Dish drops ABC Family/ESPN Classic - Who Cares?

There seems to be a whole lot of people that are really upset that Dish is dropping ABC Family, Espn Classic and some of the Fox Sports nets. What I want to know is did you actually spend time watching those channels (Fox Family obviously)? I've had Dish for almost a year now, and I don't think that I've ever tuned those channels in. For me, they rank just above the shopping channels on my list of important channels.

So, did you actually watch them, or are you jumping on the E* bashing bandwagon for the fun of it?

Believe it or not, I actually care. But I am one of the few who would pay a higher price for more channels if necessary and they were offered.

To Charlie's credit, he has always sought the best carriage terms for E* subs, even if it meant not carrying the channel for a while.

Think of it this way. The worst thing Charlie could do if the merger goes through is to not care anymore what the channels charge and just pass the increase on to subscribers. Then he would be just like cable.

I really believe that E* desires to get the best possible value for its subscribers. Those shooping channels we all whine about helps keep the cost down.

I used to very rarely watch "Home Run Derby" in Classic Sports, but I don't think I have watched anything there since the ESPN takeover. I can't say that I ever watch the family channel. I don't watch the regional sports channels. Overall, this has no effect on me at all.

By the way, Charlie has wanted to drop "___Fill In the Blank___ Family Channel" for quite some time and expressed this ages ago on a dealer chat. He basically stated that it was no longer the channel that he originally signed contracts for and that the content and ratings were no longer even close to what they were pre Fox.

Dont count these channels dead yet. Charlie is working on a deal with ESPN Classics and the RSNs and the ABC Fam lawsuite could force E* to carry them.

Steve

The most important channel on the satellite dish for me is my Regional Sports Network. I feel if Dish happens to drop a few of the RSN's, thousands will discontinue service with Dish. With my multi-sports package I get 3 non-blacked out channels. If they let go some of the RSN's I will lose 2 of the 3. I WILL LEAVE DISH NETWORK!! I personally can't believe anyone could ask if anyone watches these RSN's... they have to be among the most watched channels on the Dish.

I have to harken back to when I got Dish Network. At the time my RSN was not offered (Sports Channel Cincinnati--later Fox Sports Ohio 2), ESPN Classic had not been added yet and The Family Channel was still owned by CBN and I actually watched it.

Fox Sports Cincinnati was added and I watch it for an occasional Reds game. (I lived without it for 2 years, I could live without it again--fortunately, the same thing that kept it from getting added in the first place is keeping it on. FSO is not on the chopping block.)
I have watched exactly 3 hours of ESPN Classic (Reds/Red Sox 75 world series game 6--For some reason I've HATED Eastwick since.) I can live without it.

Fox Family ran the channel into the ground! Unfortunately it looks like ABC might actually do something with it though. Will I miss it. No. At least not yet! :-)

See ya
Tony

I occasionally watch Family channel, but never ESPN Classics. I do watch my RSN frequently. But I'm more concerned about these possible changes because of what it may mean with other channels in the future.

I can assure you that I'm not jumping on any bandwagons....then again I've noticed that beyond the firewalled WebTV groups that one must absolutely positively be on a "side" when it comes to E*.

I'm not and never have been on a side let alone jumped on any bandwagons.

Yes I watch the channels although admittedly I watch ESPN Classic considerably more. Honestly it doesn't matter what a small group of vocal individuals watches, what is important is the validity of the reasons we've been given and the REAL numbers.

The Family Channel is tied for thirteenth in viewership according to the last numbers I saw. Viewership is clearly there regardless of what Chuck has stated publicly.

Believe it or not I do agree that companies should not be increasing rates as sharply as we have seen with ESPN. That being said ESPN Classic is a great channel, is unique in that there is nothing else like it, and will be a great loss.

Rather than question who may actually watch one of the two channels how about we start asking why lesser viewed channels aren't dumped...like maybe a couple of the shopping channels, Hallmark, Oxygen etc. I'm sure we could create a whole list of crap channels that could be axed to keep two good ones all while making room, saving bandwidth, and lowering costs 8-)

Regardless of how you or anyone else feels about these particular two channels it sets a bad precedent. We lose good channels for bogus reasons and we see the addition of channels that aren't of the same quality or the addition of locals which really doesn't matter to anyone outside that particular area. J

One of the things I HATED abut cable was their habit of REMOVING channels. I dont like to see E start down that road......

Lost channels = lost subs.

don't care.

I don't watch the RSN or ESPN Classics and watched a Pen & Teller once on Fox Family. I can appreciate Charlie not rolling over price wise, but I suspect that he'll find AOL/Time Warner , Comcast all wanting to charge him a ton of money so they can sell there local cable systems to subs. And Fox is just Rupert being PO'd at him, so I don't expect it to get any better, especially if congress/FCC doesn't renew the must sell to DBS law that says programmer owners/cable systems must offer programs to a satellite provider.
And I'm still waiting for my fulltime IFC!!
-Rych

There was an interesting comment as of late at one of the cable sites discussing DirectTV's habit of paying 20 cents for a 5 cent channel simply to keep the channel off of cable. Whether that's true or not I don't know as until recently, or whenever someone would raise rates, I didn't care about what they were charged.

Sure the Ergen/Murdoch tiff is at the core of the Fox Sports package issue. At least Chuck was semihonest about that. He was also semihonest about the price increases for ESPN channels although it seems to me that he was looking for a reason and a sacrificial lamb so to speak to show them he meant business. The killing of ABC Family simply makes no sense considering its viewership.

What really should be regulated, and others may disagree, is the charges that companies can charge various companies. ABC shouldn't be providing ESPN to Galaxy Cable for more than they are charging Comcast. They should be charged the same.

The bottom line here is that satellite has appealed to people because of the number of channels, but more importantly the VARIETY of channels as opposed to cable in the past. Individual losses of channels may not cause subscribers to look elsewhere. COLLECTIVELY such losses will start to affect the consumer and it will show itself by people dumping their subscriptions and looking elsewhere for their wants to be met. J

I could care less about ABC Family, but ESPN Classics has quite a few nice programs. I REALLY hope Dish gets a last minute deal for ESPN Classics.

Keep ESPN Classics and every Fox RSN. I am one who does not care about ABC Family, but I still want it on for those that do like that channel.