Frankly, the whole "Digital Rights" thing is really confusing. I think the only thing we can say with a fair amount of certainty is that those channels to which we can't use Dish credentials just means the media company wants to much money, and if Ergen always paid what the media companies want, they same people who complain about not having direct access to that channel would complain the loudest about their Dish bill being so high. All this will cost us extra money in our bill each month. I would prefer for the bills to stay where they are then pay for access to a channel that I can record to my DVR and watch at home or stream out of home using Dish Anywhere. Except for the cases of channels that Dish does not provide in HD, I've had no need for direct access to any channel. Yes, some people do, but I would prefer each person pay their own way for digital rights, but that aint gonna happen. Prefer sports fans pay their own way, but short of Congressional Action, that aint gonna happen either. Perhaps we can offer to pay AMC directly and see if they will take our money. Doubt it.
Maybe Les Moonvies got it right with CBS All Access (sarcasm?), the expensive access to CBS TV we are already paying for (along with every episode of Star Trek that is currently being aired uncut for FREE on Heores & Icons and on BBC America (not quite free) and you name it). Maybe AMC should offer its own stand-alone all access service so those people can pay their own way for digital rights.