For the first time, Dish Network has really pissed me off.

So, yesterday I got a phone call from Dish Network.

"How do you like your service?" Fine, fine.

"What do you watch?" This and that... C-SPAN on weekends, the various news channels, Cartoon Network, History Channel, occasionally Sci-Fi...

"That's great- because we're upgrading your account from America's Top 120 to America's Top 180!" Er... that's nice...?

"And it'll only cost you 33 cents per day more, an extra $10 per month!" Uh... huh.

And the conversation went on like this, and I went along, waiting for any of the three people I spoke with to actually ASK me if I wanted the new service. (I didn't.)

I was also informed that it would cost $5.99 to have the service reduced again, but adding it would of course be without that fee.

Well, I definitely have better things to do with $10 per month more. I don't pay many bills around the house, but the satellite bill is one of 'em- and without the dish we wouldn't have any TV at all, because we live in a tiny dead zone tucked between the Houston, Beaumont and Lufkin TV markets. This change will change the monthly bill from about $60 to about $70.

So, now I've got the new service. Half the new channels are, naturally, audio-only music stations- lame. The list of actual TV channels added is as follows:

STUFF I'LL NEVER WATCH

Court TV
FOX Reality TV
Mun2
Reelz ("We don't show movies, we show stuff about movies." Fuck -that- shit.)
Sleuth
Hallmark Channel
Nick Toons
Encore Drama
Encore Love
Lifetime Movie Network
Animal Planet
Discovery Health
Discovery Home
Discovery Kids
DIY Network
Fine Living
Lime (all pilates all the time???)
Great American Country

STUFF I THOUGHT I'D WATCH, BUT IT JUST PLAIN SUCKS

Biography (ahem, Murder She Wrote is NOT a true story)
Bloomberg Television (I've got enough news networks, I don't need investor TV)
CNBC World (ditto)
Boomerang (note to Time-Warner: four years old is not "classic cartoons." "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" is not classic. And most fucking definitely "Baby Looney Tunes" is not classic.)
Fox Movie Channel (because, apparently, they show nothing but SHIT)
National Geographic Channel (mostly just another Animal Channel- YAWN)
The Science Channel (Discovery Channel REJECT shows)

STUFF I ACTUALLY LIKE

Discovery Times
Military Channel

HAVEN'T DECIDED

Encore WAM (though they're showing Buckaroo Banzai as I type this, so that's to the good)
Encore Action
Encore Mysteries
Encore Westerns
TMC Xtra West
The Movie Channel (West)

The problem is I'm not very hot for movie channels, not when I don't have an easy-to-read days-in-advance guide to same. (Orbit and TV Guide both suck rocks.)

As it currently stands, I'm probably going to have the stuff removed before I go to Archon, but I'm giving it a chance. However, I'm plenty pissed off at a company that's gone beyond hard sell to "You're buying, you don't get a say in the matter."

For the first time, Dish Network has really pissed me off.

So, yesterday I got a phone call from Dish Network.

"How do you like your service?" Fine, fine.

"What do you watch?" This and that... C-SPAN on weekends, the various news channels, Cartoon Network, History Channel, occasionally Sci-Fi...

"That's great- because we're upgrading your account from America's Top 120 to America's Top 180!" Er... that's nice...?

"And it'll only cost you 33 cents per day more, an extra $10 per month!" Uh... huh.

And the conversation went on like this, and I went along, waiting for any of the three people I spoke with to actually ASK me if I wanted the new service. (I didn't.)

I was also informed that it would cost $5.99 to have the service reduced again, but adding it would of course be without that fee.

Well, I definitely have better things to do with $10 per month more. I don't pay many bills around the house, but the satellite bill is one of 'em- and without the dish we wouldn't have any TV at all, because we live in a tiny dead zone tucked between the Houston, Beaumont and Lufkin TV markets. This change will change the monthly bill from about $60 to about $70.

So, now I've got the new service. Half the new channels are, naturally, audio-only music stations- lame. The list of actual TV channels added is as follows:

STUFF I'LL NEVER WATCH

Court TV
FOX Reality TV
Mun2
Reelz ("We don't show movies, we show stuff about movies." Fuck -that- shit.)
Sleuth
Hallmark Channel
Nick Toons
Encore Drama
Encore Love
Lifetime Movie Network
Animal Planet
Discovery Health
Discovery Home
Discovery Kids
DIY Network
Fine Living
Lime (all pilates all the time???)
Great American Country

STUFF I THOUGHT I'D WATCH, BUT IT JUST PLAIN SUCKS

Biography (ahem, Murder She Wrote is NOT a true story)
Bloomberg Television (I've got enough news networks, I don't need investor TV)
CNBC World (ditto)
Boomerang (note to Time-Warner: four years old is not "classic cartoons." "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" is not classic. And most fucking definitely "Baby Looney Tunes" is not classic.)
Fox Movie Channel (because, apparently, they show nothing but SHIT)
National Geographic Channel (mostly just another Animal Channel- YAWN)
The Science Channel (Discovery Channel REJECT shows)

STUFF I ACTUALLY LIKE

Discovery Times
Military Channel

HAVEN'T DECIDED

Encore WAM (though they're showing Buckaroo Banzai as I type this, so that's to the good)
Encore Action
Encore Mysteries
Encore Westerns
TMC Xtra West
The Movie Channel (West)

The problem is I'm not very hot for movie channels, not when I don't have an easy-to-read days-in-advance guide to same. (Orbit and TV Guide both suck rocks.)

As it currently stands, I'm probably going to have the stuff removed before I go to Archon, but I'm giving it a chance. However, I'm plenty pissed off at a company that's gone beyond hard sell to "You're buying, you don't get a say in the matter."