Hi all -- We (me and hubby - yeh he watches with me too) called Direct TV Monday afternoon, and they had us up and running by 2:00 p.m. yesterday. We now have Lifetime again, PLUS Lifetime Real Women and Oxygen, 2 channels not carried by Dish Network. We could not get through to cancel Dish Network until late at night as all circuits were busy. When we did, they were NOT happy, saying we had been "loyal" customers for 8 years. They did everything possible to get us to feel guilty and reconsider. They asked why we were cancelling. We told them because of Lifetime. The Dish Network rep said it would have cost too much money. We said, then that's why we are taking our business elsewhere. So, if you are not in a contract with Dish, you can get Direct TV installed in ONE day -- at least we did. We love it. We get ALL of the movie channels free for the next 3 months with our Total Plus package. When we start receiving our normal bill after 3 months, we will still save $10 per month over what we were paying with Dish AND we have LIFETIME! I'm glad to be out of this fight between Dish and Lifetime and back to enjoying TV!
Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network off Dish due to contract dispute
- Thread starter jeffwtux
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Regardless of who we believe is most responsible for the Lifetime debacle, the sad fact of the matter is both sides will eventually come together and hammer out a new contract because both sides will be losing money and customers. In the end they will join hands, release a glowing press release, and sing praises and admiration for one another...all the while pissing on the poor customers.
Will the customer receive any apologies, free previews, or programming discounts by either party? I think not!
Will the customer receive any apologies, free previews, or programming discounts by either party? I think not!
Pueblo said:
This commercial brought to you (again) by a D* employee or dealer (obviously).
Double posting in the same thread? Tsk...Tsk
Please go find something better to do.NightRyder
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With all these deals you see DirecTv has it is an excuse for many to switch if Dish does not offer something enticing themselves to keep these customers.
The only reason D* is not engaged in the exact same tactics is because they are heavily vested on the programming side through News Corp. Bundling is their cash cow, just like it is for all the networks.
CPanther95 said:
But I don't remember D* pulling stuff like this when GM still owned them while Charlie was.
Kudos to GM then, but the problem has gotten much worse in the last few years. Sometime between when Discovery was a single channel and before they became 7 channels
You'll see News Corp. heavily expand their channel (network) offering in the next few years and expect them to leverage the popularity of Fox News and F/X to guarantee carriage of all of these new channels.
You'll see News Corp. heavily expand their channel (network) offering in the next few years and expect them to leverage the popularity of Fox News and F/X to guarantee carriage of all of these new channels.
Take a look at the Mediaweek article Ad-Supported Cable Ratings: Highlights of Note and Top 10 Rankings in 2005 by following this link.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6836507&&#post6836507
here's a juicy excerpt:
"Lifetime Television will finish the year ranked No. 1 among all ad-supported original cable movies in households, total viewers, women 18-34, women 18-49 and women 25-54. In total, 12 Lifetime movies in 2005 (including Human Trafficking, Odd Girl Out, Murder in the Hamptons and Dive from Claussen’s Pier) cracked a 3.0 household rating or above."
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6836507&&#post6836507
here's a juicy excerpt:
"Lifetime Television will finish the year ranked No. 1 among all ad-supported original cable movies in households, total viewers, women 18-34, women 18-49 and women 25-54. In total, 12 Lifetime movies in 2005 (including Human Trafficking, Odd Girl Out, Murder in the Hamptons and Dive from Claussen’s Pier) cracked a 3.0 household rating or above."
GeorgeLV said:
sounds like Lifetime wants there cake and eat it too. Charge out the butt for the service and for the ads. More viewers the more valuable the advertisement. with that in mind if Charlie is playing that angle then both may burn for it. Dish for dropping it, and Lifetime for not having the number of viewers to view the advertisements.
It's all about the carriage fees. ABC generated $450 million with MNF from advertising sold. ESPN paid $1.2 billion and is expected to profit $200 million and with fewer viewers, will generate less advertising dollars.
Many of these channels, if forced to choose between carriage fees and advertising dollars would turn commercial free tomorrow.
Many of these channels, if forced to choose between carriage fees and advertising dollars would turn commercial free tomorrow.
From Lifetime:
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 announced another rate increase to consumers, their only specific 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.
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 announced another rate increase to consumers, their only specific 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.
I say don't go back to the negotiating table, make Dish learn a hard lesson in doing crap like this. You have to break a puppy from pissing in your carpet.
You gotta love this. With each Accusation Lifetime has leveled, Charlie says, "Prove it!" and then offers Lifetime execs time on the Charlie Chat to debate the issue. Of course it is an empty offer because no one in their right mind would go to some one else's show to debate them. Just ask Bill O'Rielly and the so impartial David Letterman.
See ya
Tony
See ya
Tony
