DISH Reaches Long Term Agreement with DISNEY / ESPN / ABC

[mike123abc]

The AutoHop feature can be a sticking point given that whatever concession is made to ABC (if any) would need to applied to NBC, CBS, and FOX also (or Dish is buying a whole mess of trouble).

I don't see Dish killing AutoHop for anybody so I'm not sure what Disney/ESPN/ABC expects Dish to do? A longer time after broadcast? Only one AutoHop watch allowed for each show? Wish I could be a fly on the wall.

Dish will drop Autohop to carry ESPN/Disney/ABC. The number of subs lost if they do not have these channels long term would far exceed any Hopper subscriber additions because of autohop. It is not like a competitor would dare put in ad skipping tech if Dish loses theirs, customers will not be able to go elsewhere for ad skipping.

Dish will blame the networks, but the networks own the programming and if they do not allow it to be autohopped Dish will not have a choice. Dish could win all the lawsuits, but if they do not have any channels, the win is empty. If you eliminate all the Disney, CBS, FOX, NBC owned stations and cable networks, Dish will not have any content to carry. Eventually all their contracts will have to be renewed.

Perhaps Dish will agree to pay extra for channels to cover autohop? Would it be worth $1+/month/hopper sub to compensate the network for autohop? Would Dish pay such a fee? That might be an interesting negotiating tactic. Dish now charges a hefty monthly fee for the hopper, perhaps they could pay a premium for the autohop of the big 4?

 

[satjay]

Dish will drop Autohop to carry ESPN/Disney/ABC. The number of subs lost if they do not have these channels long term would far exceed any Hopper subscriber additions because of autohop. It is not like a competitor would dare put in ad skipping tech if Dish loses theirs, customers will not be able to go elsewhere for ad skipping.

Dish will blame the networks, but the networks own the programming and if they do not allow it to be autohopped Dish will not have a choice. Dish could win all the lawsuits, but if they do not have any channels, the win is empty. If you eliminate all the Disney, CBS, FOX, NBC owned stations and cable networks, Dish will not have any content to carry.

Perhaps Dish will agree to pay extra for channels to cover autohop? Would it be worth $1+/month/hopper sub to compensate the network for autohop? Would Dish pay such a fee? That might be an interesting negotiating tactic. Dish now charges a hefty monthly fee for the hopper, perhaps they could pay a premium for the autohop of the big 4?

I would be surprised if they did drop Autohop. It's a core portion of there product, I think if they makes changes for Disney/abc that would open the door for the other networks

 

[mike123abc]

I would be surprised if they did drop Autohop. It's a core portion of there product, I think if they makes changes for Disney/abc that would open the door for the other networks

You can bet every network plans on getting rid of autohop in the next contract negotiation. They are suing now to try to stop it for the current contracts. Dish may be able to win all these suits, but eventually the contracts will come up for renewal. Dish winning is viewed as a loophole by the networks, and it will be one that they will permanently close for Dish and every other cable and DBS company. I bet that CBS closed it with TWC when they negotiated last month.

 

[slick1ru2]

ECU has majorly upgraded our facilities over the past few decades.

Also La Tech fans are already calling for Skip "Town" Holtz to be fired *snicker*

Past few decades. That is the key. Tulane is building a new stadium, USF was picked to go into the Big East because they were going to pour money into facilities starting in 2005. Plus TV market.

And this is relevant, this shaping of the college football cash cow by ESPN, wanting it to not be part of a sports package, is one of the reasons that Dish hasn't renewed yet.

 

[Teehar]

Take away auto hop?Uhh that would kind of defeat the purpose of the (hopper) Charlie won't back down on autohop imo.

 

[Juan]

Take away auto hop?Uhh that would kind of defeat the purpose of the (hopper) Charlie won't back down on autohop imo.

nahh he would just charge double for the feature and split the profits with disney

 

[slick1ru2]

I thought the main reason for the Hopper was the multi-room setup, multi-simultaneous recording. With 2 tuners and an OTA tuner I still find myself without enough tuners all the time. I get the marketing idea behind the name though.

 

[Deadlocked]

I say last few decades cause we've improved throughout the years but since 2005 we've seen some MAJOR upgrade. Either way BC$(EC)PiN has ruined college football.

 

[navychop]

I don't even know why people like auto hop. For me, 30 second skip and 10 second reverse are much better and efficient than auto hop.

And they'd be even better if they worked reliably.

 

[dvrexpander]

I as a tech can't stand the hopper, as a customer I could see the excitement it gives however the auto hop feature is something I don't think people really need. I tell people to ignore it or else they will get rather confused as a new customer and give it a while before fooling with it.

But if this is the hang up then that is some BS... 2 days to hash all that out something of which is driving the courts crazy from all the networks right now?? Not happening, prepare for an outage guys.

 

[chuckster_dude]

If Dish lost ESPN for any length of time and replaced it with NBCSN on the lower tiers, I would actually be fine with that. More hockey, less college football is ok by me.


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[ashutto20]

I as a tech can't stand the hopper, as a customer I could see the excitement it gives however the auto hop feature is something I don't think people really need. I tell people to ignore it or else they will get rather confused as a new customer and give it a while before fooling with it.

But if this is the hang up then that is some BS... 2 days to hash all that out something of which is driving the courts crazy from all the networks right now?? Not happening, prepare for an outage guys.

I can see why you would tell someone they dont need it but how would someone get confused by it???

 

[mike123abc]

I can see why you would tell someone they dont need it but how would someone get confused by it???

Probably because it only works with the big 4 during prime time. People probably think it should work all the time.

 

[king3pj]

I as a tech can't stand the hopper, as a customer I could see the excitement it gives however the auto hop feature is something I don't think people really need. I tell people to ignore it or else they will get rather confused as a new customer and give it a while before fooling with it.

But if this is the hang up then that is some BS... 2 days to hash all that out something of which is driving the courts crazy from all the networks right now?? Not happening, prepare for an outage guys.

I can see why you would tell someone they dont need it but how would someone get confused by it???

I can't see the reason for either one. Auto Hop is very easy to use and it works great for me. We love it and basically never watch network shows until the day after for that feature. Sure I can hold the remote and try to perfectly time my skips manually but more often than not I have to jump back because it went over by a few seconds. It's much simpler just to kick back and let auto hop take care of it for me.

I don't see where the confusion you are talking about comes from.

Step 1: the hopper asks a yes or no question.
Step 2: you pick if you want it or not and hit select.

I'm not sure why you would tell people not to use it either. It's one of Dish's most heavily advertised features and some people probably sign up specifically for auto hop. I doubt Dish would appreciate you telling customers to ignore it.

 

[bellevuecoug]

I don't see where the confusion you are talking about comes from.

Because it only works with PTAT activated. And only on the big 4.

 

[king3pj]

Because it only works with PTAT activated. And only on the big 4.

So people are better off not using it ever?

 

[ashutto20]

Dont get me wrong...I LOVE autohop...I was playing devils advocate...I think it is very easy and self explanatory

 

[bellevuecoug]

So people are better off not using it ever?

I get why people (especially OLDER people) would have a little trouble understanding it ~ that you need to record an entire network evening at least once a week to activate it. That is a little clumsy, right?

I always wondered if DISH made AutoHop a little tough to activate as a means of satisfying the networks. Clearly, with recent lawsuits and this ABC problem, the networks are not satisfied.

 

[wingnut10]

Does a deal happen tommorow or do the mouse channels go dark?

 

[slick1ru2]

So people are better off not using it ever?

This sums it up. http://www.dishuser.org/ptat.php