6/22/2010 9:45am - Uplink Activity Report - 33 changes

[tomcrown1]

You just like to flame are you a DBS fan sure sounds like it you do nothing more than flame thrower. I have never posted that I watched any of the Disney channels. My whole point about Comcast is that they have a very active sales team and will go after any weakness they can sniff out. Personal attacks should get you banned since that is all you do. Attacking ideas is okay not the person.

 

[reddice]

God I hate the trolls who want to start a flame war. Charlie is a billionaire a few million dollars he has to spend is like candy money for our working folks. He can easily afford what Disney wants. It's just him being a cheap skate as usual.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok folks back on topic and enough flaming.

For some folks these were important channels, for others not so much. But the key thing here is that it was available to those who wanted it and now it's not.

I am not sure if we should blame DISH or DISNEY for the mess, so from where I sit I blame them both 50/50.

I do feel we will get those channels back and also when we do additional DISNEY owned channels could soon be on DISH. So ultimately while its a pain for some now, it may work to everyones advantage in the long run.

 

[Ghpr13]

....
Watching a cartoon is one thing. But when a grown man sits down and watches tween programming alone, theres a problem there. Having a few beers with buddies is fun but having a 12 pack everyday at 11 am makes you an alcoholic.

Sorry for going OT here for a minute, but I believe this forum is here to discuss maters of satellite/cable/OTA, not to pass personal judgments on posters...(Am I right here Scott?)

Stating your feelings on general posters who complain about increase fees, dropped channels, or how Charlie manages Dish is quite different than a personal attack on one poster.

What business is it of ours? The poster is upset because Disney pulled his favorite channels...that's why we have this thread in the first place, correct?

SatelliteGuys Forum is suppose to be a step above other forums, like AVS is. Let's not degrade it to the ranks of so many other forums that have turned more "Jerry Springer" than "60
Minutes" (No hard feelings to Jerry's fans!)

Ghpr13
Scott, I was typing this as your latest post posted...

 

[0pusX]

What it comes down to is, business is business. If you have to pay out more and your revenue doesnt go up you arent making as much money. If Charlie was some stand up guy like so many claim, he would say "oh well my profits wont be as high, but Im giving my customers all the channels out there" Thats not the case. He wouldnt ever let that happen nor would the company/shareholders.

 

[benpatient]

Heh. I just spent about an hour annoying a CSR online asking questions about Disney.

I have AbsoluteHD, and when the HD version of Disney cut off (right in the middle of recording Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), so did the SD version.

She kept telling me that Disney had pulled the HD feeds. I said "yes, but Dish Network pulled the SD feed from people with HD-and-matching-SD-only packages, and that was completely unnecessary if this is all Disney's fault"

She responded "I understand your frustration. Disney Channel is still available in our regular programming packages."

I asked her to show me which plan would get me Disney in SD.

She did, the 39.99 plan. I showed her the literally 20 "Premium" HD channels I have now that would go away if i dropped AbsoluteHD to do as she suggested, while at the same time raising my monthly payments by $10.

I said "that's not a good deal, is it?"

and she responded "But you would have Disney Channel"

I asked her if AbsoluteHD customers would have the channel re-instated if/when Dish and Disney work out a deal (which she mentioned was being worked on furiously many times in my chat session), and she flatly refused to respond to that question. She just kept pasting "Dish Network is working hard to get Disney Channel, ABC Family, Disney XD and ESPNews in HD for our customers."

I strung her along for a while, constantly asking questions, and then said "well, thanks for nothing. this has been enlightening. Toodles!"

 

[dmendenjr]

Absolute never had the SD feeds for those four channels; it's the same with Bravo, Spike, CNBC, and WGN... only the HD feeds for those channels, not the SD feeds.

I don't doubt that the Dish and Disney will kiss and make up before too long; but I can't shake the bad feeling that when they do, Absolute will not see these channels again.

 

[Greg Bimson]

I asked her to show me which plan would get me Disney in SD.

She did, the 39.99 plan. I showed her the literally 20 "Premium" HD channels I have now that would go away if i dropped AbsoluteHD to do as she suggested, while at the same time raising my monthly payments by $10.

It sounds like Dish Network believed they could bundle a bunch of "free" HD programming and charge a nominal fee for it. After all, this lawsuit with ESPN and the subsequent removal of the four HD channels is what caused Disney to state, "The recent New York State Court ruling confirms our position that Dish Network is not entitled to carry ABC Family HD, Disney Channel HD, Disney XD HD and ESPNews HD without paying compensation."

In other words, the four channels should have NEVER been in Absolute. And now I am definitely beginning to question whether ESPN or the Deuce should be there, either.

I am not sure if we should blame DISH or DISNEY for the mess, so from where I sit I blame them both 50/50.

Maybe it would take a court to determine, but wouldn't anyone at Dish Network possibly think that those HD feeds from Disney actually cost something? I mean, Dish Network was found to owe ESPN/Disney $65 million in back subscriber fees. I'd hate to be the lawyer that completely, bone-headedly misinterpreted the contract.

And as many have stated on the two threads, a contract is a contract. If a subscriber can't get out of it because the programming is changed, maybe Dish Network should stop playing the victim card, STFU and simply pay their bill according to the contract they signed...

 

[dvrexpander]

I do feel we will get those channels back and also when we do additional DISNEY owned channels could soon be on DISH. So ultimately while its a pain for some now, it may work to everyones advantage in the long run.

I'm looking forward to it be solved, all channels coming back along with ESPNU HD!! :up

 

[B_Kranski]

The Only losers in all this is the consumers. We pay these providers for content...otherwise we would all be using rabbit ears still. My opinion is that all these entertainment companies are charging way more then they should to carry channels and ultimatly the consumer pays to watch there channels which they get money from advertisers as well. I have a feeling that thats the way tv will be for now on...have some channels for a while have them shut off, have them on and lose them again because the two parties cant resolve pricing concerns.

 

[allargon]

Heh. I just spent about an hour annoying a CSR online asking questions about Disney.

(snip)
I asked her if AbsoluteHD customers would have the channel re-instated if/when Dish and Disney work out a deal (which she mentioned was being worked on furiously many times in my chat session), and she flatly refused to respond to that question. She just kept pasting "Dish Network is working hard to get Disney Channel, ABC Family, Disney XD and ESPNews in HD for our customers."

I strung her along for a while, constantly asking questions, and then said "well, thanks for nothing. this has been enlightening. Toodles!"

Like a CSR or any other Dish employee could comment on pending legislation.

I understand your frustration but seriously... She's nicer than I would've been. I would've tried to sign you up for AEP or at minimum AT250, so you know you'd get just about everything when Dish and Disney made up.

 

[benpatient]

Like a CSR or any other Dish employee could comment on pending legislation.

I understand your frustration but seriously... She's nicer than I would've been. I would've tried to sign you up for AEP or at minimum AT250, so you know you'd get just about everything when Dish and Disney made up.

and i would have laughed at you, too.

pending legislation? i think you're over-stating the importance of what's going on here.

 

[HiDefRev]

Dish

It's always something with Charlie Ergen. Something good had better come from all of this junk or I'll have to send him an angry email. :rant:

 

[allargon]

Like a CSR or any other Dish employee could comment on pending legislation.

Err... I typed legislation, but I meant litigation. Sigh.

 

[JohnH]

Wasteing a CSRs time can contribute to the cost of programming in a way you probably don't like. Enough of this can cause prices to go up or channels not to be carried.

 

[rocket69]

Wasteing a CSRs time can contribute to the cost of programming in a way you probably don't like. Enough of this can cause prices to go up or channels not to be carried.

5 min of an india CSR is less then one usa cent. my yearly pkg price would cover 1 india CSR making 2,000 USD a year.

 

[JohnH]

Yep and after you paid that CSR there would be no money left to pay for your programming, especially if that CSR was chat savvy. Maybe the India CSRs would not have been needed at all?
Seems cheap, but never the less an expense which causes the bucks to go elsewhere. Sort of like tax refunds and earned income credits causing stimulus. Yeah right when the money is used to purchase items from the Far East assembled in Mexico.
Sorry for the rant. It just seems like such a waste to expect a CSR to forecast programming changes when it appears extremely difficult to keep them up to date on current offerings.

 

[dvrexpander]

No new news?? Channels still missing and still missing ESPNU HD :rant:

 

[mike74820]

those 2 channels have done more damage to satellite than help in the last few years

 

[zippyfrog]

No new news?? Channels still missing and still missing ESPNU HD :rant:

I am guessing that these channels are going to be missing for a while. I looked at the channel guide PDF downloads, and I noticed that they removed HD from those four channels.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/downloads/Channel-Lineup/StandardHDChannelGuide.pdf