DISH Network Reports First Quarter 2010 Financial Results?

[Scott Greczkowski]

That remains to be seen. I can't see it happening with Disney/ESPN.

ESPN offers an IPTV service now. But you can only get it if you are subscribed to a broadband service which has a package deal with ESPN

[ame="http://espn.go.com/espn3/index"]Watch Live Streaming Sports Online: 2010 FIFA World Cup & More[/ame]

 

[lakebum431]

If espn and all of the abc series of channels were dropped, that would be suicide for dish! While you might not want it, there are plenty of others who do!

Totally agree Bob. There is no way they could continue to be a major provider missing all of these channels. Especially when you consider how far reaching the ABC/Disney family of channels really really is.

 

[Roxor]

Dish dropping ESPN/Disney is as likely as the world coming to an end on 12/21/2012. Who in their right mind would kill a cash cow?

 

[riffjim4069]

Overall, a pretty solid quarter for Dish Network...

 

[nelson61]

Overall, a pretty solid quarter for Dish Network...

Even better for Echostar and their Dish Mexico business with over 25 million in new box sales in the first quarter not related to the original deal. Probably something like 160,000 boxes at $150/box for the quarter. Looking at these numbers, one can understand why Directv said in their quarterly presentation that latin america satellite business would likely be bigger than north america within 10 years.

 

[pinner45]

NO ESPN? Surely you jest!

 

[jbrooks987]

internet tv will eventually force the de bundling of channels........

I seriously doubt that! You'll see some hefty prices for those services.

 

[Awohar]

We cannot predict with any degree of certainty the outcome of the suit or determine the extent of any potential liability or damages.

I'm no sports bettor but when a team is like 0-7, I'm not gonna wager any money that we'll see them in the playoffs anytime soon.

 

[Lifterguy]

I seriously doubt that! You'll see some hefty prices for those services.

I'm not yet convinced that IPTV will force the unbundling of cable channels, but I can see the scenario under which this could happen. Here's how:

-Content providers continue to push up the price of basic cable / satellite by overpaying for programming (sport in particular) and then passing along the higher costs to subscribers. Right now, the basic cable services (including Over-The-Air channels) are scrambling to grab more subscriber money as advertising revenues decline.
-More people (especially younger people) decide they can live without cable / satellite, as they are already getting all the information / entertainment they need from the web. (This is also already happening - an NPR story this week focused on people who have dumped cable in favor of getting content on-line.)

If this trend accelerates (and that's a very big IF) cable / satellite revenues start to decline (from both subscribers and advertisers) and rates go up again for the people left behind. This either starts a downward spiral that kills off the weakest cable, satellite and content providers and/or it causes an outraged public to petition congress to force the unbundling of channels so that viewers will only have to pay for the content they want.

While I think it would be suicide for Dish to drop ESPN, I would like to see legislation that would allow cable providers to decide how they want to bundle channels instead of allowing them to be held hostage by content providers like ABC / Disney who currently dictate the decisions about how channels will be bundled. That would allow Dish (and other companies) to put ESPN (and other expensive channels) in a higher tier, where it belongs, and allow non-sports fans to select a lower priced tier of channels if they prefer not to feed the ESPN pig.