SBC offers three months free Net, TV service
Published: June 29, 2005, 5:47 AM PDT
By Reuters

SBC Communications will offer cable customers three months of free high-speed Internet and satellite television if they switch to SBC's services, the company said Wednesday.

The promotion, which SBC says could be worth up to $340 per customer, is the most aggressive attempt to date by a large local telephone company to lure customers away from cable. SBC's move comes a few weeks after it lowered the price of its high-speed Internet service to $14.95 per month for new subscribers in its 13-state region.

Executives with SBC, the second-largest U.S. telecommunications company, have said they see a two- to three-year window to grab customers as cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner ramp up their voice services. SBC expects to roll out its own video services broadly next year.

Between cable companies' voice offerings and wireless telephone alternatives, SBC and the three other Baby Bells are expected to lose some 26 million consumer phone lines--about 28 percent of their total--over the next five years, according to Banc of America analyst David Barden.

Under SBC's offer, cable customers who send SBC a copy of their bill will qualify for credits on SBC's high-speed Internet service and EchoStar's Dish satellite programing. The promotions begin July 1 and are offered for a limited time. The high-speed Internet deal requires a one-year contract.

SBC also said it would expand its $14.95 high-speed Internet offer to customers who buy specific bundles of telephone services. The offer had previously been available only to new customers who ordered the service online.

With the $14.95 offer, SBC was already offering the lowest price for a "triple play" of voice, video and high-speed data services among the largest telephone and cable companies. Outside of SBC and Cablevision, many of those companies have been reluctant to discount prices and hurt profit margins.
http://news.com.com/SBC+offers+three+months+free+Net%2C+TV+service/2100-1037_3-5767816.html?tag=cd.top

Looks like a good deal for those who were thinking about switching. You've got Green!

Here is more detailed info of how the plan works. It's HOOOOOOOT.

And it is month by month term for the DISH. You can cancel any time after the 3 Free Months. Just return the equipment. I can't wait for July 1st to say BYE-BYE to Comcast.

Link

Is the offer valid for new residents without any previous Cable provider?
Or only for switchers from Comcast?

SBC offers freebies to lure cable customers
Bloomberg News
Posted: June 29, 2005

SBC Communications Inc., escalating a battle with cable-television companies, is offering free satellite-TV and high-speed Internet service to customers who defect from a cable-TV provider.

"We want our customers to sever their ties with cable companies and come over to SBC," spokesman Michael Coe said. Cable-TV customers who change to SBC, the dominant local telephone company in Wisconsin, will receive three free months of satellite service and SBC's digital subscriber line Web access, Coe said.

The offer is the first time a top phone company has overtly targeted cable's Web-access customers and follows SBC's 25% cut in DSL prices this month. Cable companies are luring SBC clients with combined phone, Web and TV services and may take 355,000 phone lines from SBC this year, Banc of America Securities analyst David Barden estimated.

The offer, starting July 1, is a "much more aggressive stance than SBC has taken in the past," said Todd Rosenbluth, a Standard & Poor's analyst in New York.

The portion of SBC customers who switch to Internet-based telephone providers may rise to 42% of all local lines disconnected in 2006 from 20% this year, Barden estimates. SBC lost 4.4% of its local access lines from March 2004 to March 2005, Rosenbluth said.

"SBC has long made it clear they'll give discounts to keep customers," Rosenbluth said. The percentage of lines lost "is similar to other Bells, but SBC has been leading the charge against the cable companies."

SBC will provide the three months of free service to customers who can prove they used to be cable subscribers by sending in an old bill within 30 days, Coe said. The offer for three months of free Dish service runs until Sept. 30, and the DSL promotion is a limited- time promotion without a specified ending date.

http://www.jsonline.com/bym/news/jun05/337494.asp

So tempted to jump on this for the price, but I'd have to give up my HD PVR (SA 8000HD from Time Warner). Dish has no HD PVRs available from SWB. I'd also lose the ability to search the TV guide by name (the Dish 625 PVR will, but they only are providing the older 522), the ability to use the TV Guide-on-Screen on my Panasonic E85H DVD recorder, and the ability to plug any VCR, TV, or DVD recorder into a cable to get a range of channels (analog) with the built-in tuners. Plus the hassle of finding a good line-of-sight through the trees.

just called the apt. manager and found out that since my apt. is facing north (it needs to face south or south east), i won't be able to get dish network, sucks!

Anyone got this deal? Do you need Top 120 to qualify?

I have been looking at the bundle package also. But it requires you to have more than just the basic service and you only get a $4 discount. Not very hot.

On another nte, any other Dish/Cable TV deals going on?