Social Feed

M Sparks said:

My theory is that HBO Zone SD might replace HBO 2 West SD. The slide shown on the chat showed HBO2 West and NOT East, but the press release said East only for HD. It seems odd they would have one channel that was only in SD, and one channel that was only in HD.

Click to expand...

garys said:

We only have HBO East in HD, west is not. Same thing with Starz and Showtime. Guess it's been odd for a while now.

Click to expand...

M Sparks said:

You missed the point completely. Here, let me restate with emphasis.

"It seems odd they would have ONE channel that was ONLY in SD, AND ONE channel that was ONLY in HD."

There are currently no premium packages on DISH that have an HD exclusive. (DirecTV does for Starz.) There are also no premium packages that only have ONE SD channel that doesn't have an HD counterpart...though there will be after this change (Cinemax will be missing MoreMax-HD.)

My point...from a marketing point of view, it makes perfect sense. Switching a west feed to a different feed offers a bit more variety for the SD customers. And it allows them to say "ALL HBO channels available in HD."

It's been done before, when they switched Starz Cinema West to Starz Comedy.

Click to expand...

Geronimo said:

I don't remember Charlie ever saying ANYTHING about HBO Zone.

Click to expand...

DishSubLA said:

We won't know until August 1. HBO has been trying for years to get Charlie to take the HBO Zone, and Charlie has consistently said that HBO wants "too much money" for the channel. IMHO, HBO had Charlie were they wanted him this time. Me thinks HBO The Zone was the price for getting all the other HBO's in HD, and Charlie desperately needs good content HD channels, such as all the premium movie channels. I would not be surprised to see HBO The Zone on SD, as well. You win some; you lose some. Charlie would have preferred not having to pay for the addition of HBO The Zone, but that's business. But we shall see on August 1.

Click to expand...

jwgreen68 said:

Is it just me? Or are you a real prick? Everytime you answer a post, you have to berate someone. Take a Prozac. Or better yet, if you can't be nice, then don't respond at all!!!

Click to expand...

ehren said:

HBO Zone will be just like the NHL network= only in HD

Click to expand...

DishSubLA said:

Over the years the HBO Zone has been briefly discussed on at least 4 different Charlie Chats, most recently a little over a year ago, that I can remember, starting several years ago. In one chat, one of the honored gusts was a muckie-muck from HBO, and a caller asked about getting HBO the Zone (I think the same guy called a year later), and Charlie took advantage of the situation and said, "The reason we don't have HBO The Zone is because HBO wants too much money!" A quick camera cut to the the female HBO exec as she sheepishly grinned and the peanut gallery and all in studio laughed. It really was one of those Charlie Ergan comical moments.

In subsequent chats he continued to mention price as the primary reason, but later changed the reason by having the previous programming exec say that the same content on HBO The Zone could be seen on the other HBO's they offered. This was generally true in the past as all these "theme" premium movie channels, in fact, do play virtually the same content as seen on the flagship channels. It really is marketing and BS just to create the multi-plex model that is really designed to force cable and sat to pay for these channels and charge us more money.

The flagship channels show a variety of movies and TV shows for which they have the rights to air. Now, take that same content from the flagship channels and break it up according to theme such as Comedy, Women's, Family, whatever, and air those themed movies on the themed channel, and you don't have to pay rights for additional content to fill up these themed channel. The irony is that the most unique films on the themed channels are often low-budget, low-brow, overall poor quality (as in script, writing, ideas) movies. Kind of the same junk available on DishONLINE.

However, there are a few channels that truly come closer to airing good quality, unique content such as Starz Cinema (although there is still a fair amount of overlap) or HBO Comedy airing all those old comics stand up performances. But, in general, it really is a scam. However, one good thing about the scam is that it does offer more opportunities to catch a movie one may have missed, and it does provide the same content spread over many show times as opposed to one channel.

Click to expand...