The OFFICIAL DISH / HBO Thread

edisonprime

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Dec 12, 2012
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One of the reasons I left DirecTV was for Epix, which appears like it will never come to DirecTV, but now Dish doesn't have HBO or Cinemax. I'd like to have all the premium networks out there, but it seems as if I traded the really good HBO and Cinemax for the okay Epix. Do you guys think they will eventually come back, or should I switch back to DirecTV?
 
I know your all saying I’m trying to stick it to Dish.

But if you want your HBO back, best thing you can do is call Dish, threaten to cancel and milk them for as many discounts as you can for them to try to keep you as a customer.

Dish keeps a tally of all the credits and cancellations, and the worse it is for them the more likely they will settle.

I remember when the Viacom channels went dark, they where back in a few days after Dish got hammered With complaints left and right.

Remember lifetime, AMC, Fox Sports (in October after baseball) and I believe outdoor life Network.

As I remember nobody really complained and these networks remained off in some cases 3 months.

Eventually it will come back but if you can get a discount off your bill because of this, you should call
 
I know your all saying I’m trying to stick it to Dish.

But if you want your HBO back, best thing you can do is call Dish, threaten to cancel and milk them for as many discounts as you can for them to try to keep you as a customer.

Dish keeps a tally of all the credits and cancellations, and the worse it is for them the more likely they will settle.

I remember when the Viacom channels went dark, they where back in a few days after Dish got hammered With complaints left and right.

Remember lifetime, AMC, Fox Sports (in October after baseball) and I believe outdoor life Network.

As I remember nobody really complained and these networks remained off in some cases 3 months.

Eventually it will come back but if you can get a discount off your bill because of this, you should call

Additionally (or alternately), you can complain to AT&T/HBO about the dispute: general@hbo.com
 
In 9 out of 10 disputes, I would see where Claude is coming from. If TBS was pulled, I'd get it. But why for the need of a set subscriber amount for a channel where the subscriber basically pays the channel direct? That should be it! If 100 people sub to HBO, then AT&T gets paid for those 100 people. If 1 million people sub, then AT&T gets paid for the million. It's not up to Dish or any provider to cover a set cost, nor is it up to them to get AT&T subs for HBO. You want subs for your premium? Do the work to get them!

Again if this was a basic channel, I would be singing a different tune. It's a premium channel, or two premium networks to be exact. In essence, Dish isn't rewarded for HBO subs. Dish is rewarded for basic channel subs, but not premium be it HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, or EPIX. Those revenue goes straight to the channel owners.
 
In 9 out of 10 disputes, I would see where Claude is coming from. If TBS was pulled, I'd get it. But why for the need of a set subscriber amount for a channel where the subscriber basically pays the channel direct? That should be it! If 100 people sub to HBO, then AT&T gets paid for those 100 people. If 1 million people sub, then AT&T gets paid for the million. It's not up to Dish or any provider to cover a set cost, nor is it up to them to get AT&T subs for HBO. You want subs for your premium? Do the work to get them!

Again if this was a basic channel, I would be singing a different tune. It's a premium channel, or two premium networks to be exact. In essence, Dish isn't rewarded for HBO subs. Dish is rewarded for basic channel subs, but not premium be it HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, or EPIX. Those revenue goes straight to the channel owners.

I think Dish does get a cut. If I were Charlie, I would want at least enough to cover the operational costs of carrying those channels.
 
We don’t even know what the terms of the deal are.

We just all assume that HBO is making un-reasonable demands because we only heard Charlie’s side of things.

For all we know they offered the same deal to Comcast and Spectrum.

I have a feeling the minimum subscriber count is there to encourage Dish to proactively sell the premium channels.

Many times during the free 3 month trial sales people will remind customers to be sure to cancel the movie channels after 3 months so they are not charged.

The sales people want the movies cancelled because the lower the customers bill, the likely they will be able to afford to keep the package.

I have had representatives from HBO come to my office. The way they see it, they see HBO as bringing value to an already great service.

Sales people, dealers, Dish, see HBO as a necessary evil. We would all rather see customers pay their bill rather than load up on movie channels they can’t afford.
 
I think Dish does get a cut. If I were Charlie, I would want at least enough to cover the operational costs of carrying those channels.
It depends on if they up the price. I know Comcast used to do that. On Comcast, circa 10 years ago, each premium cost $20 a month. That was $20 for all HBO channels and $20 for both channels in The Movie Channel suite. So yes, in that particular case, Comcast did benefit off HBO. But, when HBO Now is $15 a month, and Dish was charging $15 a month, it appears that Dish was solely charging HBO's market value without any extra going to Dish.
 
We don’t even know what the terms of the deal are.

We just all assume that HBO is making un-reasonable demands because we only heard Charlie’s side of things.

For all we know they offered the same deal to Comcast and Spectrum.

I have a feeling the minimum subscriber count is there to encourage Dish to proactively sell the premium channels.

Many times during the free 3 month trial sales people will remind customers to be sure to cancel the movie channels after 3 months so they are not charged.

The sales people want the movies cancelled because the lower the customers bill, the likely they will be able to afford to keep the package.

I have had representatives from HBO come to my office. The way they see it, they see HBO as bringing value to an already great service.

Sales people, dealers, Dish, see HBO as a necessary evil. We would all rather see customers pay their bill rather than load up on movie channels they can’t afford.
Both parties have yet to deny that a guaranteed subscriber limit wasn't part of the negotiations. Scott pointed it out as well. That's from where my deductions come. In my opinion, in the internet age, there shouldn't be a subscriber limit, or pull HBO off all providers and go at it on your own with HBO Now.

Perhaps that's a good idea, either create a MAX Now as a companion to HBO Now, collapse Cinemax into HBO Now, as HBO Cinemax, HBO Moremax, HBO Thrillermax, etc, or put Cinemax on providers as a cheaper alternative that advertises HBO Now to get subs to add HBO Now.
 
It depends on if they up the price. I know Comcast used to do that. On Comcast, circa 10 years ago, each premium cost $20 a month. That was $20 for all HBO channels and $20 for both channels in The Movie Channel suite. So yes, in that particular case, Comcast did benefit off HBO. But, when HBO Now is $15 a month, and Dish was charging $15 a month, it appears that Dish was solely charging HBO's market value without any extra going to Dish.

Well, if that is the case, I wouldn't take that deal if I were Charlie, even if it costs me $0.02/sub to deliver the channels, I'd want to get at least that much from the deal to cover my costs, preferably more as subscriber numbers will fluctuate over time.