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By Paul Michael Premium channels come with premium prices. Usually, between $10 and $20 a month, depending on the channel and your cable/satellite company. But here's something that applies across the board. They're usually available for free.
I used to be employed by one of the big premium channels, and I can tell you right now that there are ALWAYS deals going on. The basic idea is one that drug dealers and razor blade companies alike will use time and again — get you hooked with a free sample, and then hope you come back for more later on, at full price of course. So, they'll do deals with you, via your cable/satellite company, to try them for free. Many people will cancel after the free period (this is called "churn" in the biz) but a good percentage will stick around because they like it, or they forget to cancel it. The latter is the most common reason.
Right now in my zip code all FIVE premium channels have something special going on. I just got my mother-in-law a great deal — six months of HBO for free from Comcast. And all I had to do was call and ask for it. In this digital day and age, activation is instant and can be done remotely. Ten minutes after reading this article, you'll almost certainly have a free premium channel that you didn't have before.
Just give your service provider a call, or use live chat if you prefer, and ask what special offers are currently available for the premium channels. If you're met with any kind of resistance, simply tell them that someone you know in the area got a deal for 6 months of free HBO, or Showtime, and then see what happens. As these deals are always going on, you will get offered something.
If that fails, then the good old fallback is to say you'd like to cancel your cable or satellite service and go elsewhere. The customer service rep is usually authorized to give you a special offer as part of a "save sale," which can also net the customer service rep some extra cash for keeping you around as a customer. And it makes good sense. It's far less costly to retain a current customer than to try and find a new one, and it doesn't really cost the service provider, like Comcast, anything to do this. They're already piping the feed through, they just have to turn it on at your end.
Give it a try today and see how you do. Remember, insistence and determination is the key. No one wants to give you something for free at the drop of a hat. But a few minutes of your time can get you a few months of free entertainment.Permalink | Comments | Paul Michael's blog | Channel: Art and Leisure, Consumer AffairsSimilar entries:

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This article is from Wise Bread.