# DirecTV customers: Your bill is going up again



## Athlon646464 (Feb 23, 2007)

*DirecTV customers: Your bill is going up again*

CEO Michael White says DirecTV will need to raise prices next year to combat ever-climbing content costs, but the hike won't be quite as big as the one this year. Don't hold your breath for a Dish combination, either.

On the heels of a rate increase this year, DirecTV will be ratcheting up its customers' bills again next year.

"Prices will have to go up again because content costs are going to go up again," Chairman and Chief Executive Michael White said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference Wednesday.

Full Story Here


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

So what? When the price increases match the repeated prices increases of 10 - 20 percent over the last 10 months then I will be upset. My water and sewer has increased 110.00 since the 1st of the year


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

Is this really news? Hasn't it went up every year for the past several years? I for one am not shocked. Unless my bill increases by like 30+% I will be good to go.


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## mhayes70 (Mar 21, 2006)

I don't blame Directv for this. I blame the content providers like CBS, ESPN, and so on. But, it is getting where my bill is getting to high. I am one that see's no reason to pay over $100/month to watch TV. So, I will do whatever I need to keep my bill under that.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

I hope that they don't decided to increase fees along with any programming price increases. IMHO kind of hard to talk out of both sides of your mouth saying that programming costs are going up which is bad but then increase a DVR or HD fee.


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## twiseguy (Jan 31, 2011)

mhayes70 said:
 

> I don't blame Directv for this. I blame the content providers like CBS, ESPN, and so on. But, it is getting where my bill is getting to high. I am one that see's no reason to pay over $100/month to watch TV. So, I will do whatever I need to keep my bill under that.


I`m with you on that. once the bill hits $100, something goes. 
Be it a receiver, downgrade the package, drop the protection plan, etc. 
Or just drop DTV (had 8 years) and go with other providers that offer deals for two years, then change again.


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## JosephB (Nov 14, 2005)

I wonder if there are provisions in the contracts with the content providers preventing them from disclosing some or all of the costs. I'm sure they can't disclose exactly how much a channel costs a customer (IE: you are paying $4.23 for ESPN this month!) but I wonder if they could get away with putting a breakdown, say with the bill that has the increase, that shows "15% of your bill goes towards these 12 channels from Comcast/NBC Universal. 20% goes towards these 10 channels from Disney/ESPN" etc.

At the end of the day most people in the know, around here, will know that content is driving up costs, but the average consumer is going to blame the satellite or cable company. Though, to be fair things that don't have content costs like my cable modem have not had any price increases for a while.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

Umm... Total Choice Plus + HD + HD DVR (non genie) and thats it, no frills or features like MRV, etc. is about $100/mo sans discounts. This is NOT a content issue. It is a DirecTV being greedy issue. I priced out the same package on DISH and its in the $70 - $75 range after the promo period. Only reason DirecTV is comparable for me is because I have a bunch of discounts. Once DirecTV stops offering me a price on par with DISH, I will simply jump to DISH.


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## cheech13269 (May 29, 2013)

No matter which Provider you have, prices go up each year. Yeah, something's gotta give. Smaller package, no movie channels etc, etc. THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE (Price Increases).


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

cheech13269 said:


> No matter which Provider you have, prices go up each year. Yeah, something's gotta give. Smaller package, no movie channels etc, etc. THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE (Price Increases).


More of a complaint that DTV is $20 to $30 more then DISH unless you go through the hassle and call in for discounts. That seems like DISH is a little bit less greedy then DTV.


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## lesz (Aug 3, 2010)

I believe that DIRECTV's pricing strategy has evolved based on a couple of key premises. First, they know that a good share of their customers will just accept whatever price increases that happen. Then, for those who are more cost-conscious and who would consider leaving DIRECTV or downgrading their programming packages, they are readily offering significant pricing discounts to keep those customers and to get those customers to continue to subscribe to higher-tiered programming packages.

I know that, for me, even with the annual price increases, my monthly bill has remained at between $90 and $100 for the last 5 years or so, and that is even with me adding Whole Home and subscribing to more premium services than I have ever subscribed to in the past.

Even though I have had some billing credits for a number of years, it sure seems that, recently, it has required less effort on my part to get those credits, and the amounts of those credits have increased. If you read through the 10 pages of this thread, http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/206404-anyone-call-directv-and-reduce-their-bill-share-stats-here/, it becomes apparant that, with minimal effort, people are getting bill credits at higher levels than I can ever remember seeing in the past. And I'm confident that the significant bill credits being offered to virtually anyone are the result of DIRECTV recognizing that retaining customers who aren't willing to accept the significant price increases is important to their bottom line even if they have to sell their service at a reduced price to retain those customers.


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

SledgeHammer said:


> Umm... Total Choice Plus + HD + HD DVR (non genie) and thats it, no frills or features like MRV, etc. is about $100/mo sans discounts. This is NOT a content issue. It is a DirecTV being greedy issue. I priced out the same package on DISH and its in the $70 - $75 range after the promo period. Only reason DirecTV is comparable for me is because I have a bunch of discounts. Once DirecTV stops offering me a price on par with DISH, I will simply jump to DISH.


There are other differences between the two companies. I know they are saying the price increase is due to content increases and that could be the case. Maybe D* had more contracts renew this year then E* did. I would think long and hard about it before ever going to E*. The lack of sports (Sunday Ticket) alone almost makes my decision for me. Not to mention I prefer the Genie over the Hopper. To each their own, I hope it works out for you. I will say a lot of people seem to keep the discounts on their account by calling retention when the discounts drop off.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

joshjr said:


> There are other differences between the two companies. I know they are saying the price increase is due to content increases and that could be the case. Maybe D* had more contracts renew this year then E* did. I would think long and hard about it before ever going to E*. The lack of sports (Sunday Ticket) alone almost makes my decision for me. Not to mention I prefer the Genie over the Hopper. To each their own, I hope it works out for you. I will say a lot of people seem to keep the discounts on their account by calling retention when the discounts drop off.


Yeah, I don't care about sports, so Sunday Ticket is a non issue for me .

I'll agree that the Genie is better then the Hopper. However, as its been discussed, the Genie requires MRV (even for a single TV set up which is what I have) so they'd charge an extra $3/mo over my HR20 and I'd lose OTA. DISH charges more for the Hopper vs. non Hopper too...

Anyways, like I said, as long as DTV keeps giving me my discounts and keeps me in the $70 to $80 range, I'm ok as thats what DISH charges.

Honestly, all Dish and DTV need to do is renegotiate contracts as a team and blackout anybody who doesn't want to negotiate. Dunno if that would be illegal though lol... but would certainly give them leverage.

I would agree with your statement though if D was only $5 or so cheaper, its actually considerably cheaper without discounts.

The fact that DirecTV even gives you discounts says that they have so much padding built into their pricing that they can. Does DISH offer the same amount of discounts?

If DTV can afford to give me $30/mo off my bill, why not just charge $70/mo? or $80 even... not $100.

Sounds like they are just charging lazy people who don't want to call in / deal with it more... Nice business model lol.


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## Curtis0620 (Apr 22, 2002)

SledgeHammer said:


> More of a complaint that DTV is $20 to $30 more then DISH unless you go through the hassle and call in for discounts. That seems like DISH is a little bit less greedy then DTV.


$20 - $30 dollars? No Way.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

SledgeHammer said:


> More of a complaint that DTV is $20 to $30 more then DISH unless you go through the hassle and call in for discounts. That seems like DISH is a little bit less greedy then DTV.


How did you come up with this number?

I went to the DIRECTV web site, selected Premier, Genie and three mini clients, no HD Extra package and it was $167.99/month with no discounts.

Then went to Dish web site, selected America Top 250, HBO, Cinemax, Starz and Showtime, no [email protected], Hopper/Sling and three Joey's the non discounted price was $159.99.

To me that looks like DIRECTV is $8/month more expensive but then DIRECTV also includes the Sports RSN's in Premier, IIRC Dish would charge extra for that and it wasn't in the price I was shown on their site.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Curtis0620 said:


> $20 - $30 dollars? No Way.


You're correct, the price differential without new/returning customer discounts is much narrower these days.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

RAD said:


> How did you come up with this number?
> 
> I went to the DIRECTV web site, selected Premier, Genie and three mini clients, no HD Extra package and it was $167.99/month with no discounts.
> 
> ...


I think we got our Fox Sports Northwest in a lower package. We just upgraded to Premier several months ago, and had FSN all along. We did NOT have it with Dish. That was one of our major points for leaving Dish.


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## lesz (Aug 3, 2010)

RAD said:


> How did you come up with this number?
> 
> I went to the DIRECTV web site, selected Premier, Genie and three mini clients, no HD Extra package and it was $167.99/month with no discounts.
> 
> ...


There have been a few times in the past when I've considered switching from DIRECTV to Dish, and I have similarly examined and considered the differences in prices between DIRECTV and Dish for the programming that I want. Every time that I've done that kind of comparison over the years, it has turned out that similar programming from Dish would be about $8-10 lower than from DIRECTV, and DIRECTV has always given me more than enough discounts to make up for that difference. Plus, Dish does not even offer some of the programming that I get from DIRECTV and that I would miss having if I were to make the switch.

The bottom line is that you might not like the pricing that DIRECTV uses, but you are not likely to find significant differences if you go elsewhere.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

Curtis0620 said:


> $20 - $30 dollars? No Way.


Yeah, it is... I just priced it out last month.

DISH:

Top 200 is $64.99 + $0 for life for HD + $12 DVR (maybe $10 for non Hopper) = $76.99
Top 250 is $74.99 + $0 for life for HD + $12 DVR (maybe $10 for non Hopper) = $86.99

DIRECTV:

Total Choice PLUS is $78.99 + $10 HD + $10 DVR = $98.99
OR $78.99 + $25 = $103.99 if you want to be comparable on the DVR fees

OH WAIT... REGIONAL SPORTS FEE $2...

$100.99 and $105.99!!

Right now, I'm getting the $5/bundling discount, $10 HD credit and some other credits, so its inline with DISH.

so $100.99 for DTV vs. $76.99 for DISH. Looks like $25 cheaper to me ...


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## sdk009 (Jan 19, 2007)

I thought the reason D* didn't pick up the PAC 12 Net was to keep rates at their current level. Guess we were lied to again.


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## slice1900 (Feb 14, 2013)

Or, to keep fees from going up even higher than they otherwise would have.


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

Okay... So, what ever happened to 're-adding' OTA tuners to the stable of DVR's and receivers? (presumably something with the 'power' of new design tuners like what's in current HD-TV sets, all of which today are 2-3+ generations ahead of the tuners that were in DTV STB's a few years ago).

THIS is the (okay, sans Disney/ESPN!) the biggest and certainly most contentious fee pressure being added. Way back before DTV added the HD locals, I spent good money putting a top of the line 'fringe' VHF/UHF antenna on my roof, with which my HDTV sets 'pull in' all the 'local' digital stations (between 35-45 miles distant, some of whom 'aim' their signals in the opposite direction from where I live) but where only one DTV STB (a H20-100, btw) is the only DTV STB that can get 'almost' all of them. The DVR sets with a built-in tuner (HR20-100's) barely get 2 or 3 of those channels.

Like I said, a few months ago there was a press release I read from DTV that they were going to put the tuners back in their sets; what happened?

No action means you're at the mercy of these folks.


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## studechip (Apr 16, 2012)

sdk009 said:


> I thought the reason D* didn't pick up the PAC 12 Net was to keep rates at their current level. Guess we were lied to again.


When exactly did anyone say that?


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## blackhawkzone (Nov 30, 2007)

SledgeHammer said:


> More of a complaint that DTV is $20 to $30 more then DISH unless you go through the hassle and call in for discounts. That seems like DISH is a little bit less greedy then DTV.


more like the people paying full price are paying the freight for the folks getting discounts.


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## slice1900 (Feb 14, 2013)

1948GG said:


> distant, some of whom 'aim' their signals in the opposite direction from where I live) but where only one DTV STB (a H20-100, btw) is the only DTV STB that can get 'almost' all of them. The DVR sets with a built-in tuner (HR20-100's) barely get 2 or 3 of those channels.
> 
> Like I said, a few months ago there was a press release I read from DTV that they were going to put the tuners back in their sets; what happened?


That's interesting that the HR20 is so much different from the H20, I would think the tuner would be similar. You sure your HR20 isn't just defective?

Directv did say something to the effect of improving their OTA solutions, but 1) assuming they follow through and 2) assuming the way they plan to do that is by bringing back OTA tuners in receivers/DVRs, it isn't something they'd be able to do in a few months. Even if the CEO ordered their engineers to get to work on that very same day, you'd be lucky to see availability of such products within a year from today. It isn't like there's an open spot in the current receivers where the tuner would go, and they just need to add one step on the manufacturing line. They'd have to do a completely new design. They don't make their receivers, so they'd have to provide a new reference design to their manufacturers, and they'd have to tool up to make them.


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

The H20-100 is from the same 'era' as the HR20-700 (which had an off-air tuner a bit better than the HR20-100's), but it has since gone the way of the landfill. I actually had a H20-600 that also 'bit the dust' about 2 years into service, and got replaced by DTV by the H20-100; the off-air tuners were about the same.

Actually, what they need to do (since all the newer DVR's don't have OTA capability) the best thing to do is to come out with a new version of the AM21, complete with the ability to 'scan' rather than rely on the (usually suspect) downloaded guide data, with, of course, the newest tuner tech. My newest tv (Samsung 60" 2012 plasma) gets every single station within 100 miles, including a station 180deg from where my antenna is pointed (a UHF about 50 miles away). This is the kind of performance any decent receiver should have, and what DTV should be aiming for.


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## PK6301 (May 16, 2012)

You can look at this in two ways..
1.. Via your wallet
2.. Via your emotions 

You can look at your bill and see dollar $, and then look to competitors and see what they have to offer..
But then you need to dig deeper and see if the grass is indeed greener on the other side of the fence.. How many of their customers are just waiting out their contracts before they jump ship.
I have had both systems, and in my case while Direct may cost a little more, will STAY in my house. Dish will never darken my door again.. 

Sent from my GT-P3113 using DBSTalk mobile app


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## joed32 (Jul 27, 2006)

joshjr said:


> Is this really news? Hasn't it went up every year for the past several years? I for one am not shocked. Unless my bill increases by like 30+% I will be good to go.


Yep, every year the price goes up and it's headline news. It will go up next year too.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

My bill will go down , because I'm going call and Bit#$, or I'm lowering my packages.

I don't give a crap whos fault it is , I pay Directv to not have to worry about whose fault it is.

Sorry besides our cell phones, our Directv bill rises more then any other bill in my house, by far.

Electric bill right now is down every month this year from last year by 15%.
Car insurance , has only gotten lower in the past 5 years. Went from $2500 in 2005- $1550 this year That's with full tort and 250 deductibles on 3 full coverage cars

Property and school tax sure up about 20% percent in the past 5 years.
Directv had that almost beat with its 14% increase hit I took this spring alone.

My household bills per month
Food $500
Property and school tax $242
Cell phone bill $240 for 4 smart phones unlimited talk and text,6 GB
*Directv $152 for 4 rooms DVR HD, Choice Extra HBO, Starz, Free Max and taxes and fees.*
Electric Bill $145 average per month
Car insurance $130 3 full coverage
Homeowners insurance $123
Internet $58 10 MBPS
Gas bill $25


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## Satelliteracer (Dec 6, 2006)

sdk009 said:


> I thought the reason D* didn't pick up the PAC 12 Net was to keep rates at their current level. Guess we were lied to again.


Incorrect. It was not to add incremental costs and try to contain price increases for customers. I'm not sure where anyone said to keep at current level. Prices change based on all programming, not driven just by one network. Viacom costs still going up, Disney up, Fox up, CBS up, AMC up, etc, etc, each and every year.

D* has offered to carry the Pac 12 since day one, but to customers that actually want it and are willing to pay for it. Too many customers don't want it, don't want to pay for sports and the much higher costs that they charge, but the Pac 12 wants the eyeballs as well.


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## Satelliteracer (Dec 6, 2006)

damondlt said:


> My bill will go down , because I'm going call and Bit#$, or I'm lowering my packages.
> 
> I don't give a crap whos fault it is , I pay Directv to not have to worry about whose fault it is.
> 
> ...


Good for you.....you are one of the lucky ones.

On average, electricity bills in this country up $300 the last 5 years. http://business.time.com/2011/12/16/plugged-in-then-pay-up-electricity-costs-rise-300-in-5-years/

Gasoline prices last 5 years up significantly (though flat the last 2 years)

Medical....same. Auto insurance...same


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Satelliteracer said:


> Good for you.....you are one of the lucky ones.
> 
> On average, electricity bills in this country up $300 the last 5 years. http://business.time.com/2011/12/16/plugged-in-then-pay-up-electricity-costs-rise-300-in-5-years/
> 
> ...


Its 2013 and 
OH wow a $5 per month increase over 5 years. Directv does that in one year!
$300 isn't jack considering we plug in way more items then we did 7 years ago.
And where does this research come from?
Why don't you list Directvs prices 7 years ago? :sure:
I bet Directv went up more then $300 on average over 5 years too.


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## sdk009 (Jan 19, 2007)

Satelliteracer said:


> Incorrect. It was not to add incremental costs and try to contain price increases for customers. I'm not sure where anyone said to keep at current level. Prices change based on all programming, not driven just by one network. Viacom costs still going up, Disney up, Fox up, CBS up, AMC up, etc, etc, each and every year.
> 
> D* has offered to carry the Pac 12 since day one, but to customers that actually want it and are willing to pay for it. Too many customers don't want it, don't want to pay for sports and the much higher costs that they charge, but the Pac 12 wants the eyeballs as well.


Why does D* think it should have a completely different deal than ALL the other carriers who have agreed to carry the NET? 
We've been told that ala carte pricing would kill the industry, but it's ok when D* thinks its different from all the other carriers.
Sat, come on, you know that we all pay for hundreds of channels we never watch, but to do so helps keep everyone's costs down.


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## TomK (Oct 18, 2010)

Mine won't be going up a dime...I think I'll drop Directv, I watch so few channels as it is. I can go with OTA for locals and get the MLB baseball package and be satisfied with that. I can't see paying $100 a month for a small handful of channels.


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## slice1900 (Feb 14, 2013)

sdk009 said:


> Why does D* think it should have a completely different deal than ALL the other carriers who have agreed to carry the NET?
> We've been told that ala carte pricing would kill the industry, but it's ok when D* thinks its different from all the other carriers.
> Sat, come on, you know that we all pay for hundreds of channels we never watch, but to do so helps keep everyone's costs down.


They don't want a completely different deal. They don't want to carry it on one of their basic tiers, which plenty of cable companies don't do for Pac 12. Cox doesn't serve where I live but they do a half hour north. I checked their lineup, and Pac 12 is part of the "sports and information pack", not the basic tier. BTN is on the basic tier, but this is Iowa, of course they are. I'm sure Cox has Pac 12 as part of the basic tier on the west coast, where there would be much more demand for it.

Problem is, Directv is national, so the only way they have to offer a channel as part of a basic package in one region but not in others is to make it an RSN, which the Pac 12 apparently doesn't want. They want the treatment BTN got from Directv, and to be part of a basic tier nationwide. Directv may regret having done that for BTN now that everyone else is starting their own network, and may not be so willing to give them the same deal when the contract is up in a year or two. But if they give Pac 12 that deal there is no way BTN will accept anything less, and they'll end up with every conference network on the basic tier and fees for everyone, including those who don't care about sports at all, let alone the Pac 12 or B1G, will skyrocket.

Directv wants less sports on their basic tiers, not more, and so do the half of their customers who don't watch sports. Someday a provider is going to fight this battle with ESPN and try to push that into a separate sports tier. Probably won't be Directv, but I could see a cable company that is in competition with other cable companies in the same area might be willing to lose the other Disney owned channels during a prolonged battle but be able to offer far lower prices for packages that don't include the ESPN channels and win a lot of the customers who don't care about sports and would be happy to save a lot of money.


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## AirShark (Oct 28, 2006)

I'm not naive enough to be surprised at this. I'm not even arguing that it's them being greedy or the content providers forcing their hand.

The reality though is, as much as I like my TV watching, there's going to come a point where the cost of service from DTV is too much to bear. I'm already at $110/mo and each time another increase comes I have a discussion with myself. One day, maybe soon, that discussion will end with me deciding that the cost is too high for what I'm getting.


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## PK6301 (May 16, 2012)

I see a number of posts complaining about how high their bills have gotten, but only 1 or 2 have talked about trimming their package, or dropping entirely.. 

Sent from my GT-P3113 using DBSTalk mobile app


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

PK6301 said:


> I see a number of posts complaining about how high their bills have gotten, but only 1 or 2 have talked about trimming their package, or dropping entirely..
> 
> Sent from my GT-P3113 using DBSTalk mobile app


I have Total Choice Plus + HD + DVR and I passed on all the other features like Genie / MRV / VOD / PPV / sports packages / movie channels because of the cost. Not into sports, so I don't care about that. Not gonna pay an extra $3/mo for the Genie for one TV. Movie channels are worthless, all the movies are online now. PPV I used to order in the $3.99 / $39.99 range... not $7 / $65... would not even do the 4/40 now... all that stuff is online for free / much, much, cheaper.


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## onan38 (Jul 17, 2008)

I have been with Directv since 1994.I have Choice Xtra Classic i lost my $10 HD called to try to get it back only got $5 credit for 3 months.I finally got rid of my cell phone with AT&t after 15 years and that unbundled my account so i lost $5 on at&t side for Directv and $5 on the Directv side for Having At&t bundled. I have a R16-300 in 1 bedroom and a HR21-100 in the living room no whole home. Put a fork in me i am about done with Directv to my bill has climbed to $98.74.Don't get me wrong i love my Directv but for what we watch i am looking into other options already have outdoor antenna and dish and timewarner sending me offers every week.I know i could save alot in the first year with either one.Directv seems to not want to keep their long term subscribers.I do understand everything goes up but for me the value of what we watch compared to what Directv is asking for a month is way off.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

damondlt said:


> Its 2013 and
> OH wow a $5 per month increase over 5 years. Directv does that in one year!
> $300 isn't jack considering we plug in way more items then we did 7 years ago.
> And where does this research come from?
> ...


take that bet, by your reasoning my Directv bill should be 409.00 a month if it went up more then 300.00 over 5 years, I eft payment to directv of 109.00, in looking back over the bills for the last few years a total of 11.82 cents difference, now I look at my water and sewer, 01/15/2013 the bill was 203.62, the bill for 09/15/2013 was 314.89


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

wingrider01 said:


> take that bet, by your reasoning my Directv bill should be 409.00 a month if it went up more then 300.00 over 5 years,


You obviously didn't read the article . so don't bother to comment, you don't know what your talking about!

It said the average price "OVER 5 YEARS time is $300 more!

*The average U.S. household paid $1,419 for electricity in 2010. That's about $300 more than five years ago.

Read more: http://business.time.com/2011/12/16/plugged-in-then-pay-up-electricity-costs-rise-300-in-5-years/#ixzz2g65AEPnI*

Here I'll help you understand.
$1,119 in 2005
to $1,419 in 2010

OR about $60 per year more.
That's only $5 per month.

OK my Directv bill from last year was $14 PER MONTH cheaper for the same services then it is this year

So for 2013, I m already paying $168 per year more then I did in 2012, 
Directv clearly increased its customers prices well over $300 from 5 years ago.

Don't you think its sad the average Directv customer pays the same as the Average Electric customer.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

wingrider01 said:


> now I look at my water and sewer, 01/15/2013 the bill was 203.62, the bill for 09/15/2013 was 314.89


Water and Sewer go by usage, I know I pay 3 of these bills. And if you pay that a month, you better move or fix your plumbing
I pay about $600 every 3 months on 3 different dwellings.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

damondlt said:



> You obviously didn't read the article . so don't bother to comment, you don't know what your talking about!
> 
> It said the average price "OVER 5 YEARS time is $300 more!
> 
> ...


not at all, cost of doing business. Live in the real world, I compared the bill from 5 years ago to today If I compare this months bill to the 2012 bill there is a small increase, no where near 14.00, man I wish my electric bill was even close to my directv bill, would save me over 1,400.00 a year in electricity.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

damondlt said:


> Water and Sewer go by usage, I know I pay 3 of these bills. And if you pay that a month, you better move or fix your plumbing
> I pay about $600 every 3 months on 3 different dwellings.


Not where I live, flat rate for water, sewage is base on the number of water closets in the dwelling. Just because your municipality charges by usage does not mean all areas follow suit.


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## Joe Tylman (Dec 13, 2012)

Comparing luxury items to utilities is also flawed due to different regulation systems and business models.


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## Satelliteracer (Dec 6, 2006)

damondlt said:


> Its 2013 and
> OH wow a $5 per month increase over 5 years. Directv does that in one year!
> $300 isn't jack considering we plug in way more items then we did 7 years ago.
> And where does this research come from?
> ...


I could, and I would also list Disney's prices 7 years ago, and AMCs, and HBOs, and Viacom's, and Fox, and CBS, etc. They're all correlated.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

wingrider01 said:


> not at all, cost of doing business. Live in the real world, I compared the bill from 5 years ago to today If I compare this months bill to the 2012 bill there is a small increase, no where near 14.00, man I wish my electric bill was even close to my directv bill, would save me over 1,400.00 a year in electricity.


I Bet its atleast a $5 per month increase.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Satelliteracer said:


> I could, and I would also list Disney's prices 7 years ago, and AMCs, and HBOs, and Viacom's, and Fox, and CBS, etc. They're all correlated.


Again , not my problem. When I can set up my own deal with the networks then its my problem.
TV is Entertainment, and Entertainment prices are outrageous because celebrities thinks they all should be paid millions just like sports Athletes .
and you have these TV providers willing to pay Hundreds of millions and Billions on things like NFL ST . Just to try and be number 1

That's what drives the prices up. You really think TV is any better now then 10 years ago? I don't
The same BS reapeats are all over the premium networks. NFL ST has Less games then ever and Yet is still $200+ dollars

I can justify why the cost of your electric water and sewer would increase at the rates it does. Since these are used by everyone and everything electrical. Electric has a Much higher demand then TV and yet remains affordable regardless of all your claims .
Its funny how people cry over their $500 per month electric bill , but have no problem Paying $300 for I phones $200 on Directv services a month.

I have a 4000 square foot house and my Highest Electric bill was $450 per month. Not bad considering that was 3 years ago, and $298 has been the highest in the past 3 years. So I guess electric prices aren't that far out of hand!

By the way Directv Total choice plus in 2004 was $42.99

Also Average Directv Customer paid $79 per month in 2007 for the year $948
2012 was $97 for the year $1164
That $216. That's sad considering way more people in the usa pay for electric then Directv services


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Joe Tylman said:


> Comparing luxury items to utilities is also flawed due to different regulation systems and business models.


And D* is most certainly a luxury item.

Rich


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

Rich said:


> And D* is most certainly a luxury item.
> 
> Rich


true, so if you don't like the price increase, shut it down and walk away since it is a luxury. Personally the price increases are the cost of doing business and making a profit. If it hits a price point that I find to high I will walk away, but the small prince increases that are happening it will take 10 or more years for that to happen


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

wingrider01 said:


> true, so if you don't like the price increase, shut it down and walk away since it is a luxury. Personally the price increases are the cost of doing business and making a profit. If it hits a price point that I find to high I will walk away, but the small prince increases that are happening it will take 10 or more years for that to happen


Agreed. I'll be giving D* about $25,000 over the next 10 years (if I make it that long). Doesn't bother me a bit. But, if I could not afford it, I certainly wouldn't be a sub.

Rich


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Love the photo.

Other than that...not really any news at all.

Prices changes yearly and have done so going back to the mid-90's that I'm aware of firsthand. It's also not exclusive to DirecTV....Dish, Comcast, TWC, and other cable providers also routinely have an annual fee rate increase.


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