Dish and ESPN

[HanoverPretzel]

5 bucks is quite a lot. Dont believe me...head over to Netflix threads on any form. People are pissed off that having DVD & streaming is going to cost them 8 bucks extra. See the similarities. If eg 100k subs leave but 200k joins...it's espn who will be losing more money.

In Netflix's case, though, the constitutes a 60% increase. Even with AT120+, $5 off vis only a 10% decrease (Not counting taxes as part of the initial price), and significantly less for the higher packages.

Don't get me wrong, $5 has value to some people, myself included. But if you take $5 off a package regular priced at $50 as compensation for losing a channel that's the exclusive home to Monday Night Football, lots of major league baseball games (including some first round playoff series, right?), lots of NBA (pro basketball), lots of college football, lots of college basketball, some NASCAR, and several of the premiere sports national news shows -- that just doesn't cut it. One loses way too much for too little benefit.

 

[KG4KBU]

I would be very pleased for dish network to drop ESPN. It is crap.

 

[CK SatGuy]

Found this article from CNN Money that I thought was interesting, especially the last paragraph.
The SportsCenter rebellion - Fortune Tech

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think this says it all here..

In the earnings call Ergen was careful to keep his discussion hypothetical, and a Dish Network spokesman is quick to emphasize that the company is not planning to drop sports from its lineup.

Dish is currently in a longterm contract with ESPN. The company won't say exactly what it pays in subscriber fees, or when the deal expires. When the contract does come up for renewal if Dish was to refuse to pay fees for its 14 million subscribers and drop ESPN, the company would save roughly $750 million a year.

Again this NY Post article was a BS article with no merit whatsoever.

 

[Loxgator]

That would end my affiliation with Dish. I considered dropping them this year because they still refuse to broadcast ESPNU in HD

 

[jlabsher]

Take away ESPN & Disney, just don't mess with Phineas & Ferb!

 

[whatchel1]

I think this says it all here..



Again this NY Post article was a BS article with no merit whatsoever.

Why are people still reacting to Disney scare tactics. So does being a sports fan mean you can't see that this is all it is. How many times do we have to say it's BS written up by Disney for the NY Post. Only thing in the whole article that wasn't Disney scare tactic is that D* isn't happy with them either.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

My question is why is the New York Post running articles like this without checking the fact?

This article was nothing more then to scare DISH Network customers who are sports fans away from DISH Network.

It served no purpose other then that.

 

[mike123abc]

My question is why is the New York Post running articles like this without checking the fact?

Revenge for dropping Fox RSNs? (post is owned by News Corp)

 

[cosmo_kramer]

My question is why is the New York Post running articles like this without checking the fact?

I think you're confusing the Post with a real newspaper, like the Times. The Post is a tabloid, of the supermarket variety:

 

[Anony55]

More people subsidize sports than the other way. Movies is what made cable wanted followed by sports.

There's more to "cable" than sports & movies. There's also all the basic TV style channels. ESPN may be a higher cost channel. But I'd bet it's not as high as all those other channels added together. So the individual sports fan pays for a lot more programming that he/she doesn't watch than the non-sports fan does.

As far as which motivation group represents the most business... I don't know. But in my little corner of the world, almost everyone I know has Dish/Direc/Cable for the sports. I'm sure it varies throughout the country.

What do we need espn when the four major sports have there own network? Isn't that enough got a sports junky?

What channels do NCAA football & basketball have? This would be where you say that those aren't one of the four major sports... then I'd disagree... and a whole other conversation would be started. I'll skip it.

The most important channel to any sports fan is... whatever channel their favorite team is playing on. There is no "filling the gap" when that's the channel that's dropped. Whether it be ESPN, FSN, Big10, ect. If that's the channel your team is playing on, you don't wanna lose it.

Cheers

EDIT; BTW, I love your music. Oh wait... that's Don Felder.

 

[king3pj]

What do we need espn when the four major sports have there own network? Isn't that enough got a sports junky?

Why do we need CNN when we have Fox News? (or vice versa) Isn't news news? Fox News should be enough for a news junky.

The answer is because they are completely different channels with completely different programming. Its not fair to say news is just news no matter which channel it comes from. Well its not fair to say sports are sports no matter what channel they come from either. The same thing could be said about movies or any other type of programing. Why do we need HBO when we have Showtime?

 

[Centex]

The most important channel to any sports fan is... whatever channel their favorite team is playing on. There is no "filling the gap" when that's the channel that's dropped. Whether it be ESPN, FSN, Big10, ect. If that's the channel your team is playing on, you don't wanna lose it.

This. I am going to temporarily upgrade to AT250 so I can watch my team on Versus. And considering that ESPN carries more Big 12 than the other sports networks, I would very much not like to lose it. It depends on which network your teams are playing on.

I figure ESPN and maybe a dozen other channels are "table stakes" channels. A provider must offer them in order to be competitive with the other pay TV services. Without that core, people won't subscribe, regardless of how cheap it is.

Also, I think live sports are a barrier to more people cutting the cord. While you can get many movies and shows from various online services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and others, live sports generally live in the realm of either network TV or pay TV providers.

 

[whatchel1]

The Bridge was taken in by this crap too. Emailed them they should look here and see what is really going on. That it was Disney feeding the info to the NY Post.

 

[BostonMA]

Content providers seem to be in the catbird seat. They can charge whatever the market will bear or even sign exclusive contracts. It seems we the consumers are left at the mercy of the packages they and the satellite/cable providers can agree upon.

I'd like to see some kind of consumer revolt. I fully support the efforts of Dish and any other service provider to place high priced content in separate packages. I encourage everyone to petition the regulators to require it, as I have. Then the people interested in the content can pay for it.

I'd like the regulators to also block exclusive contracts of content to a single service provider as the NFL has done with Direct. Besides monopolistic pricing, some customers can be excluded by the physical ability to access (line of sight, availability of service, etc.).

The only downside I see to that would be the sports leagues would be limited in how much they could extort from the content providers and how much they in turn could extort from the service providers. IN THE END WE PAY.

 

[dishcomm]

IF DISH would spin Espn and the other sports channels into their own premium sports pack , they SHOULD lower the price of their basic programming packs by $4.69 and then advertise the fact, LOUDLY! All the people who want to save money and do NOT care about subsidizing OVER PRICED sports team salaries , would flock to DISH. It would be the next best thing to ala carte here in the states. After all Sports channels are what cause ALL programming packs , sans family and welcome pack, to go up every few years. I think $4.69 OR HIGHER, a subscriber, is way to high to ask for Espn. I don't even watch this channel, the RSN or any sports channels. IF I could delete them all and save some money a month, I would then sub to a premium movie pack or add the Plat pack for $10.00. It would give the subscribers more choices. IF they don't do this, I see the price KEEP going up every few years till most, if not all people ,make their choice to CUT THE CORD and go with just ota and Internet. Just 11 years ago I paid $69.99 for ALL channels including all 4 movie packs with AEP. Now the same pack would cost me about over $125.00 a month with tax included. Almost double in ten years. And at this rate can you imagine what it would cost in 2021?

Yours is a classic case for a la carte. Or at least something resembling a la carte.
Your viewing choices are in the minority of course, but as a consumer you and those who view similarly should be at least permitted to opt out of all sports programming.
However, certain programmers have very powerful influences over the pay tv world. Most if not all will tolerate premium status.
The providers of signal do not have the clout to say "cram your channel" because first, the cable companies are mini monopolies so it is not possible for a cable sub to simply choose another provider. There are just TWO satellite co's....They fight each other for market share. These two companies have given no indication they would help each other.
So here we are the victims of escalating pay tv bills.
The only way for consumers to fight this is "cord cutting".
It is my estimate that certain producers are getting all they can from the marketplace before new technology arrives and competition heats up which would force producers to lower rates.

 

[dlsnyder]

At least the internet has given us options now that were not thought possible 10 or 15 years ago. If DISH ever did consider dropping ESPN, one can get a great deal of comparable programming on the internet. ESPN puts some of their own programming online, and now NFL Sunday Ticket is available online to those who own a PS3. Change is definately coming to the current video distribution model. ESPN can't keep holding MSOs hostage forever. Now what would happen to traditional cable/satellite operators if ESPN decided to make all of their content available online as a premium service? We would probably see a lot more cord cutters is my guess. Right now, ESPN needs MSOs just as much as MSOs need ESPN.

 

[dishcomm]

Strongly agree, put ESPN in a premium sports pack!

ESPN's management would go ballistic, take their ball and go home.
A previous poster was correct, the subs would see it as Dish dropping ESPN not ESPN leaving. The result,mass cancellations. I am not under contract and while I was going to upgrade my EQ which would put me in a 2 year deal, now I will wait until this blows over.

 

[gamersglory]

I'm sure they would go up if they sign a new deal. As someone who could care less about sports. I would like a sports-free package. sports channels seem to raise the rates the most. DIRECTV was still charging reguler subs more to offset the cost of the NFL Sunday ticket contract. I don't want to be charged for channels I don't watch

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I will wait until this blows over.

There is nothing to wait for, DISH is not in talks with ESPN as they have a multi year deal in place.

Again this appears to be a fluff piece by The New York Post.