Dish-Lifetime Spat Could Be Costly

[cablewithaview]

With EchoStar Communications Corp. threatening to permanently drop Lifetime Television from its Dish Network direct-broadcast satellite lineup as of midnight Tuesday, the two parties have resumed discussions in hopes of resolving their bitter monthlong dispute.

Talks between the two parties broke down Sunday, Jan. 22. But Lifetime and EchoStar each said Friday that they were having ongoing conversations as they confronted the possible repercussions of a permanent breakup: Each side could lose millions of dollars from lost subscriptions, program-licensing fees and advertising revenue.

If the brouhaha -- which began on New Year’s Day -- isn’t settled soon, the women’s programmer will lose roughly 12 million Dish subscribers from its base of 89.5 million. That could cost Lifetime tens of millions of dollars per year in license fees and ad revenues.

EchoStar, for its part, could see a greater number of subscriber losses each month.

Beyond subscriber losses, EchoStar has already taken a hit in the wallet over Lifetime. The DBS provider recently reached a retransmission-consent deal with Lifetime’s corporate cousin, Hearst-Argyle Television Inc.

Previously, deals for carriage of Lifetime and the Hearst stations were tied together. But this go-around, EchoStar negotiated a separate deal with Hearst, reducing Lifetime’s leverage.

EchoStar paid dearly for that split-off: It agreed to pay 45 cents per month for those subscribers who receive the local Hearst channels. That license will cost EchoStar $11 million per year, according to Bear, Stearns & Co.

As it stands, EchoStar has already permanently replaced Lifetime spinoff Lifetime Movie Network with another women’s channel, Oxygen. That move alone means a few million dollars of lost revenue per year for parent Lifetime Entertainment Services.

Estimating that the flagship Lifetime channel gets a licensing fee of 20 cents per subscriber, the loss of Dish distribution could translate to roughly $29 million in lost revenue for the year. According to one cable operator’s calculations, getting dropped from Dish is costing Lifetime $200,000 per day.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6302742.html?display=Breaking+News

 

[chaddux]

Wow. I didn't realize they were paying so much for those local channels. Lifetime is definitely taking a hit though. Echostar just needs to hold out another 72 hours and we're in the clear!

 

[DWS44]

what happens in 72 hours?

 

[webbydude]

Tuesday is when negotiations close. Read the 1st paragraph.

 

[jeffwtux]

So has Dish "permanently" removed OLN from it's lineup?

 

[cjsmigelski]

Jeff it is my understanding that OLN is currently uplinked...

 

[chaddux]

So has Dish "permanently" removed OLN from it's lineup?

This is a thread about Lifetime, not OLN. If you want to ask an OLN question, ask it in an OLN thread, such as this one:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=52130

 

[rtt2]

Sounds like some people at lifetime is not going to make their bonuses this year

 

[Juan]

The queston is Is 11 million less than the proposed LIfetime Increase?

 

[navychop]

Lifetime loses the most, IMHO. I don't think E* will lose many subs over this- and it sends a message to other channels that they can't ask anything they want- there are limits.

E*, PLEASE don't sign a deal with Lifetime.

 

[Stargazer]

Dish Network knows that if they add Lifetime and LMN back that they would have to go to the basic package and could not raise the prices more than what they advertised as that would put them at a disadvantage compared to DirecTv. Dish Network would have to foot the bill and mark that as a cost of doing business (loss).

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Sure E* will lose subs without Lifetime. However it is important to keep in mind that they have already sustained some of those losses. Lifetime is worth less to E* right now than it was a month ago. Many of those lost customers are water over the dam now. If E* resigns Lifetime they aren't coming back.

Now there will be more losses over the next several months as subscriber commitments expire, so E* does have reason to resign a license. But every time a sub calls to cancel because of Lifetime being dropped is more reason for E* to pay less to renew.

 

[Sarang]

Lifetime loses the most, IMHO. I don't think E* will lose many subs over this- and it sends a message to other channels that they can't ask anything they want- there are limits.

E*, PLEASE don't sign a deal with Lifetime.

I agree here as well that Lifetime loses more. After all, we've seen all the tactics they've been pulling to try and get Dish to add them back. First, they offer the money to switch to Cable. Second, they get the women's groups out to attack Dish. Third, and this is a real lie IMO, they have the CBC give Dish crap for not carrying Lifetime when to my knowledge they haven't been really representing Black women with ANY of their programming. So the CBC would do well to shut their mouths instead of insulting any Black women out there by acting like Lifetime carries shows representating people of their skin color, even to the point of being all Black cast shows.

 

[BobMurdoch]

E* drops Lifetime....

Or...

"What if you threw a revolt and nobody came?"

E* has already had whatever churn they will have from the decision. Meanwhile, Lifetime is losing millions, many like me who never watched the channel get Oxygen (eh), and Fine Living (Yay) to make up for it.....

Even though plants from cable companies are trying to keep stirring up the pot (check out the initial poster to this thread), the vast majority of people here seem to be firmly in Charlie's corner.

Isn't it fun when greedy folks get knocked on their keesters?

For fairness sake, please note that I believe Lifetime is the greedy party in this case. I'm slapping Charlie with the greedy stick on his Mpeg4 transition. and we'll see where that decision lands once the fit hits the shan this Wednesday when people try to add the new channels and find out they can't because there is no mpeg4 equipment available in sufficient quantities for those that want them.....

 

[cablewithaview]

Even though plants from cable companies are trying to keep stirring up the pot (check out the initial poster to this thread),

Who me ??? I haven't stirred no pot in this posting. I simply posted an article I read. Nothing wrong with that. Enjoy.

 

[dwcobb]

I don't really understand the outraged tone many take here over this issue.

Lifetime did what companies do - try to get more money for their product or service when they felt they were getting less than they could/should. People seem to be responding to this in a "THEY SHOT MY DOG!!!" kind of way. I don't get it, really, but ok.

Both sides have dealt with the issue horribly with a public dispute that makes BOTH companies look bad.

I would also point out that the argument that any loss incurred by E* is already past is somewhat false insofar as E* NOT having Lifetime and LMN can affect their future sales as well.

The truth is, I am sure if you looked at the population of this board two things would be clear. One is that everyone here is more passionate and vocal than the average customer. The other is that I would bet about 98% of the people here are male.

The real affect of this change is not so insignificant for E* if everything quoted previously is true. If Lifetime is the most watched women's network, and in the top 10 of all cable networks overall, NOT having it is a big deal. Period.

I don't deeply care how this works out, but I am a little surprised people have so easily bought into the populist propoganda Charlie is putting out there about this issue.

I think both companies have embarressed themselves - to the degree that the average consumer even knows this is happening. E* will be fine without Lifetime, and Lifetime will be fine without E*. But they both pointlessly threw away money in this process based on the story and the both acted unprofessionally in trying to fight this all in the court of public opinion.

In my book ... they both lost. Figuring out which lost more, well, it is kind of pointless.

 

[iKramerica]

Cable guy seems to think it is his duty to "just post articles" that involve turmoil with sat companies, as some sort of public service. He clearly has no agenda, because he's said so repeatedly.

 

[dwcobb]

I think the article posted was newsworthy on this site. It was, so far, the only substantive analysis I have seen on what the effects of this dispute have been.

I really was happy to read it...not because I care deeply ... but because it was more factual than the BS stats we all try to put together as we cobble together an argument. "Assume for the moment..." type posts are interesting to do, but this article had some good data in it, assuming the source is reliable, which based on its association with Variety, I would.

 

[cablewithaview]

I think the article posted was newsworthy on this site. It was, so far, the only substantive analysis I have seen on what the effects of this dispute have been.

I really was happy to read it...not because I care deeply ... but because it was more factual than the BS stats we all try to put together as we cobble together an argument. "Assume for the moment..." type posts are interesting to do, but this article had some good data in it, assuming the source is reliable, which based on its association with Variety, I would.

Thank you, I'm glad to hear you feel it is worthy of a read. I hoped you enjoyed it.