The Art of the Teaser
Like most people, you probably received a special teaser deal when you signed up with your current (or most recent if you’ve already cut ties) cable or satellite provider.
Didn’t they sound like great deals? I bet they looked something like these:
Well, let’s give credit where credit is due. They really were good deals! But of course, the problem is:
· The deals never last long enough, 6-12 months is the norm.
· They often hide little details like the monthly “rental fee” for equipment. The price listed in big bold letters is frequently well below what you actually pay from day one.
· There are often substantial fees (up to $250 or more) if you get out of your contract early. Keep in mind, your contract may run for two years even if the special pricing was good only for the first year.
For most of its existence I was a DirecTV subscriber before finally cutting the cord. As a huge NFL fan, I was on board from the very first year they offered the NFL Sunday Ticket package. Back in 1995, as I recall, it cost only $99 for the season. I was in heaven! It was like having my own sports bar as friends would gather each week to watch the games and keep close tabs on how our fantasy teams and pool picks were doing. My neighbors probably could have done without the occasional screaming at the TV but, hey, things were generally quiet at the homestead when an NFL game wasn’t on the tube!
In 2011 I paid a rather hefty $359 for NFL Sunday Ticket, but it did come with some slick features added over the years that made at least some of the price increase worthwhile. For 2012, the top tier deal was lowered to $299, as DirecTV started getting some heat about the price increases now that there are several prime time games during the week that are not part of the Sunday Ticket package.
Suffice to say, the Sunday Ticket charge was a large chunk added to my regular DirecTV bill. Since they would spread payments over six months during the football season, it wasn’t unusual to have a bill pushing $175! That’s way too much when considering there were only a handful of shows that I watched, or recorded on the digital video recorder (DVR), on a regular basis. Plus, I only have TVs connected in two rooms so it’s not like my setup is particularly extensive with extra receivers, DVRs, etc.