The Dish Welcome package does not require a multi-year contract. It is month-to-month, so it's ok to start/change/stop it any time.
The lowest cost Dish package that is actually advertised is the "America's Top 120" package, which does require a 2-year contract. I should say I have seen rumors (on other message boards) that the Welcome pack is only available to current Dish subscribers, but I don't know if that's true or not. I was a dish subscriber for several years before downgrading. I dunno if the welcome pack would be available for a non-dish subscriber who just called up the company. I would presume that it WOULD be available, given that they call it the "Welcome" pack, but I don't know.
If I already had EyeTV and an Antenna I might have opted for that. But given those were new upfront purchases, they pushed the cost up. Also, using EyeTV would have required I buy another external HD to store all the HD TV files I would be acquiring and storing, so the cost goes up again. And I am doubtful that managing the EyeTV and the process of getting something playing on our TVs in two different rooms would be as easy and seamless as the DishDVR currently is for us. We have been using a DVR of some form for over 6 years now so we're pretty spoiled, and there's no way we'd put up with going back to watching shows "when they are on", and sitting through commercials.
Plus the additional cost of buying/renting more non-network shows off of iTunes played a role as well. For example, the Daily Show can be purchased with "multi-passes" for $10/month on iTunes, so that's $120/year just for the Daily Show. That's the most expensive show per season, since there are so many episodes. Other shows cost ~$20-$40 per season to purchase (most of the non-network shows aren't available to rent on itunes, just purchase).
By the way guys, I watched the Steelers vs Saints game on NBC last night live in beautiful HD with 5.1 surround sound. It was awesome and even better knowing I don't pay any monthly fee for the privilege.Just an antenna connected to the TV. And I recorded it with my computer using EyeTV so if I wanted to watch it again without the commercials I can. I still can't believe I used to pay so much for cable/satellite for so long.
One negative about the Dish welcome pack: none of Dish's promotions are offered for it (ie: no "free HD for life", or "free HD DVR upgrade"). Thus, if you are an existing Dish subscriber and already have an HD Dish DVR, you can get HD service on the welcome pack but it costs extra (don't know how much, maybe an extra $10/month?). If you don't already have the HD DVR, the only way to get the HD DVR on the welcome pack would be to PURCHASE the DVR for $400+. If you get the America's top 120 pack or any higher package, you get the HD DVR for just the $6/month DVR service charge. And, of course, if you started the Top 120 package just to get the HD DVR, you'd have to wait 2 years before you could downgrade to the Welcome pack.
We didn't have HD when we first got Dish network years ago, so we don't have an HD DVR. Which meant that when we downgraded to the welcome pack, we still don't get HD, because we didn't want to pay $400+ to get the HD DVR. Thus our only source of HD quality video is our blu-ray player and our apple TV. Frankly, for TV shows we watch day-to-day, I don't think HD is worth what it would cost us, given our biggest TV is 37 inches. I've found where HD shines most is for nature-documentaries and movies (which we get on netflix blu-ray, or instant streaming) and sports, of course, which we don't watch at all. Don't need to see my sitcoms in HD. Still, that is definitely a plus for the OTA antenna people: free HD.
