Note to Viacom and Dish Network!

[blackarrow]

How about reading a good book? My mind's eye provides some awesome HD!!! No commercials either!
Screw Viacom!!!!

'Reminds me of a couple of my favorite Groucho Marx lines. Something like:

"TV is very educational. When someone turns it on I go read a book."

and

"A book is a man's best friend outside of a dog. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

Very best regards,
Charles (eastern Oklahoma)

 

[normang]

Come on Dish and Viacom - why does the consumer always have to suffer because of both of your greediness?

I don't see Dish as the greedy one, I think Dish is trying to save you some $$.. Viacom is the greedy one and it has to stop, the rate increases are ridiculous. The only reason Viacom is pointing at D* or Cable is because they already sucked up and bent over..

 

[btbrossard]

I don't see Dish as the greedy one, I think Dish is trying to save you some $$.. Viacom is the greedy one and it has to stop, the rate increases are ridiculous. The only reason Viacom is pointing at D* or Cable is because they already sucked up and bent over..

It is hard to not see Dish as greedy -

They remove all the Viacom channels and in return you bill goes down by $1. How can Charles lose?

I went with Dish network because they had the programming I want (childrens shows) at a reasonable price. What good is a reasonable price if they don't have the programming I want?

/Benjamin

 

[tomes]

Well, this sucks...

I just got Dish two weeks ago, after dumping D*, and this is what happens?

My wife already hates the way the Epg works, and I don't know what to tell her about losing CBS, Comedy Central, all the music channels etc....

If these channels aren't back in two weeks time, I'm hoping there is some way to get out of my contract with Dish, considering many of the channels I watch the most disappear...

I understand what Dish is trying to do, but they can try to tell the mrs....

PS: I only have a tableantenna, and cannot receive cbs ota in hd or analog, so I'm really screwed...What are the qualifications for getting remote cbs? (i'm in the chicago area...)

 

[htvdo]

I don't see Dish as the greedy one, I think Dish is trying to save you some $$.. Viacom is the greedy one and it has to stop, the rate increases are ridiculous. The only reason Viacom is pointing at D* or Cable is because they already sucked up and bent over..

Exactly, if Viacom wins this one, they will be free to do the same to D* or any cable company in the land. It may not be this year or even the next but everyone's subscription costs will go up up up! There are too many big media conglomerates now and we don't want them to think they are running things.

 

[btbrossard]

Exactly, if Viacom wins this one, they will be free to do the same to D* or any cable company in the land. It may not be this year or even the next but everyone's subscription costs will go up up up! There are too many big media conglomerates now and we don't want them to think they are running things.

DirecTV just finished negotiating a long term contract with Viacom. DirecTV rates didn't go up 40%.

/Benjamin

 

[SignGuyDino]

What's all the big fuss about Viacom? I don't even need Viacom.

I watch nothing but the HD Demo Channel anyway....

:shocked

 

[jeffwtux]

DirecTV just finished negotiating a long term contract with Viacom. DirecTV rates didn't go up 40%.

/Benjamin

This is more of the reason to give a fair reimbursement, not a $1 insult for the lose or 7 channels. We want to be on Dish's side. They should be the good guy in this. THEY ARE THE VICTIM HERE(WELL RETAILERS ARE THE ULTIMATE VICTIM), but with a $1 insult they are making themselves the villain not the victim. This is an insult. They have made the $1 credit the story and not the Viacom interruption and are playing right into Viacom's hand.

 

[snathanb]

If the contract has expired... then E* is no longer paying Viacom anything. I am sure E* was paying a h*ll of a lot more than $1 per sub for Viacoms channels.

So... in the short term... is E* profiting from the Viacom stalemate?

 

[MikeD-C05]

Wouldn't it be ironic if Viacom ended up buying out Charlie and then they would own Dish Network? Look at the long legal battle with GemStar and the TV Guide channel. They settled this and we now will have the TV GUide channel so it wouldn't surprise me to see Viacom just buy out Charlie and then Viacom would get what it wants. Charlie did say either he would be writing a check to some company or being paid to go down the road. Either way Dish will not last much longer as an independent- go it along company , in this time of verticle intergration with all the media conglomerates.

 

[raj2001]

Now you guys know why people were against the DirecTV/Echostar merger! As long as there are two providers, there is always a choice, and the consumer wins.

 

[nes]

Always remember all the choices we have to choose from besides Dish Network. Some of the choices are DirecTV, Voom, Cable, DVD, VCR, Over the Air, Radio, CD, Internet and simply spending more time talking with our family, friends and relatives.

I do not have that option. If I try to cancel because I haven't had my service a year, I am subject to a cancellation fee. I feel this is unfair. If they cannot offer the channels I want I feel I should have the option of switching providers.

 

[fv3]

Time for forced unbundling

Scott, I feel your pain. The only good things that hopefully could come out of this are a legally mandated separation of contracts for broadcast signals and cable networks, and a favorable revision and reauthorization of the SHVIA. My kids like Spongebob too, but I also have the TV remote. If my kids start whining about the loss of Nickelodeon I can just shut the TV off until they stop.

Actually, I believe the only thing that will solve this problem is forced unbundling of ALL channels over cable and satellite. Everything a la carte.

As an example, Viacom is able to hold Dish hostage to price increases becuase they negotiate all the Viacom channels as a unit. And they TELL Dish, DirecTV, and the cable operators which channel goes in what package (MTV, etc. in the Basic package, for example)

And then Viacom, Disney, and the others can turn around and tell their advertisers "we have umpitty-ump million subscribers" when the truth is not every subscriber to the service will necessarily tune into that channel.

Disney/ABC pulled the same game with Time Warner either last year or the year before, I forget, and several markets lost their local ABC O&O affiliate via cable for a few days.

As the final consumer, I should be able to choose exactly the set of channels I am subscribed to no matter what the service, and not be forced to pay for channels I have no interest in watching.

Contact the FCC commisioners about getting this unbundling idea rolling!

 

[BobMurdoch]

They remove all the Viacom channels and in return you bill goes down by $1. How can Charles lose?


/Benjamin

You're kidding right? He pays $500 to acquire a new subscriber and you think he can't lose if they bail?

This statement is like the ones where some think we went to Iraq to keep oil prices low (have you SEEN oil prices lately?)

Viacom has stated that they want to raise the prices .06 or 5%. That means that the CBS and Viacom basic channels cost a combined $1.20 if you believe Viacom. He's giving you $2 back. I don't think we can fault him there. If you think that he should have caved and paid whatever they asked, then I hope you remember that next February before complaining about the NEXT price increase.......

 

[Allamand]

To me its all politics, and maybe we should give DISH more credit for taking a stand. Sure, they just increased there rates, but I think these company's that "bundle" their channels is BULL! The FCC needs to step in here and either make some laws or change them.

I could always jump ship to DTV, but to me I'll take the stand with Dish. Hopefully out of all this BS something good will come to the customers.

I would love to only pay for and get the channels I want, not what the BIG companys want to market. A on demand channel of networks WE pick....


I can only dream..

 

[btbrossard]

You're kidding right? He pays $500 to acquire a new subscriber and you think he can't lose if they bail?

This statement is like the ones where some think we went to Iraq to keep oil prices low (have you SEEN oil prices lately?)

Viacom has stated that they want to raise the prices .06 or 5%. That means that the CBS and Viacom basic channels cost a combined $1.20 if you believe Viacom. He's giving you $2 back. I don't think we can fault him there. If you think that he should have caved and paid whatever they asked, then I hope you remember that next February before complaining about the NEXT price increase.......

I have never complained about a rate increase Bob. Dish could raise their rates $2/month today to settle this and I would not complain. If you look historically at Dish network, the rates (and increases) have been artificially low for years to attract subscribers.

[Off Topic thanks to Bob] I also would like to point out that anyone who complains about gas prices is out of their flurcking mind (not you, just people in general). Gas prices have remained low for years. If you include inflation, we pay the equivalent or less now than we did in the 70's and 80's. Prices go up and that is an undeniable fact of life. [/Off Topic thanks to Bob]

I also think that it is naive if people think that Charlie only pays $1 for the Viacom channels. I would have to guess that figure to be anywhere from $3 to $4.50/month per subscriber (NOT including CBS). If that figure went up 40% OVER THE LIFE OF THE CONTRACT, one could argue that that is not bad. If they went up 40% THIS YEAR, that would be a little steep.

The least Charlie can do is offer a fair rebate on programming that subscribers are no longer receiving. My point of my original post was that a $1 rebate on the Viacom cable networks is a kick in the pants to subscribers.

/Benjamin (I hope this gets resolved quickly so my kids can continue to rot their brains out while watching Jimmy Neutron) Brossard

 

[BobMurdoch]

According to Viacom, they say they only want a 5% increase for .06 for everything.

That works out to a programming cost of $1.20 before an increase for CBS and Viacom Basic channels. Charlie is giving you $2 back. This doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Then again, this assumes that Viacom is not out and out lying about the percentage increase. In which case, I'll take back my argument.

I'm personally hoping Congress will turn on Viacom instead of Dish Network (precedent doesn't bode well however..... Time Warner Cable took all of the heat against Disney a few years back when they tried to fight the exact same extortion attempt). With Janet Jackson, MTV, and the huge cultural lurch to the right, I'm hoping they get to pile on Viacom as payback for the Vegas show that broke out at halftime.

I agree with you on the gas prices. I paid what I do now in 1984 when the last big price runup happened. I was merely pointing out that you can't have it both ways by decrying both price increases and tough negotiating at the same time. A strong negotiator has to walk away from the table sometimes.

 

[Petemc11]

I agree normang.Scott's vulgar pictures demean this website and would not be taken seriously by any corporation or CEO.Lets try to keep this a bit more professional.

 

[bcshields]

I agree normang.Scott's vulgar pictures demean this website and would not be taken seriously by any corporation or CEO.Lets try to keep this a bit more professional.

some people need to buy a sense of humor...

maybe since Comedy central's gone we have nothing to laugh at.

I'm headed off to the joke forum

 

[John W]

How about reading a good book? My mind's eye provides some awesome HD!!! No commercials either!
Screw Viacom!!!!

Maybe we should have a book forum here also. It may be kind of nice to get others opinions on books before I buy that hardcover from Barnes & Noble. Also suggested reading on our favorite subject, Satellite TV!