DISH Drops AMC Networks (AMC Back on DISH channel 131)

[king3pj]

You and your ilk need to stop stomping on the floor. This is NOT done deal. Save it for when it is...even then, it won't be

I was just responding to Charlie's comments about how we can just get our AMC shows from other outlets. I was mostly commenting on how absurd it sounds to hear that the head of a tv provider is encouraging us to get our television from the Internet. He is encouraging us to look for new sources and some people might realize that works better for them than paying for Dish. If AMC isn't on Dish when walking dead and breaking bad return I will buy the episodes from iTunes. I won't be happy about it but that's what I'll do.

I will not cut the cable because I watch my live local sports more than anything else. I won't be leaving Dish because they have me under contract with my hopper upgrade. Now if I wasn't under contract and AMC isnt available on October first than yeah I would switch.

I hope people are right about this just being tough talk. If it gets pulled I hope it's just for a week or so. I like my hoppers and I don't want to switch. At this point I'm just sick of the disputes and them even theatening to take channels I pay for away from me.

 

[KAB]

I was just responding to Charlie's comments about how we can just get our AMC shows from other outlets.

It's no different than when any provider that has a dispute with a local network station, and they suggest getting it over the air. Same poker game. This time it's internet, not ota.

 

[gpollock87]

You could always go to the dark side, Direc tv!
I have them as well.
Honestly they are no better.
When dish brought me back with Voom
I truly thought they were hands down the best provider. Not anymore. Their equipment keeps them in the game.

i'll never go back to direct. dish has been good to me unlike them.

 

[steve4810]

Good post!

thx

 

[Tampa8]

Dish runs programming similar to restaurants in
My neighborhood of south Florida.
When you really start liking a restaurant down here, it closes.

LMAO - for those not familiar with living in Florida you don't know just how true that is about finding restaurants then having them close.

 

[osu1991]

What's HD do got to do with it? Could they be grayed out because I have an SD setup (Due to Dish not giving me the free HD equipment they advertised)? Or can you still get it if you're SD-only?

I mean myself and a ton of other sports fans (especially hockey fans) who don't like paying through the nose for our sports.

What does HD have to do with it, well perhaps the fact the Dish America packages are HD only packages. I have HD and they're greyed out on both my accounts online too, but I haven't changed my programming package in over 10 years so its not a big deal right now. Just pm DIRT if its something you're interested in.

As has been said before, hockey doesn't bring in the ratings to be in a base package. They're good for NBC but in comparison to other sports properties it is a niche just like MLS, and Indy Car and doesn't really give NBC any bargaining power.

Sent from my Toshiba Thrive

 

[osu1991]

LMAO - for those not familiar with living in Florida you don't know just how true that is about finding restaurants then having them close.

I think that's true everywhere. Mainly with national chains. The little family owned places thive around here.

Sent from my Toshiba Thrive

 

[Tampa8]

Hmm so Charlie says that AMC and other channels devalue their content with online offerings..Thats really funny dishonline could be put into the same context

That's about as much apple and oranges as you can get. To get dishonline, or HBO GO etc... you have to subscribe to Dish, and get the package that has the channel you want. AMC is allowing you to get their programming without having any provider and that's the beef. Dish is not the only provider that feels this way, in fact some won't even allow HBO GO. I don't think this is the real issue with AMC, but it isn't made up, it is becoming something providers are looking at.

As for Starz and the one year free, the exact same thing applies, that wasn't the real issue with Disney, it's the ongoing lawsuit with them.

 

[king3pj]

That's about as much apple and oranges as you can get. To get dishonline, or HBO GO etc... you have to subscribe to Dish, and get the package that has the channel you want. AMC is allowing you to get their programming without having any provider and that's the beef. Dish is not the only provider that feels this way, in fact some won't even allow HBO GO. I don't think this is the real issue with AMC, but it isn't made up, it is becoming something providers are looking at.

As for Starz and the one year free, the exact same thing applies, that wasn't the real issue with Disney, it's the ongoing lawsuit with them.

The problem is that they are acting like AMC is the only channel selling their shows on iTunes, amazon, Netflix, Hulu plus, etc... Between those services there are almost no shows you can't buy.

I don't see how Charlie can say that devalues AMC but not every other channel he sells us. Dish should start pulling every channel that sells their shows through other outlets and see what they have left.

What's the real difference between purchasing seasons of a show on iTunes and buying the DVD or bluray? If you start adding disks there is even less you can't also get somewhere else.

 

[Tampa8]

Might I suggest dropping NBC Sports Channel to AT200 to help make up for this? Sure, they're completely different types of channels, but it is pisses a lot of people off to have NBCSC available only in AT250 and higher. They have so many exclusive hockey games including exclusive playoff and STANLEY CUP FINALS games. It's not a specialty channel. Those games used to be on ESPN. And NBCSC is making major moves now that they have the NBC branding to add more quality sports programming, so it's not just "The channel that somehow got NHL rights, but otherwise has nothing worthwhile". Plans are afoot to make it into a real competitor to ESPN. Something Dish might appreciate, you know, given how often it gets into pissing contests with ABC/Disney over ESPN...

First, it is absolutely a specialty channel. Mad it's in the Top 250? Think about what you said. Those games used to be on a channel virtually everyone gets, ESPN. Now the NHL decided to put on another channel that providers have to carry and pay for, and you can bet more with the NHL being on it. This is exactly the problem with sports coverage. It's what's going on with the Angels now and other sports. And they all want the providers to keep pay more and more for every new sports channel, and in turn of course have us pay even if we don't want it. In no way is this the fault of Dish, anything to do with how the NHL is distributing itself is on them.

 

[DishSubLA]

The problem is that they are acting like AMC is the only channel selling their shows on iTunes, amazon, Netflix, Hulu plus, etc... Between those services there are almost no shows you can't buy.

I don't see how Charlie can say that devalues AMC but not every other channel he sells us. Dish should start pulling every channel that sells their shows through other outlets and see what they have left.

What's the real difference between purchasing seasons of a show on iTunes and buying the DVD or bluray? If you start adding disks there is even less you can't also get somewhere else.

Ergan's reasoning is that it is the "devalued" content IN CONJUNCTION what he claims are high retransmission rights for Dish for what he also claims are among the least watched channels on Dish. If one buys that (it is SOUND logic, but we don't know if it is really true), then it makes sense, and Ergan is right. However, I do believe that at the last moment or after a week of AMC plummeting ad revenues or potential costly "make goods" or even return of funds for future advertising due to the loss of 14 million subs, we will hear of a settlement where AMC drops the suite, and those channels return to Dish with Dish probably paying even a higher fee (or even the addition of those channels in HD) for the channels in exchange for the suit going away. Both parties could be happy with that.

 

[king3pj]

Ergan's reasoning is that it is the "devalued" content IN CONJUNCTION what he claims are high retransmission rights for Dish for what he also claims are among the least watched channels on Dish. If one buys that (it is SOUND logic, but we don't know if it is really true), then it makes sense, and Ergan is right. However, I do believe that at the last moment or after a week of AMC plummeting ad revenues or potential costly "make goods" or even return of funds for future advertising due to the loss of 14 million subs, we will hear of a settlement where AMC drops the suite, and those channels return to Dish with Dish probably paying even a higher fee (or even the addition of those channels in HD) for the channels in exchange for the suit going away. Both parties could be happy with that.

They very well could be asking for a big increase in prices to go along with the big increase in the popularity of AMC series over the last few years Maybe they are asking for too much. I don't know.

I do know there is no way AMC is anywhere near the group if least watched channels on dish though. I would guess it is at least in the top half in viewership of the channels they offer. Plus as you can see from this thread, the fans of their shows seem to be a little more attached to them than most other shows on tv.

 

[GaryPen]

Ergan's reasoning is that it is ... among the least watched channels on Dish.

COUGH - bullsh** - COUGH

 

[whitewolf8214]

COUGH - bullsh** - COUGH

amen so true

 

[HanoverPretzel]

COUGH - bullsh** - COUGH

Playing devil's advocate, is it possible that many people only watch the handful of original series on AMC and never watch anything else on the channel? That could explain the channel being overall among the least watched even if it was one of the highest watched for an hour once a week part of the year. Also, not being in AT120 (And thus not being available to a lot of folks to begin with) probably effects it's viewership figures.

Anyhow, obviously, regardless of the technicalities, the true reason this dispute is happening is that Dish doesn't want to pay what AMC is asking for money wise. Of course enough people watch Mad Men that Dish wouldn't be dropping the channel just to free up satellite room or something.

Losing AMC doesn't affect me. I never watch it. I get my Mad Men from Netflix later. But I feel your pain here. And it does play into a larger issue of Dish dropping channels to increase it's profit margins while leaving customers (Often under contract) without their favorite stations. Maybe some folks who don't like sports won't be so quick to dismiss Dish's next dispute with a sports network after this AMC thing.

Anyhow, I could maybe deal with a television provider that was aggressive on channel re-negotiations and sometimes lost stuff (As long as it wasn't in my core 6-7 channels) if they were significantly cheaper than everyone else and passing all those savings on to consumers. I don't see much of that happening, though- Dish seems in a rough sense on par price wise with the other guys once the promotional offers expire- maybe a tad cheaper, but that can be offset if you're not getting a bundling discount on your cable Internet because you don't have cable television.

Now, if Dish started cutting the rates of all it's packages each year as it negotiated better deals with the channels it was carrying, and maybe had to drop a few here or there, that might turn them into the guys wearing the white hats. But we all know their rates and fees just keep going up, which means they're arguing with stations over who gets more profit, the stations or Dish, while customers go without their favorite channels. I don't see why anyone would be on Dish's side, or the channels side, for that matter. As a customer, my position is, just provide me my favorite stations and favorite teams for cheap. I'm not rooting for Dish to win negotiations as if they were my favorite sports team- if a channel I watch goes dark and I still have to pay the same Dish bill with no price drop, I'm blaming Dish. Don't really care about AMC, just a general feeling I have.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

Since Dish is saving money by dropping the AMC channels, that means the price of all the consumer programming packages it was in are going to go down by $5, right? $3? $1? What's that, you say? $0? You mean they aren't really fighting these battles to pass on savings to the customers? It's about making more money off their customers? Geez, I guess that blows their whole public relations strategy on channel retention disputes.

I mean, if they even cut the price of these packages $2 a month when dropping AMC, I think their position would be a lot more defensible and look a lot less like pure greed.

 

[mdavej]

Dish Chief Says Online 'Devalues' Content - 2012-05-07 18:30:11 | Multichannel News

Dish Chief Says Online 'Devalues' Content
Ergen Says Dish Dropping AMC Because of Low Ratings, Online Availability
Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 5/7/2012 2:30:11 PM

Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen told analysts Monday the reasons behind his decision not to renew carriage deals with AMC Networks have more to do with low ratings, adding that making shows available online "devalues" content for distributors.

The reason behind my decision not to renew my Dish service deals has more to do with Dish not making AMC available at all. That "devalues" Dish's service.

...Ergen said on the conference call. "Our customers are not really saying ‘we want to pay more money,' they're saying ‘we want more flexibility in our programming and we don't want to pay more.'

I'm saying I want the service I paid for, nothing less.

From a timing perspective that is just a contract that we can change. We believe the product has been devalued, not that there are not some good programs, but it's been devalued because you can get it multiple ways and customers have more flexibility to get the programming. It's not quite the same as if something were exclusive."
The Dish chairman added that the increasing availability of shows through other platforms will eventually bring the issue of programming value to a head.

This is complete BS. They have no problem with all the other network's content on their own websites, Hulu, and Disk. To single out AMC is ridiculous.

There is probably going to be some break out of one of more companies offering something a lit bit different at more different prices so customers have more of a choice. That may be disruptive long term, but maybe an opportunity to gain market share long term.

The company offering the most content for the lowest price will gain market share long term. The company offering less content and higher prices will lose market share.

 

[Jhon69]

Since Dish is saving money by dropping the AMC channels, that means the price of all the consumer programming packages it was in are going to go down by $5, right? $3? $1? What's that, you say? $0? You mean they aren't really fighting these battles to pass on savings to the customers? It's about making more money off their customers? Geez, I guess that blows their whole public relations strategy on channel retention disputes.

I mean, if they even cut the price of these packages $2 a month when dropping AMC, I think their position would be a lot more defensible and look a lot less like pure greed.

Here's your answer per DISH's Residential Agreement,the part that concerns this subject is 1:I

http://www.dish.com/downloads/legal/Residential-Agreement.pdf

 

[GaryPen]

Playing devil's advocate, is it possible that many people only watch the handful of original series on AMC and never watch anything else on the channel? That could explain the channel being overall among the least watched even if it was one of the highest watched for an hour once a week part of the year.

According to Nielsen ratings, AMC does a hair better than Discovery, nationally. I don't see why it would be any different on Dish specifically. (Can you imagine Dish dropping Discovery, claiming low viewership?)

Also, not being in AT120 (And thus not being available to a lot of folks to begin with) probably effects it's viewership figures.

If so, then, it's Dish's own fault for it's alleged low viewership.

 

[lern4483]

I think that's true everywhere. Mainly with national chains. The little family owned places thive around here.

Sent from my Toshiba Thrive

No not really. I grew up on Long Island and
I never had a restaurant close up.
They stayed around forever. But here in Florida
It's disappointing. Never get too excited about
A good eatery it most likely won't last.