Dish Network will permanently waive its $10 per month add-on fee for high-definition programming for customers who commit to a two-year contract.
The satellite TV operator is pushing the new "HD free for life" offer in two television spots that will begin airing Thursday evening nationally across a variety of networks, Dish spokeswoman Robin Zimmerman said. The ads can be viewed on YouTube, here and here.
The "HD free for life" deal requires a 24-month contract and continuous enrollment in Dish's AutoPay with paperless billing program. The offer is set to expire Sept. 28, 2010.
The offer is valid with several of Dish's programming packages including: America's Top 120, America's Top 120 Plus, America's Top 200, America's Top 250, America's "Everything" Pak, DishLatino Dos and DishLatino Max.
However, Dish's Platinum HD tier will continue to be an additional $10 extra per month. That package includes Epix, the movie service from Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Lionsgate; as well as Universal HD; MGM HD; HDNet Movies; MavTV HD; WFN HD; Logo HD; Indieplex HD; Retroplex HD; and Crime & Investigation Network HD.
In April, Dish claimed that it was the first TV provider to offer 200 national HD "channels." However, 57 of those represent video-on-demand titles available only to customers who have the recently introduced ViP 922 SlingLoaded DVR. Another 25 are regional sports networks and 15 are pay-per-view movie channels in HD.
