Well if Nick GAS actually shuts off on Jan. 1, I am sure we will have a slate screen advising us that it has went off air, but I don't expect Dish to do anything about it for a week or so.
NOG/N -NickG
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HA! The reference to shutting down has been removed from Wikipedia. Not that it means anything one way or another.
Also, that January 1st, 2009 thing was pretty recent...apparently it used to say Jan 31st, 2009.
The discussion page on that page is pretty embarrassing to read. I know we're chatting about this, but I for one don't really care one way or another, I'm just interested from an operations standpoint. There's one guy on there who makes a post every time one particular show changes time slots. They seem to be in some sort of war with The N message boards, and they have to keep locking the page.
Also, that January 1st, 2009 thing was pretty recent...apparently it used to say Jan 31st, 2009.
The discussion page on that page is pretty embarrassing to read. I know we're chatting about this, but I for one don't really care one way or another, I'm just interested from an operations standpoint. There's one guy on there who makes a post every time one particular show changes time slots. They seem to be in some sort of war with The N message boards, and they have to keep locking the page.
I know I may be in the minority here, but I for one would love to have Nick GAS kept in its pack and Noggin and The N in the lower pack below that. I know they show lots of repeats and no new shows, but those are shows from my childhood and I really still get into a few of them. I know I'm a dork, but if Nick GAS isn't talking like ESPN or MTV contract rates or anything, I say it should stay.
The whole point...Viacom doesn't want ANY money for Nick GAS. They don't want it to exist! It's not supposed to exist!
If it hadn't been already automated, it wouldn't still be here. The whole channel is probably just a server in a closet. The channel went off the air. Then DISH raised a stink (about money and tiers, not Charlie's love for "Get The Picture") and Viacom said "Fine" and fired it back up.
This is how much Charlie sucks- they'd rather keep a whole channel on the air than deal with his crap. Everytime you watch GAS, you're watching Viacom flip Charlie the bird. (Or at least, that's how I have interpreted the situation.)
BTW, I would totally dig some kind of Classic Nick channel that showed all kinds of old stuff, not just the game shows. Maybe they could do a block on Noggin from Midnight to 4am.
Hey, at least Charlie has company now. Looks like Time Warner is playing hardball with Viacom and will lose Nick, The N and the rest of the Viacom family tonight if they do not get a carriage agreement set up by midnight. DISH subscribers rejoice, you can still ring in the New Year with (Nick) GAS.
There's definitely a lot we don't know, but it's not that hard to figure out. The contract doesn't have anything to do with Nick GAS remaining on the air...it has to do with Viacom just expecting everyone to replace it with another channel.
Do you really think a provider could use a contract to force a channel to stay on the air? Let's say it's a small indie channel and it just runs out of money. Do you think DISH can just say "Sorry, we have a contract, you have to keep the lights on." Of course not. You can bet every contract says that it's void if the channel goes off the air.
And look at it this way. Let's say Viacom just wants to kill a channel, say VH1 Classic. Don't you think DISH would love to save the money? They'd be happy to let it die. Let's say it costs 2 cents a month, and 6 million people subscribe. That saves DISH almost $1,500,000 a year.
But Viacom just expected providers to switch from one to another. Now, they do this all the time. There's a Discovery channel that has changed names & formats like 4 or 5 times.
But in this case, they were essentially turning 1 channel into 2...basically spreading the same programming thinner.
My guess is that Charlie had one of two thoughts... 1) Here's a chance to save $1,500,000 or 2) Hey, that's not fair! You're giving us less actual programming for the same amount of money. (I suppose it's also possible that they asked for more money for "The N" than they did for GAS, but I doubt it...you would have seen other disputes.)
Option #2 is also supported by the fact that they continue to split the channels. DISH probably said "You are under contract to provide X amount of programming for $0.XX per subscriber. By pulling "The N" programming off of Noggin, you have effectively decreased the programming significantly."
On top of that, Noggin and GAS are on different tiers. It's possible that Viacom expected them to move "The N" to the lower tier, increasing costs. Or, maybe DISH just didn't want to deal with the phone calls when "The N" disappeared from the lower tier.
But no matter what the issue with Noggin/N is, GAS remaining on is 100% up to Viacom. If they turn it off, the contract would be void. They made the choice to turn it back on. And I'm 99% sure it was a "you don't want to play it our way? Well, we're going to hold you to the other part of our contract as well."
DISH and Viacom would both love to see GAS gone, but for different reasons.
The more that I think about this, the more I think the negative types are right.
Viacom could blink and pull the plug on GAS just so they don't have to deal with it. But that doesn't mean Noggin would automatically be split. It's really two different issues. DISH is holding Viacom to their original contract with Noggin. Viacom is holding DISH to their original contract on GAS, but really just to spite them. (Or as a bargaining chip.)
Still, they've both been staring each other down for so long, I kinda doubt one side will cave. They'll come to a compromise, if they haven't already.
cnn international died, cnnsi died the list goes on and on ..If viacom wanted to kill this channel it would be dead and E* would not neccesarily provide a replacement..there obviously was a deal worked out
CNN International didn't die...it's still on FIOS (and overseas, of course, though I think the US version is different.)
Now, CNN-FN died, or maybe it was replaced by CNN-SI and it died, can't remember. Anyway, all you're doing is making my point...a contract doesn't force a channel to stay on the air.
I really don't think it's a "deal". I think DISH refused to split Noggin, so Viacom refused to kill GAS. But who knows.
Face facts Viacom ALLOWED e* not to split noggin/N We will find out what the real deal is when E* adds the viacom HD channels hopefully later this month
Told you so. I was right. I wished all last year that Nick GAS would just die and I still do but I know it will still be on forever.
How can I "face facts"? We don't know what the facts are. And I doubt we'll ever find out the "real deal." Even if things get fixed then, it won't prove or disprove my theory.
I have been quite clear that everything I said was my opinion, and gave logical reasons as to why those were my opinions. You follow each one with a poorly punctuated, poorly capitalized, poorly worded, and poorly thought out "argument".
"ummm, it's called a contract"...how is that a response? Particularly to a post where I was explaining what I believed to be the terms of the contract?
You could be right and I could be wrong. We'll likely never know, and I really don't care.
There are no facts to face, other than I constantly allow myself to get sucked into arguments with people who don't have the mental faculties to argue properly. Why do I do this to myself? I don't even watch these channels! I'm just interested in the way the business works. I studied cable programming and management in college, and even though I went in down a different career path, I've always kept up on it as a hobby. Screw it. I'll keep it to myself, and keep people who never have anything useful or interesting to say on ignore.
Geez, what will I do with all this extra free time...
Also I bet you that by February we won't even have the Viacom HD channel and our rates are going up. Charlie can stuff it.
