Statement from Dish Network on Young Broadcasting Removal

**8bitbytes** · 12-12-2008 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by Larry Bohn

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** · 12-12-2008 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by 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.

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** · 12-12-2008 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by Larry Bohn

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** · 12-12-2008 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by jdmacor

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** · 12-12-2008 11:09 AM

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** · 12-12-2008 11:18 AM

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** · 12-12-2008 11:22 AM

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

**jayn_j** · 12-12-2008 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by 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.

...

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** · 12-12-2008 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by jayn_j

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** · 12-12-2008 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by jayn_j

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.

Originally Posted by jayn_j

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.