Since one of the biggest problems I always had with cable TV was the frequent increases in price. It seemed to me that they were raising the prices with every other bill I received. I’m sure it wasn’t quite that bad, but it was still too often for me.
Although I can recall one or two price increases since I’ve been a Dish Network customer, I wondered exactly how much my Dish Network bill has gone up since I’ve had the service.
Most of the time I kick myself for being a bit of a pack rat when it comes to keeping various statements and bills for years, but this time I was happy to be able to locate a Dish Network bill from January, 1999 — only 3 months after I first became a customer.
Here is my bill from 1999:
And here is my bill from August of this year:
As you can see from the 1999 bill above and a recent one below that, my Dish Network bill has gone up only $2.81 cents in the 8 years I have been a customer.
Considering that they have added a few new channels to my programming package over the years, that seems like a pretty fair deal to me.
January 10th, 2008 - 4:20 pm
Dale, I’m a Dish Network customer also, and the only way I can see your monthly cost going up only $2.81 in 8 years, is for you to have switched to a cheaper package. I became a Dish customer in March, 2002 (3 years after you did) at a starting cost of $47.98. That was, and still is for 200 channels + locals + Showtime. By September, 2006 (the last date you show a bill for), my cost had increased to $56.99; an increase of $9.01 in 4 years, or 18.8%. That’s about double the general inflation rate… but I’ll give them credit, they did add some additional channels. However, in 2007 (since your posting) they increased the price by another 7% ($4.00 a month); bringing the total to $60.98. So now it’s a 27.12% price increase over 5 years. And for 2008, they apparently plan to raise the rates an amount similar to 2007. I’m not saying they are any worse than the cable company, but the increases are large enough and often enough that I don’t want to hear their “cable pig” commercials anymore.
January 10th, 2008 - 4:46 pm
Audie, I’m afraid that’s not correct at all. In fact, your comment sent me back up to my attic in search of that original Dish Network bill from 1999 so I could look at the back of it and see what plan I had at the time.
The plan I had then was called “America’s Top 100.” I had no hope of remembering that far back so that is why I dug the bill out again.
The plan I had when I first entered this post was called “America’s Top 120,” so if anything, I had a better plan in 2006 than I did in 1999. I honestly don’t recall if I upgraded or if Dish Network changed the name of the plan.
I know they do play games with the names of these plans like “America’s Top 200″ where they include various channels that most customers might not consider worthy of inclusion. Typical marketing stuff I suppose.
I really can’t speak from personal experience about any price increase in 2007 since I upgraded to an new HD-capable system and that certainly caused my bill to go up, but I will take your word for it that prices went up.
Strangely, I have never seen a single “cable pig” commercial. Maybe I don’t watch the right channels or something.
Your are, of course, free to believe what you want but I stand 100% behind the authenticity of those statements I posted and I really don’t know why they would be charging you more than they are me.
February 14th, 2009 - 10:51 pm
All I know is that our family used to have cable tv (Comcast) here in Michigan and our monthly bill for just a regular programming package was over $131. per month. We have about the same amount of channels now with Dish Network and our bill is around $55. Regarding the “Cable Pig” commercial, it doesn’t get aired often; but you can view it over at YouTube. It is funny as heck. It shows this pig rampaging through this family’s house, stealing the wife’s purse, and basically stealing everything in site. The pig even cleans out the pet dog’s food tray.