BBCA HD Rollout Has Begun....

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"Soon" usually turns into "sooner or later" and finally turns into "later." Sometimes it morphs into "never" if Charle doesn't like the price...
 
BBC America:" We want $10 per customer for BBC America HD "

New Dish Programming Head M Sparks:" We have abandoned Turbo and Absolute, so you can have anything you want. How about $20 per customer ? "

What the heck are you talking about? I know you aren't this dense.

Subscriber fees are primarily a payment for PROGRAMMING. HD/SD feeds show the same programming, especially now that (I believe) everyone has moved to a simulcast format.

For the Classic + HD packages, the programming is already being payed for. For example, if you have Classic Bronze, ESPN gets something like $4.00 out of the $35 you're paying for the package. Then you add the HD feeds for $10. It's not like ESPN gets ANOTHER $4 out of that $10 for the HD feed. If they get ANYTHING, it's a few cents at most. This is why the HD add-on fee has never really changed, and in fact it's gone down depending on how you look at it. It was $10 to add on a few HD channels years ago, and it's $10 to add a bunch of HD channels now. It doesn't matter if you have Bronze or Gold, it's still $10. You can have all the premiums or none...HD is still $10. Out of that $10, a bit goes to HDNet, Paladia, and HD Theatre. (And now some goes to pay for those Platinum channels if you got that deal.) Almost all of the rest of it goes in DISH's pocket to pay for the additional bandwidth necessary.

But for Turbo and Absolute, a separate price has to be negotiated. They have to get their whole $4 for the HD feed. In fact, they may ask for a HIGHER price, because those Turbo subs are not chipping in for ESPN-Classic and ESPN-U.

Ever since Absolute was created, each additional HD channel had to have a special price negotiation. I suspect that sometimes negotiations fell through entirely based on the Absolute/Turbo price negotiation. But DISH has shown they are now willing to add an HD feed to the Classic packages even though they can't come to an agreement on the Turbo price (which is probably the channel's fault, not DISH...it appears Fox doesn't want anything to do with Turbo/Absolute, but perhaps it was about price...we'll probably never know.)

Now that they seem to have abandoned the packages entirely, they don't need to worry about those kind of negotiations. And DISH now has the upper hand in most cases. Since HD is going mainstream, the SD channels must get their HD feeds up to compete. Look at Investigation Discovery. A lot of that programming is already available on other HD Discovery channels, and there is competition from other HD channels with similar programming. They've got to get an HD feed up or their audience will dwindle away over time. DISH and other providers have the better bargaining position because they have the bandwidth and they need to weigh which channels will be more important to their subscribers.

If there is any price negotiations, it might be DISH trying to get a better price on other channels. But generally speaking, price should not be an issue on HD simulcast channels anymore.
 
Why?

What the heck are you talking about? I know you aren't this dense.

Subscriber fees are primarily a payment for PROGRAMMING. HD/SD feeds show the same programming, especially now that (I believe) everyone has moved to a simulcast format.

For the Classic + HD packages, the programming is already being payed for. For example, if you have Classic Bronze, ESPN gets something like $4.00 out of the $35 you're paying for the package. Then you add the HD feeds for $10. It's not like ESPN gets ANOTHER $4 out of that $10 for the HD feed. If they get ANYTHING, it's a few cents at most. This is why the HD add-on fee has never really changed, and in fact it's gone down depending on how you look at it. It was $10 to add on a few HD channels years ago, and it's $10 to add a bunch of HD channels now. It doesn't matter if you have Bronze or Gold, it's still $10. You can have all the premiums or none...HD is still $10. Out of that $10, a bit goes to HDNet, Paladia, and HD Theatre. (And now some goes to pay for those Platinum channels if you got that deal.) Almost all of the rest of it goes in DISH's pocket to pay for the additional bandwidth necessary.

But for Turbo and Absolute, a separate price has to be negotiated. They have to get their whole $4 for the HD feed. In fact, they may ask for a HIGHER price, because those Turbo subs are not chipping in for ESPN-Classic and ESPN-U.

Ever since Absolute was created, each additional HD channel had to have a special price negotiation. I suspect that sometimes negotiations fell through entirely based on the Absolute/Turbo price negotiation. But DISH has shown they are now willing to add an HD feed to the Classic packages even though they can't come to an agreement on the Turbo price (which is probably the channel's fault, not DISH...it appears Fox doesn't want anything to do with Turbo/Absolute, but perhaps it was about price...we'll probably never know.)

Now that they seem to have abandoned the packages entirely, they don't need to worry about those kind of negotiations. And DISH now has the upper hand in most cases. Since HD is going mainstream, the SD channels must get their HD feeds up to compete. Look at Investigation Discovery. A lot of that programming is already available on other HD Discovery channels, and there is competition from other HD channels with similar programming. They've got to get an HD feed up or their audience will dwindle away over time. DISH and other providers have the better bargaining position because they have the bandwidth and they need to weigh which channels will be more important to their subscribers.

If there is any price negotiations, it might be DISH trying to get a better price on other channels. But generally speaking, price should not be an issue on HD simulcast channels anymore.

Why would they have to negotiate a different price we get the SD of the HD program even if we don't watch it.
 
Nah, One day (soon), we're gonna wake up one morning and ALL the channels are going to be switched to HD... and all will be 1080p. And all channels will be free--we've all got AEP package. For $5/month, all PPV channels are unlocked.

(pinch me)

Yeah, soon. Patience my child.
 
Sad News..Charlie has abondoned negociations for BBC-HD He will Substitute HSN-HD instead because he got a much better deal
















:angel:;)
 
Correct. Discovery provides distribution for BBC America in North America, and distribution & services ad sales for Travel Channel. BBCA is wholly owned by BBC Worldwide Americas, itself a subsidiary of the BBC, and Travel was formerly owned by Discovery, but is now owned by Cox. Distribution just means the main feed is provided via Discovery's master control in VA. All content and programming decisions are controlled by the respective channel owners.



Keep in mind, it's not just a matter of the contract being in place and the technical side being good to go, there are other factors that play into the decision as to when a channel is lit up. (i.e. marketing, csr training, other contractual obligations, etc. etc. etc.)

Distribution means that Discovery Networks acts like an "agent" for BBCA. with negotiations really being between Discovery Networks and carriers. This arrangement saves BBC money by not having to staff for matters relating to distribution that includes services to providers and auditing, etc. and BBCA benefits from Discovery Networks ability to use its other channels that it owns or only distributes as leverage to get the BBCA carriage, along with providing uplink services.

The analogy would be if you decided to rent you house out yourself or hire a rental company to do it. The advantage of the rental company doing it is they have all the resources and know how to write the contracts/rental agreements. They know the law and the risk to you is greatly diminished, and they can deal with squatters, often, far more effectively. Having a real estate company sell your house means they can put your house on the listings; they are available to show your house at almost any time; they have access to serious buyers, and financing; they handle the contracts and all the arcane legal matters, disclosures, etc. while you pay them in the form of commissions/fees.
 
Distribution means that Discovery Networks acts like an "agent" for BBCA. with negotiations really being between Discovery Networks and carriers. This arrangement saves BBC money by not having to staff for matters relating to distribution that includes services to providers and auditing, etc. and BBCA benefits from Discovery Networks ability to use its other channels that it owns or only distributes as leverage to get the BBCA carriage, along with providing uplink services.

The analogy would be if you decided to rent you house out yourself or hire a rental company to do it. The advantage of the rental company doing it is they have all the resources and know how to write the contracts/rental agreements. They know the law and the risk to you is greatly diminished, and they can deal with squatters, often, far more effectively. Having a real estate company sell your house means they can put your house on the listings; they are available to show your house at almost any time; they have access to serious buyers, and financing; they handle the contracts and all the arcane legal matters, disclosures, etc. while you pay them in the form of commissions/fees.

Good explanation. In this case, somewhat more true for Travel than it is for BBCA. BBC Worldwide has made a concerted effort to bring much of the outsourced servicing back under their wing over the past several years, which is one reason why the ad sales contract with Discovery Comm was brought in-house. Carriage is handled between both Discovery and BBCWA, with Discovery acting as a front-line agent.
 
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After listening to the retailer chat, Scott thinks now it looks like the first of the year before ANY new hd .
Now I'm confused. He said there would be movement and gains in about 45 days. Then he said customers would realize big benefits of new sat around beginning of the year, whatever that means.:confused:
 
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Now I'm confused. He said there would be movement and gains in about 45 days. Then he said customers would realize big benefits of new sat around beginning of the year, whatever that means.:confused:

Just some speculation related to this. First, it could relate to E-6 being moved to 61.5 W which would allow Dish to utilize at least 4 from that slot that Dish can not provide signals from currently. One would hope that this would happen well before the first of the year but perhaps this will take more time that what we think. Second, perhaps by the first of the year, DirecTV will be releasing some of their leased TPs at 72.7 W back to Telesat which then can lease them to Dish.
 
Top Gear uploads their PAL recorded shows to finalgear. All show, no commercial. All are about 1.5 hours long. You need a DIVX capable player. I stream them via PS3 without issue.

That is what I currently do, aside from using AppleTV instead of PS3. If the HD torrents are available in 1080p, I'll have to switch to the PS3 though!

Ted
 

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