Is Dish the only one getting tough with programmers.

[jerryez]

I know this article does not have anything to do directly with Dish, but so far Dish
is the only one getting tough with programmers. Isn't it time all cable companies and Direct got tough also.

Time Warner Cable Asks Customers: Should It Roll Over Or Get Tough On Programmer Price Hikes - 2009-11-25 15:52:43 | Multichannel News

 

[riffjim4069]

Well...it would appear that Time-Warner is taking a tough stance with programmers, as well as doing things "right" by notifying customers, soliciting their opinions, and not just disrupting service to customers without notice.

 

[TNGTony]

The roll over or get tough site is part of an advertising campaign. I am certain that if 99.9999% of the respondants said "roll over" that TWC would still pursue the same course.

 

[vaylon]

Comcast and most of the smaller cable companies are just passing the prices on to their customers. In my neck of the woods, just a simple cable connection with basic programming and no internet service is 69.99 plus fee's.
The cable company has basically cut its on throat. At one time the entire subdivision of about 125 houses were all hooked up to comcast. Today they only have 6 customers in the entire subdivision and they probably won't have them by next month because of a few added charges on this months bill.
But I have been seeing the same thing starting to happen with Direct TV customers.
People just get feed up with price increases. Once a customer is gone, they rarely come back.

 

[navychop]

Remember DirecTV and Versus?

There will have to be more resistance. Providers are simply getting outrageous, especially some local stations.

 

[Claude Greiner]

If prople would stop crying about missing their favorite show, and threating to switch providers everytime one of these providers got tough with the programmers and start taking down channels, cable rates would go down for everyone.

It just makes me sick evertime a provider looses a channel, people get all up in arms about it and the local news has to run a story about it and ends up showing some idiot flipping through the channels on their TV to show everyone how they are missing channels.

The rates are too high as it is, the only way we are going to see relief from the price increases is with Alacarte, and when the programmers see that nobody gives a crap about their channel, and realize people where only buying it because it was shoved into a package with other more important channels, then we will see some price decreases!

 

[KAB]

Claude, ala carte is an impossible business model. You can't change a business mantra without a lot of corporate blood, on both sides. I'm surprised you support it...it won't work and you would feel the pain before the rest of us.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Claude, ala carte is an impossible business model. You can't change a business mantra without a lot of corporate blood, on both sides. I'm surprised you support it...it won't work and you would feel the pain before the rest of us.

I think Alacarte could work if congress forced it upon everyone, but getting the programmers to agree to it will never happen.

The advantage would be that customers could purchase a package, and to save money they could "Delete" out some of the channels they don't like. I get customers all the time asking if they could subsitute things for ESPN and get Hallmark.

There are alot of people here including me who would like to save $5 per month for removing ESPN from their packages.

 

[KAB]

I understand the simple concept of ESPN, but wait until it gets removed from a package and the "majority" goes to war over it.

 

[eurosport]

How does not paying for content turn into "Getting tough"???? Charlie didn't pay for Disney HD, ESPNEWS HD etc. for months, then the mouse yanks the channels and Charlie's "tough"? More like cheap. :rant: He's lucky they didn't pull ESPN/ESPN 2 also....Pay up Chuck!

 

[whatchel1]

Disney is the problem

How does not paying for content turn into "Getting tough"???? Charlie didn't pay for Disney HD, ESPNEWS HD etc. for months, then the mouse yanks the channels and Charlie's "tough"? More like cheap. :rant: He's lucky they didn't pull ESPN/ESPN 2 also....Pay up Chuck!

In this case Disney is the problem. They want to charge for SD then again charge another fee for the same programming in HD. That is double dipping on the same programming.

 

[navychop]

How does not paying for content turn into "Getting tough"???? Charlie didn't pay for Disney HD, ESPNEWS HD etc. for months, then the mouse yanks the channels and Charlie's "tough"? More like cheap. :rant: He's lucky they didn't pull ESPN/ESPN 2 also....Pay up Chuck!

You do realize he'll be paying up with our money, via increased fees!

I dread next year's price increases, because it seems so many providers are greatly increasing their demands. Maybe Congress can step in somehow- although I suspect with the law of unintended consequences, they'll make it worse.

 

[MikeD-C05]

In this case Disney is the problem. They want to charge for SD then again charge another fee for the same programming in HD. That is double dipping on the same programming.

EXACTLY!! And if it goes through everyone would see their bills double within a year. Once one company gets paid twice for its hd/sd channels ,then all of them will want it too. It is a dangerous precedent that should never be allowed to happen. I would rather DISH continue to drop the hd feeds if the other option is to hike my bill over it... AGAIN!

 

[dishcomm]

Claude, ala carte is an impossible business model. You can't change a business mantra without a lot of corporate blood, on both sides. I'm surprised you support it...it won't work and you would feel the pain before the rest of us.

During the heyday of C-Band there was indeed A La Carte....
In fact my in-laws had a C-Band dish and bought theie services from a company called Programmers Clearinghouse.
Each service had a per month price. Subscribers could choose as many or as few channels as the liked.
The real problem with the delivery of services now is too few companies owning too many services.
The big media companies sell their niche channels packaged with more popular channels.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Well it's pretty bad when the people that install the product are getting to the point they can't afford to have it.

 

[dishcomm]

Well it's pretty bad when the people that install the product are getting to the point they can't afford to have it.

Spot on!

 

[Greg Bimson]

I think Alacarte could work if congress forced it upon everyone, but getting the programmers to agree to it will never happen.

That's the problem. The government is loathe to interfere in the affairs of the free market.

The advantage would be that customers could purchase a package, and to save money they could "Delete" out some of the channels they don't like.

But that isn't "a la carte", because the packages still exist.

In this case Disney is the problem. They want to charge for SD then again charge another fee for the same programming in HD. That is double dipping on the same programming.

Dish Network signed an agreement in 2005 with ESPN where Dish Network has to pay for ESPN and another fee for ESPN HD.

Although Dish Network has HD for Life, if one doesn't want to sell their soul to get it, the normal charge for HD is $10 above the package pricing.

So it appears that Dish Network doesn't mind double-dipping, because they already pay providers for it and they also charge customers for it.

 

[DishSubLA]

Please research Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and you will see that he make Charlie look like a pussycat (especially his infamous dealings with the NFL Network that lasted years, and it was nasty and mean, as in Brian Roberts' attitude, far more hostile than Ergan any day. Charlie just gets pissed, then moves on). Charlie was probably the first to sound the alarm about the providers outrageous programming costs, and among the first to be willing to lose channels over it, but since, just about every cable co and DirecTV and now FiOS and Uverse have all had similar and nasty negotiations with programmers and have sacrificed channels (did we forget the last Time Warner vs. Disney mega-mess some 4 years ago?). The perspective is warped because this forum is about sat and Dish, so many think Charlie is unusual or the worst regarding negotiations and losing channels. He is neither.

Charlie is not alone, nor is he even the worst at it. Brian Roberts easily leads the pack, and now he wants NBC universal. Heaven help us all.

 

[TalonDancer]

Hmmm...

Dish has famously stated that "We believe that our customers should be the ones who decide what they want to watch on TV and how they want to watch it.". IMO turning off the Disney HD channels doesn't give Dish customers much say in this decision. So could someone remind me again why Dish doesn't just turn the Disney HD channels into an extra charge Premium service and let the customers decide whether they want to watch these channels in HD enough to pay extra for them?

It might be interesting to see if Dish customers would actually "get tough" with the programmers, or just "roll over".

Talon Dancer

p.s. FWIW I'd bet that most Dish customers would do what they've always done with price increases -- whinge, whine and pay up.

 

[jerryez]

The package that programming goes into is part of the negotiations. Its' the programmers that want their programing in the basic packages that have the most viewers (so they can charge more for advertising). It is not up to Dish.