The Dish Network Blog

A recent article posted on Sky Report estimates that many Americans are not utilizing their televisions High Definition potential. In fact almost half of the American population is not taking full advantage of High Definition programming and their cable boxes capabilities. Sky Report states that recent research done by Leichtman Research Company suggests that 40% of all households with HDTV potential are not watching HDTV and not because the channel selection in high definition is lacking. The article goes on to state that an overwhelming 20% of viewers think that they are watching HD programming.

Perhaps this would be a wonderful opportunity for cable companies to look into more technology savvy cable boxes. Satellite cable companies like Dish Network provides their viewers with receivers that do the work for you. In fact it recognizes if your TV is a HD television and automatically adjusts your channel lineup accordingly. Unfortunately cable companies are still expecting viewers to memorize their channel lineup, memorize the HD channels and then enter a prefix before each HD channel they want to watch.

I don’t know about you but at the end of my busy day when I sit myself down on the couch to tune into some mindless entertainment, the last thing I want to do is play a battle of wits against my cable box. My suggestion…make it easy, satellite is a no brainer!

When I was growing up we had only one television in the house and I was the remote control well into my late elementary school years. The Disney Channel was not free and it was always a treat to go to my grandparents and watch “Kids Incorporated”. Satellite T.V. was something from the Twilight Zone and High Definition programming was never even heard of. Every kid on my block had rabbit ears and I’m not talking about the soft white fluffy kind that eats carrots.

These days’ televisions are in kitchens, children’s rooms and even the garage. Universal remote controls are sold at Drug Stores and by 2009, analog will be a thing of the past…my past that is. These days high definition channels are on the rise and satellite T.V. is very real, and a leading competitor in the cable industry giving millions of Americans across the U.S. a choice in their cable. With that being said, cable companies from the West Coast to the East Coast are raising cable rates leading me to question, “Do these corporate bullies not understand that the American public has a choice in their cable provider or does the American public not know that they have one?

Recently both Comcast and Cablevision have announced yet another recent rate hike for their cable customers, and unfortunately for their customers this is not the first one this year. Many speculate that this recent increase is an attempt to force viewers into a bundle package agreement and a commitment contract. I am here to tell you folks, that you have a choice and an obvious one at that. Satellite providers like Dish Network are capable of providing service to 97% of the nation’s population and still growing. So make yourself a fried bologna sandwich, crack open a bottle of pop and rest assured that Dish Network will continue to offer their viewers the lowest cable packages, superior customer service and a growing amount of High Definition channels along with promising their viewers a $49.99, 200 plus channels, no rate hike until 2009 package…if only they could bring back Land of the Lost back in Dish Networks high-quality high definition.

“Honey, get me the hammer”, A Comcast fairytale unravels
Comcastically Rendition of “There was an Old Lady Lived in A Shoe”

You’ve heard about Superman and Spiderman and the tales of Mighty Mouse, but have you heard about the old lady in Bristow, and her little brick red house?

Her name is Mona Shaw shes the old lady with a hammer, Who vandalized a Comcast office and still managed to avoid the slammer.

So fed up with poor service, and the installer that just never bothered to show, And the supervisor who left for the day and all of Comcasts excuses and woes.

She decided to take matters into her own hands, Becoming a modern day hero and gaining lots of fans.

She smashed the receptionists keyboard, and knocked over the monitor, She even smashed the telephone…this old lady is hard core.

Later on that day police arrested Shaw for disorderly conduct, she received a three-month suspended sentence, and was fined $345 bucks.

Here is some little advice for that corporate bully Comcast, Rate hikes and poor customer service are going to send your customers running fast,

To your competitors like Dish Network, whose customer service is ranked #1, With 13 million customers and still able to get the job done.

With 24 hour customer service and mangers who don’t just “leave for the day”, It seems pretty clear that there is not too much else to say.

For more information feel free to call Dish Network’s customer service center, And please let us help you remove the corporate cable splinter.

And here is one last note before we end Comcast’s fairytale gone wrong, Step it up cable companies because its “On like Donkey Kong”!

For more information on all Dish Network has to offer call 1-866-989-3474 or visit their website at www.dish-network.com.

For 12 straight years cable viewers have had to sit by and watch as cable companies raise rates.  In January 2007 Comcast raised their rates 4.1% and here we are only 10 months later seeing another increase.  Beginning November 5th Comcast customers will be forking over another 5% of their monthly cable charges.  You think that is bad, Comcast customers who just subscribe to basic limited programming will see a 12.5% increase on their overall monthly charges.  In addition, service and installation fees also are increasing, jumping 4.4% bringing standard installation to $47.50 per month. 

So much for cutting back and trying to save a little money for the upcoming Holidays.  Bottom line Com-costly customers, no matter what your package, you rates are going up, and given Comcast’s track record, I’ll be writing this same article again in the Spring.  Here is the good news cable viewers…we live in a technology advanced country where you no longer have to open your wallet to big shot corporate companies, you have a choice in your cable provider.  Satellite companies like Dish Network are now offering their customers a $49.99, no rate increase guaranteed until 2009 package.  With this all-inclusive package, you get over 200 of your favorite channels, including SIRIUS music and your local channels, plus 2-room DVR service and Free Standard Professional Installation. 

For more information on Dish Network call 1-866-989-3474 or visit their website at www.dish-network.com.

Are you suffering from CD or Cable Dysfunction?

When your cable just doesn’t do it for you anymore, there is always Dish Network. Dish-Agra by Dish Network cures analog channels, lack of HD programming and high-cable bills. Watch this video commercial and see why Dish Systems provides the best prices, latest offers and best installation of any other Dish Network satellite retailer.

It seems that Dallas Cowboys fans who can’t get the NFL Network through Time Warner Cable are fed-up and are asking the Governor and Legislature of Texas to intervene. Since Time Warner Cable doesn’t have the NFL Network in their basic cable lineup, subscribers won’t be able to watch two coming Dallas Cowboys games. Time Warner who serves El Paso won’t negotiate with the NFL Network to include the channel in their basic package.

El Paso Dallas Cowboy fans do have an alternative to Time Warner, an alternative that has the NFL Network in it’s basic package and a basic package that is cheaper. The alternative is Dish Network, whose basic channel package is 100% digital audio and video, includes 100 channels for $29.99 and best of all includes the NFL Channel.

Dish Network also has the El Paso local channels available, so El Paso residents will stay up to speed of Time Warner trying to justify not having the NFL Network to city officials.

With Dish Network and the NFL Channel, El Paso, Texas football fans will be able to watch the Dallas-Green Bay game on Nov. 29 and the Dallas-Carolina game on Dec. 22. These games are not going to be available on Time Warner.

In June of 2006 Dish Network and the NFL Network announced a multi-year extension to bring many new advanced features to customers of DISH Network satellite TV service. The deal allowed Dish Network to carry the NFL Network which airs over 160 games that are televised nationally including the NFL Network’s regular season primetime game package on Thanksgiving. Dish Network also has provides the NFL Network’s high-definition channel.

Best of all Dish Network added the NFL Network to the America’s Top 100 programming package. With NFL Network’s exclusive access into key league events, football fans will have access to nearly 2,000 original hours of programming on NFL Network. In 2007, the NFL Network will air 168 football games, including 8 primetime regular season NFL games, 52 preseason games, 75 game re-airs, 31 NFL Europe League contests, the Insight Bowl and the Senior Bowl. The NFL Network airs seven days a week, 24 hours a day on a year-round basis and is the first television network fully dedicated to the NFL and the sport of football.

To Order Dish Network with the NFL Network and 100 other top channels for $29.99 a month, visit Dish Network / NFL Network For EL Paso

As sure as the leaves change in the fall, so do many cable companies rates. As leaves fall to the ground cable rates rise.  

Comcast said the cable rate bills are going up around 6.1%. The cable rate increase will be for all of the Houston subscribers. Reportedly, standard Comcast cable will now be $47.99 which is a $3 increase and Digital classic will be $60.99, a $5 increase. Comcast said that they are rasiing the rates to mirror rates in other markets through-out the US. 

But where will this money go? Comcast was reported saying the cable rate increase money will be for new HD channels and to upgrade their cable system, so we will be sure to keep tabs and see what happens. Even after they upgrade to the new HD channels they say are going to add, they still will have less than half the HD channels that Dish Network has.

Once again, as Dish Network has a price guarantee until 2008 and the cable companies raise their rates. The Cable Bundles are becoming like Sub-Prime Mortgage Loans….to good to be true.

Attention Dish Network Subscribers, we need your help in stopping discriminatory taxes against direct broadcast satellite services. Dish Network is known for having the lowest all digital price for pay television and  the cable companies are always trying to raise satellite televisions prices by lobbing the state governments to apply an unfair sales tax to Dish Network subscribers.

Presently the Cable industry is lobbying several states to pass the Internet Tax Moratorium Bill which carries a stipulation that will make Dish Network customers pay higher sales taxes.  This bill will require states and municipalities to implement tax on satellite service.  Both DISH Network and DirecTV are supporting an amendment known as the DBS Amendment to the Internet Tax Moratorium Bill that will require states and municipalities to implement the same tax on satellite services as they do on cable services.

It’s known that Dish Network constantly wins over cable on price, quality, and customer service and Dish Network continues to be the benchmark disincentive against cable rate increases.  Because of Dish Networks low prices, the cable industry lobbies states to impose discriminatory DBS taxes. This tax that cable is trying to get passed will artificially inflate the cost of satellite-TV service.

We all are tired of taxes, especially those that are designed to restrain a consumer’s choice.  The cable industry can not compete in a fair market because of their huge costly infrastructure and overhead. So to level their playing field, they rather tax satellite customers and increase their bills.

Why doesn’t cable do as Dish Network does and negotiate cost effective carriage deals with programmers and look for efficient and cost-effective ways to deliver digital televisions? As the mandatory digital conversion approaches, which is only 18 months away, cable will be a in money crunch to switch their customers from analog to digital. So cable will do what they do best, raise rates and try to raise satellite customer’s rates.

If you’re a customer in a state with discriminatory sales taxes, the cable companies are attacking your right to choose a cheaper better alternative. Currently, these states with Discriminatory DBS Taxes are Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Utah.

Its time to take action and let the cable companies that Satellite customers are not going to pay for their decaying and obsolete cable systems. Please tell Congress to support fair sales taxes for all pay television subscribers!

Please call Congress at (202) 225-3121 and ask to be transferred to your Member of Congress. Simply leave a message with your Member and then ask to be transferred to the staffer who handles Judiciary Committee issues.
 

Don’t let the cable companies use taxes to justify their outrageously high prices!

With so many different cable companies out there and each cable franchise with-in those large cable companies operating almost independently, it is hard for a consumer to compare apples to apples. Since Dish Network is a national satellite television provider, and has nothing to hide, a consumer can see exactly what they are going to pay.  Dish Network doesn’t add on extra service, franchise or line fees. With Dish Network a customer pays for their programming a small tax and that’s it.  
As for the cable companies, according to a FCC Report on Cable Industry Prices released on 12/27/06, cable prices increased more than 5 percent last year and 93 percent since the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Below are some highlights of the FCC report to help you compare Dish Networks low process to “average” cable prices and features.
Basic-Plus-Expanded Basic Service

• Average monthly price: $43.04
  
• $14.30 – Basic Service Tier
  
• $28.74 – Expanded Basic Tier
  
• Average price for programming and equipment: $47.43
  
• 1995: $22.35 2005: $43.04
  
• 1-year change: 5.2%
  
• 10-year cumulative change 92.6%
  
• Average number of channels:
  
• Basic: 24.9
  
• Local Broadcast (12.3)
  
• Expanded basic: 45.6
  
• Basic + expanded: 70.5
  

Digital Service

• Average Monthly Price: $12.99 (includes equipment)
• Number of digital channels: 33.7
• Average HDTV channels: 11.6
• Other digital channels: 108.1

Average Equipment and Installation Charges:
·         Analog Converter & Remote: $4.39
·         Digital Converter & Remote: $4.99
·         HD Converter and Remote: $7.08
Cable Installation:

• Unwired home: $45.94
• Pre-wired home: $32.22

Source: FCC Report on Cable Industry Prices; Released 12/27/06