Comcast is the one that wants BTN to die a cruel Death, not Dish.
From the point of view of E* and D*, the enemy is CABLE in all its flavors. And from a technical and business standpoint, the more channels there are, the better it is for Satellite. Cable is much more bandwidth constrained than Satellite. That's why Cable is in Favor or ala carte. It will limit the number of channels. D* and E* are against it.
E* will eventually carry BTN. They just have to get the terms right. There is no particular pressure on them to be there at launch. Although they may be there at launch.
Look at Comcast Sports Net Chicago as an example. It was nine months before Dish picked it up, but they did eventually. When? Opening day of Baseball Season.
Both sides wanted the moon in the beginning. Evnetually they settled in the middle. But there was no way Dish could be without it.
Same with BTN. Dish Needs it. BTN needs Dish. They will figure something out. Perhaps not as fast as we would like ...
COMCAST, on the other hand, has two axes to grind:
1) They wanted to be the BTN partner, but lost out to Fox. Why did they lose out? They told the Big Ten that they could expect to get $.50 to $.75 per sub per month, and they said that $1.10 was unrealistic. So now they are going to resist that $1.10 price point to prove they were right! And they will be very bitchy during this whole process.
2) Comcast does not really want new channels at all. They are trying to provide Analog Cable, SD digital Cable, HD cable, VOD, voice and high speed internet on one thin wire. There is a limit to what they can take on. At a certain point it will be a zero-sum game and they will have to take one channel off for every one they put on. D* and E* can just launch more birds.
D* and E* like new channles, from a competitive point of view. Just as long as they don't cost too much. It's a differentiator with Cable.
