Dish Network Statement on MLB

Scott Greczkowski

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Sep 7, 2003
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I received the folloing in my inbox from Dish Network spokesperson Kathie Gonzalez late last night after I went to bed regarding the Major League Baseball Extra Innings package.

We remain interested in the package but we are not optimistic we can strike a fair deal for our customers. We're trying to reach a fair agreement with Major League Baseball to keep the Extra Innings package on DISH Network without having to pass on cost increases to our customers. The demand from baseball would have us bearing a disproportionate share of the costs of both the Extra Innings Package and the Major League Baseball Channel relative to our competitors. We would ultimately have to pass these costs on to the majority of our subscribers who have little interest in more baseball content.
 
way to go Charlie.....

If you arent willing to spend some bucks for MLB EI why dont you make available the remaining RSN's in HD to the rest of us subs now (not very very soon) who werent one of the 7 that can get their RSN in HD ? At least we would be able to see our baseball teams in HD or are you to cheap to do even that? What kind of "fair deal" is that for us subs who didnt have their HD RSN made available? Of course I am sure my billing statement will reflect a credit of some sort since Fox Sports North (what would have been ch. 386) is not available in HD. :mad:
 
Here is my oppinion. Dish needs to sell MLB EI more than what they have in the past. It really comes down to marketing as we all know dish had a so so marketing. They havent marketed the product like how Directv or cable has. That is why the numbers are so off. This is how you get the numbers up while striking a fair deal. Offer new and existing coustomers half the season for free with a year commitment and reduced price on mlb. You take the hit finacally now, and recoupe with the commitments. Makes too much sence. 2nd for those who dont want the commitement or those who are allready locked in the commitment charge them the full price for the EI. If you market it the right way then you will gain subscribers and EI subs in the process.. Its just plain commen sence. If you cant do it then fire the entire marketing dept and hire me. Guarenteed I will make you more money than what your current marketing deparment has.
 
Here is my oppinion. Dish needs to sell MLB EI more than what they have in the past. It really comes down to marketing as we all know dish had a so so marketing. They havent marketed the product like how Directv or cable has. That is why the numbers are so off. This is how you get the numbers up while striking a fair deal. Offer new and existing coustomers half the season for free with a year commitment and reduced price on mlb. You take the hit finacally now, and recoupe with the commitments. Makes too much sence. 2nd for those who dont want the commitement or those who are allready locked in the commitment charge them the full price for the EI. If you market it the right way then you will gain subscribers and EI subs in the process.. Its just plain commen sence. If you cant do it then fire the entire marketing dept and hire me. Guarenteed I will make you more money than what your current marketing deparment has.
ummm If that is true why has E* beaten d* in sub adds 4 of the last 5 quarters?? Sounds like charlie really does know what he is doing. He wants to make a profit!! Without having his sports customers bend over (unlike d*)
 
Dish Network is done as far as MLB Extra Innings. I would advise everyone who wants it to switch to DirecTV or cable.
 
ummm If that is true why has E* beaten d* in sub adds 4 of the last 5 quarters?? Sounds like charlie really does know what he is doing. He wants to make a profit!! Without having his sports customers bend over (unlike d*)


While that may be true for total subs.. Im talking about Subs who specifically subscribe to MLB EI. :) The numbers for EI subscribers were low for E* compared to D* and Cable. Im just fed up with the whole loosing channels process. If I could have it my way.... I would have all the HD channels With MLB EI and Sunday Ticket, but I dont want to pay for duplicate channels in base packages. Thats the only deal. IF i could get EI and ST as stand alone only packages I would be in on that.
 
I agree with Charlie on this one. IT makes NO SENSE for ALL the subscribers to bear the cost so the 1% who like baseball can get the MLB pack. THis is what differentiates Dish from Directv. They actually believe in ala carte and are the cheaper priced of the two. Directv is sports bent and they want it all and it costs lots of $$$$$$$ to get all those exclusive sports like NFL and now MLB. Let Directv customers bear the cost.

IF Directv wanted to be a real sports leader they wouldn't require all subs to carry a basic programming pack to receive the one or two sports packs that subs want. If they did let you sub to a sports pack without the basic programming pack , they would gain even more money from those who wanted to keep DISH or even CABLE and still use them for the one or two sports packs. At least Dish will allow you to sub to just about anything ala carte WITHOUT requiring a basic programming pack.
 
Ya know Dish keeps going up every year yet they keep blabbing about "pass on cost increases" I'm sick of hearing it.
 
I too agree with charlie. I have zero interest in baseball... I would be upset to have a cost increase passed on to me when I dont even like the sport! ;0

With that said though, I think that the real shame is on MLB themselves as they should offer a price structure that allows more than just one option; multi millions or nothing... They really arent interested in striking a fair deal... IMHO the way DirecTV is striking these "EXCLUSIVE" only deals with the sport seems somewhat "Anti-Trust" to me.

If Microsoft were to be monopolizing say web browsers and IE/Microsoft became the only vendor to be able to sell you a "WEB Extra Innings all year ticket / experience" for the next 4 years or so... don't you think there would be lawsuits all over them by now...

Something needs to be done with the real problem... the sports companies who allow this and do not seemingly care about their viewing audience at all... there should be legislation that stops this sort of exclusiveness that DirecTV is creating now.

-B
 
I mentioned in another thread that the CSRs were already telling folks that DISH had dropped out. Typical that these things are not coordinated. To make matters worse for me they dare the only carrier not carrying my RSN---MASN. I have a commitment but will likely leave when it is over.
 
If you really need EI, you're gonna have to leave Dish, or pony up the money to add cable or D*. E* has made a business decision that EI isn't going to help their bottom line. That's fine. I have enough HD baseball for myself now with ESPN, FOX and the RSNs. Anybody that needs more is gonna have to look elsewhere. I think the handwriting was on the wall when E* started lighting up the HD RSNs.
 
If you really need EI, you're gonna have to leave Dish, or pony up the money to add cable or D*. E* has made a business decision that EI isn't going to help their bottom line. That's fine. I have enough HD baseball for myself now with ESPN, FOX and the RSNs. Anybody that needs more is gonna have to look elsewhere. I think the handwriting was on the wall when E* started lighting up the HD RSNs.

Agree with you,I still trying to understand if people are not happy with the Service Dishnetwork provide why just dont switch with a company willing to provide the service they want for the money they ask and stop whining about why E dont have this or that,You are not the only costumers they need to take care of,And Charlie wont loose the sleep over 55,000 or so EI over 12 plus million.:rolleyes:
 
Ya know Dish keeps going up every year yet they keep blabbing about "pass on cost increases" I'm sick of hearing it.

And they keep on raising rates nearly every year too! I live in Northern Virginia and will get very little baseball this season unless by some miracle they pick up MASN. I may be leaving them very soon. I'm very tired of the anti sports stance that DISH has.
 
Wow!! What a surprise, Charlie once again having trouble negotiating a contract, when everyone else has been able to. Maybe DISH needs to find someone with some negotiation skills.
 
The sick part is that this is always the excuse... we do not want to raise everyones rate but yet every year in January the Dish Bill goes up.
 

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