"Ultimate" choice in TV plus a free DVR

On June 28, DirecTV will introduce the most expensive television package in history.

DirecTV Titanium unlocks every channel the sat service has -- for an annual $7,500 fee.

Now that's some serious choke, of course, but you get every channel on DirecTV: every pay-per-view (even boxing and wrestling), every movie channel, all the Spanish stations. You get 24-hour concierge customer service (no more waiting) and up to 10 standard or high definition DVRs.

I think DTV could sell a lot more of these packages if there were reduced options, say, Titanium Light that included everything except pay per views, for example, and had a more reasonable monthly price.

But if you have the cash and like to watch TV, it's pretty cool. You'd never visit Blockbuster again and you'd be a fan fave in your neighborhood whenever there was a big PPV event.

"DirecTV Titanium is the ultimate entertainment experience; there is simply nothing like it in the market today," said David Hill, president, DirecTV Entertainment. "The select few who get access to TITANIUM will experience an unlimited world of entertainment possibilities."

FREE HD DVR?

Ok, I've told you about something that is way too expensive with DirecTV, so here's something that's free. Customers across the nation are getting free HD-Tivo units by subscribing to DirecTV's "NFL Sunday Ticket" package or calling customer retention and threatening to leave the service unless they get the unit.

The HD-Tivo allows you to record Hi-Def programming and receives local Hi-Def channels via an antenna. DirecTV plans to introduce its own HD DVR without Tivo this summer. The new model will receive the HD local channels DirecTV has started beaming in select markets (Charlotte HD locals should launch later this month, a company rep tells me).

DirecTV, sources say, will swap out the old HD-Tivo unit for the new unit either free or for a $19.99 shipping and handling fee, which is better than shelling out whatever price the new receiver will cost.