OFFICIAL DISH / FOX ORDEAL DISCUSSION THREAD

[Mike_H]

Probably the Big connection between Dish and News corp is Charlie Ergan and Rupert Murdock was the partnership that ended in a lawsuit and Charlie forcing Murdoch to hand over control of significant satellite assets in 1998.
Charlie Ergen 1953? Biography - Stormy beginnings, A gambler personality, Ergen versus murdoch, Sources for further information

In 1998 Ergen sued Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation for $5 million when Murdoch backed out of a merger in 1997 between Murdoch's ASkyB satellite service and Ergen's company. Ergen eventually forced News Corporation to turn over satellite assets after alleging misconduct by Murdoch regarding the planned merger. That year probably marked the beginning of Ergen's long-standing public feud with Murdoch.

Yet I definitely don't have a feel that this is a Charlie vs Robert thing. this is Fox networks making a play to grow revenues at a point in time where creators and licensor's of television programming are continuing to see a loss in revenue. Fox is trying to do this very aggressively on the back of what they feel is valuable programming.
On the other end you have Dish Network, a company that recently went through their own aggressive revenue protection (increased fees, increased programming costs), basically pushing it as far as they felt they could get by with. That left them with limited room for unexpected programming increases. Accepting such increases that FOX has offered will put Dish in a dangerous position. Since dish already estimated customer tolerance and pushed it they risk revenue losses from customers leaving, or decreasing programming further if they have to increase customer costs further.

 

[whatchel1]

Why is the media making a bigger deal out of Cablevision losing Fox rather than Dish? After all Cablevision only has 3 million subs compared to dish's 14 million subs. You'd have thought they'd be talking about Dish long before Cablevision lost Fox.

Ron

They aren't anymore. The story made the ABC national news tonight. Sports Fans Ensnared in Fox, Cablevision Rate Duel - ABC News I figure the site will download the video over night. I does talking about Fox's plans to pull the stations from 14 m E* viewers on Nov. 1.

 

[jonesy99]

Whos next? comcast? charter? time warner? .......

 

[Mo Fly]

DirecTV may not at this time be still under control with News Corp but there is still a clear reference which is what I was pointing out. But truth is we are letting FOX push us around, Dish is standing up, so I think its time we stand up.

i understand the sentiment. i really do. but you're talking about a tempest in a teapot. what percentage of dish customers even know this website exists? 1%, 5%? even if you got everyone on this website to "take a stand", it wouldn't have any impact. bottom line is people are going to jump ship in droves if dish doesn't fix this thing quick.

 

[bforce]

182 pages and over 1800 posts with no end in sight.

....and alot of people posting the same thing about every three pages, over and over again. I try my best to skip the BS to a post that still might possibly have some useful info....lol. (and I just added to the pile of useless posts!!)

 

[tomcrown1]

Who cares it is only tv folks.

 

[SpaethCo]

Who cares it is only tv folks.

If it's really no big deal and you don't care that your money actually buys you something, how about you send me some cash?

 

[RedWings]

Who cares it is only tv folks.

If it is only TV, why do you frequent this message board which is about....well....TV. I think everyone here looks at this as important.

 

[jimdandyvi]

The various networks and programmers are getting greedy. If they kill the cable companies and satellite companies how are they going to get their programming to the viewer?

For instance ESPN is in over 70+ million homes in a hundred a fifty countries in fifteen languages. In addition to the roughly $5.00 per head they collect for every cable and satellite subscriber they sell $441 million in advertising.

While the technology is such that they could deliver all their programming using the internet could ESPN (Fox) generate nearly the revenue stream they have today? How many homes would be willing to pay $15 - $25 a month each for a family of Fox or ESPN channels?

While losing sports on the satellites would hurt those companies the cable companies are probably almost indifferent. They would still make money selling you the high speed internet connection on which they have an 85% gross profit margin vs. 50% on video. If the cable companies dropped both Fox and ESPN they could reduce their basic rate by $15 - $20 per month. This would be very popular with non sports fanatics and attract additional subscribers.

Without the revenue stream from 70+ million subs ESPN and other sports networks would not have the money to continue paying huge rights fees to leagues and teams.

All the stake holders better figure this out before all of their business models fall apart. There is a limit to what people will pay for sports and if Congress is forced to get involved and mandates ala carte offerings for all channels then that is the end of ESPN as we know it. It will become a niche channel. FOX and everyone else will have to sell themselves just like HBO and Showtime.

Jim

 

[freeman543]

I think when my bill hit $100 is when I said this is getting ridiculous. I don't feel sorry for any of theses companies. In a downed economy they should be thanking all of us for our support. Dish just offered me a new SD receiver for being a loyal customer......wow and they know I only have HD receivers for the last 2 years. Are they trying to down grade me to SD because when all the dust clears I will not be able to afford HD? I take it as an insult as I pay my $100.

 

[RedWings]

I think when my bill hit $100 is when I said this is getting ridiculous. I don't feel sorry for any of theses companies. In a downed economy they should be thanking all of us for our support. Dish just offered me a new SD receiver for being a loyal customer......wow and they know I only have HD receivers for the last 2 years. Are they trying to down grade me to SD because when all the dust clears I will not be able to afford HD? I take it as an insult as I pay my $100.

I agree 100%

At over $100/mth for their service, I expect uninterrupted programming and the "We can change programming at anytime" should be thrown out. We are paying A LOT of money for TV.

It is 100% greed when you say you can change your programming at anytime yet the subscriber can't leave whenever they want to without paying a fine.

I wish an ala carte provider would emerge and put these old school providers out of business. Offer some packages like they do now, but also allow for people to build their own plan. This will also eliminate the 'filler' channels we have to skip past that Dish/Direct show in order to increase their # of HD channels figure.

 

[chuckster_dude]

Are they trying to down grade me to SD because when all the dust clears I will not be able to afford HD? I take it as an insult as I pay my $100.

But HD is on DISH is FREE, always will be......that's what the commercials say.

 

[jonesy99]

If it is only TV, why do you frequent this message board which is about....well....TV. I think everyone here looks at this as important.

It's only as important as you make it. If you're a couch potato tv addict it's probably more important than if you consider the evening news the extent of your tv watching.

 

[IcEWoLF]

They aren't anymore. The story made the ABC national news tonight. Sports Fans Ensnared in Fox, Cablevision Rate Duel - ABC News I figure the site will download the video over night. I does talking about Fox's plans to pull the stations from 14 m E* viewers on Nov. 1.

That made it to CNN as a breaking news....

 

[RedWings]

It's only as important as you make it. If you're a couch potato tv addict it's probably more important than if you consider the evening news the extent of your tv watching.

It isn't just about the TV, it is about getting what you paid for.

Fox Sports Networks are very important to a lot of people because their local sports teams play on that station. To these people, Sports may be the only thing that they watch. So they sign a 2 year agreement and then 1 year down the line the network is now pulled. So this person is stuck paying for a service yet not receiving the programming he was told they could provide. That is 100% bullsh*t.

I don't care if it is Dish Network, Fox, or both. Dish Network is charging us for a service so they should be handling issues with their suppliers behind the scenes. Dragging your customers into this is ridiculous.

If DirecTv didn't require a 2 yr agreement, I would jump ship this week. I really don't want to fork out $200 to switch plus a 2 year agreement. Then I'm stuck wondering if they'll pull the same stuff Dish is with raising rates and losing important channels. This business model is old and busted.

 

[GoWulfpack919]

It isn't just about the TV, it is about getting what you paid for.

Fox Sports Networks are very important to a lot of people because their local sports teams play on that station. To these people, Sports may be the only thing that they watch. So they sign a 2 year agreement and then 1 year down the line the network is now pulled. So this person is stuck paying for a service yet not receiving the programming he was told they could provide. That is 100% bullsh*t.

I don't care if it is Dish Network, Fox, or both. Dish Network is charging us for a service so they should be handling issues with their suppliers behind the scenes. Dragging your customers into this is ridiculous.

If DirecTv didn't require a 2 yr agreement, I would jump ship this week. I really don't want to fork out $200 to switch plus a 2 year agreement. Then I'm stuck wondering if they'll pull the same stuff Dish is with raising rates and losing important channels. This business model is old and busted.

agree. As I told the CSR when I canceled yesterday, if you are going to pull programing then you at the very least need to reduce my bill. Especially for those under contract.

 

[meStevo]

Awesome, lol - Razor's Quest To Drop Dish - Dallas Stars - Tickets

 

[jonesy99]

It isn't just about the TV, it is about getting what you paid for.

Fox Sports Networks are very important to a lot of people because their local sports teams play on that station. To these people, Sports may be the only thing that they watch. So they sign a 2 year agreement and then 1 year down the line the network is now pulled. So this person is stuck paying for a service yet not receiving the programming he was told they could provide. That is 100% bullsh*t.

I don't care if it is Dish Network, Fox, or both. Dish Network is charging us for a service so they should be handling issues with their suppliers behind the scenes. Dragging your customers into this is ridiculous.

If DirecTv didn't require a 2 yr agreement, I would jump ship this week. I really don't want to fork out $200 to switch plus a 2 year agreement. Then I'm stuck wondering if they'll pull the same stuff Dish is with raising rates and losing important channels. This business model is old and busted.

The statement stands on its own.
The people making the most noise are the ones paying contract prices for something they know they will drop once the contract expires.
That being said, 'dragging the customers into it' is unavoidable, or would you rather just pay the increase?
Agree the model is broken, I think what we are seeing here is a fundamental change in the way things are done, Murdoch thinks his crappy programming is better than everyone elses crappy programming, if that is allowed to stand, every other crappy network will try the same.

As far as getting what you paid for, I guess a lot of peeps dont bother with the fine print, or are just naive enough to believe the ads.

 

[RedWings]

I'm done with trying to figure out alternate ways to see Center Ice in HD, I'm done with trying to figure out what i'm going to do if my local Fox station goes down November 1, and I'm done with Dish.

DirecTv is coming out on Saturday.

I loved DISH while I had them, but these recent loss of programming with nothing to compensate us is the straw that broke the camel's back.

722 and 222 for sale. PM me.

 

[jayn_j]

OK, but be sure to get back to us next month when Fox goes after DTV.