DIRECTV & Dish Network

I read the following on Multichannel News this morning:

Like its satellite rival Dish Network, DirecTV is raisings prices on some of its program offerings this year.

I’m sure no consumer likes to hear this.

According to www.satelliteguys.us and Scott Greczkowski, who writes a blog for Multichannel News, the nation’s largest direct-broadcastsatellite provider will raise the rates for a variety of its packages, such as Choice and Plus HD DVR, by $3 a month effective Feb. 27.

Three dollars a month isn’t bad, really. $36 per year…

DirecTV Thursday confirmed the rate increase, saying it will average about 4%.

Earlier this month, Dish Network announced it was freezing the price for its DishDVR Advantage offer until February 2009, but raising the rates on other popular packages, such as America’s Top 100 and America’s Top 200.

These are obviously their most popular and competitive packages, so I’m sure the cost increase was unavoidable.

Overall, the Dish Network price increase average out to about 8%, according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett. Dish Network said customers who subscriber to non-DVR, a la carte packages would see an increase of about 3%.

Who doesn’t get DVR anymore? Seriously, they’re missing out!

“We’ve frozen prices on some of our most popular packages,” Dish Network spokesman Kathie Gonzalez said. “Unfortunately, we cannot offset the unavoidable costs of increased television programming fees, which were more than 5% in 2007.”

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Tom from Carson City, Nevada writes:

We’ve had Dish Network so long now I can’t even remember when we didn’t. I only know we dumped Comcast fr it. We’ve had virtually no problems with our sets. One of them we use for our RV and that has been a lifesaver for us. Getting weather in the ‘outback’ of Nevada has kept us out of trouble many times. It’s always been relatively easy to set up our dish when on trips.

The home DVR is set up with two TV’s. One in the living room and one in our office. Works great. Now I’m going to mount another dish on my shop and use the RV box to run it when we’re not out on a trip. I can’t wait. I’ll use it mainly for music out there, and since Dish has their music PLUS Sirius Satellite music, there’s no problem finding a music channel I like.

I’m sure DirecTV is pretty much the same, but we’ve been loyal Dish subscribers for years and see no reason to change. Their customer service has always been very good, the few times we needed to call them, and, as someone else mentioned, the people on the other end always speak English.

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Richard From West Michigan writes:

I had dish for 2 years about 6 years ago. It was ok average pic quality, no DVR. Then Dish sent a promo for a free DVR and I switched to them for several years. Had a few probs - bad DVR box, bad switch in the dish (they fixed both free), but service was largely ok for those several years. Then Directv did a promo asking old customers to come back to them. The price was right, so I arranged installation. That was 48 hrs ago. What a difference two days makes. So far: Incomplete installation - no box or RF remote for the bedroom - Directv phone “tech” said I had to have a HDTV for an RF remote to work - unbelievable - that took 60 minutes on the phone. I told him I didn’t think that was true but he insisted repeatedly. I said ok, install the box like I arranged for in the first place, then he said that I’d have to pay an additional $19.99 to have a second box installed in the BR (which they had agreed to do as part of the original install order). I said I don’t think $19.99 was fair because the installer said that an RF Remote (like my old Dish system) eliminated the need for the second box in the bedroom. This goes on and on for awhile and after he left me hanging on the phone for another epoch of time I just hung up out of fatigue.

Did Directv or the installer call me the next day? Nope. Basically I was a cipher they didn’t want to deal with and they lack the common courtesy and responsibility to finish the job they started…

Some differences are apparent between Dish and Directv:

1) Directv wait times on hold seem to be about 20 minutes plus. Dish times were never more that a few minutes.

2) Directv picture with the latest dish/box combo are very good - better that the 3+ year old Dish equipment. Technology has improved TV pictures in three years.

3) The Dish remote and speed of operation of my old Dish DVR box are clearly, absolutely, massively superior to the new Directv remote and system performance. In fact I’d go so far as to say that until you’ve used a Dish DVR remote (assuming you’re now using a Directv system and remote) you have no idea what you’re missing. You use the remore ALL THE TIME to view, schedule, etc. My Directv remote is primitive, complicated and SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. If you’re used to clicking with a PC mouse as I am on a pentium-class PC, the Directv software and hardware will take you back to the days of the original IBM PC. Its that slow.

Dish equipment has obviously been engineered by people with a sensitivity to speed, simplicity, and performance. And it’s so much easier to navigate the Dish on-screen menus with their logic and intuition. You don’t even need the manual. But I’ve had the Directv manual out since I got the system… for instance, if the program guide is missing the channel descriptions on the Dish box, you push a few buttons and download the new program data. On Directv? no such function is available.

Want to delete a scheduled program on the Dish? A few SWIFT keystrokes and you’re done. On Directv? Plan on 30-60 seconds of remote button pushing with several second delays between every button push - slow, slow, slow.

Notwithstanding the installation issues which I presume will be solved eventually, I regret going with Directv mostly because of the comparatively primitive remote performance of the Directv system.

I truly wish I had my Dish back mostly because of its speed of operation. I’ll grant you that the new Directv picture is better than the old Dish, but so far it’s not worth it - the Directv man/machine interface is really that bad I My Humble Opinion.

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Last year DIRECTV added many more channels and touted they would have 100 by the end of the year (2007). I don’t know what happened with that goal, but as of now, I believe they still have 85 channels.

Dish Network is now making the push for more HD channels. DISH Network this week said it will increase its national HDTV channel count from 76 to 100 in 2008.

DISH also said it plans to add local HD channels in 65 new markets this year, bringing its HD local market total to 100.

The company’s decision to offer more high-def programming is an obvious effort to keep up with satellite rival DIRECTV.

DIRECTV has said it will expand to nearly 150 HD channels in 2008.

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When you are looking to make the switch to a satellite television provider, get ready for a show-down between the top two providers in the nation: Dish Network and DirecTV. Both offer amazing package deals and top-notch customer service that surpasses that of any cable provider. You can check out any mailed advertisement or log onto their websites for the promotions they are currently running to find out what your approximate out-of-pocket costs will be for the package your family desires. What about the features each provider offers? From the receivers to the programming lineup packages to the parental controls, how does each of these satellite providers measure up?

HD/DVR Receivers

Both Dish Network and DirecTV offer the latest in technology HD/DVR receivers. Dish Network offers the HD Receiver for 1 or 2 TVs as well as a dual HD DVR receiver for 1 or 2 TVs. Their latest dual HD/DVR receiver, called the ViP722 DVR, is capable of supporting two televisions (one HDTV and one SDTV). It can record up to 350 hours (that’s almost 15 days) of SDTV programming or 55 hours of HDTV. The satellite tuner can be viewed either in single-mode with picture-in-picture or in dual mode where a customer can record shows on two televisions as well as view a pre-recorded program simultaneously. The Dish Network program guide has easy-to-use search options. Also, a customer can choose to have caller ID shown on their screens, as long as they have subscribed to this feature with their phone company.

DirecTV’s latest dual HD/DVR receiver (DirecTV Plus HD DVR) allows customers to record 200 hours (over 8 days) of SDTV and 50 hours of HDTV. Their Series Link feature allows customers to record their favorite show for the entire season. If the date or time changes from week to week, the HD/DVR receiver will adjust for that. This receiver also touts a Media Share feature which allows users to view their photos and listen to their favorite tunes saved on an Intel Viiv processor personal computer. The DirecTV guide allows customers to view the schedule for upcoming shows and movies up to two weeks in advance. Like Dish Network, caller ID can also be displayed on the screen.

Sports Packages

Dish Network offers an extensive line of soccer, football, basketball and hockey packages. Customers have the option of purchasing individual games, 4-game packages or half-seasons or entire seasons. DirecTV is known for its sports subscriptions offering the same options as Dish Network, but going one step further with NASCAR, rugby and cricket.

Exclusive Programs & Music

Dish Network has their own exclusive interactive television channel (100) where customers can do anything from play games, check the local weather or a daily horoscope, read up on celebrity gossip, check local movie listings, get live scores for various sports events and even shop on the Home Shopping Network using their remotes. Dish Network has also teamed up with SIRIUS Music to provide over 60 channels of commercial-free music that are available with several Dish packages.

DirecTV also offers their own exclusive programming through channel 101. This channel offers music and live events as well as exclusive shows. Channel 103 is devoted to faith-based programming and family inspirational events. DirecTV also offers over 70 channels of XM Radio with selected packages.

Parental Locks

Both Dish Network and DirecTV offer parental controls and locks for no additional monthly cost as these features are built directly into the systems. Dish Network and DirecTV allow parents the option to lock certain movies based on their Motion Picture Association of America rating. In addition, Dish Network allows expanded ratings including nudity, language and violence to be taken into account and selected to offer extra protection for children. Both Dish Network and DirecTV allow parents to lock certain channels, including Pay-Per-View channels. DirecTV also authorizes parents to enforce spending limits on Pay-Per-View channels.

Dish Network and DirecTV offer tremendous packages and state-of-the-art technology to meet any family’s television needs. These listed features along with your family’s desired programming lineup and pocketbook will all need to be taken into consideration to choose the satellite television provider that is best suited for you.

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Steven M. Bornstein recently issues a press release talking about how they work hard to deliver to their fans.

Football fans around the country watched a historic game on the last Saturday of the 2007 NFL season as the New England Patriots became the first team in 35 years to go undefeated in the regular season.

There were a few large cable companies that apparently tried to capitalize on the opportunity and blocked millions of fans from watching the game.

If some of the cable companies had their way, however, millions of fans would have missed this game. A few large cable companies tried to punish football fans by refusing to air the NFL Network and the game on reasonable terms.

Fortunately neither DIRECTV nor Dish Network were named as “bad guys”.

NFL Network had the exclusive right to telecast the game. More than 240 cable companies like Cox, along with satellite providers like DirecTV and Dish, and telephone company video providers like AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS, had already reached agreements with NFL Network to carry our programming in its entirety.

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