E* DVR Fee Lowered

[bolco]

SatelliteGuys.us BREAKING NEWS......

I've just been told by my distributor that if you subscribe to America's Everything Pack that the DVR fee is FREE...BUT, if you subscribe to a MINIMUM of America's Top 50 (or Dish Latino) that the fee will be $4.98.

Seems that the $10/month fee wasn't flying, aye?

Now, if they could just charge ONE fee PER HOUSEHOLD instead of PER RECEIVER many more people will be more tempted to dive in with both feet.

Remember, tell everyone that you always hear it here first...it's SatelliteGuys.us

 

[bolco]

From today's E* FaxBlast...

PROMOTIONAL NEWS:

• DISH-Video-On-Demand Service fee: We’ve listened to your feedback and now the DISH-Video-On-Demand Service fee for America’s Top 50 and DISH Latino packages and higher is only $4.98 per month. DISH-Video-On-Demand Service fees for America’s “Everything” Pak remains at $0. This change applies to all DISH Player-DVR 510, DISH Player-DVR 522, and DISH Player-DVR 921 receivers, for new and existing customers, regardless of the promotion.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Very cool! Thanks for the scoop!

 

[bolco]

No problem.

 

[AppliedAggression]

Good news, now where are all those posts of ppl that were upset about 10/month?

 

[kirk27]

I am still unsure of the justification for charging any fee.

 

[rtt2]

They should still drop the fee for AT150 customers. I agree with kirk27 on this one. I still have a hard time justifying any fee. The fee has been the major impediment from buying more DVRs.

 

[Bill R]

What they need to do now is change the name (it is NOT really video on demand) OR start offering video on demand.

I think that it is just a matter of time before they will be forced (by the industry) to change the fee from a "per receiver" to "per account" fee.

 

[JohnH]

Yeah, git rid of the fee and raise the purchase price. Or, giveaway the company.

I've been paying $15(10+5) a month since the day I bought my 7100. It was nice not to have to pay MSRP for it all at once.

 

[Guest]

Wait till Rupert drops fees all together and offers a free dvr. Then Charlie will have to do the same or Directv will have all the customers. I just wonder if what they were talking about on Tech chat is true? If they are going to offer name based recording in the future? Then the price might be justified for this feature, but only on an account basis instead of per receiver basis.

Of course we are talking about a company that waited from March all the way till the middle of October beta testing 721 software that created more problems then it fixed. I can't understand why Dish just doesn't out source the software engineers instead of these never ending software fixes.

 

[Randy_B]

Slightly more reasonable approach would be to base the fee on total monthly subscription. >$50 and fee is waived. At the very least if you have AT150 and one other add-on then the fee should be waived. It also needs to drop to one fee per account.

 

[AndyMon]

One more vote to drop the $5 penalty altogether!!

 

[Stargazer]

I dont know who wouldn't want to have the $5 VOD fee dropped. At least Dish dropped it from $10 to $5 on the Top50 package. Perhaps there are a bit more AT50 subs than what some realize. A lot of people subscribe to AT50 and still order a lot of movie packages whichs results in a high monthly bill each month.

I know that Dish will drop these fees if DirecTv does so in the future as well. When DirecTv comes out with all those DVR's for free without a DVR fee, it may only be for the new ones coming out and not the ones that were out previously since there would still be a DVR fee due to Tivo.

 

[dlsnyder]

While no fee would definately be better for me $4.98/mo would not be too bad if I got a susbstantial subsidy on the receiver. I am looking at getting a 522 when they are available, eliminating a 3900 and a 2700 in the process. I will also eliminate one extra receiver fee making the whole thing a wash.

 

[kirk27]

Wait till Rupert drops fees all together

I believe that the DTV fees are paid to TIVO. TIVO is a third party company that provides added value, namely the TIVO software and guide information.

The initial Dishplayer boxes were programmed and supported by Microsoft. A fee for those boxes was justified because it was paid to a third party, Microsoft.

DISH has moved away from the Microsoft provided PVR firmware and guide. DISH now builds their own products, writes their own firmware, and provides the guide information. No fee, beyond the cost of the box and the subscription, is justified.

 

[Stargazer]

I also think that those that currently have the DirecTivo will have to continue to pay to use them once Rupert gives away free DVR's unless he chooses to replace those with his own so that the customers do not have to pay for the DVR service anymore.

By the time you sell your 3900 and 2700 receivers you will save enough in about 4 years on the additional outlet fee to make up for the cost of the 522 and have two tuners to two tv's with DVR functionality to boot.

 

[Guest]

When Rupert starts introducing his generic dvrs like in England , he will most likely not charge fees , and I have read he will give them away for free, in order to gain new customers. Either way you can see if Rupert does it with his generic dvrs then Dish will do so to compete. Unless of course, Dish does name based recordings in order to justify the fee. I still don't know why they aren't doing per account fee instead of per receiver. Dish seems to be trying to compete with cable and stand alone Tivos. Even their commercials for the 510 dvrs show them in direct competition with cable prices and stand alone Tivo subscription fees. Either way this is the wrong marketing strategy if they want to remain the low cost leader of satellite and cable.

 

[Stargazer]

I thought the whole point in having a DVR fee in the beginning was to help with subsidizing the hardware to get the hardware cost down. Dish has chosen to try to make a profit directly off of the DVR fee instead of making a profit off of the hardware.

 

[AppliedAggression]

I thought the whole point in having a DVR fee in the beginning was to help with subsidizing the hardware to get the hardware cost down. Dish has chosen to try to make a profit directly off of the DVR fee instead of making a profit off of the hardware.

I agree, and seeing the 522 priced at $399 compared to the 721 at $500 is a prime example of that.

 

[Guest]

Competition forces people to change their marketing strategy all the time.

There is a grudge match between Charlie and Rupert and we the customers will benefit from it.

Look for the fees to either go away or be comperable to what already exists at Directv: Per account rather than per receiver. I can't imagine Charlie letting Rupert tout that he has Directivos at $99.00 or free and only 4.99 per account rather than per receiver. He's got to compete or be left behind.

Tivos are going to be pushed by Directv when the deal is complete. Look for the deals to get even better in the new year. Dish won't be the dvr leader much longer if Rupert does what he has already said he will do next year.

I think the price of Dish's receivers are highly inflated anyway when you compare them to Directv. Of course Dish is in the black and Directv is still bleeding red ink.