Dish Network Corp. (DISH) founder Charlie Ergen said he may permanently drop Time Warner Inc.

[jstew9]

My daughter asks daily if Cartoon Network is back -- honestly this might make it easy for me to talk the family into dropping Dish entirely (and NOT going to another provider, just drop it for a while to see how we do).

I told her after a month if it isn't back we'd see what we could do.

 

[kozmo104]

I hope they lower the prices because of this

 

[mike123abc]

If cable/satellite really did start to permanently drop channel groups over rate disputes it would probably work, eventually the channel groups would have to adjust their pricing models to get back "on the air". Of course the problem has always been that eventually they work out a deal, and then move on to the next cable/sat company to bargain with. I think there is promise in Viacom. A lot of smaller systems dropped their channels and have not seen an exodus of subscribers, perhaps if a big company comes up next they will feel emboldened to drop them also, eventually forcing Viacom to cut their prices.

The problem of course is that individual subscribers do not want any pain of not having their favorite channels cut. There would have to be a lot of pain since a lot of cable/sat customers would have to go without channels to break the back of the channel groups.

 

[ChadT41]

Normally in the past that would work, but these stations are moving towards selling their service online, and if they get dropped, I feel like they would just sell ala carte online and advertise something like "XX company doesn't carry us, but you don't have to miss out, subscribe to XXXX streaming service for so much a month". That takes some of the power and leverage back out of the sat/cable providers hands. Internet is screwing everything up. "It's just a fad". Lol

 

[meStevo]

If this really becomes business as usual for DISH I think this is the first step towards becoming irrelevant and/or a merger.

It's all talk though.

 

[n0aaa]

Dish Network Corp. (DISH) founder Charlie Ergen said he may permanently drop Time Warner Inc. channels such as CNN and TBS over rising programming costs, a trend he sees continuing as pay-TV faces competition from Web viewing.
Dish has already blacked out some channels from Time Warner (TWX)’s Turner Broadcasting, including CNN and the Cartoon Network, in a contract dispute that began last month. Ergen said Turner is asking for double-digit percentage increases in fees for CNN, while viewership is down by half.

“Twenty years ago CNN was a must have,” Ergen said on a earnings conference call today. “It’s not a top 10 network today anymore.”
Ergen said he is prepared for Turner’s TBS and TNT to leave Dish -- a move he described as “more painful.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...rgen-blasts-cnn-in-hint-of-future-fights.html

 

[n0aaa]

A day without Wolf Blitzer is like a day with extra sunshine. But what does Charlie propose to give us to make up for this loss? BBC International, France 24, whatever was on Current before they came along?

 

[boba]

Don't care, don't miss just get rid of them and lower my price.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Turner replies.

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/tu.../2014-11-05?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

 

[JSheridan]

Turner sounds conciliatory in that piece. Making Charlie look like the bad guy again. I hope they get a deal done soon.

 

[brejust]

What I see happening is movement of different channels to take the place of the removed channels. I do not see a price decrease coming. Maybe a price freeze might happen instead of the next scheduled increase. it would depend on the offset of the lost channels compared to the new contract increases.

That wouldn't be right though, I already see duplicate channels already in place of boomerang and cartoon channels. hmm

 

[brejust]

Turner replies.

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/tu.../2014-11-05?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

hmm "Obviously, when we take something down, we're prepared as a company to leave it down forever," Ergen said. "And fortunately or unfortunately, things like CNN are not quite the product that they used to be."
==============================
Well I am not quite the customer dish wants me to be either then lol. I say they have all these channels that is the spice of life. I am paying for the channels so I do want them, Charlie can have a nice big cup of stfu otherwise. :O)
*stfu=shut the f**k up *

 

[foghorn2]

Go ahead and drop TNT too, there nothing to watch on that channel now that they cancelled Dallas.

 

[orlyPR]

If cable/satellite really did start to permanently drop channel groups over rate disputes it would probably work, eventually the channel groups would have to adjust their pricing models to get back "on the air". Of course the problem has always been that eventually they work out a deal, and then move on to the next cable/sat company to bargain with. I think there is promise in Viacom. A lot of smaller systems dropped their channels and have not seen an exodus of subscribers, perhaps if a big company comes up next they will feel emboldened to drop them also, eventually forcing Viacom to cut their prices.

The problem of course is that individual subscribers do not want any pain of not having their favorite channels cut. There would have to be a lot of pain since a lot of cable/sat customers would have to go without channels to break the back of the channel groups.

In Puerto Rico Liberty cable tv drop all Viacom channels, the impact was minimal.

In my house we have Dish and Directv, My parents see TBS and TNT because have SAP in spanish. Like FX.

The bad side of this Dish's story is that next year (February?) will be raised the bill again. Will be decrease the bill as reward to remove the Turner channels?

 

[Scherrman]

Go ahead and drop TNT too, there nothing to watch on that channel now that they cancelled Dallas.

Falling Skies and The Last Ship are the only shows I ever watch on that channel.

 

[Ronnie-]

Falling Skies and The Last Ship are the only shows I ever watch on that channel.

Thats the only two for me as well, but considering my limited tv show viewing habits, that is half of my cable network show total (the other two are GOT and Walking Dead), so the loss would be significant if I went by that.

 

[Scherrman]

Thats the only two for me as well, but considering my limited tv show viewing habits, that is half of my cable network show total (the other two are GOT and Walking Dead), so the loss would be significant if I went by that.

They're both shows I can watch online though.

 

[KazooGuy]

I pulled the plug from DISH at the beginning of August. I has some consternation about a few of the things I was giving up to switch to OTA, I had found that what I had began watching was mostly Network programming, but I did like Justify, Archer and Sons of Anarchy. I did purchase a Roku and have very good Internet broadband speeds, so I made up my mind I would purchase those series I wanted to watch, Well, guys you would be surprised what you can find for free on Roku and the costs of the series thru a Roku app is not as much as a subscription to DISH, DIRECT or cable. In fact for the amount of a series subscription, to each of these programs, I will not have spent as I did for a single month I was paying for DISH. It is only television and I have found plenty to keep my viewing needs without DISH. I do have a monthly fee to Netflix, but I consider that a very good value.

 

[JTBenson]

hmm "Obviously, when we take something down, we're prepared as a company to leave it down forever," Ergen said. "And fortunately or unfortunately, things like CNN are not quite the product that they used to be."
==============================
Well I am not quite the customer dish wants me to be either then lol. I say they have all these channels that is the spice of life. I am paying for the channels so I do want them, Charlie can have a nice big cup of stfu otherwise. :O)
*stfu=shut the fu*k up *

I don't care if CNN ever comes back, but there is more to Turner than CNN. After ESPN and FS1, TCM is the one channel that is most important to me. Also, Turner is very big for the NCAA Tournament. I would probably get cable for those 3 weeks just for the tournament if Dish didn't have those channels.

And I personally don't plan to leave Dish for two huge reasons:
1. I have over 400 movies recorded on two EHD's. If I left Dish, I would access to them.
2. The Hopper is by far the best DVR I have ever seen anywhere. It is enough for me to stay with Dish through any dispute.

 

[PortlandChris]

Turner replies.

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/tu.../2014-11-05?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

This is all about three things: (1) forced bundling, (2) channel placement in which tier, and (3) the NBA contract.

Let's face it, costs go up, not everyone wants every channel and some of the lower viewed ones are good candidates to move out of 120, 200, and into 250. Finally, the new NBA contract is just way too excessive. Rates have to up to fund rich owners and players. I get that point. Players are already lining up to re-execute contracts or hold off on long term contracyts until the new TV deal kicks in.

The average consumer is just plain getting hosed here and Dish is pushing back. And it is good Dish is pushing back.