CNN and HLN gone/ Dish-Turner Dispute - Now Back 11/21

[356B]

I can appreciate that. But after you listen to the 20 minutes of actual news on a given day, what do you watch then?

I'm a local Political consultant, I watch news often. CNN is part of the cabal I enjoy. Fox and MSNBC have gotten to the point of ridiculousness. For semi-main stream news CNN for me is a middle of the road alternative.

 

[ChadT41]

Just pointing out(without the "I pay butt loads of money" argument) TV is still not a necessity. It is a luxury. Also, before the "I need to hear about tornadoes" argument comes into play, get a radio. There should be absolutely minimal government involvement with this service.

 

[kenny9966]

I need my Bar Drinking channel back!! Bring back Tru TV!!

 

[Hall]

it's already hurting them in the short term

How so ?

 

[Tampa8]

I haven't seen anything that suggests DISH is being hurt by the loss of those channels. As for the SaveMyShows site, most every dispute has the other side with the same nonsense. I am sure DISH is unfazed by it.
To anyone who watches those channels regularly it's a relatively big deal. Problem Turner has is that number of people is very low. I actually agree with Charlie that for DISH and their subscribers it is just about a non event. That doesn't mean it's good those channels are gone, but people (rightly) complain about the cost of TV, well if DISH just pays whatever is asked or keeps paying more than they think is fair,we pay an even higher increase.

As for Government intervention, who do think is responsible for the state of affairs pay tv is in? I'm sure more Government intervention is exactly what we don't need.

i was originally gonna say 4 weeks top, but with Charlie's new anti-Turner comment, i can see this dispute lasting 6 months to 2 years now. and this is really gonna hurt Dish in the long term. it's already hurting them in the short term. plus Turner has already started using the SaveMyShows.com site to tell people to switch providers. that's something that was missing in the opening days of the dispute. i'm ready for Government intervention to these contractual disputes or make it easier for us in rural areas get TV via internet.

 

[TheKrell]

A la carte will require government intervention.

 

[dwarren2]

They've been talking about ala carte since the days of C band. Won't happen.

 

[acostapimps]

They need to wear the big boy pants and talk like adults here for both sides
But Turner needs to know that not every provider can bend over and take it as they pleased
and pretend that customers are not noticing.
Like I said in another similar thread.

 

[foghorn2]

A la carte will require government intervention.

Maybe "a la provider"? We chose to pay for whatever provider.
Dish base price for locals + misc, then we chose which provider channels, like bb online.

 

[JTBenson]

Do you mean we pick a Turner package, a Disney package, a Viacom package, etc? I think that would make a lot of sense. That way content providers could still bundle, but we as consumers could pick the packages we want.

 

[ChadT41]

I don't think smaller companies such as Turner would go for it. Especially with that new NbA contract, they need everything they can get.

 

[sam_gordon]

They need to wear the big boy pants and talk like adults here for both sides
But Turner needs to know that not every provider can bend over and take it as they pleased
and pretend that customers are not noticing.
Like I said in another similar thread.

And Dish needs to know that not every broadcaster will accept no pay increases.

I totally agree with your first sentence.

 

[satjay]

That's kind of like what the did in the cband days, you had options of packages, not saying that's the way we are moving to

 

[darrengs]

Turner's statements "Other top 5 distributors have signed up for what Dish has walked away from", doesn't fly with me. If the 5 people before me pay list price for a car, it doesn't mean I am not going to negotiate.

 

[Tampa8]

A great point was made above. When someone like Turner signs an NBA contract for millions of dollars, that pretty much ends any chance of them allowing A La Carte, they need to be in a full package. They know just like the RSN's know A La Carte could put them out of business if they have expensive contracts and people can decide not to buy, because that means people who do want it would pay far more, in many cases more than they will be pay.
I'm betting the Government is not getting involved in mandating A La Carte at the least not at this time. Even if they do you have no idea what that could mean, with the legislation that could follow what the Cable industry lobbyists want.

I'll go one step more, I bet if the Government was not involved now or only marginally and instead the marketplace determined delivery and cost we would be paying less. It might mean less choices of programming, but that would be the marketplace determining that, not something artificial that drives up the cost.

 

[Scherrman]

Maybe "a la provider"? We chose to pay for whatever provider.
Dish base price for locals + misc, then we chose which provider channels, like bb online.

This is how they had packages for commercial accounts for a few years. It was absolutely terrible and incredibly expensive if a business wanted a variety of channels. They had a package that was strictly Turner channels and I think it was like $12. Then they had a couple sports packages and each was like $20. Then if you wanted the Big Ten Network it was like $50. In order for a bar to get the channels they they needed the bill was over $200 a month. Needless to say this was not a very competitive deal and not many businesses signed up for Dish.

Dish's current commercial packages are the same exact packages that are offered for residential accounts but they have a business fee tacked on. Public accounts pay $40 on top of the regular price and private accounts pay an extra $15. They qualify for the same discounts as residential accounts too so it's a pretty good deal. Basically the point I'm making here is that the best way to get a variety of channels is to have them bundled the way they already are.

 

[Indy]

I have been with Dish from the start, 14+ years. I watch TV all day long as I work, CNN, MSNBC, Discovery. @ $140 per month for Dish, maybe it is time to get basic cable and watch less, spend less. I miss CNN and will certainly miss TNT if it is pulled. TNT will be the final straw for me.

 

[bellevuecoug]

I have been with Dish from the start, 14+ years. I watch TV all day long as I work, CNN, MSNBC, Discovery. @ $140 per month for Dish, maybe it is time to get basic cable and watch less, spend less. I miss CNN and will certainly miss TNT if it is pulled. TNT will be the final straw for me.

Why TNT? NBA fan or something else? The first time I will miss this channel is NCAA time in March.

 

[acostapimps]

And Dish needs to know that not every broadcaster will accept no pay increases.

I totally agree with your first sentence.

And why should they if it's not worth for what they're asking?, Of course it's all speculation for the actual price per sub
ESPN for example I understand.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Ergen is worth 16.2 billion, what does he care when (or if?) this dispute with Turner gets resolved?...

Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw waaaay back in my college days: "We're the Bell System. We don't care. We don't have to."