DirecTV , Dish Network or Cable

With the impending changes to the Premiership TV rights here in the US, I made the switch today from Dish Network to DirecTV. With Dish not having Setanta Sports USA and DirecTV having it, I made the jump.

Thus, I will have all the football I want and need between Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV and Setanta USA for the upcoming season.

Does anyone else have DirecTV? Do you like it?

 

I've had all three of these services with-in the last 4 years and can say that I like having cablevision cable more than the Satellite providers. DishNet was good and anyone trying to fight against Rupert Murdoch is fine by me...DirecTV was good but I hated that I had to keep a phone line hooked up to the box or else I they wouldn't give me access to PPV. I also hated the DirecTV outages...which were more frequent in NJ/NY than anywere in the country but to their credit, their sport packages were top notch.

Cable is my favorite, no outtages, DVR, On-Demand HBO, and all the sport packages I needed, plus FSC. There you go Tom!

 

Mike,
So if I order a PPV movie I have to plug my phone into the receiver? What if I order a sports package like the NBA League Pass? I won't have to do it then will i? This seems to be just for movies I might buy on a whim. Is that right?

 

You can change packaging, order PPV, etc online on directv.com. The main reason I chose Directv is the NFL Sunday Ticket, but I'm excited about having more Premiership games to choose from this year on FSC.

 

In my area Direct TV has all three, Dish Network has all but Setanta Sports and Cable only has FSC. Im currently on cable but going back to Dish Network.

 

Re: RE: DirecTV , Dish Network or Cable

If you order the NBA League pass then you'll be fine, no phone line needed. They didn't have the option to order online when I had DirecTV but overall a good choice for EPL viewing Tom.

 

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For those who have or had DirecTV, when I use my DVR, do I have to have to a phone line plugged in at all times? I saw on the website that if I want to record two shows at once I need to have the phone plugged into the DVR. Is this accurate? Is there any way around this?

 

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Our cat chewed through the phone line coming from the wall about a year ago, so our box is not connected to a phone line, and we haven't had any problems with that. (We have several sports packages but haven't ordered pay-per-view.) The only "problem" is that we keep getting messages about how long it's been since we made a phone call, but it doesn't interfere with any TV watching.

 

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Dave, does it interfere at all with you recording things on your DVR?

 

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No, it doesn't interfere with any recordings.

 

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So are we for sure that 5 EPL games will be shown on a same day basis on FSC and 2 on Sententa?

 

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We are not certain. However, I would guess at least four and possibly five. Per the email I received from Setanta, an announcement will be made either next week or early the next week. Nothing like waiting til the last minute.

However, Steven Cohen of World Soccer Daily, knows the set-up although he cannot tell it to the public. He has been strongly suggesting people get Setanta before the Premiership season starts today.

Well, the DirecTV guy is here right now to hook mine up. Setanta here I come.

 

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Four or Five on Sentanta? Great if their not stealing the games from FSC, I really hope thats not the case. That would leave FSC with like 2 or 3 games a weekend.

If those four or five are in addition to to the five shown on FSC that would mean every premership game is televised.

 

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So the Direct TV the options are(per month):
base pack $49.99
+Sententa $11.99
+Sports Pack(includes FSC, Gol and others)$12.00
=73.98 per month

or

Premium pack(includes FSC, Gol, ect. and free DVR service)$99.99
+Sentanta $11.99
=111.98 per month

Tom, did you have to pay an installation fee or fee for the purchase of the dish or DVR if you got one, any hidden fees at all?

 

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Spencer let me asnwer your first question first. From what I gather, the TV matches for the Premiership this season will be as follows:

Saturday 6:30AM Central Time match = Setanta
Saturday 9AM Central Time match = Fox Soccer Channel
Saturday 11AM Central match = Fox Soccer Channel
Saturday 2PM Central match = Fox Soccer Channel
Perhaps another replayed match on Setanta on Saturday afternoon as well. Not sure on that.

Sunday 7:30AM central match = Setanta
Sunday 10AM Central match = Fox Soccer Channel

I do think there is some debate on the Saturday 9AM match and the Sunday 10AM match. These are the old pay-per-view matches which are no long PPV. It is up in the air where these will be. The above is where I think they will end up.

As for the second question this is what I have:

Direct TV Plus = $49.99
Sports Pack = $12.00
Setanta = $11.99
DVR charge = $5.99/month
Extra receiver charge = $4.99

Thus, with taxes I will pay about $85 a month. BUT.............

I paid $130 up front for the DVR plus and an extra receiver in the bedroom. However, I will get a $100 mail-in rebate, $10 off my bill for the first 15 months and a free portable DVD player for signing up. It is a pretty good deal.

Spencer, if you want to get this, you can actually get just the DVR itself on the Directv.com website for about $8.00. All installations are free so you would not have to worry about that.

If you have any questions about it, let me know.

 

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I am happy with DirecTV, although their customer sservice people can be clueless. (Recently, they started blacking out the Red Sox pregame and postgame shows on NESN, and for my wife, that was a crisis or major proportions, and DirecTV was useless in explaining the situation, which was basically a power play between MLB and NESN.) We don't have Sentana, but I've gotten spoiled waking up on Saturday morning and wathinc the first match of the day, so we may add it. With the NLB, NFL, NHL, and Sports Pack pakates, I don't want to know how much we're spending on TV...

 

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For those of you that use Dish Network and have Dish Network DVR's, it looks as though you might be in some trouble in about 30 days based on a copyright infringement lawsuit the creators of TiVO won against Echostar, the owner of Dish Network.

Here is the link from BigSoccer and within that link are more links:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=396890

Needless to say, I am glad I switched to DirecTV last month when I did!!!

 

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Tom - I had D-TV from 2001 until July this year when I changed to Dish Network.
The reason for the change weas in the 5 years I was with DTV, they changed my receiver once, and only after I bitterly complained about it keep breaking down - the replacement - a reconditioned crap version. When I asked for further upgrades they wouldn't! Be aware.
BTW - I didn't bother hooking up my phone line for DTV, I just went online and ordered as and when.

For Dish Network, they need the phone line plugged in continuously, for, they claim, firmware updates, or they charge you $5 a month extra. Overall, I cannot wait to get rid of DN, the customer service is rubbish and I'm not impressed witrh them at all.

I also have Comcast Cable, for my HSI and basic TV upstairs and my VIOP. All that has now changed with DN TV being installed in all rooms, and I have just had Verizon FIOS installed for HSI. Comcast will no longer receive my money as of October.

Next year, once I can successfully rid myself of the DN contract, I will change TV over to Verizon via FIOS.

Overall, satellite sucks for downtime, the weather seems to interrupt it too much and the equipment is not always the best. Using HSI via satellite is way out of my price range (last time I checked it was 700+ USD for the equipment!!

Cable, though it can be more expensive intially, is better. Less chances of interruption, and with FO now being layed around most areas, the 'speed of light' tele-communications is upon us. I pay less for FIOS than I did for standard Cable, with current speeds in the 400% range. For 10 USD a month more, I get that pushed up by another factor of 5 (2000%) over cable and that means less drops on my VIOP.

If anyone wants more info on the VIOP or FIOS experience - just ask.

 

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Ooops, VOIP - silly me, must be a Sunday again!!!!!!

 

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I have not plugged my phone line into my DVR for DTV yet and do not plan to. The weather problems do suck at times, but with all the soocer I am able to watch on DTV, I am not complaining.