DirecTV's NFL SUNDAY TICKET

Everybody loves when I write DirecTV entries, right?

So, I signed up for DirecTV last summer and got their NFL SUNDAY TICKET for free as a promotion. What's NFL SUNDAY TICKET?

That's every out-of-market game every Sunday, all in HD. You also get the Game Mix channel, Player Tracker, and real-time scores and stats.

Normally it costs $200 in addition to what you're paying for satellite services, so getting it for free was quite a deal.

Of course, I don't watch football and I never used it but still -- it's the thought that counts.

Time passes.

That initial free promo of NFL SUNDAY TICKET I got last year? Well, it's set on an automatic renewal, so I'm suddenly getting charged for the new season.

I call up DirecTV this morning.

"Yeah, I'd like to cancel my NFL SUNDAY TICKET."

"Okay, sir, would you mind telling us why you're not happy with the service?"

"I don't watch football."

"Okay, I understand. Well, before I cancel that service for you, I just want to let you know there are cheaper pricing plans for the service that might interest you..."

"I don't watch football."

"Let me just tell you about these plans..."

"Do any of these plans involve someone convincing me that I'd enjoy watching football?"

"No, sir, they're pricing plans..."

"Then I doubt I'm going to change my mind."

To be fair, she ran through her script as she's been instructed and then proceeded to cancel the service and credit me for the extra cost they already charged me this month.

Of course, because of carrier disputes, we currently don't have any Viacom channels like Comedy Central and MTV. Hopefully, that'll be sorted out soon. At least we're not on DISH or we'd be getting screwed out of AMC and the premiere of BREAKING BAD this Sunday...

Lost Signals

It's been raining a lot lately, here in New York City. You know what the rain affects? Satellite signals.

The DirecTV website will claim that bad weather shouldn't really interrupt your service; if it does, it should only be for a minute or two.

The truth? Try intervals of about half an hour or longer.

This is with rain. We'll see what snow does.

The Truth About DirecTV

All right, yesterday I switched from Time Warner Cable to the satellite-based DirecTV. Over a longer span of time, I'm sure I'll get a better sense of the pros and cons. Hopefully, the service will continue to evolve for the better (esp. since it looks like I'll be stuck with this albatross for 24 months). I share this experience with the internet in case anyone else is considering the switch. [I'm a mid-town Manhattan resident.]

First things first. I had "verbal consent" from the landlord to plant this satellite dish on the rooftop. That's all you need. When the installer arrives, just affirm that you've got the permission and he'll get to work.

The appointment was scheduled for sometime between 12pm and 4pm. Installer called to tell me he'd arrived around 11:30am. The entire process took about 3 hours. It involved taking ACs out of windows and moving furniture and drilling holes in walls. A lot of things I could've prepped in advance that the email reminders don't tell you about. The installer was really nice and patient and didn't bitch about anything.

The website FAQs and the salesperson on the phone will tell you that you need a landline installed in your home to take advantage of On-Demand and Pay-Per-View programming. As I mentioned in my updated entry yesterday, the installer informed me that this is not true. If you have a connection to the internet, that'll be all you need. The box needs to connect to the internet every so often in order to update its programming.

My cautious, initial reactions:

This thing looks pretty good...

The menu interface is more responsive and easier to navigate than TWC's "Mystro" cable boxes. I'd been told that DirecTV didn't have BBC-America or the Independent Film Channel—and to my surprise I actually had access to both channels...

... though only in Standard Definition.

Yes, there are plenty of channels in HD but there are also a range of misfit channels that only appear in SD on DirecTV. On TWC, I enjoyed having Investigation Discovery in HD. Now I've just got it in SD.

The worst news: AMC is only in SD on DirecTV.

I've got to watch BREAKING BAD—the best television show ever made—in shitty 480i, stretched. That pisses me off.

A smaller loss: no G4TV. Neither in SD or HD. (Goodbye, Attack of the Show.)

Small consolation prize: apparently, since it's moved from basic cable to DirecTV exclusive DAMAGES has nudity now.

I'm sure I'll find more things I've sacrificed along the way.

For folks with multiple TV hookups, you can have one DVR service multiple sets. Which is what we're doing right now. Though if my roommate figures out how it works and starts filling it up with a bunch of bullshit (like 20 hours of THE OFFICE reruns) then I may have to consider getting a second DVR for the added harddrive space. Because if he keeps a DVR the way he keeps the refrigerator, there's going to be a lot of rotting shows on that harddrive.

At the end of the day, it's just friggin tv. So far, I don't see enough advantages to warrant the switch we just made but we'll see how it plays out down the line. Especially during stormy weather.

Cold Comfort

August. The temps in the city should scratch 90 this afternoon but the thought occurred to me that it's going to start getting cold again soon. This is one of the reasons it's hard for me to imagine living in a place like L.A. where the weather doesn't change. I like the change in seasons. You get sick of the heat and then you appreciate the colder weather. You get sick of the cold and then you appreciate it more when it warms up again. Invariably, you get sick of the extremes of the season you're in, but it gives you something to look forward to.

Getting DirecTV installed today. Not looking forward to it. Not my idea. And I'm/we're stuck with it for 24 fucking months—a span of time I can't even wrap my head around. DirecTV requires a landline if you want to use Pay-Per-View or any On-Demand services, which is obnoxious. And we don't have a landline. Because a lot of people don't have landlines anymore. And you'd think there'd be a way for this technology to work without a landline at this point.

It's August. I need some good news in the next couple of weeks.

[UPDATE]


So it took about 3 hours for the installer to hook up DirecTV, including all the drilling and moving around of furniture. Despite what it says on their website and what the people on the phone tell you, YOU DO NOT NEED A LANDLINE. They can hook it up to your internet service so it can update. So far, so good. It's going to take a little longer to assess how reliable the DVR is, and how expensive this service is going to be in the long-run.