The most subscribed-to DIRECTV plan (by a good margin), Choice XTRA is an ideal mix of price and channels. For just $10 more per month than the Choice plan, you’ll get about 35 more channels including a ton of new movie and sports programs. On the movie/bio side, some of those new channels include American Heroes Channel (previously Military Channel), Discovery Health, DIY, FXX, FX Movie Channel, H2 (one of my favorites), Oxygen and plenty of others. Cool new options for sports fans include CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports 2, Golf Channel, NBA TV, NBC Sports Network, NBC Universo (prev. mun2), NHL Network and the Sportsman Channel.
Subscribers that want a bunch of channels AND stick to a reasonable budget. Even though it doesn’t have the regional sports channels found in the next two packages, for the average fan, it should deliver more than enough MLB, NFL, NBA and Hockey action. If your must-have sports channel isn’t included, you can usually add it à la carte for a few extra bucks a month (and avoid having to upgrade plans).
$95.99/mo (promo pricing for 2 years)
Thereafter, you pay the prevailing price at the time
America’s Top 250 – DISH advertises 290 channels in the 250 plan, but, again, nearly 65 are just Sirius XM radio stations so make sure you compare apples to apples.
I like to get every last bit of value from my TV programming and that’s why I’ve always been drawn to this plan (though I eventually upgraded to Ultimate). Sure, it doesn’t give you a ton of premium movie options, but not everyone needs ’em. Everything considered, if you’re undecided and XTRA falls within your budget, go with it. It’s smack dab in the middle of the five plans and it’ll give you a great idea of how many or few channels you really need…or if just right.