DISH Sues Networks

[osu1991]

Huh? Let's even use CBS as an example. Dish pays the local affiliate in every market <$1/month/subscriber. Just for the sake of argument, let's say they have 1 million subscribers. So Dish pays out $1 million dollars to various local stations each month. Now, make CBS a "normal" network (ESPN, Discovery, etc). Now CBS charges Dish $3-4/month/subscriber. Granted, the locals aren't getting the money now, but Dish is paying more. That sounds like a bargain to you?

E* and D* built out that "ridiculous infrastructure" because that's what they needed to be competitive with cable. Look at the infrastructure a cable operator needs... a physical cable to EVERY subscriber. Aren't both of those costs "part of doing business"? If the sats didn't offer locals, do you think they would have survived? And now people want the locals to go away. Be careful what you wish for.

They wouldn't need that infrastructure if they didn't have to provide the more than 1700 local signals as opposed to a cable system that only has to provide 4 or more local signals. If they only had to provide a national feed of each networks programming, then they would save a substantial amount of money not having to build, launch and maintain multiple spot beam satellites and the cost to get all those signals to the various uplink facilities. I think they would come out ahead if they were to pay the various networks $1-$4 each per subscriber instead of all of the costs involved in providing LiL.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

The real boom in DBS subscriber growth came when they added LiL. The locals are the most watched channels and people expect them from every provider. Dish & DIRECTV pretty much do not make any profit on them - between affiliate fees, backhaul and much more expensive satellites, it costs a ton to provide them. But, they would probably have less than half the subs they have now without locals.

Very true! Many of my family members would not be with satellite if locals were not provided. Before locals, one family member had Dish and left after they had trouble picking up locals OTA even with the NY locals (as they called them...not sure...may have been superstations). Today, they are back with Dish and happy especially with their locals. They do get upset when those local channel disputes come up.

 

[jansan]

The real boom in DBS subscriber growth came when they added LiL. The locals are the most watched channels and people expect them from every provider. Dish & DIRECTV pretty much do not make any profit on them - between affiliate fees, backhaul and much more expensive satellites, it costs a ton to provide them. But, they would probably have less than half the subs they have now without locals.

So true. Remember: a top show on the network draws over 12 million views. A top show on the cable networks draws 5 million viewers.

 

[sam_gordon]

They wouldn't need that infrastructure if they didn't have to provide the more than 1700 local signals as opposed to a cable system that only has to provide 4 or more local signals. If they only had to provide a national feed of each networks programming, then they would save a substantial amount of money not having to build, launch and maintain multiple spot beam satellites and the cost to get all those signals to the various uplink facilities. I think they would come out ahead if they were to pay the various networks $1-$4 each per subscriber instead of all of the costs involved in providing LiL.

I'm not so sure. Keep in mind networks fill ~12 hours per day. The locals fill the rest of that. So, where's the extra programming come from?

Where do you expect people to get local (live, late breaking!) news and weather from? Television stations DO save lives when it comes to severe weather.

Distant networks were available before LiL. There weren't a lot of people flocking to Dish/Direct then.

 

[osu1991]

Not everyone was able to get distants when Dish and Directv started.

12hrs of network, 6 hrs of paid programming infomercials, 2-3 hrs of syndicated talk BS and then the rest is repeats of the same news stories throughout the day. They're about as bad as ESPN repeating Sportscenter for 8hrs a day. Some of the independent stations or the sub channels will have more programming, but the major networks, not much.

My OPINION is the weather and news is BS. Our weathermen cry wolf at any weather alert. They break into programming for storm clouds anywhere from the Oklahoma Panhandle up into Kansas. Not to mention that most people are going to lose signal during storms and switch to OTA anyway if they really want to listen to the weather nuts, so still no loss for the sat companies. Most of the locals don't care about the network programming or the viewers anyway, once they preempt programming we are lucky if we get a quick 10 sec spot saying tough luck go to the network website tomorrow and watch the episode, because we are not going to preempt our infomercials to replay it. We rarely if ever get to watch season finales in the spring in their entirety because our weathermen feel the need to constantly interrupt programming.

I personally don't watch any of the syndicated programming and you can watch one half hour news segment and be good for the day. Put up national feeds and let them go dark when there isn't any programming being sent. I bet 90% of the viewers would be happy with it. If people really want local programming, then use an antenna because without network programming the locals aren't worth much anymore since most local sports have gone to cable or sat only channels and the news/weather is available 24/7 in some form via other sources.
.

 

[Jhon69]

I don't think that they could do that. I seem to remember the Government requiring them to cover a certain amount of the USA with their locals a few years ago.

I am sure DISH would love to drop all the locals, look how much space it would open up for other things.

With all drama going on about PTAT and AutoHop DISH may be on their way to do just that.

 

[CK SatGuy]

News Update from Variety

A New York federal judge has at least temporarily put the brakes on the broadcast networks' efforts to halt a Dish Network service that allows its customers to automatically skip through commercials. U.S. District Judge Laura T. Swain signed a temporary restraining order on Wednesday that prevents Fox, CBS and NBC from pursuing their litigation in a Los Angeles federal court at least until a July 2 hearing in her court.

N.Y. judge will make nets wait until July 2 AutoHop hearing - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety
EDIT: Better article: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/directv-autohop-lawsuit-fox-331112

 

[whitewolf8214]

A New York federal judge has at least temporarily put the brakes on the broadcast networks' efforts to halt a Dish Network service that allows its customers to automatically skip through commercials. U.S. District Judge Laura T. Swain signed a temporary restraining order on Wednesday that prevents Fox, CBS and NBC from pursuing their litigation in a Los Angeles federal court at least until a July 2 hearing in her court.

N.Y. judge will make nets wait until July 2 AutoHop hearing - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety
EDIT: Better article: New York Judge Halts Fox Lawsuit Over Dish Ad-Skipper (Exclusive) - Hollywood Reporter

Looks go so far and lets hope Dish wins this

 

[dangue]

I'm not sure this is a win per se. But it is a necessary step on the path to getting a jurisdictional win. And since competing court cases in different jurisdictions is a messy situation, it's likely that the CA courts will defer since the NY case was filed first. But, this really means nothing unless the NY judge assumes jurisdiction and makes the TRO permanent in July.

The more interesting question, how did Dish find out that Fox was going to file on that specific day such that they could out maneuver them by filing first? I have no doubt they had these filings ready to go before they even introduced the auto hop feature. But who tipped them off?

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Jhon69]

I'm not sure this is a win per se. But it is a necessary step on the path to getting a jurisdictional win. And since competing court cases in different jurisdictions is a messy situation, it's likely that the CA courts will defer since the NY case was filed first. But, this really means nothing unless the NY judge assumes jurisdiction and makes the TRO permanent in July.

The more interesting question, how did Dish find out that Fox was going to file on that specific day such that they could out maneuver them by filing first? I have no doubt they had these filings ready to go before they even introduced the auto hop feature. But who tipped them off?

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

I have no idea.::behindsofa::

 

[Jhon69]

So the early bird got the worm?yea 3 hours earlier,now we know why DISH filed in New York City.

 

[GaryPen]

So the early bird got the worm?yea 3 hours earlier,now we know why DISH filed in New York City.

That, and it's just plain better than L.A.

 

[Rolling Joe]

So true. Remember: a top show on the network draws over 12 million views. A top show on the cable networks draws 5 million viewers.

Things are changing. Here's a press release from the History Channel: HISTORY's 'Hatfields & McCoys' Becomes the Number 1 Non-Sports Telecast in Ad Supported Cable History.

New York, NY, May 29, 2012 – The debut of the HISTORY’s HATFIELDS & MCCOYS, which premiered on Memorial Day and continues tonight and Wednesday (9-11pm ET/10c) becomes the #1 non-sports telecast in ad supported cable television history, with over 13.9 million total viewers, 5.8 million adults 25-54 and 4.8 million Adults 18-49 (based on Nielsen’s fast cable ratings). Over 17 million people watched both the premiere and encore telecast last night.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Things are changing. Here's a press release from the History Channel: HISTORY's 'Hatfields & McCoys' Becomes the Number 1 Non-Sports Telecast in Ad Supported Cable History.

That's a refreshing change! Maybe other channels can follow suit!

 

[yelraek]

Good show. I DVRed it and skipped through the commercials.

 

[Tampa8]

Not at all surprised. Unlike many "critics" I have always liked Kevin Costner, and Bill Paxton was great for the role opposite him. Really enjoyed the mini-series. We watched the first night live, the second and third recorded and skipped through most commercials.

 

[KAB]

Yes, great show...not having anything to do with the title thread, though.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

And Charlie just might not be to blame if the television business dies...

Don't Mean To Be Alarmist, But The TV Business May Be Starting To Collapse - Business Insider

 

[gpflepsen]

And Charlie just might not be to blame if the television business dies...

Don't Mean To Be Alarmist, But The TV Business May Be Starting To Collapse - Business Insider

The cost of traditional pay TV will have to drop--users will have to get more for less, or they'll stop paying for much at all. I might value the TV content we get through our cable company at $20 a month--about 1/5th of what we pay for it. Eventually, as soon as I can figure out ways to get the few sports I watch another way, we'll stop paying the $100.

Read more: Don't Mean To Be Alarmist, But The TV Business May Be Starting To Collapse - Business Insider

One of the drivers for having a fat DISH bill every month is the quality of video (HD) that I can't get anywhere else and the content such as sports and HBO type original programming.

There's not a lot to strongly object to in the above article.

 

[jerryez]

Why don't all the cable and sat providers just drop all the locals and then they would not have any audience. Probably 95% of all customers get there locals thru cable or sat. USA,TNT, and other cable nets are providing programing that is equal to or better than what we can get from the local four. Not even the BIG four any longer. They are the small four. With 300 sat and cable channels, who needs them. If they went out of business today, other cable nets would grab up their programing especially sports. Local channels are becoming obsolete. If the government wasn't protecting them, they would have been gone by now and we could be watching all four on a national HD feed.