Dish adds Smithsonian Channel as part of CBS Agreement

[mitchflorida]

That was fast: About 12 hours after going dark on Dish Network, CBS-owned stations are back on as the companies disclosed that they’ve reached a multi-year deal covering carriage payments, streaming rights, and their dispute over Dish’s ad-zapping Hopper DVR. The satellite company says that it will disable the controversial AutoHop feature, which automatically speeds through commercials on recorded shows, in the first seven days after a program first airs on CBS’ stations and affiliates. The network will dismiss its suit against Dish over the matter.

Two years ago CBS chief Les Moonves threatened to take his properties off of Dish if it continued to promote AutoHop. CBS invests millions on episodes of some shows and can’t “have the people at Dish say we can pull out the ads,” he said. Broadcasters said it violated their contracts, and copyrights. Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen has firmly defended the AutoHop feature as a convenience for consumers, and no different than what they can do by using their remote controls to fast-forward through commercials. Still, Dish reached a similar agreement with Disney early this year, but only covering three days.

The companies did not disclose financial terms for the new agreement but say that it covers all of CBS’ stations, and cable channels including Showtime, CBS Sports Network, Smithsonian Channel, and TVGN. Dish will have rights to Showtime VOD content, and can stream Showtime Anytime. The deal also includes “a path to over-the-top distribution of Showtime Networks,” the announcement says.



https://deadline.com/2014/12/deal-cbs-dish-network-hopper-autohop-1201312196/

 

[bluegras]

what about cbs,cw ondemand also

 

[huskerhead]

Eventually the hoppers won't be any better than the genies if Dish keeps disabling the auto hop feature.

 

[andy_horton]

My sister has DISH and I used to love the autohop feature. That being said, like the article states, it's pretty much the same as using the ff button on your remote to ff through the commercials. Not as convenient as autohop but you don't see the commercials. Kudos to DISH for hanging in there and for adding Smithsonian. I get that channel through my ROKU. Online is of course on demand but it's in HD and I love watching its full length episodes on demand.

 

[boba]

Seeing DISH has already caved in on CBS and ABC it should be a given NBC & FOX will also get a concession on Hopper at renewal time. Now how will they justify the higher monthly prices on Hopper?

 

[gowrone]

What channel is this on? I don't see an uplink yet.

 

[Jim S.]

Two years ago CBS chief Les Moonves threatened to take his properties off of Dish if it continued to promote AutoHop. CBS invests millions on episodes of some shows and can’t “have the people at Dish say we can pull out the ads,” he said. Broadcasters said it violated their contracts, and copyrights. Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen has firmly defended the AutoHop feature as a convenience for consumers, and no different than what they can do by using their remote controls to fast-forward through commercials. Still, Dish reached a similar agreement with Disney early this year, but only covering three days.

It peeves me that Charlie is caving in to people like Moonves who at the least should be sanctioned for filing frivolous lawsuits, and ideally should be taken in for a mental health evaluation. They should NOT be allowed to keep making false statements with impunity!

 

[mitchflorida]

What channel is this on? I don't see an uplink yet.

I don't even know what package it is in, but would guess Blockbuster at Home. Probably will be a few weeks.

 

[dvrexpander]

Autohop is something they could take away and the majority wouldn't notice a difference unless they are hard core local prime time waters that gotta have that Survivor fix lol. I say take it away and give me more channels! Now as for the Smithsonian channel...not sure what I'd get out of this?

 

[navychop]

I'd sure expect Smithsonian to be in my 250 pack. I'd be a bit peeved if it was only in BB@H. Certainly would not pay more for it.

 

[Scherrman]

Autohop is not a big deal to me. It's a cool feature and I use it occasionally but I wouldn't miss it all that much. The Hopper has too many other benefits to me that are more important than Autohop. Even if Dish has to move the Autohop availability back 7 days they still have the feature. To me it doesn't change a whole lot.

 

[Scherrman]

I'd sure expect Smithsonian to be in my 250 pack. I'd be a bit peeved if it was only in BB@H. Certainly would not pay more for it.

But Dish had to pay more for it. Wouldn't it make sense to shove it in a package that requires people to pay more for it? On the other hand, maybe if that channel is included in one of the core packages then Dish could give a reason as to why they are getting a price increase at the beginning of the year. No more complaining about channels getting pulled yet my bill goes up. Instead Dish can say, "Hey, we paid to keep the channels you wanted along with adding more channels and features." No matter what people will complain.

 

[mitchflorida]

Knowing Charlie, he would put in the BB at Home. He is paying a ton more money to CBS with this agreement and the money has to come from somewhere. When Dish had it several years ago, he put in the Platinum tier, not 250

 

[dishrich]

I'd sure expect Smithsonian to be in my 250 pack. I'd be a bit peeved if it was only in BB@H.

Not sure why you have these expectations, considering:
-the majority of providers that offer it, ONLY offer it as part of an "HD extra" or a la carte "add-on" pkg
-it was previously in BB on DISH

Comcast does offer it on some systems as part of their top digital basic (Digital Preferred) pkg, but that's only because they don't even offer an "HD extra" add-on - & on our (& actually several of their) systems they ONLY offer it in SD!!!

SPEAKING OF WHICH...I would NOT necessarily be assuming that E* IS putting it up in HD (only); for all we know, it may only get put in SD, which I will NOT be at all happy about. (the article said NOTHING about it being in HD, & Smithsonian DOES allow providers to only offer it in SD, like we have on Comcast) Look at some of the other recent channel additions like Fusion & the 2 other Disneys that got put back in SD only...& you know how E* keeps saying about their "HD bandwidth shortage".
Getting this HD channel is really the only one I missed when I dumped D* & switched to E* 3 years ago.


edit: post on Multichannel News; no mention of it in HD, either:
http://www.multichannel.com/news/carriage-deals/cbs-dish-reach-retrans-accord/386097

 

[fredp]

Is the Smithsonian Channel yet another piece of the Discovery/History conglomerate?

 

[navychop]

Good points. dishrich.

 

[TNGTony]

No. Smithsonian is a CBS property, not part of the Discovery Networks.

When Smithsonian was on Dish (channel 374) from May 2008-Feb 2009 (showing the same 4 programs over and over), it was part of the HD package that eventually became BB@Home. Smithsonian was one of the channels that replaced the Voom channels when they were unceremoniously dropped.

 

[fredp]

Thanks Tony. I know I should of phrased my question with a little more info. I remember when it was on back then too. And the repeats. It didn't take long to zip by that channel.

 

[lazydogmot]

If it's not in HD, we'll get bluegras after 'em!

 

[mitchflorida]

I doubt if Smithsonian Channel cost Dish anything. It was just a "throw-in" to seal the deal. The big price increase was CBS Network and maybe CBS Sports Channel, but for goodness sakes how many expensive Sports Channels do we really need?

Smithsonian Channel now runs ads for a high income audience so CBS makes some money that way. But it will never have huge ratings.