WARNING for those considering Dish's $29 HD only package and regional HD sports

[btrcp2000]

I made three different calls a few weeks ago to see if I got the same answer regarding how to get my local regional sports channel in HD with the $29 hd only package. Two told me that I could get all of them for an additional $5, and one told me that my own local (only one I cared about) channel was automatically included. Dish was installed Thursday, and sure enough, no regional sports. ONe call Thursday night confirmed that it was $5 to add it, which I was okay with. By Friday, still no channel. Called again, and was told by a manager that not only was it not possible to add the sports network to the HD only package, but I had to subscribe to at least the top 100 plus package and add the HD channels for $20, totaling $62, and of course now I have a dish on my roof, so I am somewhat committed. They are throwing in a $28 credit for two months since their sales people clearly don't have a clue.

I haven't decided whether to keep it or not. I opted for Dish because there are only about 7 HD channels that matter through Time Warner, and because of the r5000 sale. I wanted to maintain cable in some form so that in case my sage server ever goes down, there will still be something in each room, but this may end up not being worth the total monthly cost. I am doing the math now to see what is the best way to go, I am assuming it will be to abandon cable entirely, and shell out for more HDPVRs or r5000s. It is very disappointing that after all the research I did all the info I got was still wrong.

Anybody else made this leap before?

[lobosrul]

From reading on avsforum.org, I already knew it was impossible to get the FOX RSN's with that package, which is a damn shame. Its terrible how dis-honest their CSR's are. I wonder if they're on commision or just uninformed.

[Slipshod]

Originally Posted by btrcp2000

I haven't decided whether to keep it or not. I opted for Dish because there are only about 7 HD channels that matter through Time Warner, and because of the r5000 sale. I wanted to maintain cable in some form so that in case my sage server ever goes down, there will still be something in each room, but this may end up not being worth the total monthly cost. I am doing the math now to see what is the best way to go, I am assuming it will be to abandon cable entirely, and shell out for more HDPVRs or r5000s. It is very disappointing that after all the research I did all the info I got was still wrong.

Anybody else made this leap before?

They're going to be changing their HD-only lineup, so some of the confusion might have been around that. Here's their last press release about it (which I think got yanked because it was released too soon).

There's a "TurboHD" package with RSNs, but the whole lineup seems more expensive. I'm about to dive into the HD-Only pack, but I don't care about the RSNs so I'm clear...

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=132897

[sic0048]

I agree, it seems that starting 8/1/08, there will be three tiers or HD Only packages, with a normal and DVR option for the cheapest tier and a DVR/region sports channel option for the two more expensive tiers.

Unfortuately, there has been no official word on which channels will fall into each of the three tiers.

That being said, I think you will be able to get what you are looking for starting 8/1 for $39.99 per month. That will be the mid tier package with the DVR/regional sports channels add on.

I'm hoping that the most expensive tier will have the new premium HD channels like HBO, STAR, etc on it. While the mid level tier has all the normal HD channels on it. But honestly that is just a guess on my part.

THe lowest tier will only be $25 or something like that, but it must not include all the HD channels currently available (again just a guess on my part).

[btrcp2000]

That's the same conclusion I came to. In all honesty I probably would have signed up anyway, but it just feels like a racket. Especially when they told me that once the dish is on the house, I am locked in for th 24 months, even thouigh I couldn't possibly know that I'm not getting what I was sold until I can turn it on. Although I could probably throw enough of a hissy fit based on those facts to get out of it, but I have better things to do. Already shipped to nextcom, so now I am committed in more ways than one!