The problem is that the customers have no choice. If SD contracts had been up, I am sure Disney would have yanked all the SD channels too, to force Dish to comply with HD carriage.
These big conglomerates own a bunch of channels, they force carriage of them all in as low a tier as they think they can force on the sat/cable companies. They hold the entire block of channels hostage for any of their channels.
The problem is that the customers have no choice. If SD contracts had been up, I am sure Disney would have yanked all the SD channels too, to force Dish to comply with HD carriage.
These big conglomerates own a bunch of channels, they force carriage of them all in as low a tier as they think they can force on the sat/cable companies. They hold the entire block of channels hostage for any of their channels.
In your case it is a terrible deal. In most people's cases they would be upgrading from SD to that 612. For them that includes a new receiver, new Dish and everything installed for $200. Thats not a bad deal. You have a different scenario. Your's would just be a simple swap that you could handle yourself and would not be worth paying the $200.