Back when DirecTV was trying to get a foothold, they were much more consumer friendly. Watch now that they have a huge customer base and more HD choices, they will start to nickel and dime us just like the cable companies do.

Another case in point: First they lock up all the NFL games and make you pay $300 to get them. Oh... you want them in HD too? another $100 please!

"It's a win-win for all involved," says HDNet's billionaire founder Mark Cuban. Yea, a win-win for DirecTV and HDNet because they all make more money! But screw the consumer who has to pay extra for every single popular channel.

You want 37 home shopping channels? Hey! That's included in our base programming package! You say you want to watch sports, or a movie, or a science show, or really anything at all worthwhile? Well, THAT'LL cost you extra!

Why are we stupid consumer sheep putting up with this crap??? Cancel your DirecTV subscription, and teach them a lesson.

If you can't sacrifice your precious TV or switch to another provider, then you are just another mindless strung-out TV junkie, and your dealer will charge you more and more, make you watch more commercials, and you'll simply pony up for more!

Stop it now.

HDNet was included as part of an HD channel package, at least it was on Cogeco, as was DiscoveryHD and A&E HD until just recently. Now Cogeco will charge you for those three channels over and above their HD service with the promise that...honest...there'll be more channels in that bundle in the future. The Canadian Sat companies are doing the same. HDNet, DiscoveryHD and A&E HD are all now a separately charged package.
More lost customers for all three, not just HDNet.

Wonder if this price changing will continue or will it actually cease once the broadcasting switch is turned to HD.

Of course not. They will just add the premium amount for HD to the current packages and charge extra to boot.

I switched to Dish Network 2 years ago and I get their HD package for $20, which includes the HDNets, The Discoverys, Nat Geo, and the stuff from the old Voom HD ( 12 channels ). You WON'T see the Voom stuff on DirecTV. Monsters, Rave, Kung Fu, and Gameplay are about the only Voom I watch.

so now directv is permitted to change my channel lineup on-the-fly but i'm required to maintain a 2 year contract or pay a termination fee. unfair! the channel lineup should be linked to the customer contract. since directv has changed the lineup and removed channels that i have been paying for (1 year) i believe they have now changed the terms of the agreement and i am no longer held to the agreed to terms and can terminate without a termination fee. another example; i currently subscribe to a package that is no longer offered but i have not been forced to upgrade to the new package (at more cost) but yet now that they are offering hd versions of the sd channels the $9.99 i've been paying per month for over a year no longer gets me the hd package i used to get but now all i get are hd versions (and sometimes they aren't even true hd) of the same channels, what's the point? i can receive my locals in hd via my ota and now i really don't have any reason to pay an additional $10 to get the hd version of some sd channels. i'm simply frustrated that dtv can and does change the lineup after the fact. talk about bait-and-switch.