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Hello Friends,

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience?” George Bernard Shaw

History repeated itself many times with Greek satellite programming providers in the USA; enough times for us the Greek consumers to learn a lesson.

Regrettably, including myself, we did not listen and we did not learn. Every time we fell into the trap and only aggravated ourselves and wasted our valuable time and money.

Simply it all boils down to; "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Without taking any credit away from other members who always diligently try to update us, Harlem Reporter presented an excellent Greek saying that summerized the whole situation: "Kai i (Home2US) milonou ton andra tis me tous pramateftades (Directv, Dish)."

And on that note I have to say: “Mia tou klefti, dyo tou klefti, treis kai tin kaki tou mera”

I am fully aware that Cablevision and Verizon Fios TV are not any different from Dish or DirectTV in their business practices and customer service, as all of them have an equally vast amount of “valid” complaints across the country. But for my two cents, Cablevision is offering MEGA and ANT1 and Verizon Fios TV offering ANT1 only with the verbal promise that Verizon soon will be adding at least one more Greek channel. It remains to be seen.

As for me, with the new technology, I rather invest the money for an internet ready TV and enjoy the plethora of Greek entertainment available over the internet, rather than becoming a sucker one more time for the pleasure of HOME2US or anyone else for that matter.

Regarding the ‘Greek Media Group’ they are not even worth dignifying them with negative comments, and as far as MEGA is concerned, they should allow their program streaming over the internet, perhaps even for a fee, instead of blocking it in the USA by saying: “We’re sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed within Greece”.

HELLOOOOOO!!! KOUTHOURAKIA OF MEGA!!! TV is free in Greece, at least for the Greek channels.

We are paying to receive your channel and what you provide? Couple of new shows, advertised to start in September but they don’t start until November, and then after a month or two you either drop them altogether without any explanation and start broadcasting repeat episodes or broadcast old shows over and over again.

You must wake up and realize that you are killing the goose that lays the golden egg for MEGA.

Lastly, I have to make one final confession; my first wife left me when Dish Network dropped Mega and she lost her episodes of ‘Vera Sto Deksi’. My second wife is leaving me now because DirectTV dropping Mega and she is loosing ‘Ta Mystika Tis Edem’.

I am mad as hell, and I am not gonna take it anymore. My third wife has to sign a contract promising that she will not get emotionally involved with Greek soap operas. And please, don’t anyone make a suggestion to find a non-Greek wife. (Just kidding)

Again, my sincere thanks to all the members and wish you all KALO PASXA

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I e-mailed Mega yesterday and asked them where they can be seen after March 31st.

I got a reply today and instead of Mega in Greece answering my question, who I wrote to, Greek Media Group gives me the reply instead and this is what they wrote:

For more informations about Where MEGA cosmos is going to be broadcasting after

March 31st ,please call our office at 1-800-306-7526 and one of our agents will

give you all the info

Thank You

Georgia Dumas

What! They don't know a thing about it before then? Yeah, right. They think we're dummies. Typical Greek Customer Service-there is none.

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It looks like they are just forwarding all Mega Cosmos emails to GMG. What email address was the response from? I don't think she meant call after March 31st, but to call them to find out where it is going after March 31st when it leaves DirecTV. Not sure what that will do though, as they aren't telling people yet anyway. (Has anyone called them recently actually?) They probably haven't finalized something, or maybe it is something in their contract. (Like maybe Home2us has to announce it first.)

Also did Georgia Dumas really respond to you!? I thought she was with that Titan company now. What a mess they are. :LOL:

On a side note, if Mega can't/isn't willing to get on Dish Network for whatever reason, I wonder why they didn't try GlobeCast World TV? Aren't they one of the top international satellite providers and more credible? Unless they chose Home2us so people can still get DirecTV American programing with the same dish?

April 1st is only 9 days away, so I guess we will get the details soon. It should be interesting to see what they end up offering and what happens.

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Well this is interesting. I am reading online that when you cancel Dish Network or DirecTV they only send out pre-paid mailing boxes for you to send back their receivers. They leave the satellite dish on your roof, (as I read after you cancel they don't want anything to do with you. They don't want to send someone out to pay to remove your Dish on the roof) and only Dish Network asks for the LNB back. (But if you can't get to it they make a note on your account or something). I am not sure if this is still the case or common practice, but it seems like they will in fact leave the dish on your roof when canceling.

Question for DKSat: (Sorry, I'm not so good with this technical stuff) Assuming DirecTV will leave the dish and LNB on your roof after canceling, will that same LNB work with Home2us? Would any repositioning be needed too? If not, then installation and dish costs go out the window....only new expense would be the receivers for Home2us if I am thinking this out correctly. I see on their site though "Home2US strongly recommends you have one of our professional installers tune and/or install your dish. The large majority of previously installed Satellite dish's need to be re-pointed to the Home2US satellite, and we also replace some key components to ensure the best signal quality." so I don't know. I wonder how much a re-tuning and new LNB would cost. (if needed, since it is already pointing to 101

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I e-mailed Mega yesterday and asked them where they can be seen after March 31st.

I got a reply today and instead of Mega in Greece answering my question, who I wrote to, Greek Media Group gives me the reply instead and this is what they wrote:

For more informations about Where MEGA cosmos is going to be broadcasting after

March 31st ,please call our office at 1-800-306-7526 and one of our agents will

give you all the info

Thank You

Georgia Dumas

What!  They don't know a thing about it before then?  Yeah, right.  They think we're dummies.  Typical Greek Customer Service-there is none.

SOME REPLY!!!!

did anyone call the travel agent??

PS: I don't want to hear innocent-like questions why "travel"?

taxidi vlepo sto flytzani, taxidi makrino

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

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April 1st is only 9 days away, so I guess we will get the details soon.

It is hilarious that global media group keeps changing the date when they will announce details even though we are now a week and so away from the end of transmissions on Directv. If nothing else, nobody can deny their greekness. ;)
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Well this is interesting. I am reading online that when you cancel Dish Network or DirecTV they only send out pre-paid mailing boxes for you to send back their receivers. They leave the satellite dish on your roof

They do this because if a home owner moves out and a new owner moves in and he/she wants to subscribe to either Dish or Directv, the only installation that would need to be done are to put in the receivers since both the wiring and the dish would already be in place. With this practice, many homes in the US would be satellite-ready.
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I just called Greek Media Group and they told me that they won't know where Mega and Alter will end up until this weekend and they will make an announcement on their website.

DKSat, you had said that they are going to Home2US--done deal. Do you think they're pulling my leg and are playing stupid that they don't know anything or could it be there could still be a chance that they go back to Dish? Please let us know if you know anything new.

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I just called Greek Media Group and they told me that they won't know where Mega and Alter will end up until this weekend and they will make an announcement on their website.

DKSat, you had said that they are going to Home2US--done deal. Do you think they're pulling my leg and are playing stupid that they don't know anything or could it be there could still be a chance that they go back to Dish? Please let us know if you know anything new.

They've been pushing back the date of the announcement every time someone calls. Let's face it, the only day appropriate for their announcement and the value it will hold will be April 1st. Because as the saying goes, fooled me once shame on you, fooled me twice... how often do mega and alter think people will be hunting them from platform to platform? You would think they would be the ones trying to get the customers, but they somehow managed it so that people are the ones who have to do all the work to find out how to buy their product!
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I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the delay in announcing it probably has something to do with them working out the details. Maybe packaging, or prices, or deals? Or maybe Dish offered them a good deal for Mega -- but I doubt that. They already started testing on SES-1 at 101.0w from what DK said, but you never know with the Greek channels. :gr:

I wonder if they will insert a notice onto the channel or have their hosts mention something before the switch this time around. Back in 2006 with all that drama they ended up inserted notices and had hosts inform people after they moved....pointless. I guess it was a result of people calling their offices in Greece and complaining.

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They already started testing on SES-1 at 101.0w from what DK said, but you never know with the Greek channels.  :gr:

No, as of this morning, MEGA has not started testing on SES-1 at 101W

PS: When you repeat the initials of Satellite Broadcasting many times, what do you get?

SBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSB

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

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Well this is interesting. Trying to scour the web for information, I came across a discussion topic on Mega's facebook page where Greek-Americans are trying to find answers as well. (Pretty sad Greek Media Group and Mega are doing this to us...like likos said the people should not be the ones who have to do all the work to find out how to buy their product! It seems they have also caught onto our forum, ha. ;))

Anyway, a lady e-mailed GMG and got a response. I'm not sure how it was formatted, but I think they responded to points from her email, (which I made italic) so I'll try to format it the way I think it was. Hopefully I got it right.

Dear Loyal customer,

We understand your frustration and at the same time your love for Mega. But with all due respect you come to conclusions without really knowing facts, which make things a little harder for you to understand.

I have been a loyal subscriber to Mega Cosmos from the time it became available in the USA on Dish Network. I was disappointed in 2006 when the poor management decision was made to move the channel to Direct TV. As you know (since you lost many subscribers) I was one of the very, very few who were willing to use two satellite companies to watch Greek programming. Out of all my Greek relatives and friends, I was the only one willing to follow Mega Cosmos to Direct TV.

When I heard that Direct TV was dropping Mega Cosmos I was happy. This was now an opportunity for Mega Cosmos to join the other Greek channels on Dish Network. Management would get back the subscribers it lost by tapping into an existing clientele, and I would no longer have to pay two satellite companies to watch Greek programming.

We would very much like to join Dish's platform but we don't think our subscribers would under the conditions that Dish is putting on the table. Their final offer to us was to have Mega available only on a la carte basis for a very high price and only if our customers have to pay first for the existing package of $34.99. A total of more than $50.00 just to subscribe to MEGA!!!!! On top of that as far as I know Dish has all its customers pay a fee of $13,99. In conclusion, in order to be able to buy Mega on Dish you have to spend a minimum of $64.00 !!!!! A pretty hefty price even for Mega.

As you can understand under these circumstances we couldn't have the opportunity to tap to the existing base as well.

I am now very concerned since rumor has it, that instead of going back to Dish Network with the other Greek channels, Mega will be going to some little known satellite company called Home2US. I am more than upset. I am disgusted at the poor judgment, and lack of respect and consideration your management has shown towards the Greek omogeneia. How can you repeat the same mistake twice? You will lose even more subscribers. No one is going to go to the trouble and expense of making any commitments, signing contracts, buying equipment and installing satellite service with a little known provider which is here today and gone tomorrow.

I would also appreciate before you judge anyone with harsh words as the ones on your email to know that Home2US and DirecTV satellites are on the same frequency so you don't have to go through an installation. You could use DirecTV's dish,On top of that there are no long term commitments and no agreements to sign.

On top of that 5more Greek channels besides Mega will end up joining the same Platform.

In the event that Mega Cosmos does not join the Greek package(s) available on Dish Network, most of the few subscribers you have left will just go without Mega Cosmos. Enough is enough already! Personally, I rather wait to become a Mega Web TV subscriber when the service becomes available. I will not make a commitment to companies such as Hellas TV or Home2US, which are here today and gone tomorrow. Why should you expect us to do this, when the most obvious option for you would have been to join Dish Network?

Hopefully you would understand and continue to be a loyal subscriber.Again, since this is not managements final decision and things could possibly change the last minute, will keep you posted with any changes.

From: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=1426...c=688#topic_top

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From the above, it seems they were not happy with Dish Network's offer. Some of the detail's they give about Dish Network's offer is strange though. The only fee I know of is the international fee for 10 dollars. It also looks like Home2us is close to a done deal (or was at one point) since they don't outright deny it and also mention that it is on the same satellite. They also mention 5 more channels would join Mega on a new platform, so it looks like DK was right. (thanks again) They do however mention that management has not made a final decision though and that things could change at the last minute, so I guess they are going back to the table with Dish Network???

EDIT: I think I figured out the Dish Network prices. I think they are talking about new customers who only want Greek programing. Current Greek elite package is $24.99 + $10 access fee = $34.99. + $14.99 Mega a-la-carte = $50?? I still don't know what $13.99 fee they are talking about, but it seems Dish does not want to add them to a package and only offer a-la-carte? Still I am pretty sure you can subscribe to 1 a-la-carte channel (granted you pay the access fee too) so that would come out to around $25 per my calculations. So I guess $25 for Mega, and $50 for all of them? I could be completely wrong.

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If ANT1 Gold & Blue are becoming this new channel called Antenna Prime, so to speak, and as we know Blue is powered by MAD, could it be that this opens the door for MAD World to come to Dish in the near future? Just a hunch.

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and, as of this morning, ANTENNA will be with DISH for many years while

Gold and Blue seem to merge into one

DISH Network Renews Multi-Year Contract With Antenna Group for Greek Programming

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

The Greek channel wars are continuing! :box:

Dish has a knack for signing these insane deals with Ant1 it seems! I wonder how long this one is for this time, and how the packages will change again. I hope for the better for once!

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I e-mailed Mega yesterday and asked them where they can be seen after March 31st.

I got a reply today and instead of Mega in Greece answering my question, who I wrote to, Greek Media Group gives me the reply instead

Well so much for my idea of emailing MEGA in Greece?! If they are re-directing emails to Greek Media Group then there is no point to email them. I guess their stance is that this is the company that they have awarded the distribution rights to so they are the ones who are in charge of this channel (except for programming which comes from MEGA in Greece).

Interesting news regarding MEGA & Dish, I don't understand why Dish do not want to include MEGA Cosmos in a package and only offer it a la carte?! This is a complete reversal of the previous situation which led to MEGA leaving for DirecTV- they wanted to make it available only through a package and not a la carte, what the heck is going on over there at Dish Network?! :blink:

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Interesting news regarding MEGA & Dish, I don't understand why Dish do not want to include MEGA Cosmos in a package and only offer it a la carte?! This is a complete reversal of the previous situation which led to MEGA leaving for DirecTV- they wanted to make it available only through a package and not a la carte, what the heck is going on over there at Dish Network?! :blink:

According to that e-mail MEGA is getting exactly what it demanded when it left DISH, so if DISH now is giving it to them shouldn't we be asking what the hell is going on with MEGA?
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I think MEGA wanted to be A La Carte but not requiring people to subscribe to Ant1 Elite package first so you can't get Mega without getting the Elite pack first, I think thats the whole point to this argument IMO.

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I think everyone realizes that home2us is a disaster and that greek media group are getting defensive because they took a huge misstep and our stuck with the consequences for who knows how many years. Greekmediagroup=no common sense.

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It looks like they are just forwarding all Mega Cosmos emails to GMG.

I wonder why anyone should waste his time writing or talking to the people responsible for the mistake.

Hear are the contact details of the decision makers, the owners of MEGA

Vardinoyiannis Group, Mr. Vardis Vardinoyiannis, Tel: +30 210 8094000, Fax:+30 210 8094444

Bobolas Group,Mr. George Bobolas,

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I think MEGA wanted to be A La Carte but not requiring people to subscribe to Ant1 Elite package first so you can't get Mega without getting the Elite pack first, I think thats the whole point to this argument IMO.

Seems like it. Before the ANT1 shake up in 2006, Mega was available on 3 different packages and a-la-carte. The "Mega/ERT" package, the "Mega/ERT/Alter" package, and the "Greek language" package. (Mega, ANT1, ERT, and radio stations)

After the re-shuffle, Mega was no longer a-la-carte, and you could only get it by subscribing to the new ANT1 + packages which were less flexible and more expensive.

Here just take a look:

May 2006 packages

October 2006 packages

If someone was subscribing to the "Mega/ERT" package before for $26.99, in order to get those 2 channels together after they would have to pay $39.99 a month for the "ANT1 + 2" package. No a-la-carte either for any of the other channels. (ERT only became a-la-carte again after Mega left) Or to get "Mega/ERT/Alter" all together previously for $29.99, you would have to get the "Greek super package" for $50.99 instead. Looking at the comparisons though, one could say that Mega was favored by Dish Network until they signed the new deal with Ant1 and shifted that. And after that shift you could not get any of the other channels without being forced to subscribe to the ANT1 based package first and prices jumped. The only OK and reasonable deal that existed after the changes, was if you previously had all the channels for $45 (Greek package + Alter a-la-carte), where with the changes you would pay $50 after for the "Greek super package". People seem to forget all the details from back then. ;)

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I think everyone realizes that home2us is a disaster and that greek media group are getting defensive because they took a huge misstep and our stuck with the consequences for who knows how many years. Greekmediagroup=no common sense.

This appears to be the case, from what I can derive of the whole situation. They committed (either verbally or in writing) to a deal with Home2US but now are getting hit from all directions with complaints from subscribers about where MEGA is going to be and why its not going back to Dish. 'Ta Hesane kai then Xeroune Ti Na Kanoun' :LOL:

Grk101 & Kolossos, you are correct regarding the situation between Dish & MEGA and why the channel left. They wanted it to be available both in a package AND a la carte but Dish Network was only offering it in a package. Now it appears they only want to offer it a la carte and not in any of their packages.

It appears as though this whole debacle (in typical Greek fashion) is going down to the wire and the situation will not be resolved until the last minute. Should we take bets on a last minute deal with Dish?! :P

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It appears as though this whole debacle (in typical Greek fashion) is going down to the wire and the situation will not be resolved until the last minute.  Should we take bets on a last minute deal with Dish?!  :P

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

I think you are right on with what seems to be happening. Let's see what the final outcome will be now. I have a feeling a last minute deal is possible, people are demanding it from both Dish Network and GMG. Maybe even something like a non-exclusive deal where it would be on both Dish and Home2us so they would have an outlet for their other channels? Though I would see no pull or advantage what-so-ever for Home2us if that happened. Maybe the newly signed ANT1 deal will also play into the decision now.

Typical Greeks. :gr:

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Hellas... I think the people have spoken loud and clear that they are not interested in playing games with these people. Its basically dishnetwork or hopefully a few albanians will subscribe on home2us for their sake :LOL:

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