Letter From Charlie Ergen
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I'm not sure what response you would expect from the questions asked. He is certainly not going to say "Leave if you don't like it." And changes are in the works, but part of it takes new satellites in orbit.
No! I think, at this point, he simply knows better!
4. No other major company carries Voom (except their other owner, cablevision)
Wrong! Many major global cable companies feature Voom channels (and are also viewed by 1.1 million Cablevision HD subs).
5. Normally OTA HD is a better picture and if you can get OTA (this is true for all video providers) we do not force customers (as others do) to purchase our local to local HD as we sell it a la carte.
Wrong! But you do so much more for us, Charlie... Why do you intentionally block local program guide information transmitted from stations nor provide local program guide information via Dish? You know where I live. The STB has my zip code and it knows I've scanned for locals? Why not, Charlie?
I take your comments seriously and we will get much better.
Charlie
Oh, Please do Charlie!
You need to be clear on what the costs truly are. The production costs (which I think you're citing) are expected to be recouped with advertising revenue during initial run. This is one of the arbiters for success / failure for renewal. The Nielsen ratings play into this by establishing viewer count which then correlates to an adverstising cost per 30 or 60 second spot.
No local station could afford to syndicate Seinfeld if the cost to syndicate per episode was 2-15 million. There are about 190 episodes of this series, and that would mean the cost to syndicate all episodes of the series would be anywhere from ~380 Million to > 3 Billion per syndication.
That's why I was saying that we're just making uneducated guesses when saying what was or was not spent other than Voom demonstrated that they spent a total of $300 mil over the last 2 years. How much was part of what Dish required back when they made a deal with Voom and then only put up 15 of the 21 channels is still to be determined. Some judge seems to think Dish might have an argument to make but we have yet to see what the truth really is, just some claims by attorneys who are paid to make things look favorable for their employers.
The other thing I noted was that Voom had created several new series and added new episodes to existing series already on. My comments were directed toward these new shows, not reruns or syndicated broadcasts.
I would also like to see what other cable channels are spending per year on programming after discounting ad revenue.
We are, but I am fairly certain that the legal people on each side of the equation are able to differentiate the various contributing factors to the programming investment.
And an accountant could tell us if including employee salaries as part of the cost to acquire content is a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principle).
You can't discount ad revenue. The cost is the cost, the ad revenue is an offset which contributes to P&L.
As far as I know, everyone who wrote to E* about VOOM got the same email response.
I've waited a few weeks to see if VOOM came back, as other channels having disputes with E* have come back in the past. This one doesn't look promising, so I guess I'll have to make my decision about whether to stay with E* for a 12th year soon. Not much reason to stay though.
I've waited a few weeks to see if VOOM came back, as other channels having disputes with E* have come back in the past. This one doesn't look promising, so I guess I'll have to make my decision about whether to stay with E* for a 12th year soon. Not much reason to stay though.
I think it was 2-15 million to produce one episode. Not the price stations have to pay to show it again in syndication.
I guess the only reason to stay is ''their world class dvr''! Yes, Im being a bit sarcastic.
I do think the dvr is tops. But is it reson enough to stay with a company that has taken away programming you desire? I would say they took down 7 voom channels I regularly watched.
That is where Im at as well. Where to go next since a Voom return looks bleak.
To say Im angry at Dish is an understatement!
I don't see ANYTHING untrue about Charlie's #5 statement.
Why should E* give you guide data for your OTA locals if you're not subbing to the Dish locals. I think it would be nice, but they owe you nothing.
From memory (and a bit of digging) the most a channel ever paid for a syndicated show was A&E for the Sopranos for 2.5m per episode.
Normal syndicated sit-coms sell for 35k - 50k per episode on average in major markets, less in the smaller markets.
I can also tell you that email is NOT from Charlie.
If your going to write to Charlie, you are better off writing to ceo@echostar.com as there is a team of people there in the executive office there to answer your messages. Also at this address they compile data on what customers want and are complaigning about and meet about those things weekly.
By folks writing to a different address you are actually not being counted in these data tests. Again you are better off emailing ceo@echostar.com.
If your going to write to Charlie, you are better off writing to ceo@echostar.com as there is a team of people there in the executive office there to answer your messages. Also at this address they compile data on what customers want and are complaigning about and meet about those things weekly.
By folks writing to a different address you are actually not being counted in these data tests. Again you are better off emailing ceo@echostar.com.
before I knew about ceo@echostar.com I sent in a general complaint email. I got a canned response. I went ahead and replied to the canned email along the lines of "thanks for the canned email." To my surprise, I got an actual response from a person saying they were sorry. I was then able to let them know how I felt about the situation and thanked them for actually speaking to me one on one.
I don't care what email address you use it is unlikely that the CEO will actually read and anser your email. also when issues are in any way controversial companies send out canned responses.
DISh may or may not be paying attention to the number of inquiries they receive. but trying to reach Ergen himself this way is unlikely to succeed.
DISh may or may not be paying attention to the number of inquiries they receive. but trying to reach Ergen himself this way is unlikely to succeed.
