Less than two hours ago I wrote that I was thinking about getting
rid of my satellite television. Thinking about this prompted me to
do a little research, and low and behold, look what I found:
Dish Network will be raising the cost of most of its programming
3 – 4%, starting in February and March of 2007.
DirectTV will be raising the cost of most of its programming
by 3 – 4%, starting in February and March of 2007.
Hmmm.. I find it very, very interesting that BOTH of the major
satellite television providers will be raising their rates by almost
identical amounts at almost precisely the same time.
I’m going to talk to my wife tonight and see what she thinks about doing away with the satellite altogether. If it were not for watching sports, I’d do away with it today, but I really like to watch golf and football, and she likes movies and the occasional program. At a minimum, I’ll call Dish Network and request a discounted rate. “Stay tuned.”
Before you cancel, shop around to see what other providers will charge you (i.e. cable, or other dish networks). Most companies offer an into rate for the first year and if you call up your company and say I’m switching to comcast b/c its going to cost me $25 a month compared to $50 a month for your service, most companies will match the price to keep you as a customer. I called DirecTV (paying $72 a month) when I saw an ad for Comcast digital for $40 and DirecTV dropped my montly cost to $45 a month for the next year, saving $325 over the course of a year. You generally need to be a long term customer and this probably only works once.
Perhaps putting a Slingbox at a friend’s home or something like that would help. See http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/cutting-the-cable-tv/ for more ideas on getting rid of subscription TV.