Sinclair warns of 112 channels being dropped by DISH next Monday (8/16)

[zippyfrog]

Here is a large article on the Dish deal with Sinclair. Summary points:

• Dish and Sinclair have ended negotiations for the RSNs - most likely never coming back to Dish
• Sinclair was concerned that they would lose leverage on the local channels once NFL season ended and they wanted to get the new contract enacted as opposed to extensions on old contract (I assume this means the new higher rates)
• Sinclair made the decision to end negotiations on the RSN's instead of pulling the local channels as they couldn't have their local stations deal be put into peril

All this is announced the day before Dish's second $5 price hike of the 2021 calendar year. Dish is also putting a large announcement on their DishPromise.com page about the deal.

SBJ Media: Inside the Sinclair-Dish Network deal

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

 

[MikeD-C05]

I wasn't aware of any take downs during the Sinclair negotiations because Sinclair kept offering extensions while they were fixing their ransomware problems.

My dad lost ota guide information for his CBS station and it made name based recording impossible . He has since got the guide information back for the CBS after they got the deal done.

 

[ChadT41]

My dad lost ota guide information for his CBS station and it made name based recording impossible . He has since got the guide information back for the CBS after they got the deal done.

In the last 3 years, I have yet to lose guide data on a local after a takedown. Hell, Tegna is down currently for me, and I still have OTA guide data for it on my Hopper.

 

[Yespage]

Here is a large article on the Dish deal with Sinclair. Summary points:

• Dish and Sinclair have ended negotiations for the RSNs - most likely never coming back to Dish
• Sinclair was concerned that they would lose leverage on the local channels once NFL season ended and they wanted to get the new contract enacted as opposed to extensions on old contract (I assume this means the new higher rates)
• Sinclair made the decision to end negotiations on the RSN's instead of pulling the local channels as they couldn't have their local stations deal be put into peril

All this is announced the day before Dish's second $5 price hike of the 2021 calendar year. Dish is also putting a large announcement on their DishPromise.com page about the deal.

SBJ Media: Inside the Sinclair-Dish Network deal

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

$5 hike? Where is that from?

 

[Nominal]

$5 hike? Where is that from?

Dish Price Increase Coming - 11/16/2021

I can see we have a Dish price increase coming in just under a month. The normal $5 increase, but this is the second $5 increase in 2021. Locals add-on pack stays at $12. https://my.dish.com/infocenter

www.satelliteguys.us

 

[NYDutch]

My dad lost ota guide information for his CBS station and it made name based recording impossible . He has since got the guide information back for the CBS after they got the deal done.

How odd... Does he subscribe to the locals? Did the sat CBS channel stay up?

 

[Yespage]

Dish Price Increase Coming - 11/16/2021

I can see we have a Dish price increase coming in just under a month. The normal $5 increase, but this is the second $5 increase in 2021. Locals add-on pack stays at $12. https://my.dish.com/infocenter

www.satelliteguys.us

Thanks... I thought they were referencing one on top of that.

 

[zippyfrog]

Thanks... I thought they were referencing one on top of that.

I sort of was. I was referencing the $5 hike in January of 2021 then the $5 increase that went into effect today for a total of $10 during the 2021 calendar year.

 

[Bobby]

I sort of was. I was referencing the $5 hike in January of 2021 then the $5 increase that went into effect today for a total of $10 during the 2021 calendar year.

and maybe the January/February increase came early and won’t happen in early 2022…

 

[MikeD-C05]

In the last 3 years, I have yet to lose guide data on a local after a takedown. Hell, Tegna is down currently for me, and I still have OTA guide data for it on my Hopper.

Well I know that my dad and I both lost CBS guide information during the start of the dispute. It didn't last long but it did happen for a few weeks.

 

[MikeD-C05]

How odd... Does he subscribe to the locals? Did the sat CBS channel stay up?

He now subscribes to Houston locals because he couldn't get guide data for the ota station or the sat local for CBS. As I have stated above we have now got the guide information back for the local ota CBS station.

 

[Jim5506]

When something like this happens, Dish does not have the personnel at the uplink site to go through every station on everyTP to check it for whatever reason. We have to report it to them and bug them to fix it. Even if they had one person assigned to check, who knows how long it might take to do them all, so we've got to bug them so they know there is a problem and WE care about it, and make them care about it, too.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Last spring I called into to DISH and did a tech chat online to inform them of the mistakes in our locals for guide information. We had our FOX station move from 4.1 to 6.3. Same company Sinclair owns both CBS /Fox and Cw stations. When the station made the change in our area the guide didn't update. So we have Fox guide information on 4.1 which is now DABLE channel. On our Fox station we have Fox 4 listed in the guide, but no guide information.

I also reported that they near by Lake Charles, La had similar problems with their Fox guide on a sub channel that is really CIRCLE channel and just says Fox on the actual channel and no guide information. This makes name based recording on the ota channels not available because the guide isn't there.

They took down this information and said they would "get to it when they get to it." Talked to" Dr. DISH" as they called him and they said the same thing. I expressed my discontent with this kind of response and they said nothing. When I got up the next day my locals for my area were gone and I had some locals from a town in Northern Louisiana I had never heard of. Now I called back to change them, but really? This is how they work to keep their customers?

When DISH was just getting up and running in the mid 90s I talked to the engineer who was responsible for the locals quality ,guide etc and he worked with me to tweak them over the phone. I got DISH advertising items sent to me with a pen , cup , hat etc, and a thank you from the engineer. AFter that when there was an addition to my locals ota he would add guide data on their end to make my guide correct. He was always nice and returned my emails promptly. DISH used to care about the customer and what they wanted. Sadly this isn't the case any longer as evidenced by the dwindling sub counts. Now at 8 million or so satellite subs from 14 million back in the mid 2000s. One of the reasons I went with Sling tv and ota dvr was to get correct guide information . So I know that if DISH wanted to they could add this feature for our ota guide. After all DISH is the owner of both DISH satellite and Sling tv, it shouldn't be too hard to use the internet feature to give complete guide information.

By they way to this day they still have not updated either my locals for Beaumont/Pt. Arthur, Tx or the Lake Charles,La. dmas and I don't expect them to do this , EVER.

 

[navychop]

I think Dish would prefer us to get our OTA locals via other methods. Save them money. I’ve long since gone to OTA DVRs. Way less than paying Dish for them.

I suspect Dish will be better off with no locals and minimum to no sports.

 

[Joe Capitano]

Personally I didn't like that dish took off Root Sports NW just before the Kraken started playing so I don't get to see the local NHL team until I find another way - save for the occasional appearance on "Hockey Night In Canada" or ESPN or Turner. It'll be a time before someone with a brain allows the RSNs to be sold like Showtime or HBO (Puh-LEEEEEEEEZE!). But I don't fault dish for standing up for the consumer and costs to same. At least they and Sinclair made nice so that retrans hell was avoided. Now if they can somehow get Tegna to make nice.

 

[zippyfrog]

Excellent article on the future of RSN's and gets into Dish - a lot we already know but some great numbers to take a look at, and ties so many things together from the other companies (Comcast, AT&T, Altitude). The average cost per subscribers are listed for some of the RSN's - this is the "tax" that Ergen has referred to. Here are the top 5 Bally Sports RSN's:

BS Arizona $7.52
BS Ohio $7.42
BS Detroit: $6.88
BS Wisconsin: $6.69
BS Midwest: $6.07

Sports fans are being sidelined as local hoops and hockey networks fight the decay of pay TV

Regional sports network owners Sinclair, Comcast and AT&T are charting a path for survival as the digital future looks murky

www.cnbc.com

 

[Bruce]

Excellent article on the future of RSN's and gets into Dish - a lot we already know but some great numbers to take a look at, and ties so many things together from the other companies (Comcast, AT&T, Altitude). The average cost per subscribers are listed for some of the RSN's - this is the "tax" that Ergen has referred to. Here are the top 5 Bally Sports RSN's:

BS Arizona $7.52
BS Ohio $7.42
BS Detroit: $6.88
BS Wisconsin: $6.69
BS Midwest: $6.07

Sports fans are being sidelined as local hoops and hockey networks fight the decay of pay TV

Regional sports network owners Sinclair, Comcast and AT&T are charting a path for survival as the digital future looks murky

www.cnbc.com

That price is for all subscribers to a particular package, even those who do not watch it, if sold as just a premium channel, the costs would be a lot more.

RSNs actually get very low ratings, but a very dedicated audience, hence why it gets good rates for commercials.

That is what I hated about Comcast ( when I had it), had to pay the Broadcast and RSN extra fee with no option to not get those channels.

 

[zippyfrog]

That price is for all subscribers to a particular package, even those who do not watch it, if sold as just a premium channel, the costs would be a lot more.

RSNs actually get very low ratings, but a very dedicated audience, hence why it gets good rates for commercials.

That is what I hated about Comcast ( when I had it), had to pay the Broadcast and RSN extra fee with no option to not get those channels.

I hear you with Comcast. The Regional Sports fee is now $14.50 for NBC Sports Chicago/Marquee and local channel fee is $16.20 in the Chicago area on Comcast. Almost $31 in additional fees that you can't get out of. I haven't heard from any of my friends who have Comcast what the 2022 prices will be. Not having the extreme RSN fee and being able to opt of locals is great on Dish. I get all but two of the locals with over 90% signal through my antenna, so no need to pay the extra fee.

 

[zippyfrog]

Manfred’s Sinclair Brushback Returns Focus to RSN Debts

MLB commish serves up chin music for the Bally Sports nets, and in doing so he may have provided a sneak peek at baseball's digital destiny

www.sportico.com

It looks like MLB and the NBA didn't talk with the NHL - Sinclair renewed their deal with the NHL and it now allows for Sinclair to offer direct to consumer, not just authentication if you have a subscription with an RSN. Now if they do this with the NBA and MLB they have their direct to consumer goal.

Sinclair Announces Multi-Year Renewal of Digital Rights Agreement With the NHL

Sinclair Announces Multi-Year Renewal of Digital Rights Agreement With the NHL

www.businesswire.com