A close friend bought one from another friend and called DirecTV to get it entitled. DirecTV wanted $80 as a "transfer fee" for the access card. Remarkably, they backed off when my friend mentioned that the local digital cable company was offering to buy out his satellite TV setup as an incentive to switch, so maybe DirecTV shouldn't be boneheaded. I don't know their motivation - quite possibly to encourage turning back in the H cards - but it's not particularly accomodating.
Selling a DirecTV Receiver
I want to sell a DirecTV receiver but DirecTV told me that I can't sell it with the access card and that the buyer would have to buy a new access card. Has anyone sold a receiver before and worked around this issue. This sounds ridiculous to me and would make the idea of buying a used receiver a bad one especially with new ones selling for next to nothing.