Lifetime Ala Carte?

[Stargazer]

Oh well, waiting to see what channel(s) get dropped next. There are limits as to how much they can raise the rates with exceptance of the consumers. There are also limits to how many channels can be dropped while remaining the same price as your competition that has those channels.

 

[samatha6]

Oh well, waiting to see what channel(s) get dropped next. There are limits as to how much they can raise the rates with exceptance of the consumers. There are also limits to how many channels can be dropped while remaining the same price as your competition that has those channels.

I agree. Charlies argument really does not hold up when you count that in. From what I can see, after Dishes' and DTV price hikes this year.. the cost is very close. Although in my case, having a 322 receiver will save me money on leased equipment over DTV. But if I only had the one 322 (I also have an 811HD) I could go to DTV through my phone company and it would be a wash. I guess Charlie knows most people won't switch over liftetime... But what he forgets is the new subscribers.. I think this lifetime or lack of is really going to bite him in new subs. Especially since OLN never came back as well.. And now this year, comcast also added LMN.

I was thinking that since comcast did not carry LMN, lifetime movie network would have really hurt in viewers if Dish dropped them.. But now that comcast picked them up... I don't think they will be any worse off then they are now.. they might even pick up some viewers. I think in the long run, Charlie might have to give in to lifetime in their demands.. I did not think this before. But after just seeing that comcast picked up LMN.. dish just lost alot of leverage.

 

[kvhollis]

But I like the idea... wish I could a la carte ESPN too!

Me too! What a waste of my money.

 

[boogerbear]

Nielsen site interesting

I was curoius about how Lifetime shows and Lifetime movies ranked within Nielsen. Now I know there are many discussions about how accurate Nielsen's ratings are but I do know this after looking over last week's numbers,
if SpongeBob, WWE, or football was off of Dish, I see a major mass exodus to somewhere else.

 

[TNGTony]

Why do you think the Viacomm thing was settled so fast? Dish and Viacom both suffered but Dish took it on the chin that week.

See ya
Tony

 

[boogerbear]

New channel

New channel on 197, not sure who can get it. I seriously doubt it is a replacement for Lifetime, but it is the Documentary Channel. I love documentaries, so I am very happy. I also know I am in the minority. I hope the content is good. Watching a doc on David Bowie right now.
:yikes

 

[TBarclay]

Apparently it's a replacement for PBS-You which ceased operations for money reasons. Dish has to have a certain number of Public Interest channels.

 

[jeffwtux]

Maybe they are coming to their senses that a few extra bucks from Lifetime Real Women isn't worth all this hastle.

 

[maximum]

Lifetime should have accepted Charlie's ala carte offer. If they did, it would put pressure on all programmers to do the same thing. What does Lifetime have to lose? Better to get a few more viewers watching their ads plus subscription fees than lower revenue from ads because 12 million people don't even have the ability to watch.

 

[samatha6]

Lifetime should have accepted Charlie's ala carte offer. If they did, it would put pressure on all programmers to do the same thing. What does Lifetime have to lose? Better to get a few more viewers watching their ads plus subscription fees than lower revenue from ads because 12 million people don't even have the ability to watch.

They have alot to lose.. They just added LMN on comcasts systems this year. Thats a huge carriage contract.. much bigger then the one with Dish.. If they go for Dishes' deal.. then DTV and Comcast would demand equal rates.. So when DTV's contract was up for renewal., they would say.. hey, we want to do a la carte like dish did!! A la carte is used very rarely.. Don't expect any content provider to cave in so easily. This is just a ploy from Charlie to get the attention from the FCC and congress.. But then I am not sure even Charlie would want a la carte across the board either.. Somebody mentioned in another thread that Charlie testified in congress that a la carte would not make economic sense. And when you look at his new HD bundles coming out next month, those HD rates are going WAY UP!! He is adding a ton of HD content.. forcing the viewer to pay more for more channels with no a la carte options. Dish and DTV also just came up with the new family plan bundles... which are aimed at those that wanted a la carte for those that wanted to remove offensive material for children. These brand new bundles are generated for one purpose.. to take the heat of having to provide a la carte across the board.

I just want to be honest about this whole thing.. basically both Lifetime and Dish are playing games.. Lifetime with there stupid smear campaign saying Dish does not support women etc.. and Charlie doing this weird variation of a la carte that no content provider would ever do.. The fact is, Charlie knows 100% that Lifetime will not accept the last agreement.. He knows this.. So is Charlie working in our interests to get these channels back? No. This is his way to kill the deal and make himself look good.. but in the end, the channels are gone.

If these companies really cared about giving us these channels back, they would go back to the table, like adults and not like children.. and work out a fair carriage.
They will both probably need to compromise at this point.. The one contention that I have is that Dish should not have to be forced to add the third new channel.. I think the FCC should make a rule making it illegal to make cable/dbs companies to add channels everytime carriage is up for renewal.. We got enough channels already!!

 

[jeffwtux]

The one contention that I have is that Dish should not have to be forced to add the third new channel.. I think the FCC should make a rule making it illegal to make cable/dbs companies to add channels everytime carriage is up for renewal.. We got enough channels already!!

Well, that's all I'm saying. Lifetime isn't being honest at all about this. Eventually, this will make other broadcasters think twice before planning their business around forcing cable/dbs companies to pay for additional channels.

 

[boogerbear]

What upsets me.

On Lifetime's website they are still posting this letter.

Dear Eric,

Thank you for your letter of yesterday.

We stand by our position that Lifetime, the #1 women's network, should be available to all DISH subscribers, without an extra à la carte charge.

Should EchoStar wish at any time in the future to restore Lifetime to its previous package at reasonable rates, please be assured that Lifetime remains open to your offers.

— Louise

Lifetime knew before they posted this that Dish made it officially clear that there is no extra charge per customer. I can understand using the media to your advantage, but in my opinion this is an out and out lie. Granted I know Dish never expected Lifetime to ever take them up on this offer, but between Lifetime saying Dish has no respect for women, and just out and out lying, I am disgusted with Lifetime. Dish is treating Lifetime no differently then they treated OLN(I think that is the right name). I am a big girl and I understand that in most business deals lying might be considered regular business, but I hope I never get that greedy, and lose what morals I do have.
!sadroll
(I am not saying Dish is a saint here, but I do think they are being more business like.)

 

[boogerbear]

News article from Mulitchannel.com

Dish-Lifetime Spat Could Be Costly
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Linda Moss
1/27/2006 9:00:00 PM
With EchoStar Communications Corp. threatening to permanently drop Lifetime Television from its Dish Network direct-broadcast satellite lineup as of midnight Tuesday, the two parties have resumed discussions in hopes of resolving their bitter monthlong dispute.

Talks between the two parties broke down Sunday, Jan. 22. But Lifetime and EchoStar each said Friday that they were having ongoing conversations as they confronted the possible repercussions of a permanent breakup: Each side could lose millions of dollars from lost subscriptions, program-licensing fees and advertising revenue.

If the brouhaha -- which began on New Year’s Day -- isn’t settled soon, the women’s programmer will lose roughly 12 million Dish subscribers from its base of 89.5 million. That could cost Lifetime tens of millions of dollars per year in license fees and ad revenues.

EchoStar, for its part, could see a greater number of subscriber losses each month.

Beyond subscriber losses, EchoStar has already taken a hit in the wallet over Lifetime. The DBS provider recently reached a retransmission-consent deal with Lifetime’s corporate cousin, Hearst-Argyle Television Inc.

Previously, deals for carriage of Lifetime and the Hearst stations were tied together. But this go-around, EchoStar negotiated a separate deal with Hearst, reducing Lifetime’s leverage.

EchoStar paid dearly for that split-off: It agreed to pay 45 cents per month for those subscribers who receive the local Hearst channels. That license will cost EchoStar $11 million per year, according to Bear, Stearns & Co.

As it stands, EchoStar has already permanently replaced Lifetime spinoff Lifetime Movie Network with another women’s channel, Oxygen. That move alone means a few million dollars of lost revenue per year for parent Lifetime Entertainment Services.

Estimating that the flagship Lifetime channel gets a licensing fee of 20 cents per subscriber, the loss of Dish distribution could translate to roughly $29 million in lost revenue for the year. According to one cable operator’s calculations, getting dropped from Dish is costing Lifetime $200,000 per day.


website is
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6302742.html?display=Breaking+News

I wanted to post it before it disappeared. Going to bed now, night.

 

[lakebum431]

Wow, $200k per day. You would think they would be working a little harder to get this worked out.

 

[mike123abc]

200k/day is only the sub cost. They lose a *LOT* more money by not being able to sell 12 million viewers to advertizers. Ads are sold via gross rating points. If you lose 15% of your viewers, you also lose 15%+ of your ad revenue.

 

[Stargazer]

If Dish gives in then it could lead to a lot of other popular channels demanding rate increases as well. If Dish does not give in then this means that their competition DirecTv will offer the dropped channels in their packages for the same price. Either way it looks bad.

 

[boogerbear]

Just a crazy question here

Lets say Dish and Lifetime never kiss and make up. Next time that Lifetime goes to negotiate with Directv, or some cable company, won't they have a harder time of asking for more money???? Won't their product be worth less? "If Dish did not care enough to pay high prices for your product why should we????"

 

[cablewithaview]

Lets say Dish and Lifetime never kiss and make up. Next time that Lifetime goes to negotiate with Directv, or some cable company, won't they have a harder time of asking for more money???? Won't their product be worth less? "If Dish did not care enough to pay high prices for your product why should we????"

a few more days and we will find out for sure what comes of all this. This could cause a trend when Lifetime and another provider starts to renegotiate for sure. Lifetime can lose only so much before they really start to hurt. If others start threatening and carrying out the threats of dropping them, then maybe programmers will start to rethink there future as well. This may cause a decrease in prices, but will provider decrease if programmers do? That's a thought.

 

[samatha6]

a few more days and we will find out for sure what comes of all this. This could cause a trend when Lifetime and another provider starts to renegotiate for sure. Lifetime can lose only so much before they really start to hurt. If others start threatening and carrying out the threats of dropping them, then maybe programmers will start to rethink there future as well. This may cause a decrease in prices, but will provider decrease if programmers do? That's a thought.

Its all about leverage.. Like that article said...Charlie did a separate cash deal to split the hearst locally owned stations from lifetime. What this means is lifetime/hearst can't threaten Dish to turn off their local stations if they don't do what they want.. that is carriage for all three lifetime stations. Charlie paid 11 million to Hearst to split their locals.. Why would he do that? So he can play hardball with lifetime. I doubt he is going to pay 11 million and then just give lifetime whatever they want... Charlie planned this.

I think this won't start trends in every case.. It just depends on the carriage and how its bound to other channels.. and also how popular those channels are. For ESPN, Charlie would have a rough time shutting that channel down.. its also tied to lots of Disney stuff. So overall, I see extortion and blackmail continuing. I think Charlie is going to get a return on that 11 million no matter what at this point.. That is he will get a good deal with lifetime or will just save money not carrying them. But he definitely will not cave at this point.. Not after paying 11 million to beef up his leverage.

Personally, I don't think we will ever see a decrease in prices with the bundling model. If we had true a la carte across the board.. it would be a possibility. The best I can hope for is a slow down in hikes. They have to stop adding channels as well. Adding channels will always drive costs up. I think Charlie is trying hard to limit the amount of channels in the AT bundles to keep prices under control. But the HD bundles are going the wrong direction as far as bundling and prices.

 

[CPanther95]

It won't transfer to other providers - unless all providers decide to play hard ball. There's no reason to think they would resist Lifetime if there haven't been issues up to this point. The fact that E* isn't carrying them isn't motivation to drop them - if anything, it's a competitive advantage to keep them in the lineup. Cable still has to worry about D* and vice versa.