A service without ESPN? Surely you jest........Sorry, I have no interest in sports AT ALL. If you really want sports extras like MLB or NFL sunday ticket then you could always pay for DIRECTV to supplement your DISH programming or just switch entirely to DIRECTV. It would cost you about 29.99 a month to sub to the family pack but you would then be able to sub to the above premium sports packs.
I am tired of sports running up my bill every year and I am talking about ESPN extorting more money every year to keep them on the line up and for us to have access to ABC and W.Disney . High priced sports teams are what are driving the cost up for everyone in tv including cable and satellite. I am all for Charlie excluding these high priced whores from Dish if it means my bill won't go up.
I would feel the same about HD channels too. I felt this year that making everyone with AEP pay an extra 10.00 a month to have the hd pack was mass extortion too. This was DIsh's greed here that caused this price hike.
I do not want my bill going up so a few ,and I mean about 55,000 people , can watch baseball. Hell I think there were about 900,000 people who lost their distant networks and DISH made out just fine. They used another company like AMERICAN DIRECT to provide the distants on the same sat but they found a way. IN fact they added more subs this last quarter than expected, and even more than Directv did in the same quarter. So I don't think that losing this premium pack will matter much to them in the grand scheme of things.
Is it bad that Dish will lose the extra sports premiums ? Sure because it limits choice for the consumer. Is it great that Charlie recognizes that making everyone pay for the few, that want the sports and make everyone's bill go up , a bad thing? YES! I am all for someone trying to keep my bill down . I would love if ALL sports were pure ala carte and had no influence in the price of the programming packs. I mean full ala carte, not just the family pack that excludes them, but also excludes other choices.
Not to get anyones hopes up, but I just talked with one of my good insider contacts and he said "The game is not over yet."
Dont know what that means and he wouldn't talk any more about it then that. So again I sit here and wait for some final news on whats going on.
Scott, this just in:Let me add to my comments above.
I have NO PROBLEM with Dish Network telling Major League Baseball that their price is too high, and thanks but no thanks then walking away.
The problem I have is when they don't get their way (when the other company In Demand made a deal) they whine and say they are going to go to congress and bitch and moan there, when they had the opportunity to get the deal if they wanted it.
Come on Charlie, man up just say we didn't want to pay their prices. We can respect you for that, but knock of this BS of running to congress everytime you don't get a deal you want.
Thats my take on it.
I do not want my bill going up so a few ,and I mean about 55,000 people , can watch baseball.
This in itself is very sad as Charlie could do much better if he knew how to market.
Soon The NBA and NHL will be history.
I agree with Charlie on this one. IT makes NO SENSE for ALL the subscribers to bear the cost so the 1% who like baseball can get the MLB pack. THis is what differentiates Dish from Directv. They actually believe in ala carte and are the cheaper priced of the two. Directv is sports bent and they want it all and it costs lots of $$$$$$$ to get all those exclusive sports like NFL and now MLB. Let Directv customers bear the cost.
IF Directv wanted to be a real sports leader they wouldn't require all subs to carry a basic programming pack to receive the one or two sports packs that subs want. If they did let you sub to a sports pack without the basic programming pack , they would gain even more money from those who wanted to keep DISH or even CABLE and still use them for the one or two sports packs. At least Dish will allow you to sub to just about anything ala carte WITHOUT requiring a basic programming pack.
Well Charlie is smart he is launching the HD RSN's in areas where he does not have trouble getting a contract to cover baseball teams.
I Notice he is not trying to add MSG HD, FSN NY HD, SNY HD (assuming they exist of course) and no no one wants to add COMCAST MD now that they have no sports programing in the summer months.
Bill go up??? My DirecTV bill didn't go up when they signed the contract with MLB. My neighbor this afternoon just got EI through the cable company, and his bill didn't go up. As a matter of fact the cable company is selling the IE package for $159.00 and D* is selling it for $169.00.
Could the "Everyones bill go up" be someone blowing smoke XXXX again?
I do not want my bill going up so a few ,and I mean about 55,000 people , can watch baseball.
This in itself is very sad as Charlie could do much better if he knew how to market.
Soon The NBA and NHL will be history.