EchoStar Willing to Drop CBS in Dispute With Viacom

[sgtjim]

I don't believe this fight is just over carrying the O&O Cbs stations. I believe it involves the carrying of all VIACOM subsidiaries as a package deal. I guess he can't pick & choose but has to take them all at a fixed price. So VIACOM threatens that you won't get CBS unless you take the whole enchilada and at increased costs. That is why cable prices are so high. They have to take all or nothing. I get CBS over the air. In this case I support Charlie. SPend the money on more High Def channels!!!

 

[skaeight]

So does this mean Dish might actually be severing ties with Viacom? Or is this just one of Charlie's "cute" scare tactics. This gets old real fast.

Don't forgot...The AOL Time Warner contract is still up in the air too.

 

[dlsnyder]

If the CBS o&o stations go away will Charlie follow past practice and give us all $1.00 off per month on locals until they are restored? That's going to cost him plenty given the markets involved! :shocked

 

[dfergie]

I get the sd cbs off of d*so I could wait it out till e*got them back... would really miss my cbs-hd

 

[psycaz]

I am in the Detroit market so I am doubly affected - our UPN station is o&o by Viacom, but I am really beginning to hope Charlie does drop them for a bit.

If you look at the markets involved, they are some of the biggest in the US ( NY and the like).
Considering Viacom might go off air during NCAA March Madness, talk about some cheesed off customers in some of the largest markets in the US.

You can almost bet some politician will come up with some kind of legislation to deal with this since its an election year.

 

[beast37799]

this is bull this whole viacom thing this is why we have such high cable rates why dosent the anit trust board look into viacom surely there breaking some law look at how they went after microsoft and for what nothing but if this goes on too long its a good thing im putting up an ota antenna soon so i can get philidelphia and hopefully ny ota i live in central jersey and barely get a few philly on a 20yrld 2 inch bw portable tv

 

[A_Noland]

If the CBS o&o stations go away will Charlie follow past practice and give us all $1.00 off per month on locals until they are restored? That's going to cost him plenty given the markets involved! :shocked

In Tulsa the whole locals package was free until the dispute was resolved.

 

[TennVolFan]

There isn't one single person--outside of Viacom, GE, News, and Disney shareholders--who doesn't want to see the big media companies forced to stop using their O&O affiliates as leverage to get carriage for expensive new channels. God bless Charlie. Everybody realizes this situation is at least partially responsible for why cable/satellite rates are rising at 2-3X the rate of inflation, right?

Its outrageous that stations that use the public airwaves can extort from cable and satellite companies in this way. I hope politicians change this law, and make all broadcast stations "must-carry" at no price. We're talking about the public's airwaves here....

I think its a fine "political" issue for a politician with some backbone. Of course, he/she would be taking on some extremely powerful interests...

 

[James Long]

I still can't believe that Charlie is acting like this. All of this crap over one station that Viacom wants DISH to carry?????

It is more than NickToons ... it is a big price increase and tying the contract for the national "cable" channels to the contract for the Viacom owned local TV channels.

JL

 

[jds44]

First Howard Stern...Now Nick, Jr...What's next????

 

[normang]

Virtually everyone in this thread is so concerned that they are going to miss some Viacom TV station, even if it costs them. I can see the screams now..Charlie screwed us all, he raise rates 2-3-4-5 dollars a month and blamed it all on Viacom, not even considering that it may indeed be "all" Viacom's fault..

While I don't have all the details, I think all of these stations are getting way to much for what we get..

 

[dfergie]

Virtually everyone in this thread is so concerned that they are going to miss some Viacom TV station, even if it costs them. I can see the screams now..Charlie screwed us all, he raise rates 2-3-4-5 dollars a month and blamed it all on Viacom, not even considering that it may indeed be "all" Viacom's fault..

While I don't have all the details, I think all of these stations are getting way to much for what we get..

I second the motion....

 

[mike123abc]

What would be even better is if Dish wins a court challenge to Viacom's use of the OTA stations as leverage for the cable networks. That would break the back of GE, Disney and Viacom. The entire SHVIA LIL is a scam. Forcing DBS carriers to negotiate for FREE OTA broadcasts, now that was a nice political win for NBA.

 

[Stargazer]

I dont think we would see the Viacom channels gone for the long term but if that were to happen, I would NOT expect to see my rates to go up next year, or I would have to switch providers. There is just NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER to see a price increase after dropping that many channels.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Hey at least PQ will go up for a few days after dropping 20 channels!!!!!!!

That was a joke.

Personally I hope they DO shut off the signals so all the grannies will call their congressmen, and a brght light will be shone on the extortion these companies engage in.

If Viacom has ANY brains, they will cave. Otherwise the whole system could be in jeopardy, if the bulls in a china shop known as Congress decide to start pushing for a la carte.....

 

[mikew]

Forcing DBS carriers to negotiate for FREE OTA broadcasts, now that was a nice political win for NBA.

I don't see how the NBA comes out ahead in the deal. Maybe you meant NAB?

 

[bsic]

Virtually everyone in this thread is so concerned that they are going to miss some Viacom TV station, even if it costs them. I can see the screams now..Charlie screwed us all, he raise rates 2-3-4-5 dollars a month and blamed it all on Viacom, not even considering that it may indeed be "all" Viacom's fault..

While I don't have all the details, I think all of these stations are getting way to much for what we get..

Couldnt have said it better myself. :clap

Just a situation where "Charlie" (not the Echostar corporation as a whole) is the bad guy no matter what he does with some of the fanatics on here.

 

[dbronstein]

If Viacom has ANY brains, they will cave. Otherwise the whole system could be in jeopardy, if the bulls in a china shop known as Congress decide to start pushing for a la carte.....

Charlie will cave before Viacom. He needs Viacom a hell of a lot more than Viacom needs Dish. Maybe losing Viacom would result in Congress pushing some changes, but that will take at least months if not years, and in the meantime Dish will lose possibly millions of customers.

Dennis

 

[mike123abc]

I don't see how the NBA comes out ahead in the deal. Maybe you meant NAB?

Ooops yes NAB not NBA, guess I was thinking of the March Madness missing, but that would be NCAA anyways

 

[BobMurdoch]

Charlie will cave before Viacom. He needs Viacom a hell of a lot more than Viacom needs Dish. Maybe losing Viacom would result in Congress pushing some changes, but that will take at least months if not years, and in the meantime Dish will lose possibly millions of customers.

Dennis

Nah, it won't be millions, people will give him a few days (if it happened before the Super Bowl it would have been a different story). Other than the King of Queens this one will not be too painful for me. I'm actually pulling for E* to make Viacom blink as it might send a message to ease up on the ultimatums (although everyone DOES usually wind up blaming the distributors instead of the program providers (Cablevision got the worst of the YES holdout, and Time Warner with the Disney flap 3 years ago.) No one seemed to have a problem with Disney holding a gun to providers heads to carry ESPNews or YES requiring that EVERYONE pay double for what they had (and that no one could opt out of the channel).

Part of me is hoping that it makes a dent in Viacom's ratings quick so they come to the table (or that hundreds of taxpayers call up their congressman to demand why "free" OTA channels are being blocked.....).