Fisher Communications Channels are BACK on Dish!

[Raymie]

I'm proud to announce that the following letter has been sent to Charlie and Colleen.


29 May 2009
Dear Mrs. Brown and Mr. Ergen:

When a supplier and distributor squabble over rising rates, the customers lose access to product and then market share takes a hit, bad for both sides of the equation. If Coke and a shipping company who sent their products to some distribution centers jumped into a contract dispute, Coke would disappear from shelves in the affected areas - the distributor loses money, Coke takes a market share and profit dip, and everyone else, including the consumer, loses. Have you run into a similar situation lately? If you: a) subscribe to Dish Network; b) live in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, or Bakersfield, California; and c) watch a Fisher Communications-owned station, you've been out of luck for five months, because Fisher (the supplier) and Dish Network (the distributor) are in the middle of one of the worst retransmission consent disputes I have seen in years. Dish Network loses subscribers, only adding to their woes; Fisher loses viewers on its stations, becoming a harder sell to advertisers and networks alike. Yet the demilitarized zone between the two is filled with legal land mines, including a lawsuit in Oregon court, that prevent the restoration of 12 stations in 9 markets. I'm Raymie Humbert from Phoenix, Arizona, the editor of the EchoStar Knowledge Base News Monitor. At my post, for the past 19 months (and two additional years supporting the site), I've noticed a seemingly endless array of local and national channel disputes between Dish and programmers, causing the outages of Lifetime, Court TV, Young Broadcasting stations, WBRZ in Louisiana (still going today!), OLN (now Versus), MTV Networks (which involved splitting channels and recently ended), and quite a few more.
From posts on two satellite forums, people are desperate for a solution - or a resolution. Recent rumblings of changes to the law that would allow Dish Network to bring in adjacent market signals (this may be the split market law) have people excited for a return of Fisher stations. People that have talked to people at Fisher and Dish Network say that the dispute is getting settled, but yet no true word has been brought out by either party. While Dish Network is known for a very hard-line stance on retransmission consent - and indeed, it looks like Dish will have a battle on its hands with Sinclair Broadcast Group and possibly Freedom Communications come the first of next month - it must be resolved.
Mrs. Brown, I suggest that you and Dish Network reach a middle ground and separate the lawsuit from negotiations. And Mr. Ergen, I suggest that you head back to the table - not just with Fisher, but with WBRZ, Sinclair, Freedom Communications, and others, for in doing this, both of you will benefit. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Raymie Humbert
EchoStar Knowledge Base


It was sent to cbrown at fsci dot com and ceo at echostar dot com.

 

[Jim5506]

Unfortunately your free market analogy falls apart when we look at the monopoly that is local TV.

No one else can import the signal into the DMA due to NAB agreements among the stations.

There is a rumor that the situation may change after June 12, but it is mostly speculation by desperate men.

 

[KAB]

For successful negotiations, reasonability must come into play. Fisher checked their's at the door.

 

[smroycro]

I'm proud to announce that the following letter has been sent to Charlie and Colleen.


...

Sincerely,
Raymie Humbert
EchoStar Knowledge Base


It was sent to cbrown at fsci dot com and ceo at echostar dot com.

Can you resend? Maybe it didn't make it past email filters...

 

[guitarhero4rox]

Man this sucks
The NBA Finals are on ABC
And ABC is channel 4, the channel that dish is too cheap to buy..
This is bull shi*

 

[Slamminc11]

Man this sucks
The NBA Finals are on ABC
And ABC is channel 4, the channel that dish is too cheap to buy..
This is bull shi*

way to pay attention to the facts!

 

[levibluewa]

It's quite possible that Fisher knows it has the goods on DISH...breach of contract. Those of you that have followed DISH's lawsuit history can chime in on their success rate. Fisher has evidently offered to negotiate a new carriage agreement...DISH won't unless they drop the lawsuit??? The handwriting on the wall may be faint, but I don't expect this to go away soon. DISH says it is doing this to save the consumer exorbitant rate increases demanded by Fisher...who's paying for the lawyers?

 

[KAB]

Unleash the Kindergarten Layers.

 

[Zero327]

"The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do. For instance, you can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that some day. And me, for example, I can let you drown, but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by me onesies, savvy? So, can you sail under the command of a pirate, or can you not?" -- Jack Sparrow

 

[Slamminc11]

Unleash the Kindergarten Layers.

Umm, wouldn't that get you jail time? If so, then you would really need a lawyer!!!!

 

[navychop]

You can't charge for a Must Carry station. Fisher can't change that.

I suspect it's all moot. We'll probably hear something, perhaps game-changing, "soon."

 

[kstuart]

I do believe that it is in Fishers best interest to settle this now, as after June 12th it appears that its not going to matter anymore.

Charlie pretty much just announced that on June 13th, any channel not available due to dispute will qualify a customer for that distant network from AAD.

 

[iwc5893]

Charlie pretty much just announced that on June 13th, any channel not available due to dispute will qualify a customer for that distant network from AAD.

And Charlie has a great track record for determining who is eligible for distant networks.

I just hope that it doesn't lead to another DNS lawsuit.

 

[kstuart]

There has been speculation for many months that the Digital Transition automatically removes a lot of the requirements for distant networks, because a lot of the written law refers to analog broadcasts.

Saturday, there won't be any analog broadcasts. It will be interesting to check the AAD site on Saturday, because it is possible that they will be able to sell to anyone, and Dish is merely trying to avoid telling us that.

Of course, Dish is prohibited by legal judgement from ever providing distant networks...

 

[Laddyboy]

And Charlie has a great track record for determining who is eligible for distant networks.

I just hope that it doesn't lead to another DNS lawsuit.

E* isn't involved. AAD is a completely independent company with no access to E* records.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

There we go the news is finally out..

We were sitting on that one for a long time now. This was one of the big things Charlie told us about at our SatelliteGuys Meet and Greet with him last month in Denver.

Thanks to everyone who came for staying quiet on this one.

 

[whatchel1]

I love the fact that the 2 F providers now are getting what they deserve. "NO CARRIAGE". Now they will have to come back to the tables with their tails between their legs so to speak.

 

[bebop]

I don't want to switch to an alternate provider, so it looks like I'm going to dive into AAD and see what it costs to get CBS. It's a shame the lose-lose situation continues indefinitely (even a more grim outlook after hearing Charlie tonight). There sure would be a lot of happy folks if it became a win-win situation SOON.

Here's what I was told by Fisher:

In the meantime, you should know that Fisher has reached new agreements with dozens of other video programming distributors, including Comcast, Charter, Cable One, and Mediacom, and Fisher stations are also carried by other major video programming distributors such as with DIRECTV, Bright House, Verizon FiOS, and AT&T U verse. Because the timing for any renewed carriage of our television stations by DISH is uncertain and indefinite, we encourage you to switch to an alternative provider so that you will be able to receive the programming, including our local news, weather, and sports that you have been missing.

 

[Isaacbob]

E* isn't involved. AAD is a completely independent company with no access to E* records.

So how long until the laws get re-written and AAD isn't allowed to have free reign to more or less give out their services to those who can't get locals from Dish? I live in West Lafayette and the Indy stations refuse to sign waivers, so I've been SOL and will be until I go to D* (hopefully it doesn't come to that).

 

[Laddyboy]

So how long until the laws get re-written and AAD isn't allowed to have free reign to more or less give out their services to those who can't get locals from Dish? I live in West Lafayette and the Indy stations refuse to sign waivers, so I've been SOL and will be until I go to D* (hopefully it doesn't come to that).

If the past is any indication, existing users/subscribers will be grandfathered if new regs are forthcoming. There are also barren zip codes where TV service is not available at all that can be used if needed. I'd suggest getting in on the deal before it disappears. Can you not get the Indy stations via satellite with E*? All but one are available iirc.