NFL Sunday Ticket package.... (1 Viewer)

[Lanny M]

I just spoke to DirecTV about this package. It seems that you have to sign a 1 year contract at a minimum of $31.99 a month just to have the ability to order any other type of package.

A few years ago, they had a package for $4.99 a month that consisted of program guides and some news channels, and you could then order PPV and add sports packages...

Was this rep misinformed, or have they really raised the price for me to watch football to over $500 a year?

 

[Jeremiah]

I am not sure where you are comming from but when I got Direct TV I had to sign a 1 year lease not to get NFL ST but just to be able to have it turned on. A one year lease is nothing if you ask me.

That 31.99 is just a basic cable package and I would assume you would be getting some sort of viewing package anyway, unless you just bought DTV for football and absolutely nothing else. Were you thinking it was 31.99 on top of your viewing package?

Also, I thought that they still had there one time special for new DTV owners where if you get NFL ST you get the Platinum Package free for the first 4 months.

 

[Joel Mack]

Once upon a time, you could get DirecTV solely for the Sunday Ticket package, and that's about all you had to pay for. I don't know if it's still that way or not...

 

[TonyD]

they do not have ala' carte packages anymore you have to have a minumum program package that does come to around $32 a month.
but i dont think you have to have that to get the football package.
that is considered a minimum package by itself.
directv is notorious for the customer reps being greatly un-informed about their very own services.
most times it is needed to called 2-5 times before you get a rep that is knowledgable and can help.
call again, and if you get the same answer politely say no thank you and then call again.
also check www.avsforum.com for many threads about directv csr problems.

 

[Lanny M]

I am not sure where you are comming from but when I got Direct TV I had to sign a 1 year lease not to get NFL ST but just to be able to have it turned on. A one year lease is nothing if you ask me.

A while back, there was no contract. I could call up and get the $4.95 package, and add NFLST to it. At the end of the season, I could cancel, and then reactivate in the fall. They didn't even charge an activation or cancellation fee, which i would have glady paid (if reasonable, say $5-$10.)

I've been living in a condo for a couple of years, during construction of our new house, so I'm somewhat unsure of what changes have occured with programming options. And I know the old CSR crap shoot, so I'll try calling back.

What I don't want to do is HAVE to pay $31.99 a month for a year of programming. Why you ask? Because I already pay $35 a month for cable, with local channels. My wife watches mostly local channels throughout our home, and having SAT receivers everywhere would be a pain, even though the house is wired for it. DirecTV has just begun locals in my area (Hartford, CT), so I figured I would take the plunge, do the whole house, and dump ATT cable, as the picture on my Sony 53HS30 has been somewhat noisy lately, and they've been slow to respond.

However, I went down and watched the DirecTV locals at a nearby Tweeter, displayed on a Sony similar to mine, and it was horrible. It made my ATT analog cable seem great by comparison. And I tweaked the set quite a bit, but all the tweaking in the world can't make up for the washed out picture they're sending out.

I was always used to a fairly poor picture with NFL ST, but I guess I accepted that as a compromise, as I had no other way to view it. I figured that over the years, as they added new sats, that picture quality would improve, but they're obviously still adding channels faster than bandwidth.....

How's the picture quality of Sunday Ticket on C-Band?

Lance

 

[Jeremiah]

I forgot that you would need several recievers if you had DTV, I live by myself so I never think of that situation. Now I can see where you are comming from.

I thought my picture quality last year was quite good, it was as good as all my other channels. NFL ST might of been a little bit washed out but IMO it wasn't a problem at all.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

It made my ATT analog cable seem great by comparison.

Almost any analog cable is better than DBS locals.

Good analog cable has better picture quality than most DBS channels. Of course, many people don't have good analog cable.

Sunday Ticket is up for re-negotiation after this season and will hopefully be available from more sources.

 

[Matt Pasant]

I was going to say, isnt that an oxymoron?

-- Matt

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I was going to say, isnt that an oxymoron?

Not really.

My analog cable blows away digital satellite, even the premium channels

And several other people in various areas have reported the same.

 

[Lanny M]

I have seen a few channels of DirecTV look really good. The channels I'm mainly interested in, NFL ST (for me) and locals (for my wife) aren't so hot.
My analog cable has been very good, except for some noise bars rolling through the last couple of weeks. They're gone the last two days though, hopefully for good.
Anyway, call #2 to attempt to get NFL ST only also ended in failure. This rep also said a contract is required:frowning:.
What will probably end up happening is that ATT will pick up NFL ST next year, but I'll have to "upgrade" to digital cable, which in this area is very poor, perhaps even worse than the DirecTV locals I saw the other day.

 

[Matt Pasant]

I must have never lived in one of those areas, for the last 15years when I had cable in various spotts of the nation it was chock full of ingress, ghosting, etc..

I am not trying to start a flame war or anything. Just haven't been happier since moving to DirecTv


-- Matt

 

[Howard Williams]

I could be wrong but I think you have to sign up for one year if you don't have your own access card and you want DTV to send you one. This applies to many people that have just bought a new system, since the access cards are no longer included with the receiver. If you have you own access card, (purchased from eBay, a friend it came with the use receiver you bought etc.), I think you can call and activate your account without the one year requirement. All of this is part of DTVs' attempt to limit piracy.