Yeah, that's partly why I asked. I am not aware of any disputes in my market at the moment, but I don't want to be blind-sided by any upcoming disputes.
Free ota antenna email from dish
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We haven’t seen any of these work orders in central Illinois so you’re probably right
Posted on the tech portal today
Given that Dish is allowing customers to drop locals as of what, maybe 6-12 months ago and in the case of providing OTA antennas (encouraging customers to drop them), I think we can safely say with 99% certainty that this is the case.
Dish may be - probably are - already losing money in some markets. Well, let me re-phrase that - they're not losing money but instead, they're not making enough money ! Dish charges $10/market across the board. That number may cause Dish to lose money or maybe break even in some markets, make very little to no profit in other markets, and in some markets, make a profit. By encouraging customers to drop locals via satellite, yet still receive the channels -- for free* -- customers remain happy. This goes back to the first part of my reply too. The TV station is going to look at how many homes subscribe to Dish (based on last negotiations) and presume some variance (in reality, they'd better presume the numbers will have dropped a bit) and base their per-subscriber rate on that to come up with their estimated revenue they'll get from Dish. Then Dish comes to the table and shows them an even lower number of subscribers !!
* Remember how ALL of the stations will repeat over and over about "why does Dish/Directv/cable charge you for our channel when you can get it for free?" ?
Tell that to navychop.
I had assumed cable/satellite operators tell the broadcasters how many subscribe to the package. I can't imagine anyone using 3 year old numbers as part of a negotiation (sure, maybe to get an idea, but not as fact).
I think this is key from HipKat
“The OTA promotional offer is at selected markets only as an effort to help with negotiations for potential broadcast blackout. Those accounts eligible for the OTA are flagged with AN3 service code....”
So we were correct that this IS about negotiations.
Network: We want $5 per channel
Dish: Sorry, not going to happen
Network: We want $5 per channel
Dish: No dice. We'll help our customers install antennas and you can take a hike
“The OTA promotional offer is at selected markets only as an effort to help with negotiations for potential broadcast blackout. Those accounts eligible for the OTA are flagged with AN3 service code....”
So we were correct that this IS about negotiations.
Network: We want $5 per channel
Dish: Sorry, not going to happen
Network: We want $5 per channel
Dish: No dice. We'll help our customers install antennas and you can take a hike
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So for that to work, if the network drops the amount they ask for, Dish WON'T let customers drop locals?I think this is key from HipKat
“The OTA promotional offer is at selected markets only as an effort to help with negotiations for potential broadcast blackout. Those accounts eligible for the OTA are flagged with AN3 service code....”
So we were correct that this IS about negotiations.
Network: We want $5 per channel
Dish: Sorry, not going to happen
Network: We want $5 per channel
Dish: No dice. We'll help our customers install antennas and you can take a hike
I think it paints the picture that customers have other options, and the channels aren't worth what's being asked. Therefore, Dish can hold out longer for a more favorable price and it will matter less and less to the customer- they now have OTA. Eventually the network caves and accepts Dish's terms, otherwise they receive nothing. Just my opinion though.
Well my day was wasted... Tech came today with just a USB OTA Adapter. No antenna was placed on the work order. Tech said only have indoor antennas in this market, they don't even have outdoor antennas in the warehouse, nor are trained on how to install them. Called loyalty dept, received a $20 credit for the issue. They ordered me an "exterior antenna" and waived the cost, charged my card $15.99 shipping, credited it back to account. Scheduled new appt. for 11/9 to give time to receive antenna.
I disagree. I don't see how this helps Dish hold out longer. They will still have customers that have to get the locals over satellite, just not all of them. In order for this to put pressure on the networks, the networks need to benefit if the accept Dish's demands. So, how would the networks benefit?
Don't forget, EVERY customer, no matter the market, can call right now and drop locals, and save $10/month. The only thing different in this promotion is Dish will install the gear.
Yep. And if they all did, then that would give Dish the best bargaining chip ever. "Nobody uses your channel so we don't need to carry it." Don't you think that's what this tactic is? Get as many people on OTA as possible.
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Checked my Dish order history, and the poor CSR ordered me a
Hopper Remote Antenna Ext
Price
$ 10.00
ROFL... I called back, supposedly coming tomorrow, with the right stuff. This is going to be my Dish Horror Story, I feel it.
Hopper Remote Antenna Ext
Price
$ 10.00
ROFL... I called back, supposedly coming tomorrow, with the right stuff. This is going to be my Dish Horror Story, I feel it.
Well, realistically, not everyone can do that. Let's say 50% do. Heck, I'll even give you 75%. So, Dish had 100,000 viewers in a market the last time they negotiated. Part of their spiel during negotiations was "look at how many viewers we bring you". 75% of people drop locals in that market, so now they have 25,000 viewers subscribed to locals. How does that help their bargaining position? "We don't have as many subscribers, so you shouldn't charge us as much"? Yes, if Dish could get everyone onto OTA, they could tell networks to pound sand. Not going to happen.
Actually, another way to think about it is the ability to drop locals can HURT Dish in PR with their customers. I've dropped locals. I don't pay the $10/month. So when Dish starts with the "your bills will go up when station WWWW raises their rates", it shouldn't. I don't pay for locals anymore, so WWWW can charge $10/subscriber/month and I shouldn't be paying for it.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's good that Dish allows subscribers to drop locals (and keep guide data), and I think it's a good move to offer antenna installation. I'm just not seeing where it gives Dish a step up in negotiating power.
Okay, so how can we tell if our account is flagged with AN3 service code?
Perhaps it is not about the rate per subscriber, but rather the total payment that Dish has to make to each station. Even if the per subscriber rate increases, Dish should (obviously) be paying the station much less for those 25,000 viewers than Dish had been previously paying for the 100,000 viewers.
If a market had 100,000 subscribers and Dish and the local station agreed during previous negotiations that a value of $1.75/ea was acceptable, doesn't it make sense that if the subscriber number decreased to let's say 75,000, that the "value" per subscriber would also decrease ?
On the other hand, if the station needs a certain amount of total revenue in order to stay in business, then fewer subscribers would mean that the station has to charge more per subscriber in order to raise the same amount of money, or else the station will go out of business.
That is probably more accurate. However, in my post I was going for the worst-case scenario just to illustrate the point. (In other words, the scenario that the stations want us to believe.)
Don't forget advertisers pay for most of the stations operating budget, more subscribers means more advertising revenue.
Once again, installer calls to see if I HAVE received my OTA in the mail as they don't have them in warehouse, nor can they order them. Dish tells me installer is to bring antenna. CAN DISH REPS NOT ORDER AN OUTDOOR OTA ANTENNA AND UPS IT TO ME?????!!!!
