demsd said:
No, they are one and the same. You can rationalize it any way you want. The lawsuit came first, which negates any debate that dropping AMC is over a carriage fee. The lawsuit will remain even if a decision regarding carrying AMC is reached by the end of the month. So, there will be a court case after June 30. It is not now, nor will it be over being DROP by DISH.
Demsd,
Do you know what really came first? Dish being willing to temporarily/permanently drop channels during carriage disputes in order to try and limit what they have to pay providers.
Love it, or hate it, it's happened time and again. Some complain that Dish does it too much, while others applaud it for saving money. There are too many past instances to list them all, but here are two:
1) many of the Fox stations (FX, RSNs, etc.) we're off the air for a month during a recent dispute. (coming up on two years ago I believe).
2) Dish dumped MSG in NY because they were demanding that Dish carry Fuse if it wanted the RSN. That one has yet to return.
That is Dish's MO in these situations, so you saying that it's all about the court case and has nothing to do with carriage money is just plain wrong. If there was no court case and Dish had an issue was the price increase (or the demand that Dish carry WE, Sundance, and IFC if it wants AMC), Dish wouldn't have any problem pulling channels to gain negotiating leverage.
I'm sure the current legal situation is influencing things during this carriage negotiation, but it's a mistake to attribute the entirety of the problem to the court case.
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