Local Dish retailer says new Hopper OTA adapter to be released January 24

[JosephB]

Very likely. It may have taken years of negotiations with channel owners to formulate the Flex Pack and the ala carte option for locals and other channels. That may explain why only the Flex Pack is the only pack with the option to remove locals.

Yep. I'm not intimately familiar with what's in the Flex Pack, but I bet there was some wheeling and dealing with Comcast and Disney owned channels that are or are not included

This is a DISH product. The beta test begins on the day they are available for purchase.

Regarding the $10 price of the locals package.

In my market (Mobile/Pensacola) there are 12 locals carried by DISH.
In other markets there are more, or less. NYC has 19, Los Angeles has 26. Glendive, Montana has only four. The price is exactly the same $10.

It seems likely that the subscribers in markets with fewer stations are subsidizing those in markets with more. I find it hard to believe that the 12 stations in my market are as expensive per subscriber for DISH to carry as the 26 in Los Angeles. If they can get away with reducing the price in some markets and raising it in others, that would make things more fair.

It's not that simple, though. In NY and LA, a lot of those stations are probably using must-carry to get carriage and are not charging Dish at all. The real money is in the big four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox). Anything beyond those four probably aren't costing Dish anything. As a matter of fact, if they elect must-carry, they are responsible for getting their signal to Dish, so the only real cost would be the transponder in space and the encoder in the broadcast center.

 

[pattykay]

Regarding the $10 price of the locals package.

In my market (Mobile/Pensacola) there are 12 locals carried by DISH.
In other markets there are more, or less. NYC has 19, Los Angeles has 26. Glendive, Montana has only four. The price is exactly the same $10.

It seems likely that the subscribers in markets with fewer stations are subsidizing those in markets with more. I find it hard to believe that the 12 stations in my market are as expensive per subscriber for DISH to carry as the 26 in Los Angeles. If they can get away with reducing the price in some markets and raising it in others, that would make things more fair.

Pepper, that is exactly what I was thinking. Breaking out the cost of the Local package is a good first step toward charging more for that package in the more expensive markets, and charging less in the cheaper markets. If Dish is going to charge the same amount for locals no matter where you live, then Dish should try to include the same number of channels in every market's Local package. That could mean adding subchannels in the smaller markets, or adding national feeds of broadcast entities that do not have affiliates in those markets, but are carried as part of the Local package in other markets.

 

[JM42]

Breaking out the cost of the Local package is a good first step toward charging more for that package in the more expensive markets, and charging less in the cheaper markets. If Dish is going to charge the same amount for locals no matter where you live, then Dish should try to include the same number of channels in every market's Local package. That could mean adding subchannels in the smaller markets, or adding national feeds of broadcast entities that do not have affiliates in those markets, but are carried as part of the Local package in other markets.

I don't expect them to go that far, but it does give a baseline to increase when retrans fees increase. They may not be able to disclose how much the local CBS affiliate actually costs, but if the local fee goes from $10 to $10.25 after negotiations, folks will start to learn.

I personally wish it was something like a $5 "access" fee plus an additional line item for each station with the actual retrans cost, but contracts probably don't allow that kind of disclosure. The other problem is the cost shifting that would happen to hide costs. Disney could charge less per sub for ABC O&Os, but ESPN gets and additional $0.05 for everyone.

It's all mental masturbation at this point. Dish has made a first move to give themselves some options, they may not even know how they will use them.

 

[Hall]

That's another idea. The next time there's a price increase, Dish will say the 'base' price is remaining the same but the local channel adder is increasing by "x" amount. Heh, it wasn't too long ago that locals were listed as a separate price, but were still mandatory, and the charge was $5.

 

[pattykay]

I don't expect them to go that far, but it does give a baseline to increase when retrans fees increase. They may not be able to disclose how much the local CBS affiliate actually costs, but if the local fee goes from $10 to $10.25 after negotiations, folks will start to learn.

I personally wish it was something like a $5 "access" fee plus an additional line item for each station with the actual retrans cost, but contracts probably don't allow that kind of disclosure. The other problem is the cost shifting that would happen to hide costs. Disney could charge less per sub for ABC O&Os, but ESPN gets and additional $0.05 for everyone.

It's all mental masturbation at this point. Dish has made a first move to give themselves some options, they may not even know how they will use them.

I could see them perhaps adding a Local surcharge for the more expensive markets, just like Directv does with RSNs. Dish already adds state-wide surcharges in states where it is more expensive for them to do business, so Local market surcharges could be the next step.

 

[Bobby]

I can see charging different rates for local channels by DMA. That way all the whining that goes on when local channels are taken down at the end of contracts would stop. Just give the locals what they want and pass that exact cost down to the users.

 

[JosephB]

I think the renewed interest in the OTA adapter shows they might finally get serious about it, and breaking them out into a separate fee also is along those lines. You can see a compelling story in the not too distant future where locals are optional, and they highly encourage (or at least if you complain about how much they cost) you to pick them up for free

 

[Bruno]

i doubt that they would supply the guide if you don't subscribe to locals.!

Just saying, I don't pay for any movie channels but i get the guide for all them.

 

[JosephB]

Guide data doesn't belong to the channel anyway, it belongs to Gracenote or Nielsen or whoever Dish buys it from. They do not have to have permission to provide it from the channel itself

The reason it goes away when there's a dispute is likely just simply because they link the channels in the guide. IF they wanted to they could separately send OTA guide data for channels they also carry instead of linking it.

 

[Bruno]

WHY is because Dish doesn't allow it. Tampa8 never said Dish couldn't make it an option. Business practices could change tomorrow, but he is correct as of now. What Dish might be setting up for the future is pure conjecture.

1. JM42, Are you the mouth piece for Tampa8? I didn't know if there was some reason he knew that Dish could never drop them.
2. What i was putting out there is where I THINK Dish might be heading. Last time i knew Scott didn't care if we all have opinions.
3. Next time i have a question I need an answer for, just maybe i will ask you but you have not been a member that long.

 

[Bruno]

And Dish may not allow you to drop locals on the bigger packages due to agreements with the broadcasters. It's not cut and dry. At least Dish does have the option legally, and hopefully behind the scenes they are working to make it possible. On the other hand, cable companies are legally required by federal law to include locals in all packages.

JosephB, Not that you care but i liked your post on this subject. That was what i hope maybe Tampa8 could help answer. For sure i am not expert but the local cable company where i came from just had a local pkg only. I am sure there are several difference between cable and Sat co. Sat guys can only offer the local DMA but the cable companies there also had both TX and okc locals.

 

[JosephB]

JosephB, Not that you care but i liked your post on this subject. That was what i hope maybe Tampa8 could help answer. For sure i am not expert but the local cable company where i came from just had a local pkg only. I am sure there are several difference between cable and Sat co. Sat guys can only offer the local DMA but the cable companies there also had both TX and okc locals.

No one is going to have inside information on Dish's thinking or future plans. If they did, it would already be widely discussed here.

And yes, cable has drastically different rules when it comes to local channels. They have a lot more flexibility to offer neighboring local channels. They also must sell locals in every package they offer, from lifeline (which is usually locals only anyway) all the way up to the "everything package". They do have the same must-carry obligations, though, as satellite providers. Outside of must-carry, though, rules for cable and rules for satellite are not really related. This all has to do with the fact that cable has been around a lot longer than satellite and when cable started there were no rules. On the other hand, satellite couldn't carry locals at all until rules were created to allow them to do so.

 

[Tampa8]

Tampa, tell me WHY the locals cannot be dropped from those pkgs? I could be wrong, but Charlie is under the must carry rule but i don't recall it saying the customers must take all and pay their extortion price. Could charlie be setting it up so we can save the $10 and with the dual (yes could only record two) dongle still see the local guide. If your closest enough to get the feeds would cut down on a lot of whiners like me when they shut them off.

It would help if you didn't jump to conclusions, and understood what the post was that the reply was to. Maybe also read just a couple of posts more?
My reply was about the here and now - a fact being given. You turned that into it being it could never be changed. Then a very few posts later I clearly say perhaps dropping them will be offered at sometime later in response to another post. JM42 obviously understood that and why he posted what he did. I posted a fact about SD channels that someone said was wrong and someone in that thread posted I was correct and listed the channels. Doesn't make him a mouthpiece, he simply understood what I was saying.

Also you are indeed wrong about the must carry rule. Dish is not allowed to offer them separately unless the network is demanding a contract and none is in place.

 

[patmurphey]

Uh, today's January 24...

 

[charlesrshell]

Uh, today's January 24...

I am ready to order two OTA adapters but it is not listed yet in the MyDish account store.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I am ready to order two OTA adapters but it is not listed yet in the MyDish account store.

Looks like it's available from Dish Depot and shipping today

 

[charlesrshell]

Looks like it's available from Dish Depot and shipping today

I am kinda worried now there might be different vendors producing the new OTA adapter . I want to get the model that DISH is stocking.

 

[Hall]

Uh, today's January 24...

The way I see it, Dish has (16) more hours before it has to show up too.

 

[JSheridan]

I am kinda worried now there might be different vendors producing the new OTA adapter . I want to get the model that DISH is stocking.

There's only one new model.

 

[charlesrshell]

There's only one new model.

Do you think there is only one vendor?