Dish Network taking away MTV?

uh, no it's going to suck for the rockets and the astros who are hoping to hit as many households as they possibly can...which is why they will most certainly work something out with the satellite networks. if there's money to be made, they'll get it figured out.

 

I really hope that you are right, but the thing I am pointing out is that it is not the case in other cities where a network has popped up solely for the local sports team(s) and Satellite did not pick up that feed.

 

There are also examples of cable companies not picking up new sports channels.

Perhaps the new Rockets cable channel won't be available to anyone.

 

heh...you didnt get me riled...

the first two lines were a joke at some of the D&D denizens expense.
I just forgot the smilie.

I honestly take very little here seriously....GARM is a different matter.

Sorry you got the wrong vibe...no offense meant.

 

as an aside my paytv satellite went to digital this week

for some AFL and NRL games we will have the options for camera angles we want to watch the games, select commentatories and view highlight and stats during the game

they also have an interective news channel

and the ability to watch on demand movies.....

 

Anyone able to get out of their contract yet? I'm thinking about trying to get out if it lasts more than a week. The only reason I'd really want to keep Dish Network without Comedy Central is for the NBA playoffs on TNT and ESPN.

B

 

Wow, this thing really went through quickly. There was a lot of talk about COX cable dropping ESPN, they had some disputes. But I still have ESPN....

 

Good news!!!

Noggin and Comedy Central are back on The Dish. Both sides came to an agreement last night.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/11/technology/viacom_echostar.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

 

Bird watching no longer
EchoStar, Viacom settle dispute as pols turn up heat

By MEREDITH AMDUR, SUSAN CRABTREE

About 9 million Dish customers will no longer be deprived of their Viacom cable nets or local CBS stations as Viacom and EchoStar resolved their dispute late Wednesday. Channels will be restored to the Dish Network satellite-television service, the companies said.

"We apologize to our viewers for the disruption in their service, and want to thank them for their patience and support," said Mel Karmazin, chief operating officer of Viacom, in a PR Newswire statement. "We look forward to continuing to serve our viewers through the DISH network well into the future."

Both Viacom and EchoStar had financial and public relations incentives to end their carriage contract dispute quickly.

At a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, CBS Television exec veep Martin Franks said both sides were "making progress" in negotiations. Members of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet want the dispute settled before the start of the NCAA men's college basketball tourney next week.

The dispute between the two companies became the main attraction at a hearing called to focus on renewing a law that Congress first wrote to give satcasters some financial benefits and help create some competition for the cable industry.

With EchoStar seemingly on the cusp of settling after only a day of brownout, there's some suggestion the satcaster had an ulterior motive for the channel strike. Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett offered the possibility that EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen may be using the Viacom situation "as an opportunistic bullhorn" with which to lobby Congress.

By shining a spotlight on broadcasters' bad behavior -- especially related to retransmission consent -- he could extract concessions from Congress in the new draft of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) currently being debated. Ergen himself is slated to testify later this week.

If this theory is correct, said Moffett, "Ergen may already have met his goal of attracting public/press/legislative scrutiny and may therefore settle relatively quickly."

In his presentation, Moskowitz reinforced EchoStar's position that Viacom "is a huge media empire," with a legal privilege to wield "enormous power to tie their CBS retransmission to the transmission of other stations that consumers don't want and to require exorbitant payments."

Court TV last week congratulated Ergen for "standing up" to Viacom's demands. In a letter to Ergen, Court TV exec VP of affiliate relations Bob Rose declared that it's ridiculous for "any distributor (to) be forced to carry all of MTV's channels simply because Viacom threatens to hold up retransmission consent."

Airing dirty laundry before Congress is a risky game for both Viacom and EchoStar, both of which stand to look greedy in lawmakers' eyes, especially when consumers are caught in the middle.

"Let's cut to the chase and see if we can't come to an agreement, especially as March Madness begins," said subcommittee chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

Not that the PR assault stopped entirely. Viacom ran a full page ad in the Washington Post on Wednesday with a picture of popular cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants and a boldface declaration in all capital letters: "EchoStar/Dish Network has yanked your favorite channels. You have just been left high and dry without SpongeBob."

But Ergen may be fighting an uphill regulatory battle if he's hoping for more lenient rules on high-definition delivery or other local station carriage flexibility. Cablers argue times have changed since the law was written and point to a January FCC report that credits satellite with capturing nearly 25% of U.S. households that pay for TV service. Satcasters counter that the law doesn't go far enough and that they remain at a serious competitive disadvantage to cable.

In some areas of the country, satcasters argue, satellite customers are denied access to TV channels that cable subscribers receive because of the law. Cablers argue that satellite systems have far too much power to offer out-of-town stations already.