Statement from Dish Network on Young Broadcasting Removal

[lern4483]

Same old Dish shenanagins

one thing I don't miss with dish is these "contract disputes". Dish continues to use their form letter "unreasonable rate increases".

Does anyone notice a pattern here with Dish??

They pulled my favorite stations...15 24 HD channels.

Watch out, they might pull yours.

This is getting old!!!

 

[Sigma]

The local stations are advertiser supported so I really don't see why Dish should have to subsidize the stations anything.

I'll bet a few calls to some of the major local advertisers would get the signal out on Dish in a hurry.

 

[8bitbytes]

I agree, they need to keep our dictatorship (formerly democratic) government out of it....

Dictatorship??? Junior, you have no idea what you are talking about. How about hopping on over to Darfur for a year and then come on back and lecture us on a dictatorship.

Govt has been about the money ever since our monetary system was given to the Federal Reserve. Regardless of party, it's all about the money. The FCC is no exception. That phoney satellite company that is pushing the FCC to force Dish to reduce power on their newest Satellite has as their attorney a lobbyist who has been paying the FCC for several years.

Now DirecTV is playing this game against Dish. It's going to blow up in their own face if they are not careful.

 

[Larry Bohn]

If my information is correct, they are asking for $.01 per day per subscriber. This doesn't seem excessive to me. Lets get this settled. WBAY (channel 2) is our favorite station and if it doesn't com back on line soon we will be going back to cable.

 

[ricradar]

dish losing control

With these retailer installer sales companies handleing Direct tv and dish plus service calls the customer has lost any leverage. I called yesterday to dish and was getting no help when i suggested i would switch to direct tv . The customer service rep gingerly said fine ill switch you to direct tv. So i find out im dealing with a retailer not dish and they could care less if i switched. Galaxy 1 in bettendorf is notorious for flip flopping. They sale and install both and could care less about the customer. Dishes current promotion 19.95 month yet i have top100 with hd my bill is 86.00 month. Dish needs to crack down on these sleazy retailers who think about making money not giving customers what they deserve.

 

[mitch10102000]

Go back to cable if you want...but just as an FYI, cable companies (such as Time Warner in Green Bay, WI) have had their fair share of problems with this broadcasting company as well. In fact, Time Warner was giving away free antennas because the terms were so bad with the rebroadcasting fees.

Young Broadcasting is having financial turmoil and they are taking it out on Dish and Cable companies (once the contracts are up with Directv, you'll see the same thing with them). I'd like to see Young Broadcasting go under for their ridiculous game playing. The only email you will find to complain is invest@youngbroadcasting.com, which doesn't really seem like the right email address, but hey, that's all that's on their website.

 

[Juan]

Does anyone notice a pattern here with Dish??

They pulled my favorite stations...15 24 HD channels.

Watch out, they might pull yours.

This is getting old!!!

Didn'y u drop e*?/ So why do ucare??

 

[gjh3260]

I agree with Dish. This is a money grab by the locals. They broadcast their signal for free

:up

 

[pabeader]

keep them off. in fact drop ALL 'local' broadcasting carriage. use the bandwidth for more channels like "the paint drying channel" would be much better then ANY local channel. if you want locals use an antenna. if you can' get it with an antenna then it isn't local.

 

[riffjim4069]

I agree with Dish. This is a money grab by the locals. They broadcast their signal for free

I respectfully disagree...and history would indicate more monkey-shines, buffoonery, and shenanigans at Dish Network.

 

[8bitbytes]

If my information is correct, they are asking for $.01 per day per subscriber. This doesn't seem excessive to me.

This is the same kind of statement that has put us into the tax structures that exist today. The issue is more than just demanding a penny a day.

Do some homework, or as you suggested, pay someone else.

 

[jdmacor]

If my information is correct, they are asking for $.01 per day per subscriber. This doesn't seem excessive to me. Lets get this settled. WBAY (channel 2) is our favorite station and if it doesn't com back on line soon we will be going back to cable.

That's what I thought at first too, but it is actually a lot. The going rate on these types of deals is usually $.20 per subscriber, per month. This new rate implies $.30 per month, which is a substantial 50% increase. That is a big deal when you start multiplying it by the number of subscribers and the markets this broadcasting company serves. I am with Dish on this.

In fact, if it were up to me, I would have Dish and Direct pull all of these services and refuse to pay, give us all dual OTA tuners (or more accurately sell them to us; since we have to pay for locals anyways, I wouldn't mind a one time cost), and throw up a big middle finger to these local affiliates.

Then again, if these things were up to me, it would be a terrifying, middle finger riddled world we would be living in...

 

[jayn_j]

If my information is correct, they are asking for $.01 per day per subscriber. This doesn't seem excessive to me.

Look at it this way: Young is asking for a full quarter of what the subscriber pays DISH in royalties.

$5/month/4 channels = $1.25/channel/month income.
$.01*30 = $.30/month royalty
$0.30/$1.25 = 0.24

Young does NOTHING for their percentage. DISH has to pay for maintaining local and satellite uplink and for transponder space..

 

[jayn_j]

In fact, if it were up to me, I would have Dish and Direct pull all of these services and refuse to pay, give us all dual OTA tuners (or more accurately sell them to us; since we have to pay for locals anyways, I wouldn't mind a one time cost), and throw up a big middle finger to these local affiliates.

Doesn't work in the western US. For example, look at the Denver DMA. It extends way up to the northern edge of Wyoming and also into Nebraska.

The Salt Lake City one covers all of Utah and 1/3 of Nevada. Same is true to a lesser extent in NM, AZ, NV , MT, and even se CA.

No way can you get OTA coverage of these maps. They were created by the NAB in response to the SHVSA to ensure that there was no white area and that everything was in some DMA. Is there any rational reason why the northern edge of Wyoming is part of a Denver DMA when the transmitter and antenna are 400 miles away? For these people, satellite is the ONLY option as the population density is too low for cable.

Here is the map: TV Market Maps

 

[ReconPJ]

Bottom line is this a business. If you owned a business and gave away pay raises just cause your employees wanted them everytime, you would be out of business. You have to play hardball gents...

 

[M Sparks]

I haven't looked lately, but I used to have 15 LIL channels, (plus 5 HD.)

If they were paying 30 cents EACH, that would be $4.50 out of $5.00 just to pay for the channels.

Then there's the costs of running an uplink station in each city, bandwidth, ect.

This is free money for the stations. TV stations have existed for 50+ years solely on advertising dollars. If LIL had never happened, they would be getting ZERO.

I think it's fair to pay them something, because DISH is profiting from them. But if they want to charge so much that it becomes unprofitable, than don't complain when DISH drops them, or raises locals to $8 or whatever.

Have locals NEVER gone up? I swear I payed the same even when there was only 4 or 5 SD locals. In fact, I think I was paying $6, and now I pay $5.

EDIT Aren't a lot of these stations independents/ My Network/ stuff like that? 30 cents might be fair for one of the major stations. A lot of stations get nothing, because they have to file for Must Carry.

 

[Apologist]

Probably not a good move at this time for Charlie. With subscribers leaving at such a high rate why piss people off?

 

[jayn_j]

I haven't looked lately, but I used to have 15 LIL channels, (plus 5 HD.)

If they were paying 30 cents EACH, that would be $4.50 out of $5.00 just to pay for the channels.

...

EDIT Aren't a lot of these stations independents/ My Network/ stuff like that? 30 cents might be fair for one of the major stations. A lot of stations get nothing, because they have to file for Must Carry.

The $.30 is just for the major 4. The rest are must carry where the station demands carriage and DISH must comply, but no money changes hands. There is still the uplink and transponder costs though. With must carry, I believe the station is responsible for getting the signal to the DISH uplink as well.

 

[M Sparks]

The Salt Lake City one covers all of Utah and 1/3 of Nevada. Same is true to a lesser extent in NM, AZ, NV , MT, and even se CA.

It's even more important with HD. There is NO HD available OTA where I live. You can get NBC in digital SD, and you can get some of the other networks in fuzzy analog. That's with a 10 foot antenna on the roof, and an amp. And it's not like I live on the reservation or something. I'm within 15 miles of Flagstaff, which is the 4th largest metro area in AZ.

The digital switchover only applies to major cities. The rest of us depend on satellite or cable (if cable is even available...it's not at my house.

 

[M Sparks]

The $.30 is just for the major 4. The rest are must carry where the station demands carriage and DISH must comply, but no money changes hands. There is still the uplink and transponder costs though.

What about KRON? It's not a "major 4". (I looked it up...Young IS mainly big networks, but not all.)

This is generally true, but it's not just "major 4". I'm sure there are other stations getting paid.

With must carry, I believe the station is responsible for getting the signal to the DISH uplink as well.

This is true, though it's not really an issue for most stations. I used to work for a station that was applying for Must Carry, but it was 150 miles from the uplink. In the end, we got turned down anyway.