YES Network Update

[Anthony]

I recently sent Charlie Ergen an email regarding Dish carrying the YES Network. He graciously responded very quickly (as he has done in the past). My email and his response follow:

My email:

Hello Mr. Ergen,

As you probably already know, Cablevision has temporarily settled with the YES Network. I am not a Yankee fan and I most assuredly can't tell you what is best for your business, but as I sit here in New York surrounded by Cablevision, DirecTV and Dish subscribers, I keep getting prodded about what is the problem that Dish can't come to an agreement with the YES Network. I despise the business practices of major league sports teams and the media contracts they force all systems into (ex. ESPN, RSNs,.......). Do I care if you carry the YES Network - NO I don't but that is because I am a Mets fan. If I were a Yankee fan, I would care very much. Since Dish is all about choice, it is time to give the Yankee fan their choice. How you do it and still keep it as a sound business decision for Dish is up to you, but it needs to be done.

Brgds/

Charlie Ergen's response:

we would accept the same deal as cablevision...we hope YES will offer us the same deal but they have not tallked to us since they did the yes deal
c

[jerryez]

Dear Mr Ergen, I live in Florida and have no interest in Yes Network. If my rates are to go up so a few people in the Norhteast can watch Yes, please discontinue my subscription.

[Anthony]

Jerry,

If Dish struck the same deal as Cablevision did with YES, only us Tri-State New Yorkers would have to pay more. And you wouldn't be given the privilege to subscribe to it.

[sorahl]

actually, isn't the deal those Tri State prisoners who wish to see YES have to pay more? I thought the cabalvision (deliberate missspelling) deal was to effectively make YES a premium channel.

john

[Cyclone]

I thought it became a mandatory premium channel for all lucky Cablevision captives.

[Bill D]

This is really getting me angry that Dish can't make this happen for a year now and Directv has it. I am very close to dumping my 721 and getting a Tivo and switching over. Anthony great letter to Charlie very well worded, especially from a Mets fan..

[tnsprin]

I live in NY and love the Yankees, but have felt the whole YES deal to have been unacceptable. I would never expect nationwide services, such as DISH, to accept the deal that Cablevision was force to accept. Cablevision only made a deal when politicions actually introduced legislation to force them to carry it.

[tampa8]

Originally posted by Bill D
This is really getting me angry that Dish can't make this happen for a year now and Directv has it. I am very close to dumping my 721 and getting a Tivo and switching over. Anthony great letter to Charlie very well worded, especially from a Mets fan..

Bill D - As respectfully as I can, I would say to you and others in the NY area to go to Direct TV. I applaud Charlie on this. Perhaps this would be a good way to see competition at work. But don't get me wrong - I do understand YES is important to you. You do have a choice however to go to Direct TV. By Dish holding out, perhaps the overall cost for everyone will be at least somewhat kept in check for other channels.

[Johny]

Wow! Go to Direct TV. That’s what people who are not from the NY/NJ area say. Seems like a logical choice however some of us invested a lot of money in these Dish Network Receivers and we do not want to see this go to waste.

By the way how much can I get for my 721 if I put it up on EBAY?

Charlie just get YES!

[Johny]

Also I am a huge Nets fan and it hurts that I don't get to see them on a regular basis anymore. I’m in the NY area, why is the Net vs. Boston game going to be blacked out on NBA TV today. Isn't that a nationally televised game, which means it shouldn't be blacked out? I don't understand the rules! If this game was on TNT or ESPN it wouldn't get blacked out....Can someone please explain the rules to me?

It’s bad enough Dish Network doesn’t have Yes but do they have to make us Nets fan suffer more by blacking out tonight’s game? Come on Charlie!

[Cyclone]

Dish and Charlie have no control over the decision to black out games.

[cnsf]

Originally posted by Johny
Wow! Go to Direct TV. That’s what people who are not from the NY/NJ area say. Seems like a logical choice however some of us invested a lot of money in these Dish Network Receivers and we do not want to see this go to waste.

By the way how much can I get for my 721 if I put it up on EBAY?

Charlie just get YES!

I just did this and ended up getting "paid" to switch.

Picked up 2 HDVR2s at BestBuy for $200 each. Got the dish and a receiver installed free. They also threw in the multiswitch.

I had $400 out of pocket. (Still waiting for my rebates though since 2/2).

I sold my 2 Dish PVRs for $250 each=$500. Sold SW64 for $75 and 4900 for $150=$725. Made $325 on the deal....

Ups and downs to the switch, but my big issue was getting YES. Still would not go to Cablevision regardless, so their deal doesn't impact me. Tivos are also really nice w/dual tuner.

Lost my West network waivers though and was only able to get back NBC on DirecTV.

[Cheyenne]

Just what do you the NY not understand?
Dish does not offer YES and will not offer in the near future.
Tampa8 has the best advice as stated earlier in this thread.

[cnsf]

We don't understand bad grammar.

[ScottieMobility]

In Today's Newsday there is a small section disucssing DISH and YES. It reads as follows:

With the Cablevision deal done, YES and the Echostar's DISH Network are again exchanging proposals for an agreement, sources said. Neither side would comment. The satellite provider, which has about 400,000 customers in the tri-state area, has been reluctant to guarantee a certain number of homes to YES, and reportedly is trying to reconfigure its tier system.

The page can be found here:

http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ny-zip183179056mar18.story

[Cyclone]

Good catch. Just think only several more years to go!

[cnsf]

They'll get it done by the first game.

[cnsf]

And a $2 fee for NY subs only and no one else's rate will increase.

Everyone will be happy.

[TerryC]

Originally posted by cnsf
And a $2 fee for NY subs only and no one else's rate will increase.

On his chat, Charlie said it would be something like a 4 or 5 dollar increase to NY subs or $2 for all Dish Network subs.

But that's just Charlie. Who knows...?

[TNGTony]

"And a $2 fee for NY subs only and no one else's rate will increase.

Everyone will be happy."

Except for the 250,000-300,000 out of the 400,000 NY area Dish subs that don't give a rat's petootie about a new sports channel!!!!

See ya
Tony

[Geronimo]

I doubt that they will go to regional pricing. If they do I owe cnsf the bevegage of his choice. But heaven only knows what a frog likes to drink!

[cnsf]

Fly juice would be much appreciated Geronimo......if I lose it, you get a new feather for your headdress.....

Tony, I completely respect you for all the great work you do here, so please don't take this the wrong way.

The satellite market in NY for Dish consists of many Hispanic package customers, movie customers and those who wanted MSG to get the Yankees before the YES Network debacle. In NY, many subs are Yankees fans, many Mets fans (but most one or the other, not many neutrals). Also, those who are in the satellite market are usually inclined to watch at least some sports.

NYC and its area is heavily divided on Mets vs. Yankees, so to say up to 75% don't care, I think, is a little off-base. I think you'd find it different if you lived here.

I know of at least 6 others with Dish that can't afford to switch (out of 7 I know overall in my "friends" group), but wish they could for the sole reason of the YES Network. They also refuse to go back to Cablevision.

If you had solid stats, surveys, etc., I'd be happy to admit I am wrong, but living in the area, being in NYC every day, I see first hand the Yankees issue and how those with Dish are fuming.

I would expect carrying YES (via a fee for only NYC subs) and not increasing rates for non-NY DMA subs really shouldn't matter to anyone. I find many people just hate NYers (esp. Yankee fans) and would rather see them suffer, hence the sentiment.

[TNGTony]

This has nothing to do with "hating Yankee fans". There is no emotion in my position. It has to do with human nature. If some one in NY sees that they have to pay more for a package than some one in PA (even if they are Yankee fans) they are going to start jumping up and down and crying foul. Again, I am totally detatched from the sports side of it. I'm looking at dollars and cents here. I wish I had solid numbers, but I can bet that of the remaining Dish subs, half don't care about sports period. And half of those that do care, don't care enough to have their rates go up JUST to have YES. It's the very vocal minority of 25% or less of the people who want yes for Dish that we are hearing from.

The hold up between Dish and YES now is that YES wants Dish to guarantee a certain number of subs to YES. Dish can't do that. Dish's internal numbers don't jive with the number of guaranteed subscribers YES is demanding for carriage rights.

Again, all YES has to do is allow a la carte subscriptions to New Yorkers. They set the price. They keep all the revenew generated from the channel fee. But YES refuses to do that. The reason is that YES officials KNOW that there aren't enough people willing subscribe a la carte to generate the revenue that they want. Otherwise they would have done this last year and everyone would have been happy.

See ya
Tony

[cnsf]

Actually Tony, that's really good info. Do we know what Cablevision did to get YES in its a la carte lineup? The consumer cost is $1.95 per sub to get it.

[Ronmort]

Originally posted by TNGTony
"And a $2 fee for NY subs only and no one else's rate will increase.

Except for the 250,000-300,000 out of the 400,000 NY area Dish subs that don't give a rat's petootie about a new sports channel!!!!
____________________

And how many of those 250,000-300,000 did you personally interview? There were some subs who had the Yankees on MSG up to last year, and some of these subs may not be happy about losing the Yankees and not seeing them for another year. They may have sat out a year without YES, but, if you've been reading some posts on various forums, there are some people switching over to DTV this year. They just want their local professional teams like everyone else in the country. I wish I could purchase it a la carte, and I am not even a Yankee fan. I just like a variety of programming.

[Johny]

Yes I agree with you Ronmort. I am one of those people that have waited a year (and I'm still waiting). I am big Nets fan and Yankee fan. Don't forget that Net fans have been hurt by this as well.

I will probably wait until April 1st, if Dish does not have Yes by then...well then I must say goodbye to Dish Network.

[Bill D]

I also have a 721 and a lot invested in Dish but it sounds like maybe I can make out o.k. with a directv tivo switch, just don't like that it doesn't have a UHF remote

[Anthony]

Isn't it amazing that two of the major New York sports teams (Yankees, Nets) are taken off the air (Cablevision, Dish) and we continue to pay the same price. Add the two teams back and all of a sudden the price goes up. You gotta love the business of sports television.

[tampa8]

Originally posted by Anthony
Isn't it amazing that two of the major New York sports teams (Yankees, Nets) are taken off the air (Cablevision, Dish) and we continue to pay the same price. Add the two teams back and all of a sudden the price goes up. You gotta love the business of sports television.

Interesting point, but I wonder why? What I mean is, either the supplier didn't reduce its price to Cablevision and Dish, or they did reduce the price but Cablevision and Dish did not reduce their price. My bet is the cost of the supplier did not go down, in fact may be higher do to loss of ad revenue, so they did not reduce their cost. Related to this, last I heard NESN was still negotiating with Dish for a higher price. They however will be carrying many more Red Sox games (almost all of them) and I understand are working on carrying another sports team they do not currently carry, or carry more of another team they do. I would probably pay more for NESN based on this, but should every subscriber pay more? No. They can't receive the programming even if they wanted to. And there in is the problem for YES also. It has to be addressed before it gets out of hand. I don't want to give Charlie too much credit, but he really is taking a stand at the right time. Some type of a structure change has to take place regarding sports programming.

[Anthony]

tampa8,

You are right on the mark. Sports franchises can pretty much splinter off into any number of networks. It all depends on who owns who at the time. The more networks, the more you pay (if you want to keep watching the same teams). The more teams on one network, the less you pay. This is why the YES Network was created. Splinter off two major sports teams to create another network with the revenues not having to be split with other teams. YES (and every other franchise) would prefer to have their channel subsidized by all subscribers on the system. More revenue. With systems offering the channel ala carte, less revenue and a higher price. Since there is no end to the gross overcharging by sports in general, a systems only option should be that if you want to see your regional sports team, you will have to pay for it. All others can save their money. With national networks like ESPN, it is different. The economics of offering national programming ala cart just doesn't work. That is why ESPN (Disney) has us over a barrel and is disproportionately such a high percentage of the overall cost of a systems package.

[cnsf]

You two a right on the proverbial "money." If you're a fan, be ready to pay for it. Don't subject others to your local fees.

However, the comments about national pricing must be the priority. We don't watch every channel we get, yet we are paying for them. The line can be drawn at locals. If the sports teams want more subs, they need to do better (playoffs, big wins, etc.). Simple.

The problem is that we don't even have the locals a la carte option right now for individual channels like YES. Again, one could make a "package" argument.

[rolou21]

Hey thats why I switched last week to *D and said to myself I have had enough of cheap charlie.......bottom line if want Yes then go get a Hdvr2 and switch....you will never be sorry!!

[jeffwtux]

The reason the yankees and virtually no other team will agree to premium pricing anymore is that it would be the beginning of the end for the escalation of salaries, especially if DirecTV and Cablevision went along. The only reason these high salaries can survive is because they are circumventing the laws of supply and demand by bundling their costs in with all the other cheaper sports like college basketball and football. ESPN's NBA contract is by far the biggest outrage. Once people are given the choice to reject overprices sports contracts personally, revenue will plummet and salaries will finally follow. ESPN should never have been able to pass on the costs of that NBA contract which was rejected by NBC and the free market system.