CBS stations return to DISH

[Scherrman]

Just to clarify, I wasn't asking you to prove Dish was keeping the prices low, but for Dish to back up their own claim.

Channel bundles would be fine under my second argument... let's say Dish agrees to pay 1 cent/minute/channel viewed. So if I watch ESPN for a 3 hour game, Dish would owe ESPN $1.80. If I watch Lifetime for a minute, Dish pays them .01. I watch 15 minutes of the History channel, that's 15 cents. Channels that get watched get more.

Obviously, the price is made up.

Let's think outside the box though.

Isn't there something similar to that being used somewhere already? Is that what they call metered usage? It sounds like an alright idea and I wonder how well it would work. I'm curious how much a channel like Esquire would have to charge per minute in order to make enough to keep the channel running though.

 

[rvvaquero]

I'm not overly technical. Could someone tell me how Dish could possibly know what channels I view for how long? I've never been connected to the internet or a phone line.

 

[dare2be]

Just to clarify, I wasn't asking you to prove Dish was keeping the prices low, but for Dish to back up their own claim.

Channel bundles would be fine under my second argument... let's say Dish agrees to pay 1 cent/minute/channel viewed. So if I watch ESPN for a 3 hour game, Dish would owe ESPN $1.80. If I watch Lifetime for a minute, Dish pays them .01. I watch 15 minutes of the History channel, that's 15 cents. Channels that get watched get more.

Obviously, the price is made up.

Let's think outside the box though.

I mentioned in the past a model for metered rates, but was shot down.

Of course, there would still be contract disputes over what the metered rate is. Disney will want .03 per minute for ESPN, and still want a full .01 per minute for ABC Family.

 

[ChadT41]

I'm not overly technical. Could someone tell me how Dish could possibly know what channels I view for how long? I've never been connected to the internet or a phone line.

Unless you call and opt out, every customers box sends digital information with amount being watch. There is no specific tied to it(family a watches this, family b watches this). It is all just gathered into a spreadsheet as numbers, thanks to the digital receiver. You do not have to have phone or Internet for them to have this info. That's the full depth of what I know about it, but I hope that helps clarify.

 

[JM42]

The solution here is for the FCC to allow Dish to bring nearby CBS stations, not owned by CBS, to replace the blacked out channels.
Unfortunately, the FCC is basically controlled by political contributions so will protect CBS, Inc.

I don't get the call for bring the FCC or government into any of the channel negotiations any more than they already are. It's just TV and not really important. Does it really rise to the level of national policy if someone can't watch football?

Locals are a slightly different matter due to the public airwave component, but as far as I would go is to force all local "public interest" content be provided for retrans under a modified must carry provision. Get local news and weather, maybe some educational content, let primetime go dark. It would end up being a pain in the ass for both stations and mvpds.

Nothing is going to change the current pattern until some provider has the balls to let "big" channels go dark and stay dark.

 

[ChadT41]

Without question that's the case. Odd thing is, some people will claim that network "A" can't charge Dish one rate, Directv a different rate, Time Warner a third rate, and so on -- they say it's anti-competitive or something. Unless I'm missing something, that simply can't be accurate. If it were, there'd be no negotiations possible.

There are clauses that have to have the prices relatively similar on atleast most the channels. Because different companies have different portions of the service(showtime anytime for example), the prices can vary somewhat, but they will be relatively the same. That is why dish won that lawsuit against ESPN(deportes or en Espanol?). They offered other providers more favorable deals, when they had a clause in the contract that they would offer competitive pricing with the opportunity for renegotiation if a lower price was offered to another company. Some channels may not have this clause, but I'm sure the biggest and most wanted channels do. I know AJA offered TWC better prices then any other competitor and there wasn't to much legal stink over that, so like I said, it has to be a specific clause for both those situations to ring true.

 

[sam_gordon]

I mentioned in the past a model for metered rates, but was shot down.

Of course, there would still be contract disputes over what the metered rate is. Disney will want .03 per minute for ESPN, and still want a full .01 per minute for ABC Family.

Why would the rate be different? That's my point. There's ONE rate for all channels. You'd probably need some third party folks to negotiate that rate.

Unless you call and opt out, every customers box sends digital information with amount being watch. There is no specific tied to it(family a watches this, family b watches this). It is all just gathered into a spreadsheet as numbers, thanks to the digital receiver. You do not have to have phone or Internet for them to have this info. That's the full depth of what I know about it, but I hope that helps clarify.

If the box is not connected to a phone line or the internet, there is no way to send the information to Dish. I'm sure the information is in the receiver, but with no pipe out, there it stays. That would be a problem to overcome.

 

[ChadT41]

Like I said, not sure how they pull the information, but they do. Have ever since the 301 and possibly before.

 

[Bobby]

Like I said, not sure how they pull the information, but they do. Have ever since the 301 and possibly before.

I'd be very interested in how they can possibly garner information without a pipe to get it there. Smoke and mirrors?

 

[ChadT41]

I am right there with you. I am at the same understanding as you, and it doesn't make much sense. That is what was passed down in our training, and I asked that specific wuestion and the answer I got back was exactly what I have you.

 

[Hall]

If you're not connected by phone or internet, they simply don't know. Those households are the exception, not the rule though. Ask installers who post here how much it is emphasized that they connect the receivers.

 

[Hall]

On cable, what happens, or used to happen, was you would tune to a channel, the receiver would query the cable system and basically ask, "is this channel authorized?". Doing that, they know what you're watching and for how long (when you tune to a new channel, it asks again, and knows you're done with the previous). Remember how fast channel changes were on analog systems? Everything was "on". Satellite can't do this quick enough, hence why smart cards are used. Basically, every so often, the card has a " list" of authorized channels that is updated on occasion. If you change your programming, it "hits" your card outside of the normal schedule.

Satellite stores the same basic info that the cable company does at their headend but on the receiver. It's uploaded to Dish by phone or broadband.

 

[dare2be]

Why would the rate be different? That's my point. There's ONE rate for all channels. You'd probably need some third party folks to negotiate that rate.

Gotcha.

This would basically eliminate all outlet fees and DVR fees, too, since 2 TVs watching/recording at the same time would double the usage.
There would probably have to be stipulations for premium channels to still allow them to charge a monthly rate, and a difference in usage rates for channels that have advertising vs. non-premium channels that don't.

 

[Hall]

Isn't there something similar to that being used somewhere already? Is that what they call metered usage? It sounds like an alright idea and I wonder how well it would work. I'm curious how much a channel like Esquire would have to charge per minute in order to make enough to keep the channel running though.

A network would never go for it. They have no idea how much revenue is coming or it can fluctuate.

 

[rvvaquero]

Like I said, not sure how they pull the information, but they do. Have ever since the 301 and possibly before.

Are you saying that my receiver has the ability to transmit data back through the satellite system?

 

[mikej0530]

I do not care for cbs at all until this time of year. I love homeland on Showtime. I will be very upset to lose the showtime station.

 

[ChadT41]

Are you saying that my receiver has the ability to transmit data back through the satellite system?

I'm by no means saying that. I am saying that was literally exactly what I was trained. That even without phone and Internet, they still know how long each channel is watched and how often. When I asked how without phone Amir internet, I couldn't get an answer back. But they did make sure to explain that it was back to the 301 and possibly before. You. Can call in and opt out of that, I did, even though it doesn't track customer specific data.

 

[sam_gordon]

Are you saying that my receiver has the ability to transmit data back through the satellite system?

It does NOT go back through the satellite system. I guarantee it.

I'm by no means saying that. I am saying that was literally exactly what I was trained. That even without phone and Internet, they still know how long each channel is watched and how often. When I asked how without phone Amir internet, I couldn't get an answer back. But they did make sure to explain that it was back to the 301 and possibly before. You. Can call in and opt out of that, I did, even though it doesn't track customer specific data.

The bolded is key. Without a phone or internet connection, there is no way for them to get the info (ok, maybe if they can "put hands on the box"). I believe that's what they told you in training, but it was a lie.

 

[Hall]

Yeap, the bold part is the key. They don't know...

 

[ChadT41]

Lol. Like I said again, reporting as was reported. Likely, considering it was just a call center trainer, he didn't have full details either, I'm sure he did what I am doing. Taking given info, and passing what we can along. If they have some system(store on smart card, wait for RA comes to my mind), we wouldn't be privy to those details.