Heitz Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 http://www.mercurynews.com/sportsheadlines/ci_11980303 "It also looks like another sign that NFL Network will disappear from Comcast Cable altogether when that contract expires May 1. It is currently part of the sports tier that costs an extra $5 a month, but Derek Baine, an analyst for research firm SNL Kagan, recently wrote that Comcast was considering dropping its sports tier and folding some channels into digital basic. On Monday, CableFAX Daily wrote that Comcast has begun to notify subscribers that they could lose the NFL Network." Seriously? I pay *how* much for cable and now they're going to take away one of the only channels I watch? TW subscribers in Buffalo, suddenly I feel your pain...
Ned Flanders Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 I think DTV has a special going on now...commit to 12 months and receive a free cooler.
May Day 10 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 I dropped Comcast for Directv about 7 months ago and it was a great decision.
scribo Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Comcast posted a "message" through its cable boxes that it has been negotiating with the NFLN and that it wasn't being allowed to offer it anymore after May 1, not even for an increased fee. That seems unbelievable to me. My neighbor and I are looking into putting up a pole that would let us get a couple Dishes high enough to get a signal (we're in a heavily treed valley. Now more than ever, I hope we can do it.
JPicc2114 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 If you don't have DTV then you have the wrong TV provider.
Cugalabanza Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 If you don't have DTV then you have the wrong TV provider. I can't get DTV where I am. Tall trees in the way. I'm stuck with Comcast. They give me a lot of grief, but the picture is very good and never goes out.
May Day 10 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Comcast posted a "message" through its cable boxes that it has been negotiating with the NFLN and that it wasn't being allowed to offer it anymore after May 1, not even for an increased fee. That seems unbelievable to me. My neighbor and I are looking into putting up a pole that would let us get a couple Dishes high enough to get a signal (we're in a heavily treed valley. Now more than ever, I hope we can do it. I am seeing this everywhere with Cable companies. These disputes with channels, them blaming the entire problem with the channels, then not providing their customers with the channels. Always the channels fault. On top of that, every cable company I have dealt with has been a task. Comcast's weekly calls "offering" me the Triple Play Package no matter how many times I said no, and sending me junk mail offering the package that I am forced to open because they are disguised as bills. Charter Communications hitting me with a Collections Company for $12.00 (4) years after I had moved... (never knew I owed it, I wasnt hard to find). I see what Time Warner has pulled in Buffalo. I cancelled the Comcast TV service because my price doubled and there was all sorts of hidden charges. I asked if I could get on a deal and they said no. I went to Directv and told Comcast I would like to keep the internet, but they said because I no longer had cable, my internet bill would go from $40 to $65 a month (but I could sign up and not use the most basic cable package for $13 to get the discount), so I cancelled that too. Im sure Directv has its horror stories, but they have been nothing but helpful every time I have called. They came out for installation very quickly and the guy was very pleasant even though I made his life difficult (cant bolt anything in at my appt). The Bills come in and I am getting charged exactly what I expect. There is at least 3X as many HD channels.
Chandler#81 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Im sure Directv has its horror stories, but they have been nothing but helpful every time I have called. They came out for installation very quickly and the guy was very pleasant even though I made his life difficult (cant bolt anything in at my appt). The Bills come in and I am getting charged exactly what I expect. There is at least 3X as many HD channels. Best advice I can give for folks living in apts/townhouses are two-fold. At first, I bolted the dish on a small 2X6, then C-clamped the board to my wooden railing. Worked pretty good, though high winds push it around a little. Now, I have what they call 'the Sled'. It's a small steel frame that the dish bolts to and is weighted with concrete blocks. Works great and can be hidden on a balcony/porch, if need be. To quote their sales motto: "All you need is clear view of the southern sky". I'm a lifer w/ Directv.
May Day 10 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 for me, I have a huge open South sky. I asked my apartment office if it is permitted. They said yes, but they cant drill or bolt. So Directv clamped the dish/pole securely to my wooden porch/railing thing. They ran all the cords underneath/in the corner of the door way and anchored them down so the door opening/closing isnt affected, and all is good.
R. Rich Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 I can't get DTV where I am. Tall trees in the way. I'm stuck with Comcast. They give me a lot of grief, but the picture is very good and never goes out. Man, that sucks. We had Comcast before we bought our home in 2001. We've had DirecTV ever since. We got it so that my wife could watch her Stillers and I could catch every Bills game (we live in the Ravens' TV market).
Heitz Posted March 31, 2009 Author Posted March 31, 2009 It would be different if I wasn't near the $180 mark with Comcast and / or if I could get Sunday Ticket, but that day may never come (not sure how all of the MSO's can't get together to outbid or at least match the bid of Direct TV). Not to mention the constant problems with my OnDemand and DVR, the yearly price hikes (though DTV does that too) and the crazy amount of direct mail marketing they do. Time to explore DTV...
Albany,n.y. Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 What is the availabilty & price of high def on DTV?
May Day 10 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 What is the availabilty & price of high def on DTV? Im paying about $130 a month. I have a HD DVR Box, and a regular connection in another room. I have all the movie channels and everything I need. Pretty much every station I watch has an HD version (networks, animal planet, nfln, nhln, center ice package, discovery, etc...) There is an extra HD package add-on which I dont know what possibly could come with it. There is also an add-on sports package (which I also have no clue... might be the regional sports networks). I have their highest tier (without those 2 add-ons) Usually if you order, you get something along the lines of free equipment, and free Sunday Ticket for the 1st year. I love it. The only thing that cable has that DTV lacks is the On Demand, and no Howard TV. DTV has pay per view movies and events though. Its nice because you can just order from your CPU. You can also control your DVR online.
Ed_Formerly_of_Roch Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 I've had both DTV and cable. For the money DTV tends to be a better value. The problem I have is where I live no locals in high def. Yes I know DTV will supposedlly supply you with this box to get locals over the air and run into their DVR, but I don't want to use an over the air antenna. My 1st year into price recently expired with cable so my rates would have gone up by quite a bit. So called TWC and asked them what they'd do to retain me as a customer. They gave me this price guarantee which locks in my price for two years and was about the same as I was paying for my intro package. I figured if I switched to DTV for the fist year could have saved about $50 per month and second year around $25. Not a bad amount, however that included dumping RR and going to DSL which definetely isn't as fast, so would have lost something there service wise. I could have kept RR, but then take $10 off the savings I'd get. I don't live in western NY anymore, now in Eastern NC and I must say the selection of HD channels I get is pretty good. For sports I get: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNnews, the local Fox sports, Versus, and MLB HD all in HD. I haven't looked lately at what other HD stations I'm not getting, but they just added about five more and to be honest I can't think of anything I watch that isn't in HD. The other nice things about cable are I have a TV in my garage, don't watch much, wouldn't want to pay for a converter box either for cable or DTV, but do like the ability to watch channels 1 thru 75 essentually for free. (yes I know you can dup the signal from another TV, but there are limitations in doing so, as in can't be using the feeder box on different program) I also do like the local cable station. When I lived in Rochester, they use to show a number of SU basketball games. When I had DTV I bought ESPN full court, but some of the games shown on the Time Warner station were then blacked on on Full Court so the only way to see them was on cable. Local weather is nice though these days go online more for that. What do I not get? Sunday Ticket but even if I were able to get it, I doubt I'd pay that much for it as it 's up to close to $300, then another fee for HD version, NFLN which would be nice, but for a half dozen games a year, not going to get too upset about it. If a Bills game is on next year, can always go to a bar, or watch online or something. The other area where DTV exceeds is for packages like MLB Extra Innings, or Full Court, DTV has many more games in HD than cable does. Cable has like one Extra Innings game per day in HD where as DTV has probably over half. Now that I have two HD TV's in house I've become an HD snob. If it ain't on HD, I don't watch it! Eventually I'm sure DTV will get locals in HD, then may go back again. I'm also hoping by then DTV will have the TIVO DVR's again. The last time I had them and they were great, though I must say, I have the same DVR here in NC as I did in NY from TWC, but it works much better here, appears to be running different software version. With the price break I got I'd save some money through DTV, but to be honest really can't complain much about cable and it's convienences.
Chandler#81 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 What is the availabilty & price of high def on DTV? A,NY, availability is everywhere, provided you have access to the south. Their link is pretty easy to navigate (pkgs, service & price). Best wishes. http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/index.jsp
Chandler#81 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 Im paying about $130 a month. I have a HD DVR Box, and a regular connection in another room. I have all the movie channels and everything I need. Pretty much every station I watch has an HD version (networks, animal planet, nfln, nhln, center ice package, discovery, etc...) There is an extra HD package add-on which I dont know what possibly could come with it. There is also an add-on sports package (which I also have no clue... might be the regional sports networks). I have their highest tier (without those 2 add-ons) Usually if you order, you get something along the lines of free equipment, and free Sunday Ticket for the 1st year. I love it. The only thing that cable has that DTV lacks is the On Demand, and no Howard TV. DTV has pay per view movies and events though. Its nice because you can just order from your CPU. You can also control your DVR online. A lot, actually. HDNET, UHD, NatGeo and many others that are only HD channels -new channels which only broadcast in HD. About $10/mo., but IMO, worth it!
Mopreme Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 DirecTV is garbage. I live in a tall house outside NYC with no obstructions. The satilite would always go out after a rain storm and HD channels never worked. I constantly had service guy on the roof repositioning the damn thing. Switched to Verizon Fios and trust me the best decision I made, esp now with the current promotion. Better picture, better service and being able to watch record shows on multiple tvs is great. Keeps my girlfriend away from the main tv and watch her shows on the secondary tv.
May Day 10 Posted March 31, 2009 Posted March 31, 2009 I had some software issues early on. The thing would go funny and I would have to hit a reset button and it would reload. It happened maybe 4 times. Not too bad, but it happened during the Bills/Rams game. There was a software update that came through and that hasnt happened since. We have had some hellacious rainfalls/electrical storms, and a few ice storms and I have never had a weather-related stoppage. A lot, actually. HDNET, UHD, NatGeo and many others that are only HD channels -new channels which only broadcast in HD. About $10/mo., but IMO, worth it! Yeah, I turn on that HDNET sometimes because something catches my interest, only to find out I dont get it. It looks pretty good.
Recommended Posts