Dish network viewers RE: NatGeo channel

[Ganja Ninja]

Last month I was given the National Geographic channel as a free preview. The free preview has run it's course and I shouldn't still have the channel yet there it is. I didn't order it or ask for it. Do you suppose it has anything to do with the Bush/911 interview/whitewash? Has anyone else noticed this?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Not sure.. I always have it on.

[Ganja Ninja]

2. I don't normally get it and I was wondering why all of a sudden Dish is giving it away. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. They do those promo things, free movie channels and so forth. I never noticed them doing it

with channels like NatGeo before, tho. But then again, I have a lot of channels turned on, so it's hard for me to tell.

[Ganja Ninja]

5. It will be interesting to see if they discontinue it after all this 911 hoopla is over.

KO had a very critical review of the NatGeo Bush interview last night. It was compared to an infomercial with a very friendly interviewer and nothing but softball questions. I'm guessing that's the reason they're extending the preview. And I always thought National Geographic was a reputable organization.

[Uben]

4. Remember when TV was free?

No cable bills, no monthly charges, all you needed was an antenna. Networks made their money off of commercials.

Capitalism. Just another brick in the wall!

[Ganja Ninja]

6. I don't mind paying for it.

I just hate paying for propaganda.

[LanternWaste]

17. That bit they did on the indigenous population of New Guinea...

That bit they did on the indigenous population of New Guinea last month certainly made me feel uber-patriotic and want to defend God, mother and homeland from foreigners.

I imagine that like insults, propaganda may be found anywhere if we look hard enough-- even in places where it doesn't exist. Much as Schoolhouse Rock was intended to indoctrinate children into an authoritarian, one-size-fits-all spelling for Mississippi and the grammatically correct usage of conjunctions, it appears that without analysis (and necessarily so...) of Persuasion Method, Sender, and Target vis-a-vis the epistemic merit model, we may call anything we wish to 'propaganda' as long as it doesn't fit comfortably within our own world-views.

[tammywammy]

11. TV is still free

You can still plop on an antenna and get stations over the air.

[Xithras]

19. Not only that....

But it's all digital now, so you can probably even pull that signal in high definition.

I decided not to give Dish Network an extra $5 a month to watch my local stations, when I can just pull them OTA for free! :)

[classof56]

7. I've had NatGeo ever since I signed on with Dish.

I'd gladly drop it after the Bush "love fest". Wish I had the option! I know I'll never watch it again.

[physioex]

15. Dont judge NatGeo by one bad show...

I am not going to watch the 9/11 crap myself. But they have lots of bad and lots of good programs. Many of their nature shows are well done.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. remember that NatGeo is owned by Fox and the gang.

[Ganja Ninja]

9. That explains a lot. n/t

[shanti]

12. right

it used to be a good channel until they got their nasty hands on it.

[UTUSN]

10. DISH sent out a message saying it is now added on to the package w/o extra charge n/t

[physioex]

13. I have Comcast.....

But I have friends with Dish Network. And I think Comcast has waaaay more right wing crap. Dish network has nice channels like HDNet, RT News, and Link TV. I am not sure if you get Al Jazeera English, but none of these channels mentioned are on Comcast. Someday I might get DISH or Direct TV.

[Ganja Ninja]

16. I get Al Jazeera on Free Speech and Link.

But Dish also moved Current to a new channel. It was 194, CNN is 200, FOX is 205 and MSNBC is 209. They moved Current up to 290 something, away from the other news networks. That way it doesn't readily come up when you surf the news channels on the program guide.

Al Jazeera & Free Speech are four digit channels. They hide them away from the bulk of the non pay per view channels. Those are on the lower channels, the first 210. You either have to enter the four numbers or page through a bunch of pay per view and religious channels to find them. It's not that much of a pain in the ass but it does seem like they want to make you look harder for them.

[EstimatedProphet]

14. Seriously?

[Xithras]

18. Dish usually does its free trials for a month.

If they were offering it free in August, it will probably vanish this Thursday.

I have the Top 200 package, so I have it all the time anyway. I hadn't noticed that they were running a trial for it. I HAVE noticed the commercials for the NatGeo 9/11 hoopla running on dozens of other channels though.

[Skidmore]

20. A couple of months ago we sent a letter to Dish about

the ever increasing number of teevee marketing channels and decreasing number of channels with actual programming on them. I hope others have done this because they need to hear from customers about programming. Realizing that they need to earn money, they still can insist on channels with actual programs on them. I also pointed out that channels with majority reality television programming does not meet our criteria for quality programming either.