Sports-related post - An Important Message for Fans with Dish Network

[bones boy]

From the Dallas Stars website - wonder if all Dish fans will no longer get many of their local NHL games in their own market. That stinks.

http://stars.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=502173

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An Important Message for Fans with Dish Network

If you’re a Dish Network customer in the Dallas and surrounding areas, unfortunately you will not receive all Stars telecasts aired on FOX Sports Southwest this season, including tonight’s game against Nashville. FOX Sports Southwest has increased its TV schedule this year to show an all-time high 61 Stars games in 2009-10. The additional games have been made available by the network to local cable and satellite system carriers. Most distributors have decided to carry all the games, but a few have not, including Dish Network. If you are one of their customers, you will miss the following games:

(snip)


FOX Sports Southwest is doing everything it can to get these games on Dish Network and has been in constant discussions with the distributor. It has made it a priority to make sure that all fans have access to every televised Stars game on the network. If you aren’t receiving all Stars telecasts, we encourage you to contact your local provider and demand that they carry the full-schedule of games on FOX Sports Southwest.

Dish Network Customer Service: 1-888-686-2388


If you would like more information, you can send an email to FOX Sports Southwest at viewerinfo@foxsports.net. We will continue to update you on the progress as FOX Sports Southwest works with to make every televised Stars game available to our fans.

[Stewart Vernon]

It doesn't say why these games will be missed.

Does Dish not carry the channel?

Is it an overlapping DMA blackout issue?

Is it too many simultaneous games that Dish doesn't have enough bandwidth?

Or what?

[phrelin]

All I know is a quick search in Google News gives results (http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1654589.html) that indicate some potential for problems: Fox Sports Southwest can now air two events at the same time, beginning Saturday with the Baylor-Kent State game on Fox Sports Plus (6 p.m.) while Dallas Stars vs. Nashville (7 p.m.) hockey will be shown on the regular channel.

The two-fer concept is similar to ESPN and ESPN2.

"Right now it’s just for events," a Fox Sports Southwest spokesperson said of the addition of Fox Sports Plus. "It’s not 24/7, but we’re working toward that. That’s our goal."Also, it's possible weasel-wording: The additional games have been made available [ for a fee] by the network to local cable and satellite system carriers. Most distributors have decided [to pay the extra fee] to carry all the games, but a few have not, including Dish Network. Who knows? Wouldn't it be nice if one could ask Dish. But the search also came up with this (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/hockey/stars/stories/101509dnspostarsdate.3ee1611.html): NHL fans have dealt with problems between DirecTV and Versus, and also between Comcast and the NHL Network. Now, Stars fans have to deal with a problem between Dish Network and Fox Sports Southwest. FSSW has taken on an additional 20 games this season and says that Dish does not want to pick those games up. Last night's game was blacked out for Dish's viewers and Friday's also will be.

Fox Sports representatives said negotiations are ongoing, and they hope to resolve the problem.

[James Long]

It certainly sounds like the "extra" channel is not going to be on DISH (for now). It could be bandwidth or fee related. Most channels want money ... sports channels seem to want money more than any other regular channel.

[Stewart Vernon]

Yeah, that sounds a lot like FOX is adding a 2nd channel and Dish hasn't picked up that channel... which means, yes you will miss games but last year you'd have missed them too because FOX didn't have the 2nd channel at all for overflow.

[RasputinAXP]

Yeah, that sounds a lot like FOX is adding a 2nd channel and Dish hasn't picked up that channel... which means, yes you will miss games but last year you'd have missed them too because FOX didn't have the 2nd channel at all for overflow.

I agree. If they're doing a Fox Sports+ like MSG network has MSG+ then they have to negotiate carriage just like any other channel.

[Albie]

Not sure what this is all about or even the claim that last nights game wouldn't be picked up. I am in Fox Sports Southwest territory here in New Orleans and I watched the better part of the third period of the Stars-Predators game (in HD no less) last night.

[spiketoo]

Coulda sworn I watched it on Dish Center Ice and it was the FSSW feed. Cuz I cant stand Crispy on the NSH feed.

[Michael P]

A similar thing happened years ago when FSN Ohio picked up nearly every Cleveland Indians game (iirc 155 games) when in the past a good portion of those games were on OTA TV. The first season E* carried all 155 games, the next season there was a special feed the FAN created for E* that blocked almost 1/2 of the games! The real kicker here was that no mention to the subs were made until we started noticing the missing games. They even blacked out WGN games (which was never done in the past) if the Indians happened to be the SOX's opponent and the FSN feed was not carried on E* (in the past even if the game was on FSNO via E* you still got to see the WGN feed as well).

This has since been worked out for the Indians (they started STO relieving FSN of having to carry the Indians) and E* does carry that channel - even before it was carried on some cable systems locally. But I will always remember that one season where you never knew if the game was on or not on.

[coldsteel]

It was only blacked out in the Dallas DMA. Same thing happening in ST Louis tonight.

[turbo_oasis]

Even though I am a D* customer, I can confirm that FS-Midwest has the same issue regarding St Louis Blues Hockey.

[sunfire9us]

hey guys this is just what happened with MLB two years ago only now hockey. Alot of the former local tv games are now being carried by the various FS channels ( its not concerning just one FS channel ) and because of the increase of hockey games being carried thats why they are wanting more money. Two years ago after FS MW increased its Cardinals coverage our cable company (Comcast) got into a big fight over the price increase because of this and it finally took them a little over a year to finally accept the price increase and get those games avail. Just hope it doesnt hold that long on you DishNet people. We DTV people have our own problem now when you talk hockey: Versus

[FTA Michael]

What happened with those Indians games, according to news reports, was that the original contract with Dish et al specified that the local FS channel would include at least X live games. In a following year, the FS channel gained the right to carry an extra Y games, so it wanted to renegotiate for the full (X+Y) set of games. When Dish presumably balked at paying more, the FS channel still had to deliver the package of X games but was free to substitute canned programming in place of the Y games.

Sure matches all the reports we're hearing about the Stars.

[sunfire9us]

Yes thats what happened before Comcast gave in and paid the extra amount for the additional games FS MW started carrying. When FS MW was showing the extra Cardinals games, they would play some canned programming crap in its place till the dispute was resolved.

[gretschdrum]

It was only blacked out in the Dallas DMA. Same thing happening in ST Louis tonight.

So, these carriage disputes for the Stars and Blues only applies to the St. Louis and Dallas markets, right? In other words, Dish Network Center Ice subscribers around the rest of the country should be able to get the St. Louis and Dallas FSN feeds. Is that right?

[STL FAN]

So once again, Dish screwing up royally. I am done with them. They are not showing the extra 35 games Fox Sports Midwest picked up after leaving channel 11. Every other provider did pick them up, not sure why Dish is balking, but this it!!! I'M LEAVING DISH AFTER 8 YEARS!!! Thank you my building I live in for finally getting us the option for Directv!!!!

Any other Blues fans really gonna make the switch with me???

[SayWhat?]

Got no use for Wrestling on Ice.

[Ira Lacher]

Just don't scream about losing Versus . . .

[coldsteel]

So, do you want to pick up the multi-million dollar extortion/tab for those games...?

[Paul Secic]

So once again, Dish screwing up royally. I am done with them. They are not showing the extra 35 games Fox Sports Midwest picked up after leaving channel 11. Every other provider did pick them up, not sure why Dish is balking, but this it!!! I'M LEAVING DISH AFTER 8 YEARS!!! Thank you my building I live in for finally getting us the option for Directv!!!!

Any other Blues fans really gonna make the switch with me???

Directv doesn't have VS. Dish has it. Where do go? Cable? Good luck with that!

[STL FAN]

I can live without VS. but if you take away your home teams games on your home teams RSN you're looking for trouble. I'm guessing that Directv, Charter or UVerses rates will not be going up because of this deal Fox struck with them. Charlie will never get it, but as a sports fan I should have never been with Dish in the 1st place. Glad to move on...

[jazzyd971fm]

I can live without VS. but if you take away your home teams games on your home teams RSN you're looking for trouble.

+1 Same here. Here's the Foxsports link to the story.http://msn.foxsports.com/id/10224394

[GrumpyBear]

Well,
Actually, they haven't taken any games away. Dish and unnamed others, didn't pay to add more games. Dish is still carrying ALL the games covered under the current agreement, they haven't taken away a single game.

[lparsons21]

You are absolutely correct. In this, Fox Sports did this in a manner to try to force the added games at added cost at a very opportune time.

As a non-watcher of hockey, I don't want them paying a bunch of money and then raising my bill.

Now if you all that are so upset over this were to go to Dish and offer to pay more to get the EXTRA games that were not there before, I would support that.

[coldsteel]

Now if you all that are so upset over this were to go to Dish and offer to pay more to get the EXTRA games that were not there before, I would support that.

+1

[Michael P]

What happened with those Indians games, according to news reports, was that the original contract with Dish et al specified that the local FS channel would include at least X live games. In a following year, the FS channel gained the right to carry an extra Y games, so it wanted to renegotiate for the full (X+Y) set of games. When Dish presumably balked at paying more, the FS channel still had to deliver the package of X games but was free to substitute canned programming in place of the Y games.

Sure matches all the reports we're hearing about the Stars.
The kicker here is the first year of "X + Y" games were carried on E*. FSN-O had much fanfare about the 155 games carried. It was the following year, with no communication from either E* or FSN-O, that the "Y" games were dropped on E*. So a precedent was set that first year but it did not matter once FSN-O wanted E* to pony-up for the "extra" games. BTW: It wasn't just E* subs who got screwed by this deal, OTA-only viewers also lost out big time. (BTW: The "Y" games, at the time amounted to 70 games, almost 50% of the broadcast schedule)

Now that we have STO, OTA has returned on a smaller scale. There are now ~20 games a season carried on WKYC and an ad-hoc network of local stations in the Indians market area. These OTA games are simulcast on STO too boot!

[Slamminc11]

I can live without VS. but if you take away your home teams games on your home teams RSN you're looking for trouble. I'm guessing that Directv, Charter or UVerses rates will not be going up because of this deal Fox struck with them. Charlie will never get it, but as a sports fan I should have never been with Dish in the 1st place. Glad to move on...

It would be really helpful if you actually paid attention to what is going on and what is happening.
I guess you think it is okay to, in the middle of a contract with an agreed upon price and agreed upon carrage agreement, change that agreement and to now charge more to carry the extra games?
Go if you want, but Charlie is only living up to the agreement that both companies signed and agreed to.

[STL FAN]

It would be really helpful if you actually paid attention to what is going on and what is happening.
I guess you think it is okay to, in the middle of a contract with an agreed upon price and agreed upon carrage agreement, change that agreement and to now charge more to carry the extra games?
Go if you want, but Charlie is only living up to the agreement that both companies signed and agreed to.

Well, not entirely true. This is a new contract for the Blues and Fox. They are going without an over the air carrier, so it meant a new deal for Fox. All I'm sayin is all the other carriers picked it up with no hassle, of course Dish has to be the maverick...I dont think anyone will see their bills go up at DTV, Charter or Uverse because of 30 extra local hockey games.

[GrumpyBear]

Well, not entirely true. This is a new contract for the Blues and Fox. They are going without an over the air carrier, so it meant a new deal for Fox. All I'm sayin is all the other carriers picked it up with no hassle, of course Dish has to be the maverick...I dont think anyone will see their bills go up at DTV, Charter or Uverse because of 30 extra local hockey games.

You are correct, DTV, Charter, or Uverse will not see a price increase over this anytime soon, they will have a price increase like always beginning of next year. Dish is still carrying and meeting thier part of the agreement.
Lucky for DTV, Charter, and Uverse users, they already pay more, to help buffer for these kind of issues. To bad they have to spend all that money on this kind of crap by different carriers, instead of being able to spend the money and upgrading thier CRAPPY DVR's.

[Stewart Vernon]

Duplicate threads merged...

[grooves12]

In case you haven't noticed, just about ALL of them have yearly rate hikes... usually at higher percentages than Dish. Why do you think they have those yearly hikes?? Sure, they are not gonna raise the cost immediately, but the increased rates will be factored into their annual rate hikes.

[coldsteel]

Well, not entirely true. This is a new contract for the Blues and Fox. They are going without an over the air carrier, so it meant a new deal for Fox. All I'm sayin is all the other carriers picked it up with no hassle, of course Dish has to be the maverick...I dont think anyone will see their bills go up at DTV, Charter or Uverse because of 30 extra local hockey games.

The Blues already had a contract with channel 11, KPLR, and chose to pull it in favor of Fox Sports. At least, that's what the article in the ST LOuis Post-Dispatch said.