Dish charging for local channels

[az99]

To OP- The Dish rep lied to you. They reduced the package prices $5 and then added $10 for the locals.

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

Dish, and DirecTV, rates go up because of the content providers raise their rates. One of the biggest components to rate increases lately has been the compensation paid to local providers for the privilege of repeating their OTA signals via satellite. In the beginning this was a boon for the local providers as it gave them greater range of distribution. But lately, as so many people are getting their "TV" over the Internet, the local providers have been jacking up the fees to the satellite and cable companies to compensate for ad revenue loses.

If you think that is wrong, write you congressman, they make the rules.

For us as full-timers, we rely on Locals from Dish for our broadcast channels because we are often not where we can receive reliably OTA channels and there is no way for us to record all four OTA channels at the same time which we do with our satellite. We managed to receive broadcast channels from the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula when we couldn't even recieve the local OTA which would have been in French.

Yes the price of a Dish Subscription went up $5 in January and it was expected. The policy to have Locals separate was started with the Dish Flex packages for people who wanted a reduced set of channels to cut prices. In January, the policy was spread to all the packages and the net increase was the expected $5.

We use DNS when it was previously available when it was SD only channels from NY and LA. We used the time shift to be able to record all four broadcast channels in the same time slot if we wanted to. At that time, the FCC regs were you could have Locals or DNS but not both but apparently that has changed.

But with the feature of Prime-Time-Any-Time where we can record all four broadcast channels on one tuner, DNS no longer is a feature for us. Biing only from LA, Dish DNS channels are now in HD but on the East Coast, the prime hours would be 11 PM - 1 AM, not for us.

If the places you RV provide OTA signals and that is all you need, fine. At least Dish allows you to not pay for Locals. Perhaps DirecTV will change in the future.

We have an automatic roof dish but also carry and use a ground tripod. We use the tripod if the trees are in the way or when we are in the East. Good tools and satellite dish setup is just a few minutes.

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by az99

To OP- The Dish rep lied to you. They reduced the package prices $5 and then added $10 for the locals.

That appears to be correct.

To further clarify I just looked at my bills from the beginning of 2017 and the separate Locals charge appeared around the end of January.

Additionally, when looking at "My Programming" I found a checkmark next to the "Locals". If you scroll to "Change Programming" you can uncheck Locals and it cancels the Locals Service, deletes future charges, and applies a credit for unused service. You have the opportunity to "Undo". My service is Month To Month and your options may be different.

[sbahrns]

Thanks to all the posters. I've received way more information from you all than from the DISH customer service people.