Scott, When do You Feel the Pressure

[gpflepsen]

T minus three days and counting for ESPN HD and no sign of an announcment yet even though a group of cable MSO's have come forward.

Not to put any pressure on you, but tick, tick, tick...:D

[Mark Lamutt]

We're at the mercy of Dish Network, just like everyone else in this one. We should get word before an official announcement comes (at least that's the way it's worked in the past), but we may not.

From everything that we've been told by sources at Dish and at ESPN, ESPN-HD will be on Dish starting Sunday. But, it is possible that it won't happen immediately. We'll pass along everything we can when we know it.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nope its NOT coming to Dish. I got this from a very good source. :(

[Soycrema]

we are now at less than 3 days from launch and still no word from ESPN or Dish Network ?????? this is really pathetic!!

[James_F]

Originally posted by Soycrema
we are now at less than 3 days from launch and still no word from ESPN or Dish Network ?????? this is really pathetic!!

Look at the post above yours....

[Soycrema]

yes it seems that Scott and I posted at the same time, when i posted my threat his was not there yet

[Scott Greczkowski]

I posted this in the other thread, and I feel I need to post it here as well. I feel really bad. I am probably more shocked then you guys are. :(

I must admit this news has REALLY surprised me. And I must say that I am disappointed with the news.

I have been working on this for weeks now, and have received lots of confirmation from both Dish and ESPN employees that ESPN-HD on Dish was a lock. I have been working closely with AVSforum's Ken H on this and his information was matching my information EXACTLY. Also other staff of DBSTalk has been receiving the same confirmed information.

I really don't know what to say besides I am sorry and I am disappointed.

We here at DBSTalk.COM have worked hard to earn your trust, and the information about ESPN-HD coming in was so great and all the information matched that we felt this was a lock.

On behalf of everyone at DBSTalk.COM I again offer my personal apology to everyone.

[Cyclone]

Scott,

What are the contact emails and phone numbers for Dish?

I think that they are

ceo@echostar.com
1-800-333-3474

Are there anymore? I'm thinking of putting them in my signatures?

[Scott Greczkowski]

Those would be the best ones. I know some private ones but I will not post ones that are not meant for public knowledge.

Although the more I am "unofficially" finding out about what went wrong I am thinking more that perhaps the number that should be posted is Disney's / ESPN's

[Cyclone]

Huh that is interesting.

Maybe you can tell in via spoiler mode? What did ESPN raise the rates at the last minute? Did they try and include a bunch of lame channels at unheard of rates?


I wonder what could have gone wrong.

Cyclone

[Mark Lamutt]

Cyclone, from what I hear from sources, the breakdown had more to do with the first one in your list than the second one.

The fact is that ESPN has made a huge investment in the HD channel, and they probably do need a way to recoup some of that investment. There's a balance there that needs to be reached between them and their providers. That balance hasn't been reached yet with Dish or Directv. At some point it will be, but it's not there yet.

[RAD]

Scott, can you please change your animated GIF for the win an 8PSK module to remove the about all the new HDTV channels coming soon to Dish? I feel like a real putz since I told a friend to go out and buy the 8PSK since you were saying that ESPN-HD was a lock. So what's the outlook for any other channels, such as HD-Net or is that in the dumpster too?

[Cyclone]

8PSK is good for NBA-TV HD games. And of course DiscHD

[RAD]

Originally posted by Cyclone
8PSK is good for NBA-TV HD games. And of course DiscHD

Yep, but I don't think that it should say 'Coming Soon' and list channels such as ESPN-HD and HDNet, along with others, until the word is officially out from Dish.

[Mike123abc]

If they wanted to charge lots of $$ for ESPN-HD I can see why Dish and Direct are going to avoid it for the moment. ESPN already charges a lot for their non HDTV channels. Paying a lot the second time for the same content is a bit much.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Rad, I don't have anything to do with those gifs, so I can't change them.

Besides ESPN-HD IS (and I repeat IS) coming to both Dish Network and DirecTV. The real question is now when.

There is more to this story so stay tuned. :)

[gpflepsen]

Boy, I was hoping my post was funny, now it's tragic.

Nothing personal though :)

[bills976]

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski

There is more to this story so stay tuned. :)

You love to dangle carrots in front of hungry horses, don't you Scott? :D

[JohnH]

Even Comcast Cable said they would not carry the channel if they had to pay extra for it. It iwll be interesting to see who does carry it.

As usual, there is nothing new at DISH Network or DirecTV without an announcement, which sometimes comes after the fact and rarely comes before the fact.

Funny(wierd) how channels get uplinked and sit there for over a year and go away and they still are not carried years later. :)

Yeah bills976, carrots from different sources at different times.

DISH Network recently beat DirecTV in informing their customers about new channels. The ESPN alternates which were added specifically for regional coverage of the Women's NCAA Tournament Rounds 1 and 2 were quite visable on DISH Network close to the ESPN and ESPN2 channels. DirecTV decided to make the Full Court channels. which are not close to the ESPN and ESPN2 channels, dual purpose, which was nice except no one new they could get their regional game in its entirety on the Full Court channel without subscribing to Full Court. At least, I never heard anyone say they new about this before an email was received from ESPN on the final day of the 2nd round.

[dfergie]

Im just glad to be getting what ive got now, cbs, dischd, hbo , shotime, folks be patient, I had c band when it was in the clear, nfl etc. then when they scrambled, vc2. things will work out, it sucks until then, but they will.

[dfergie]

I had everything before they scrambled, hbo, sho, spotlite, max, etc, on c band , things will come togather

 

[jeffwtux]

I want the email address to ESPN/Disney. Tell them to stop trying to make us pay for their NBA contract that the market clearly doesn't justify. I'm sure they are trying to get a little extra something to cover their losses from the NBA flop. ESPN is the villain here, no doubt. THEY SHOULD BE FORCED TO DISCLOSE NBA LOSSES AND SUCK THEM UP. YES, EVERY PROBLEM WITH ESPN/DISNEY WILL BE A RESULT OF THE NBA DEAL.

[jeffwtux]

Mike, it's the NBA contract. NBC LOST big time money on the last contract, and yet Disney/AOL offered more. Who's going to make up the difference??? Not advertisers, there are better deals than this. The only people who would pay for this are people who have no choice, subscribers who must take the NBA contract if they want the NFL, NHL, MLB, College football, and College basketball.

[Cheyenne]

Think we all need to cut Scott a break here. He simply passed on information delivered to him. Those of you that went out and spent money on hardware on the assumption of ESPN-HD launching on Dish this weekend..... well.... don't blame Scott.
E* and D* will make announcement upon launch. YNK.

[jeffwtux]

I've got no beef with Scott or Charlie. My beef is with ESPN/Disney. They are circumventing the free-market supply and demand by forcing the NBA deal onto cable/dbs subscribers.