after reading all of these posts I still can't figure out what the changes are all about. I have the following:

Dish DVR 12.00
Gold HD 10.00
DHPP 6.00
Classic Gold 63.00
Lease 7.00

Total 98.00

I have a 622 and a 722 all hooked up to a phone line. The above figures are rounded off. So when I call what should I tell them to change to? Also, what the heck is this "loyalty fee" ? I have been with Dish for 13 years and never have been given this. Thanks

 

[StonesCat]

So after reading all of these posts I still can't figure out what the changes are all about. I have the following:

Dish DVR 12.00
Gold HD 10.00
DHPP 6.00
Classic Gold 63.00
Lease 7.00

Total 98.00

I have a 622 and a 722 all hooked up to a phone line. The above figures are rounded off. So when I call what should I tell them to change to? Also, what the heck is this "loyalty fee" ? I have been with Dish for 13 years and never have been given this. Thanks

I think the loyalty thing is just you bargaining with Dish, but otherwise just tell them to add the platinum channels to your current setup. There's nothing there that would change, it's the same structure I had.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I got my platinum HD channels last night via an online chat.

 

[RollTide1017]

I had Classic Silver + Gold 250 Bonus Pack with Gold HD. I use to have Platinum but removed it a month ago.

After a five minute online chat tonight my account page on the DiSH websites reads:

Classic Gold 250, HD & Platinum. No price change!

Call me satisfied, those Platinum channels were not worth an extra $10 which is why I dropped them a month ago (even though I did miss HDNet Movies). Free Platinum HD is worth every penny.

 

[dennispap]

It will do away with your bundling if you have top 250 bonus pack + hd pack and you go to HD + Platinum. I know I did just that. I had classic silver dvr advantage pack + 3 premiums till yesterday. The three premiums were Gold HD /HBO/top 250 bonus pack all for 31.00. So this is way it was :

57.99 Classic silver dvr advantge pack
31.00 three premiums ( hd/hbo/top 250 bonus pk)
07.00 additional receiver fee
---------------------------------------
95.99
(03.00) dvr credit
(10.00) loyalty credit
------------------------------------
$ 82.99 before tax

After I changed from GOLD HD to HD + platinum pack my bill is now broke down to this:

67.99 Classic Gold pack WITH dvr
15.99 HBO
10.00 HD + platinum pack
07.00 additional receiver
--------------------------------------
100.98
(03.00) dvr credit
(10.00) loyalty discount
---------------------------------------
$87.98 before tax.

So in the end I pay now $4.99 more than I did before I added the HD + plat pack. DISH will no longer consider HD or the top 250 bonus pack as a premium pack. ONLY the premium movie packs, Hbo/Showtime/Starz/Cinemax and Playboy and they will be bundled:

1 premium 15.99 hbo or 12.99 for Showtime,Starz or Cinemax.
2 premiums 22.00
3 premiums 31.00
4 premiums 40.00
5 premiums 50.00

Same here. Just got off of chat and I had classic silver dvr advantage pack + 4 premiums
The 4 premiums were Gold HD /SHO/top 250 bonus pack/Platinum all for 40.00. So this is how it was :

57.99 Classic silver dvr advantge pack
40.00 four premiums ( hd/sho/top 250 bonus/platinum pk)
07.00 additional receiver fee
---------------------------------------
104.99
(03.00) dvr credit
------------------------------------
$ 101.99 before tax

After I changed from GOLD HD to HD + platinum pack my bill is now broken down to this:

67.99 Classic Gold pack WITH dvr
12.99 SHO
10.00 HD + platinum pack
07.00 additional receiver
--------------------------------------
97.98
(03.00) dvr credit
---------------------------------------
$94.98 before tax.
So in my case, i get the same programming and i save $7.01 per month.
(Save 10.00 for platinum, pay 2.99 more for showtime)

 

[bebop]

Thanks for the explanations. I would end up paying $2 per month more if I switched out of the old system to the new one. Not sure if the Platinum channels are worth $24 per year extra to me. I know that sounds bad but having had the three month free promo for PlatinumHD and really never watching it, it is something to consider.

There are many good movies on each month on some of the platinum channels, so I would say that it is worth it. Especially if you browse upcoming movies and set your dvr to record them.

 

[bebop]

Good thread here Scott, thanks! Maybe you'll get some more revenue from folks who only heard about the $120/year savings from this site. (Maybe not).

My 2 cents: Platinum is worth it for 3 channels - HDNet Movies, MGM & Universal.
(I haven't watched much of any show on the other platinum channels ever since I got them)

 

[shortspark]

I've had Platinum for a couple years, paying ten bucks a month - and as of this morning, it is still showing on my account at $10 a month. I thought after Aug. 1 the charge would be removed. Oh, I just went back a couple ages and at around post 522 I found a transcript between the poster and a CSR that addressed this very thing. The rep said it would be updated before the next bill so I guess I'll wait before doing anything.

 

[KAB]

I've had Platinum for a couple years, paying ten bucks a month - and as of this morning, it is still showing on my account at $10 a month. I thought after Aug. 1 the charge would be removed.

You need to call.

 

[tasmithe]

Platinum charge

I called this morning after I switched over to Gold 250 with HD on Friday and the woman said today that I still had to pay for Platinum since I had it before despite the woman on Friday saying I didn't any more. I told this gal this morning that I would be switching to DirecTV immediately. She transferred me to retention and this person said no, I didn't have to continue to pay the additional $10 and fixed it without a problem.

Sometimes it pays to be persistent.

 

[shortspark]

The notion that some people have to pay for Platinum and some don't is BS. What is the official policy and why is it not followed across the board. No one should have to call, it should be done automatically. If this is what Dish does as a matter of course I'm switching!

 

[MikeD-C05]

DISH has allowed those who like certain discontinued packs to keep their programming packs as long as they don't change their programming. For instance HD absolute pack at 29.99, TURBO hd stand alone packs and the older dvr advantage pack. Now with the Stand alone Turbo hd packs and the classic packs with the turbo hd packs , you can bundle certain add ons at a cheaper cost. For instance with Turbo stand alone and Classic with Turbo hd packs you can count your the 250 bonus pack as a premium and HD metalic pack as a premium and you can count those towards premium bundling with the premium movie packs and save money. For instance I had gold hd , HBO and 250 bonus pack that were counted as 3 premiums so I only paid 31.00 for all 3, before I changed to HD + plat pack. With the new programming changes you can NOT count the hd pack or 250 bonus pack as a premium any longer if you change your programming . I now pay 15.99 for HBo and my bill went up by 4.99 by going with the new HD + plat pack. So DISH is allowing people who like their existing programming to keep it at the price that saves them some money on bundling discounts. Unfortunately in this case it means they will also keep the same price as before on the stand alone Plat. hd pack.

So IF DISH was to change everyone over to the new programming packs , there would be people who screamed that they lost their bundling discounts. Most subs didn't have the platinum stand alone hd pack anyway. I know I didn't unless it was free for 3 months. That is why they combined it with the HD pack so more people would actually watch it. Either way there would be people who screamed if they changed their programming packs and did away with the bundled discounts they had before. Besides I am sure that the main reason they bundled Plat pack with the HD pack was so that existing subs would want to sub to the new HD + plat pack and that would move them away from the older programming packs and they could make more money per sub. It worked in my case. I am paying now $4.99 more a month than I was before Saturday when I went with HD + Plat pack. So don't think DISH was giving us something free with the HD + Plat pack, because it took away any bundled discounts with HD and the top 250 bonus packs. They still will offer bundled discounts on Premium movie packs : Hbo/Starz/Showtime/Cinemax/Playboy. But not to defend DISH, but in this case they would of pissed off people no matter which way they did this change. But I agree it seems very tacky to keep charging the 10.00 for plat pack when it is now included with the hd pack.

 

[hperry]

had DVRAdvantage 250 with HD and HD Plat. just chatted and got the $10 fee for HD Plat removed. always good to save $10/month! also noticed I could get 3 months HBO/showtime for free with autobill and paperless (both of which i already have). so i signed for that also. glad to see no 24 month commit was required. however, i will be moving in a month and it looks like i need to sign for 24 months to get the free dish mover...sucks...

 

[Laddyboy]

had DVRAdvantage 250 with HD and HD Plat. just chatted and got the $10 fee for HD Plat removed. always good to save $10/month! also noticed I could get 3 months HBO/showtime for free with autobill and paperless (both of which i already have). so i signed for that also. glad to see no 24 month commit was required. however, i will be moving in a month and it looks like i need to sign for 24 months to get the free dish mover...sucks...

Sign up for the $5.99 per month DHPP. Dishmover is free. After the move, drop DHPP.

 

[Foxbat]

I did an on-line chat this morning to verify that my bill would be going down $10/mo for PlatinumHD. Rosy said she made a change to my account to do just that (free PlatinumHD) so I'll check on it tomorrow. I don't know that it will be added to this month's billing cycle, so I'm hoping I'll see an approximate $10 credit for August and no charge after that.

 

[hperry]

Sign up for the $5.99 per month DHPP. Dishmover is free. After the move, drop DHPP.

oh man i love this forum. thanks! did that for a broken receiver about a year ago and i'll do it again for the move.

 

[Kirby Baker]

Well I tried to do the online chat thing on Saturday night to get the new HD, and was informed that I needed a new dish. Wasnt happy, it was late, I was tired. So I tried again Sunday morning, and the tech support chat person added it, and this morning, it appears that everything was done correctly as I have this new activity since last billing:

08/02 08/02 GOLDHD 08/02 TO 09/04 -$11.00
08/02 08/02 HD & PLATINUM 08/02 TO 09/04 $11.00
07/31 07/31 PLATINUMHD 07/31 TO 09/04 -$11.61

Glad to have some savings, now maybe some more HD programming for the lower price too would just make life grand!

 

[nrholland]

TURBO SUBSCRIBERS WERE DECEIVED!!

I think it's highway robbery to have to pay $18 more on my account just so I can continue to get Versus in HD by switching to a classic package.

I love Dish's programming and their dvrs. But I have no respect at all for Charlie Ergen and any of the other higher-ups in Dish who completely treated us Turbo customers like absolute CRAP!!!!!!!

One person told me once that he felt that Charlie Ergen should be in jail. I'm beginning to agree with him. If Directv had the same programming packages as Dish and I could get the same channels (including AAD) with Directv and they'd have the same quality equipment (instead of the junky receivers and dvrs they have) as Dish, I'd drop Charlie in a heartbeat and switch to Directv!!!!

:rant: