I got the following notice from DirecTV (edited). Before DirecTV used to slam cable for raising prices. Guess those ads will not air now ? CW ?
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"New Rates for DIRECTV ® Service: New prices indicated below take eect March 1, 2007, and will appear on billing statements issued after that date. See the
detailed information below as it relates to your service.
Base Packages: Base packages include local channels, where available. If DIRECTV does not oer local channels in your area, programming packages are $3/mo.
less than the listed prices. Packages and their new prices: PREMIER (formerly TOTAL CHOICE ® PREMIER)
$99.99/mo; SELECCIÓN PREMIER ™ $99.99/mo; SELECCIÓN ULTRA ™ $51.99/mo; SELECCIÓN MÁS ™ $42.99/mo. SELECT (formerly TOTAL CHOICE ® SELECT)
will increase up to an additional $3/mo. The following base packages*:TOTAL CHOICE ® , TOTAL CHOICE PLUS, OPCIÓN PREMIER, OPCIÓN ULTRA ESPECIAL,
OPCIÓN EXTRA ESPECIAL, OPCIÓN EXTRA, OPCIÓN ESPECIAL, DIRECTV Limited, PLUS DIRECTV, PERSONAL CHOICE, TOTAL CHOICE LIMITED, and TOTAL
CHOICE Value Packages without HBO ® will increase up to an additional $3/mo. Prices for TOTAL CHOICE Value Packages with HBO ® * and TOTAL CHOICE
PLATINUM* will increase up to an additional $4/mo."

Yeah, this increase kinda sucks. However if you're currently under contract, at least in the past, they won't raiser your rates until the contract expires. Can't guarantee that will happen this time, but that's how they used to do it. In addition, I bet if they do raise the rates, you can call customer retention and get a minimum of a $50 credit (probably $10/mo for 6 months) and a few months of HBO and/or Showtime, if that interests you.

I think a lot of the blame is starting to fall on the actual networks charging a premium for their stations. ESPN, for example, accounts for something like $5/mo of your bill. That's ridiculous, IMHO. If they don't start reigning those prices down a bit, I think cable/sat will look a lot different in the next 3-5 years.

CW

I would be curious to see if cable raises their prices yet again. Else, I am sure cable companies will find this news ripe fodder for a new series of ads. Fundamentally, that is the flaw in negative advertising - if you are also likely to be susceptible to changes in your business costs, don't slam the competition else you will have egg on your face.

Question - So if I want the HD DirecTV package in a few months, how much will it run me?

Probably the easy answer is to look up prices on their website now for the packages you need and add the amounts I quoted from their text above. Don't know how their promotions will change at that time so this is probably the best educated guess for now.

Currently it's $9.95/month. I haven't checked how that changes next month though.

CW

Also havent checked officially...but I hear the HD package is going away and being incorporated into the basic packages. i.e. if your package includes espn, you get espn hd. if your package includes discovery channel, you get discovery HD. If your plan includes HBO, you get HBO HD. Probably the better long-term plan anyway. Not sure how this affects ST.

What about installation fees? I called today, and they wanted like $99 bucks to install. Sounds like BS to me...

DirectTV has to pay for all of those constant brillant ads somehow. Some days I see over 20 of them.

No idea. I know I'm getting calls from DirecTV to upgrade my dish and DVR for free... I need to do that before football season or no Bills in HD for me

So far, I'm pretty happy with the upgrade.

wel la-di-da for you Rubes Seriosly, I am screwed by this whole thing. For some unknown reason, we no get HD on the sat here in Richmond. Troy Ny, Sranton PA and Waterloo Iowa all have it, but not the 40ish biggest market in the US. And from what everybody says, no di plexing on these things. So, I either get new runs of cables, or I get no HD Bills. WTF!!!!!!!! I mean thats a lot of cable to run

Hey, up yours, buddy. I was just saying that 'cause I know Fez has been on the fence about it, particularly with the new HD DVR.

I feel for you, though.