Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network off Dish due to contract dispute

Purogamer said:
There is no channel that everyone watches where it can be unanimously dealt with. Charlie has to go on what his data suggest and I guess his data tells him that he can play hardball with lifetime. Never heard a peep about lifetime until this happened...


Duh, Lifetime was never removed from the Dish Lineup before. Plus Lifetime is a woman's channel and most people who post here are men.


Next question?
 
I went through this with Lifetime and C-band about a year ago. There are MANY less C-band subscribers THAN Dish. However, we emailed LIFETIME AND our Programmer AND we threatened to boycott sponsors of programming on the network. But in THIS case, keep an eye on the commericals DISH advertises on its own--Such as -- you guessed it--the competitor for Viagra--BOYCOTT THAT and BOYCOTT any PayPer View EVENTS OR MOVIES--EN MASSE.
You can rent the same movie at your local video store or for free at the local library, JUST DON'T ORDER ANY MORE PAY PER VIEW FROM DISH OR THE EVENTS.
Watch what else they advertise and boycott it. Money talks. We are far in the majority (as far as numbers are concerned) vs Charlie or the LIfetime CEO.
We just have to UNITE.
FInally, Lifetime, was restored for our Programmer and now, since I still have C-Band, as a backup--I can watch Lifetime on my 4dtv, until DISH gets their act together.
If the DON"T, I will just switch all my programing back to C-band! Especially since they have not added much in HD and I can get HD Locals independent of my DISH.
Bad timing, DISH Network!!!!
 
bookwalk said:
I went through this with Lifetime and C-band about a year ago. There are MANY less C-band subscribers THAN Dish. However, we emailed LIFETIME AND our Programmer AND we threatened to boycott sponsors of programming on the network. But in THIS case, keep an eye on the commericals DISH advertises on its own--Such as -- you guessed it--the competitor for Viagra--BOYCOTT THAT and BOYCOTT any PayPer View EVENTS OR MOVIES--EN MASSE.
You can rent the same movie at your local video store or for free at the local library, JUST DON'T ORDER ANY MORE PAY PER VIEW FROM DISH OR THE EVENTS.
Watch what else they advertise and boycott it. Money talks. We are far in the majority (as far as numbers are concerned) vs Charlie or the LIfetime CEO.
We just have to UNITE.
FInally, Lifetime, was restored for our Programmer and now, since I still have C-Band, as a backup--I can watch Lifetime on my 4dtv, until DISH gets their act together.
If the DON"T, I will just switch all my programing back to C-band! Especially since they have not added much in HD and I can get HD Locals independent of my DISH.
Bad timing, DISH Network!!!!

KEEP C BAND ALIVE !!! and the deal with c band and Lifetime was not about prices and greed. that was just because Lifetime used an alternative to DC II (4dtv) for distibutuion. Hard work at NPS made it possible on the 4dtv. So that and this is totally different. Charlie is just showing his ass as usual. Get C Band or Cable and be done with it.
 
I just received a boilerplate response that says "we didn't read your letter and don't care what you have to say" regurgitating the same line. For those interested, here is the reply one receives when they e-mail ceoofdishnetwork@dishnetwork.com:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for being a valued DISH Network customer. DISH Network sincerely regrets that your programming is currently unavailable. Lifetime has imposed unfair rates for their satellite customers which we feel are unreasonable. Until the dispute with Lifetime is resolved, Women’s Entertainment (channel 128) and Encore Love (Channel 109) is being offered in all of our basic programming packages.


We continually strive to control costs on behalf of our customers and are hopeful that this dispute will be resolved quickly. Please understand we are not at liberty to discuss negotiation details.

We have included in the email an open letter that was sent to Lifetime Networks.

If you still wish to discontinue your service, please know that for security reasons, we are unable to disconnect accounts via email. Please call 1-800-333-3474 to speak to a customer service representative who can assist you with your request. Our customer service agents are available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your business is greatly appreciated and we thank you for allowing us to be of assistance to you.


Sincerely,

[name removed since I did not ask permission to use it]
DISH Network
e-Care

What I sent:
I like what Dish tires to do, however it seems like we subscribers have been asked to go to the well just one too many times now. I realize that Dish is fighting the price increases, but the rates are STILL going up for me in February. I do not see a discount on my bill for the loss of OLN. After the battle with Viacomm with the temporary loss of a dozens of channels the rate is still going up $3 a month in February! I got a buck off my bill for one month. I didn't know where to spend all those pennies!

I guess I gpt a little sarcastic at the end there. :D

See ya
Tony
 
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Those channels just being there temporarily will make for even more madness when they disappear. They are just delaying the inevitable.
 
cablewithaview said:
at least cable is carrying it. :D

and paying for it. Along with the following channels when Lifetime decides they would like to increase revenue:

1) Real Women
2) Real Women Movies
3) Real Women Hate Men
4) Lifetime Toons (24/7 Josie & the Pussycats)
5) Lifetime Weather - featuring weathermen in Speedos who spend half the show apologizing for yesterday's inaccurate forecast and don't give the new forecast until they've had a good cry and are assured that they are valued members of the team.
6) Lifetime Horror - 24/7 wedding videos
 
Has any news service run a story on this? I would like to read from a source other than Lifetime or Dish. I don't believe either one is being completely truthful.
 
RonMort046 said:
Has any news service run a story on this? I would like to read from a source other than Lifetime or Dish. I don't believe either one is being completely truthful.

http://www.latimes.com/business/cus...749011.story?coll=la-headlines-business-enter
http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=1&article=28193
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsA...RIDST_0_TELEVISION-TELEVISION-LIFETIME-DC.XML
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/01/02/ap2423489.html

Are just a few that Google came up with.
 
From the letters going back and forth between Charlie and Lifetime , it is obvious that Charlie is enjoying this, he prides himself on playing "hardball".
 
mitchflorida said:
From the letters going back and forth between Charlie and Lifetime , it is obvious that Charlie is enjoying this, he prides himself on playing "hardball".
which would be why he turned down the extension...boy, that would be sad if it is true
I'm glad my wife is at work now
 
He probably felt that if he would have agreed to an extension that it would show weakness that he would be more likely to give in (just like in a poker game).
 
For all we know the extention might have required Dish to add LRM while a new deal was being worked out.

Only Dishnetwork and Lifetime knows the whole story.

But just to show how little Lifetime matters to Dish When there was the Viacom removal there was a special Charlie Chat right away. For Lifetime we have to wait until 1-9-2006 to hear Charlie's reason and the $hit storm of people trying to get past the call screeners.
 
I told my wife about this thread and all of the commotion this has generated. She told me that she thought those channels were already back on. I guess she didn't realize that they were retransmitting WE and Encore Love Stories on the Lifetime and LMN channels. I was also surprised at her reaction - she said that it didn't bother her at all and that there was no way that she would consider leaving Dish for this.

I think she deserves a nice new big screen TV for the way she is handling this whole thing. :D
 
Here is a copy of the SPAM my wife got when she e-mailed Lifetime to complain about them requiring Dishnetwork to carry Lifetime Real Women as part of any deal.


Dear Viewer,

We want you to know that we are reading every single one of your letters and emails expressing your concern that you or your friends and family can no longer watch your favorite women's networks -- Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network -- on DISH. And we want you to know how grateful we are to you for taking the time to tell us how you feel. We value our relationship with you above all else.



While we don't normally negotiate in the media or comment on the status of negotiations as a policy, we share your concerns and want to answer your questions. Unfortunately, there have been so many false statements made by DISH that we feel the need to set the record straight.



* First, DISH is spreading totally untrue numbers that distort and mischaracterize our most recent reasonable contract offer.

* Even though we are the two most popular women’s networks, we asked only for a very modest increase which would still pay us far less than what DISH pays for less popular networks.

* What DISH is not saying is that despite their having recently pushed through another rate increase to consumers, their final demand to us was for a drastic reduction in our rates that would inhibit our ability to produce the programming that you love.

* Lifetime offered a contract extension to continue negotiations, but instead DISH decided to pull the plug on millions of women viewers on New Year’s Eve.

* We were outraged by this action, but as some of you have noted, DISH and their CEO Charlie Ergen have a long history of just pulling the plug in the middle of negotiations. We've completed hundreds of similar, reasonable deals with cable and satellite distributors and have not had this problem before.

* Finally, despite DISH’s public assertions, they have not returned to the negotiating table.

Help us bring DISH to the table. Email ceoofdishnetwork@dishnetwork.com or call 1-888-347-4881 and ask Charlie Ergen to put Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network back on the air. You can also contact an alternate satellite company or your local cable provider at www.thisiscable.com or 1-877-665-9222. We deeply regret the difficulty this disruption of service has caused and hope to resolve this soon. Thank you again and we'll keep you posted.
 
Lifetime should walk away and tell Charlie to kiss off. Never to talk again. The masses of women pissed about this will teach Charlie a lesson in the long run when they switch to another provider. (Ex. cable)
 

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