Dish service: Virgin America (VX)

[JerseyGuy]

On another board I frequent that discusses Air Travel (airliners.net), I started a thread about the lack of channels available on the new LCC Virgin America (VX). There is this guy who claims that VX negotiates with all of the companies that owns the channels it shows. I was under the impression, that VX negotiates with DISH to get the channels it wants? Is that the case?

 

[ItaliaVP]

Ahhh a fellow a.netter I do not know your answer, although I do not Delta also uses E* for their IFE and has a few more channels offered than VX will.

 

[iKramerica]

I said it was likely they negotiated fees for different channels, as they are "rolling their own." Further, when B6 signed up, there were different rules and different rates than there are now, and they likely locked in long term contracts. It is very likely a deal involving Dish as the carrier and the companies as the provider. And notice how Viacom is missing from VX.

If anyone has ever looked into business pricing for Dish or DirecTV or cable, they know that one channel can cost $25 a month for one location, while at home the same channel is part of a package of 100 channels that costs $25 a month. This is because it has to do with varying copyright and distribution deals. A tennis club or an airline is exhibiting the channels for commercial gain, while a home user is not (nor are they allowed to).

It's complicated, and I doubt anyone here or on a.net is privy to the details. But as someone who is currently working on film distribution deals, I have some general knowledge on how such things work.