Rumor Alert: New Dish Pricing?
Dish Price Changes Coming?
The rumor mill is going into high gear today, I have been getting fed some information about Dish Networks new pricing which is slated to take effect on February 1st. The information I am getting from my group of insiders seems to be consistent so that’s why I am reporting it here today. But until the new pricing is officially announced by Dish Network please consider it a rumor.
The good news is it appears there will be no price increase on any of the Dish Network packages. Dish will also rename the packages back to the “America’s Top” name instead of the confusing “Classic” names. The America’s Top 100 package will be renamed the America’s Top 120 Package.
The Dish Network TurboHD packages will remain but will be renamed the Dish America Bronze, Silver etc packages.
What I am finding confusing (and hope its wrong) is the new pricing structure for monthly receiver charges. According the the information I am receiving Dish will charge $17 a month for a Duo DVR receiver, $14 a month for Duo receivers and Solo class receivers will be $7. The costs will be the same no matter if its a SD (MPEG2) or HD (MPEG4) receiver. Again I hope this is wrong and is not a charge per receiver. If it is my bill will go up $102 a month as I have a total of 6 Duo DVR’s on my account.
My insiders are telling me starting on February 1st Dish will move to a single DVR fee for all DVR’s on your account. While this sounds great and is LONG overdue it appears that they are moving the extra DVR fees to the monthly receiver charges so no really saving there unfortunately.
Another major change coming up is that the Digital Home Protection Plan will be renamed “Service Plan” and will cost $6 a month. Customers wishing to cancel the policy will need to pay a $25 cancellation fee if they no longer want the “service plan” on their account. I am guessing this is to stop the wave of people who call in and add DHPP to their account just to have a problem fixed at no charge and then they call and cancel the DHPP service. Also new is for all “service plan” calls which require a technician to visit your house there will be a $15 charge. If you do not have the service plan this cost will be $95 for the technician visit.
To me this entire thing stinks, since for most customers they lease their equipment from Dish Network, meaning the equipment is Dish Networks property, equipment such as DVR’s have moving parts that fail over time, since the equipment is property of Dish Network I think that it should not cost the customer anything to replace defective or failed equipment. This is one thing that cable has a major advantage over satellite. If you have cable and you cable converter fails, you can call the cable company and they come out and replace their defective equipment at no charge.
I should note that I have not contacted Dish Network about this information as in the past I have tried talking to them about new pricing and products and they were not able to talk to me as that information was not publiclly announced yet. I personally really hope that some of this information is wrong but I am getting this from contacts which have provided me this information over the past few years and their information has been very accurate. But once again I would like to urge all readers to consider this all a rumor until Dish Network officially announces the new pricing themselves.
somewhere out there commented:
Yea the increases will take effect and one single dvr fee adn all services call no matter what are $15 unless u have dhpp scott is right on the prices with the leased recvrs
Still Cheaper commented:
The cable system I am moving to in the next month or so has a confusing website, but it looks like I will be paying $22.50 per dvr, and about $9 for any additional digital non-dvr boxes. Plus service is about $65 for basic digital with sportspack/moviepack/pluspack upgrades (maybe).
D commented:
Directv will raise price in March too.
jstrazz commented:
I'm not surprised that Dish is doing this. It was only a matter of time. If they want to keep me as a customer, Charlie Cheapskate had better negotiate with MLB for a COMPLETE baseball package for next season. Otherwise, as soon as my receiver breaks down, they can kiss me goodby... commitment or not.
DSS commented:
Lets see, If you have a dual tuner DVR Say like a 622 as a second receiver on the account and dont have the phone line plugged in, your already paying $17 a month for that box. $7 for the second HD receiver, $5 for the DVR FEE, $5 for the phone line not being connected. Let’s see what happens.
Note from Scott
No from the way I understand it, you pay $17, the $7 for second HD receiver and $5 for DVR go away. They are trying to simplify things by just having one charge. From what I understand there still will be a $5 charge on additional outlets which are not plugged into phone lines or broadband, so keep the extra receivers plugged in.
branchbouncer commented:
Bye dish isn't worth the money
Metrosat commented:
Wow....my brakes are bad on my leased Explorer and they want me to pay to have them serviced...what the F$%K...I should'nt have to pay for service on something I lease.
Metrosat commented:
Blueray and an antennae???? Yeh right...if Dish does this give every oter program provider a month or two to follow. What's the story with Time Warner and their providers?
Scott Greczkowski commented:
Update from me…
While Dish has not officially confirmed anything, a number of Dish employees have contacted me verifying the pricing and also explaining the way the equipment costs are going to be. Check out http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/197184-dish-pricing-update.html for an update and explanation on how its all going to work.
The folks who will see the biggest price increase are those with America’s Everything Pack, since that package will no longer cover DVR fees. Unfortunately I am one of those folks. 
Have a great weekend everyone!
DerekE commented:
AppleTV and Netflix is looking better all the time. I'm already paying about $85 a month
RON commented:
verizon fiber soon in my hood i will get phone hd tv and faster internet all for less see ya dish!!
Goshen Alabama commented:
I already pay over $100.00 a month now. No more for me. I'll buy a bluray and put up an antenna.
Montgomery Al commented:
How much can prices be raised before most customers can no longer afford it? I will not pay the extra fee!
PJ commented:
Usually in the past, and correct me if I am wrong, its usually been in February, right after CES, and right after the realease of new gear and channels. Bottom line its still the best bang for your buck service around in my opinion.
DishDunce commented:
I have a 722, two 622s and 211 w/EHD. Verizon is installing fiber in my neighborhood, just in time for February. Raise my leases? ByeBye Dish!
Wow commented:
What in the world are they thinking??? People are switching to Dish cause of price rising from Direct and cable and here they want to go and do this? You shouldn't get charged for a service call and you shouldn't get charged for fixing leased equipment.
Charles commented:
$17 a month per receiver after the first one?
jim commented:
If the price goes up in feb im gone and going to direct tv or cable i am not paying those fees.charlie is being a scrooge
FriedSlug commented:
Dish will be gone quicker than it took me to type this if this is true.
bobvick commented:
I agree, if I have to pay $34.00 in fees for 2 receivers, I will pay the cancellation fee and kiss Dish goodbye, and say "Hello" to DirecTV again.
htls69 commented:
me to randall that sucks ass i would have to drop to.
Randall commented:
$17 a month for a Duo DVR is out of this world. I will be paying $58.00 just in equipment. See ya Dish Network!
Brad commented:
$17 a month per receiver. I sure hope that is wrong or else See ya dish.