Another Reason to dump DirecTV for Dish Network

A couple months ago I wrote about our decision upon moving to get rid of DirecTV and go with Dish. We are just about to start our third month with Dish and were happy with their service.

Our three month free premium channel add-on was about to expire and we called to cancel before they started charging extra for that package. The call was short, no extended wait and no hard sell to keep it. Two issues have come up in the past week, both have which have really convinced us we made the right decision.

Since AT&T bought DirecTV, as I stated in a previous post, their product offering and service have taken a nosedive. After abandoning the recreational vehicle market, the only current choice for mobile television RVers have is Dish. I also found out by chance this week that for the past two years Dish has been unable to offer HBO to their subscribers. The reason? AT&T also owns HBO and tried to price gouge Dish network. That doesn’t sit well with me and there is a workaround if you have Dish, you can stream HBO Max for $14.99 per month if you really have to have it.

What follows however is the best reason yet to switch, a couple weeks ago Dish had to drop CBS network from it’s lineup over an ongoing pricing dispute in contract negotiations. It’s been happening more and more as networks try to increase their fees to subscription satellite TV providers for local channels. These same channels are free over the air to the general public. Both Dish and DirecTV have to fight them or increase customer's subscriber rates continually.

Last week there was a Packer game on CBS that I couldn’t get through the Wally receiver because of the ongoing dispute with Dish Network. So I went downstairs and ran cable from my rooftop OTA(over the air) antenna bypassing the Wally receiver so we could watch the game. Just by chance this past week, looking for some kind of transfer switch on Amazon to buy in order to more easily accomplish this task I discovered they make a dual tuner to hook your OTA antenna into which then plugs in a USB port in back of the Dish receiver. You can then scan ALL your local channels through Dish Wally (or Joey). The channels will appear in your on-screen TV guide and you can record those channels as well! The local OTA channels are bolded yellow and will appear next to the satellite local channels in the guide. No need to switch cables or inputs to get OTA, who could ask for more? Channels will appear in the Wally as well as all the connected Joeys.

 

No more worries about the feuds over local channels and the cost? $60 to $70 on eBay or Amazon for the tuner. I paid $63 for mine. And there are no fees from Dish. As far as I can tell, DirecTV offers nothing like this. Why put up with inferior service and products from DirecTV? This post is entirely my personal opinion and I have received no compensation for it.

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