They alrady have that. They just asked for the price Charlie got. Thus, they get the best price, without the "strike" part of a union, except for Charlie.
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They alrady have that. They just asked for the price Charlie got. Thus, they get the best price, without the "strike" part of a union, except for Charlie.
Isn't there a disclosure that states that they are not supposed to discuss the rates that they pay? If we do not hear about what type of rates that they end up paying then I'm sure the other providers will not hear about what is paid as well.
The funny thing is, these stations may remain off air but you will still get your price increase NO MATTER WHAT happens.
The locals packages have not increased in price for a while like the basic packages have. I'm starting to think that part of the price increase we see each year in the basic packages is also covering the increase in price for the locals. It does look like Dish Network is charging $10 now for just locals so they either get your subscription to a basic package or you pay more if you purchase only the locals.
The funny thing is, these stations may remain off air but you will still get your price increase NO MATTER WHAT happens.
The locals packages have not increased in price for a while like the basic packages have. I'm starting to think that part of the price increase we see each year in the basic packages is also covering the increase in price for the locals. It does look like Dish Network is charging $10 now for just locals so they either get your subscription to a basic package or you pay more if you purchase only the locals.
Just to put the disagreement between Dish and the locals into a monetary perspective, here are the approximate figures.
The locals apparently are asking for a nickel (5 cents) raise per month.
If Dish agrees to increase the fee for one, he will have to increase for all. Then the extra payment to an average of 8 locals per DMA would cost Dish an additional $.40 (40 cents) for each Dish client--5 cents more for each station times 8.
Multiply the monthly cost of $.40 by 12, and the annual cost is $4.80 for each client.
Dish has about 13,000,000 subscribers. Multiply that number by $4.80, and the number is $62,400,000. That's what it would cost Dish to give the locals a raise of $.05 per month per customer for the locals. Every time Dish increases the local payment by $.01 it costs Dish some $12M annually. That's why the argument over pennies.
The locals apparently are asking for a nickel (5 cents) raise per month.
If Dish agrees to increase the fee for one, he will have to increase for all. Then the extra payment to an average of 8 locals per DMA would cost Dish an additional $.40 (40 cents) for each Dish client--5 cents more for each station times 8.
Multiply the monthly cost of $.40 by 12, and the annual cost is $4.80 for each client.
Dish has about 13,000,000 subscribers. Multiply that number by $4.80, and the number is $62,400,000. That's what it would cost Dish to give the locals a raise of $.05 per month per customer for the locals. Every time Dish increases the local payment by $.01 it costs Dish some $12M annually. That's why the argument over pennies.
Charlie could always erect an OTA antenna and simply rebroadcast the free signal.
In many places, he does exactly that. The point of presence is often an antenna set up in some storefront. It doesn't get around the comercial rebroadcast without express permission clause.
The station owns its signal.
To Fitzie: The whole satellite industry is a game of pennies. No channel, except ESPN gets dollars/month. I don't want to keep re-arguing the same points over and over, but any station that asks for a 50% increase in licensing fees is going to meet resistance.
The only reason why ESPN gets dollars per month is due to the fact that they tie that channel to all the other Disney owned channels such as Disney Channel, ABC Family, etc. Its a take all or take none deal, so you pay what they want for the ESPN or you get NONE of the Disney Channels. This is why our fees are going up several dollars every year.
Probably the other way around. I doubt the discussion goes "Yep, you can have Family, but you gotta take that turkey ESPN too"
This is happening with the locals as well. Notice that all of these are for broadcasting groups, not individual stations. There is a bit of "Yep, you can have Bigcity ABC, but you gotta take Podunkville CBS at the same rate. If the small market isn't worth uplinking, this actually becomes a forced carry issue.
Probably the other way around. I doubt the discussion goes "Yep, you can have Family, but you gotta take that turkey ESPN too"
This is happening with the locals as well. Notice that all of these are for broadcasting groups, not individual stations. There is a bit of "Yep, you can have Bigcity ABC, but you gotta take Podunkville CBS at the same rate. If the small market isn't worth uplinking, this actually becomes a forced carry issue.
This comment is so true. Some of you will recall that Fox placed a portion of the NASCAR broadcast schedule on FX a few years ago. Upon inquiry and complaint, Fox was blunt: we're trying to force carriage of FX. And it worked. Another recent issue was carriage of NFL Network: the network was placed by Dish on a particular tier based on a contract showing exclusivity of broadcast of several NFL games. When NFL Network came under fire for not broadcasting a particular football game last year and caved in to pressure by allowing simulcasting on 2 of the big 4 networks, the exclusivity was breached and Dish responded by placing NFL network on a different tier. So we know pressure works, but only up to a point.
In the case of the local broadcasters, the FCC requirement is for carriage of only the main signal. This is very significant in the digital age since the local broadcasters can easily now carry 3, 4, or 5 signals in their allotted space. Many locals are now carrying one of the big 4, plus CW or MyTv, and a weather channel, and would like to force Dish, DirecTv, and the local cable companies to carry all three, four, or five signals. And each additional carried signal deteriorates the quality of the primary signal.
Regards,
Fitzie
Correct. Without any sub-channels the main can operate at 19.2 Mbps which will ordinarily give you stunning PQ. But mktg dept. comes along and says we could sell a lot of cheap ads and build our revenue if we had sub-channels so mgmt caves and the main signal PQ suffers. With even the best encoders about the minimum bitrate you can get by with for HD is 14.4 Mbps (allotting the other 5 Mbps to your sub channels). Even at 14.4 Mbps you will often see macroblocking on action sports or fast camera pans
It's not as bad as it seems. Fees paid for carriage of locals is based only on the number of paid subscribers within that specific DMA, not the total number of subscribers nationwide. The nationwide multiplier comes into play for your national channels (ESPN, etc). Disney/ABC has a virtual stranglehold on the cable & satellite providers. You cannot carry the local ABC affiliate without agreeing to carry all the other crap & agreeing to pay a king's ransom for it.
TimeWarner Cable (now Comcast) got into a battle of bucks with Disney/ABC several years ago in Houston (DMA #10) and wound up dropping those channels (incl. the local ABC affiliate KTRK-13). TimeWarner quickly found out it was a lose-lose proposition as more than 1000 local subs dropped them in favor of satellite. Once lost, those subscribers were gone.
And the Fisher stations will discover the same thing...that holding out for more money will eventually end up costing them in the long run...
The thing about dropping local network stations is if the stations are available from another provider such as DirecTv then those customers will drop the provider and go elsewhere and the customer is most likely gone for good.
Exactly...and then both E* and Fisher stations both lose a source of revenue. It's a lose-lose situation in these kinds of disputes...
However, I'm not leaving E* to go elsewhere just to get KOMO. Fisher is being excessively greedy and I can't support them in this situation.
However, I'm not leaving E* to go elsewhere just to get KOMO. Fisher is being excessively greedy and I can't support them in this situation.
Only 1000 subscribers in a market the size of Houston ? That doesn't seem like a lot to me...
I think the number of people who switch over something like (1) station is very, very small. The local Time Warner and the local NBC affiliate got into a pissing contest recently and the NBC station was actively encouraging people to switch (to Dish, in fact, 'cause they're part of LIN TV) while the local TW was giving out free OTA antennas so that customers could still pick up the station !! In the end, they came to an "agreement" the week prior to "sweeps week". I very strongly believe that the NBC station had much more to lose, especially at the time of the year, than TW did. I don't know (for a fact) a single person who dropped TW over this. A lot talked like they were going to though !
When you get into a carriage battle, you lose some. When the other carriers like DirecTv or TW get into that same battle, you gain some.
My math was not based on the fact that Dish would pay any one local station more for all 13,000,000 subscribers. It was based on the fact that if you give a network like Young Broadcasting a raise in 11 DMA markets, the other stations in those markets will also demand a raise, and then Sinclair will want a raise for the stations in its chain, then Lin, and on and on. Ultimately all 1500 local broadcast stations serving all 13M subscribers will have demanded and gotten a raise. And that would cost $62,400,000. To stop that from happening, you have to hold fast.
Ultimately, the pressure will grow too great, and Dish will have to provide a raise to all 1500 local stations (minus a few independents, and maybe some PBS stations). At that time, Dish will sadly have to report the fact that the local fees are going up. They will lose a few customers but will trudge valiantly on, doing the best they can.
I read a news article recently, within the last 12 hours or so. I think it was Leslie Moonves who was quoted as saying "There's a lot of money to be made in broadcasting. And we're making it." While the locals are facing the same economic difficulties as everyone else (and some local staffers are being laid off as a result) I generally side with Dish in these fights since when Dish loses I lose. And I don't forget that the locals are using the airways free of charge--and the airways don't belong to the stations, they belong to all of us.
Regards,
Fitzie
It will be interesting to see how all subscription TV content providers fare in the coming year with the nation's economy in the tank. Subscription price increases are apt not to be well received. For a company trying to remain profitable it's all about keeping existential risk in perspective. With the job losses (and more to come) & tightened credit, service providers raising fees could be perceived as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. If it comes down to a decision between buying groceries or paying the satellite bill, I promise you we're going to eat.
Stargazer said:
That implies that Dish Network is such a tough negotiator that they always get the best price. I've never seen that.HDRoberts said:
Maybe the reason there are so many carriage disputes among broadcasters with Dish Network is because other cable companies have more customers and thus deserve a better price than Dish Network.
