Dish and ESPN

Dah-Henny

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
May 12, 2007
3,666
346
Boone, North Carolina
Here's an article that some folks might find interesting:

Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network could be headed for a split with ESPN over
escalating rights fees, The Post has learned.

The battle was given new life yesterday when ESPN announced a $15.2 billion,
eight-year rights extension deal with the NFL for “Monday Night Football,”
starting in 2014.


Read more: ESPN may get booted by Dish Network - NYPOST.com
 
It's contract time again.

Disney-ESPN is already the highest-priced network, at $4.69 a month per subscriber, according to research firm Kagan. ESPN’s annual increase is around 8 percent, compared with an industry average of 3 percent, says Kagan’s Derek Baine. One source suggested ESPN was going after a double-digit increase in current negotiations.
 
Seems a little risky. With NBC Sports developing, there is growing competition that is heavily backed. Sure, losing the ESPNs and possibly the Disney stations would be bad for Dish (though losing Disney would be good in general ;)), it isn't like there aren't alternatives. Disney is a 24/7 infomercial and Nick can cover that angle. NBC Sports could cover a portion of ESPN, but they'd lose MNF. One game a week.

If Dish played with fire like that, I'd say drop the Disney slate, get back the missing local RSNs with the money saved (it'd have to be substantial!). It's dangerous, but it could be likely that the ESPN stuff would be available online regardless, as most Sat subscribers get their Internet from providers that still get ESPN3.
 
Reading the article it seems like DIRECTV is also getting upset at ESPN's rates.

But if DISH did get rid of ESPN I doubt we would see our rates drop at all. Funny how it all works.
 
Reading the article it seems like DIRECTV is also getting upset at ESPN's rates.

But if DISH did get rid of ESPN I doubt we would see our rates drop at all. Funny how it all works.
Really? I assumed that Latino Dos cost less because it only had ESPN Deportes, and none of the remaining Disney owned channels.
 
There are a lot of channels missing from DISH Latino DOS besides just the DISNEY owned channels, thats why the price is different.
 
ESPN and my local RSN are probably the only channels that would make me switch providers if they were dropped. Not only does ESPN carry one of the biggest NFL games every week they carry pretty much all of the biggest college football games that aren't on local channels. I don't know any specific numbers but it has to be at least a top 5 most popular cable channel. Dish would be crazy to even consider dropping ESPN.
 
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?
 
Wow. The impact of such a decision would be huge. It might be the straw that breaks the regular viewers back and cause a mass exodus to DirecTV and other providers. They won't see it as ESPN being unreasonable, they will just know that DISH shut off their favorite sports channel.
 
If Cheap Charlie Drops ESPN. I'll Drop Him/Dish and go to DirecTv. Even after being a loyal customer for 11 to 12 years.


Update: Dish Network is telling me that the NYPost article is not true.
 
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Whether people want to believe it or not, ESPN is the "leader in sports" in the US.... Personally I cannot stand ESPN, but like some of posters earlier said, since ESPN has MNF and countless amounts of Sports that I cannot get anywhere else, I am driven to watch it... There is nothing that comes even close to the amount of sports (both professional and collegiate) that ESPN offers. Losing ESPN would be devastating to the common sports fan and would force many to switch. It would be a horrible decision for Charlie.
 
E* would be just as crazy to pay the ridiculous price that ESPN/Disney is asking.

Ok we don't even know what the "ridiculous" price that ESPN/Disney is asking for yet. The article says one source said they may be going after a double digit percentage price increase. That is hardly definitive and even if they do get a 10% increase instead of 8% this year it would be stupid for Dish to take away one of the most popular channels over what amounts to 9 cents more than they would normally increase it.

They can have my dime if that's what it takes. If they pull ESPN completely off of their system they will lose thousands of customers. If they want to put them in a sports package that would be fine with me even though I'm sure a lot of the general public would not be happy. If they are going to switch to a premium sports package they better at least give us ESPNU HD and ESPNews in HD. There is nothing premium about SD.
 
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?

Strongly agree, put ESPN in a premium sports pack!
 
I have never considered switching but if dish did this then there might be a problem...

Even when we lose channels to "save money" I have never seen a decrease in my bill...

I understand what they are trying do for the non sports fan but its not going to be good for dish if they lose disney espn channels...

how can every other cable/satellite provider work deals out with the same companies yet dish can't seem to do so

for providers that have a similar chanel lineup is it really that more expensive???...I'm not really sure what to think if espn/disney channels are gone
 
I have never considered switching but if dish did this then there might be a problem...

Even when we lose channels to "save money" I have never seen a decrease in my bill...

I understand what they are trying do for the non sports fan but its not going to be good for dish if they lose disney espn channels...

how can every other cable/satellite provider work deals out with the same companies yet dish can't seem to do so

for providers that have a similar chanel lineup is it really that more expensive???...I'm not really sure what to think if espn/disney channels are gone
You also to view this in regard to the E* vs Disney dispute. Disney is trying to get E* to pay twice for SD and HD programming. What if Disney decides to do the same with the ESPN's? Should E* pay twice for all the SD and HD programming from Disney/ABC/ESPN? Where do you draw the line and say that is too much? All programmers are asking for big increases. How much as consumers are we willing to pay them?
 
ESPN's programming has become more diluted over the years featuring dog shows, poker, and other idiotic non-main stream sports. They have spread out their good programming to 3 networks instead of 2. I'm all for al-a-carte now. ESPN is ripping people off blindly.
 
You also to view this in regard to the E* vs Disney dispute. Disney is trying to get E* to pay twice for SD and HD programming. What if Disney decides to do the same with the ESPN's? Should E* pay twice for all the SD and HD programming from Disney/ABC/ESPN? Where do you draw the line and say that is too much? All programmers are asking for big increases. How much as consumers are we willing to pay them?

They are not paying twice for the SD and HD programing. This isn't the same as that dispute. Paying twice would be a 100% increase not 8% or even the 10% they are rumored by one person to be asking for.
 
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