DISH Drops AMC Networks (AMC Back on DISH channel 131)

[tempVAdish]

I wouldn't mind paying a nickel more a month for AMC & IFC if Rainbow would just remove the all the commercials that they added that made watching AMC and IFC unbearable to watch.

I don't watch IFC enough to know, but I too remember when AMC ran no commercials... If any of the programmers thinking made sense, you would think subscriber prices would go down due to the advertisement income... they think that now we're making extra $$ on advertisements, let's up the subscription fee too...

... To make matters worse, every time a game is on ESPN it gets blacked out. I can't buy mlb.tv because all the local games are blacked out. ...

Has nothing to do w/ Dish... the leagues do this themselves... Been like this since the VCII days of c-band. I remember when ESPN was in the clear (unscrambled) and you could watch whatever you wished. Almost as soon as they encrypted, Washington and Baltimore events were blacked out in my area. The league believes that if you don't want to go to a stadium and pay $5 for a soda, you shouldn't be able to sit at home and watch while having a beer. All done by zip code, too... I live 3hrs from Balt, 4 from DC, and they think I'll drive that far because a game is blacked out??? They're all crazy and money hungry. The best part was that I had a KU feed on my dish and most of the time would find the unencrypted wild feed (back haul) w/o commercials, so kiss it

There are not more commercials on AMC. AMC ran Pale Rider over the weekend. It has a running time of 116 minutes in a 2.5 hour programming slot -- 34 minutes of commercials. The Shawshank Redemption, on now, has a running time of 142 minutes in a 3 hour programming slot -- 38 minutes of commercials.

A one hour TV program, e.g. The Walking Dead, has a running time of 42 to 45 minutes -- 15-18 minutes of commercials.

TNT will have Sum of All Fears on Friday. It has a running time of 128 minutes in a 2.5 hour programming slot -- 52 minutes of commercials.

SyFy is now airing The Mist. It has a running time of 127 minutes in a 2.5 hour programming slot -- 23 minutes of commercials.

You have good #'s for typical series episodes, but don't forget that for the movies, the running time is for uncut & unedited originals... if there are scenes objectionable to the censors, the actual running time is less, leaving more room for more commercials...


sorry, end my rant now...

 

[demsd]

I think levibluewa's point was AMC & IFC used to have 0 commercials during the movies. So ANY commercials means 'more' commercials.

Can't argue that point. AMC was a better channel when it was more like TCM.

I hate commercials, which is why I DVR everything I watch.

 

[demsd]

Since you brought The Mist up (although I saw it on Bluray whenever it came out), I enjoyed the movie until the end. I won't spoil the ending but still worth a watch. I suppose even if on Syfy...

Seen The Mist b4 -- I give it 3 stars.

I did watch Signs which was on b4 it -- like that one.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I don't think AMC's advertising prowess has anything to do with the price they are asking. While all ask for more, DISH asks for less. Its all a part of the negotiation process. And I don't see it as extortion either -- if it is, then DISH's unscrupulous tactics would then say the same about it. Every contract negotiation holds the potential of eating into DISH's profits.

Furthermore, companies with a family of networks, like AMC Networks, are into bundling -- which will eliminate the strong-arming and unscrupulous tactics. Subs wouldn't be losing just one channel anymore. The "bargaining chip" as you call it becomes a double-edged sword. It can help and hurt both the network & the provider -- and at the same time.



It is already over $100/month -- I am paying over $100/month for the AT200 + HBO & Showtime -- the fees, surcharges and taxes count.

View attachment 78323

Ask yourself what your package price and fees would be if DISH did not lose the TiVo or Disney HD lawsuits for example. The reason prices increase isn't necessarily the fault of the networks. Think about it. Don't you think the narcissism that is Charlie Ergen had anything to do with the TiVo patent violation which cost DISH $500 million? There is an ever increasing pattern of unscrupulous and underhanded tactics on the part of DISH that is costing all of us more money.

I like DISH, but as someone else said in another thread. All the "DISH Love" is weird.

I do agree with Charlie on this dispute with Cablevision that is directly linked to the ongoing Voom lawsuit, which I also agree with DISH on. I also think that DISH charges too many charge it because we can , made up DISH FEES and now State Surcharges or Taxes that DISH keeps for doing business in certain states. As for the average cable bill , I mean the basic programming packs would be $100.00 before the Premiums are added on or the various DISH fees or surcharges and state taxes. That is where we are headed if DISH continues to accept the price hikes that Cablevision asks for , as well as Espn , Disney etc. Someone must stand up to these companies and say NO. These channel providers are working against the continued satellite/cable model pricing themselves,as well as the very model itself , right out of business. There is a breaking point where subs will cut the cord once and for all and go back to ota & netflix: where most of the AMC content is there already. I can agree with Charlie Ergen on this fight ,without agreeing with him on his overpriced receiver fees, madeup extra fees and state surcharges , that I now have to pay for three of my accounts. Besides Charlie is trying to get in front of this cord cutting , forcing the channel providers to back down on their greedy price hikes. He is also for ala carte channels and would like to expand it so anyone can buy any channel they want. I agree with ala carte too, but I do not believe in "DISH love" any more than I believe that you practice "AMC Love."

 

[demsd]

I do agree with Charlie on this dispute with Cablevision that is directly linked to the ongoing Voom lawsuit, which I also agree with DISH on.

Ya, okay. Charlie Ergen is a God and wouldn't think of stretching the truth, or forgetting about the truth all together. We disagree.

I also think that DISH charges too many charge it because we can , made up DISH FEES and now State Surcharges or Taxes that DISH keeps for doing business in certain states. As for the average cable bill , I mean the basic programming packs would be $100.00 before the Premiums are added on or the various DISH fees or surcharges and state taxes. That is where we are headed if DISH continues to accept the price hikes that Cablevision asks for , as well as Espn , Disney etc. Someone must stand up to these companies and say NO. These channel providers are working against the continued satellite/cable model pricing themselves,as well as the very model itself , right out of business. There is a breaking point where subs will cut the cord once and for all and go back to ota & netflix: where most of the AMC content is there already. I can agree with Charlie Ergen on this fight ,without agreeing with him on his overpriced receiver fees, madeup extra fees and state surcharges , that I now have to pay for three of my accounts. Besides Charlie is trying to get in front of this cord cutting , forcing the channel providers to back down on their greedy price hikes. He is also for ala carte channels and would like to expand it so anyone can buy any channel they want. I agree with ala carte too, but I do not believe in "DISH love" any more than I believe that you practice "AMC Love."

DISH is a fee pig, that I agree with. But again, Charlie has to make up for the losses, and he is not going to put us subs above profit. As for a la carte, I am for it but would prefer to be dealing directly with the networks -- the middle man is just not working for me anymore.

 

[andy_horton]

I guess, bottom line, AMC nets get dropped July 1. Amc wants more than Dish is willing to pay for there channels. I don't mind disputes once in a while. Keeps some people honest. I mean think, Dish will pay a little more in the end, our rates will always go up. It's like that commercial where DTV raised their rates by 15% and Dish didn't. Come next year, the basic packages will go up in price. Maybe not as much as DTV, but it will go up. Other channels want more money, too. Just not as much. And like all the other disputes, it will get worked out eventually.

 

[NotMe546]

DISH is a fee pig, that I agree with.

Like the dolans aren't.

 

[Mochuf]

Besides Charlie is trying to get in front of this cord cutting , forcing the channel providers to back down on their greedy price hikes. He is also for ala carte channels and would like to expand it so anyone can buy any channel they want. I agree with ala carte too, but I do not believe in "DISH love" any more than I believe that you practice "AMC Love."

If Charlie truely wanted "ala carte", he would be doing what he could with what he currently has now. Start off with a a HD version of the Welcome Pack (charge more if you have to) and then let people add any mini-package that Dish currently offers. Right now you can't add either BB@Home or the Multi-Sports pack to the Welcome Package. Why not? I doubt it's the networks doing. I'm sure they would love to have more paying viewers, no matter what level of service those viewers are subscribing to.

 

[mdram]

He is also for ala carte channels and would like to expand it so anyone can buy any channel they want. I agree with ala carte too, but I do not believe in "DISH love" any more than I believe that you practice "AMC Love."

charlies ala carte would be $0.10 a channel, but then you would get hit with the $100 satelite use fee

 

[MikeD-C05]

If Charlie truely wanted "ala carte", he would be doing what he could with what he currently has now. Start off with a a HD version of the Welcome Pack (charge more if you have to) and then let people add any mini-package that Dish currently offers. Right now you can't add either BB@Home or the Multi-Sports pack to the Welcome Package. Why not? I doubt it's the networks doing. I'm sure they would love to have more paying viewers, no matter what level of service those viewers are subscribing to.

I would love to see a HD version of the Welcome pack . But for the most part the Welcome pack is nothing more than life line cable , but a satellite version. It is also used as a last ditch effort to retain subs who want to cancel over price. IN another thread there is now speculation that you can't even get Hd locals if you down grade to the Welcome pack. Matt at the DIRT team is trying to get a definitive answer from DISH on this one.

 

[NotMe546]

IN another thread there is now speculation that you can't even get Hd locals if you down grade to the Welcome pack. Matt at the DIRT team is trying to get a definitive answer from DISH on this one.

WOW

 

[MikeD-C05]

charlies ala carte would be $0.10 a channel, but then you would get hit with the $100 satelite use fee

DISH when they first started had something called DISHPICKS or DISHPIX ,where you could pick any 10 channels an pay $10.00 ,if I remember right. The channel providers do not like Ala carte, because you won't watch their other various channels that come bundled like AMC ,IFC,WE ,Sundance. IF the FCC could make it against the law to force bundling of channels, we might get ala carte. But you are right in one aspect. IF Charlie did allow ala carte , he would find some way to force a huge ala carte fee or what ever he decided to call it, that would make the ala carte not worth it.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Ya, okay. Charlie Ergen is a God and wouldn't think of stretching the truth, or forgetting about the truth all together. We disagree.



DISH is a fee pig, that I agree with. But again, Charlie has to make up for the losses, and he is not going to put us subs above profit. As for a la carte, I am for it but would prefer to be dealing directly with the networks -- the middle man is just not working for me anymore.

If Charlie wanted to put us subs before profits , he wouldn't of charged a dvr fee , or a whole house dvr fee or a $17.00 dual tuner dvr fee for a second dvr on your account. That is nothing more than profits to his bottom line. At one time he charged a dvr fee PER dvr on your account. He still does , but it is now been rolled into the high additional receiver fees. Back in 2000 he charged NO dvr fees of any kind and advertised that fact as "tapeless record for free". Back then when the 501 and 721 pvrs came out with no dvr fees, DISH grew at the highest rate that they ever had. But the other sat company charged as much as $9.99 a month for their dvrs , so he decided to stop "leaving money on the table" , as Charlie called it, and added a dvr fee. No Charlie never met a FEE he didn't like. Even when DISH lost subs for quarter after quater, he continued to increase profits, due to his ever increasing DISH FEES. The latest and greatest new FEE is the State Surcharge , that DISH added "for the price of doing business in the state". Texas became the newest state to get a surcharge. Now granted other states get hit by an even higher fee than our .62 cent "surcharge" , but it goes to show you that CHarlie is not going to take a hit to his bottom line at all , without passing it on to the subs. So even though we will lose AMC ,IFC,WE come July 1st, we won't see any decrease to our bill. Come February , we will see a price increase to our basic programming packs. The question is will it be $5.00 or higher ,since Charlie forced two years of price increases into one year, so he could claim a price freeze for two years in his advertising commercials.

 

[Tampa8]

This is the list I have you could pick from on an old programming card. It was $15 for 10 channels.
Animal Planet, BET, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CBS Eye On People, Classic Sports Network, CNBC, CNN, CNN financial, CNN international, Comedy Central, Country Music Television, Court TV, C-Span, C-Span 2, Discovery Channel, E!, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, EWTN, Family Channel, Game Show Channel, Headline News, History Channel, Home & Garden, Home Shopping Network, KTLA, Learning Channel, Lifetime, MSNBC, Nashville Network, NET, QVC, Sci-Fi Channel, TBN, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, Travel Channel, TV Food Network, USA Network, Weather Channel, WGN, WPIX, WSBK, and WWOR.

With how much everything has gone up, I don't think it's anywhere near a stretch to say it would be $25 $30 or more now, and a only certain 10 channels. Obviously AMC isn't going to let you get just their one channel.

No carrier is going to sell a few channels of your choice with no other costs/fees, they won't stay in business.

 

[MikeD-C05]

This is the list I have on an old programming card. It was $15 for 10 channels.
Animal Planet, BET, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CBS Eye On People, Classic Sports Network, CNBC, CNN, CNN financial, CNN international, Comedy Central, Country Music Television, Court TV, C-Span, C-Span 2, Discovery Channel, E!, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, EWTN, Family Channel, Game Show Channel, Headline News, History Channel, Home & Garden, Home Shopping Network, KTLA, Learning Channel, Lifetime, MSNBC, Nashville Network, NET, QVC, Sci-Fi Channel, TBN, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, Travel Channel, TV Food Network, USA Network, Weather Channel, WGN, WPIX, WSBK, and WWOR.

I knew it was cheap ,but couldn't remember the exact price. I sure wish that we could do that now.

 

[Tampa8]

I would say based on their family and welcome pack, they could have all those channels, plus most likely a few others that people could pick from to get 10 or some number.

Another way might be to allow you to add channels above your package. If you have top 120 and want one or two specific channels in the higher packages, pay for those. Might only monetarily work for a couple of channels.

 

[king3pj]

I do agree with Charlie on this dispute with Cablevision that is directly linked to the ongoing Voom lawsuit, which I also agree with DISH on. I also think that DISH charges too many charge it because we can , made up DISH FEES and now State Surcharges or Taxes that DISH keeps for doing business in certain states. As for the average cable bill , I mean the basic programming packs would be $100.00 before the Premiums are added on or the various DISH fees or surcharges and state taxes. That is where we are headed if DISH continues to accept the price hikes that Cablevision asks for , as well as Espn , Disney etc. Someone must stand up to these companies and say NO. These channel providers are working against the continued satellite/cable model pricing themselves,as well as the very model itself , right out of business. There is a breaking point where subs will cut the cord once and for all and go back to ota & netflix: where most of the AMC content is there already. I can agree with Charlie Ergen on this fight ,without agreeing with him on his overpriced receiver fees, madeup extra fees and state surcharges , that I now have to pay for three of my accounts. Besides Charlie is trying to get in front of this cord cutting , forcing the channel providers to back down on their greedy price hikes. He is also for ala carte channels and would like to expand it so anyone can buy any channel they want. I agree with ala carte too, but I do not believe in "DISH love" any more than I believe that you practice "AMC Love."

Here is the problem I have with this.... Why be a subscriber of the provider that constantly decides to "stand up to these companies and say no" as you put it? Why be part of the service that takes channels from you "for the greater good" more than any other provider?

The thing is, I do believe Dish's disputes probably do help keep television service prices down somewhat, but not just for Dish customers. For instance, Dish says no to an increase and pulls a channel. They piss off customers who watch the channel and do all the work to fight with the channel. Say they then get it back, which isn't always the case. Now they have gotten it down to a price they wanted. Now there is a value set for the channel going forward. The other providers might not know the exact settled upon amount but they pay people to make their best possible guess. They also know it probably wasn't a huge increase if Dish got it back. Now when it's Directv's turn they can just come in and say we want the price Dish got. They aren't going to pay more than Dish when they know that is a number the channel in dispute has already agreed to. In the end Directv gets the same negotiation for a similar price without the dispute and pissed off customers.

Sure it's nice that one of the providers is willing to pull channels to prove their point. I'm just not sure why people would be so happy to be a part of all the fights when the other providers all offer similar products for similar prices.

 

[empiretc]

I do believe Dish's disputes probably do help keep television service prices down somewhat, but not just for Dish customers. For instance, Dish says no to an increase and pulls a channel........
Sure it's nice that one of the providers is willing to pull channels to prove their point.

still not convinced- for dish wanting to keep prices low all the time, they sure didn't hesitate to add that surcharge for people in Texas.

 

[king3pj]

still not convinced- for dish wanting to keep prices low all the time, they sure didn't hesitate to add that surcharge for people in Texas.

You missed my point. Of course Dish's concern isn't keeping prices down for their customers. They are a huge corporation and just like the others their purpose is to make as much money as possible. Keeping the prices they pay to each channel helps that cause because they can charge a similar price for a similar service. If they pay less to the channels they aren't going to lower their price. They will just raise their profit margin.

My point was for all the people who talk about how great it is that dish takes a stand. My theory is that the rest of the providers benefit from this just as much as Dish without having to pull channels and piss off customers as often.

 

[empiretc]

You missed my point. Of course Dish's concern isn't keeping prices down for their customers.

Got the point, and agree completely. No one/company wants to pay a different price for the same product/service.

It's just upsetting how dish uses their customers as scapegoats in these disputes. If they truly wanted to keep prices low, they should cut different things within or make different adjustments instead of readily dropping channels, adding surcharges, and increasing fees.