October Chat?

[pbrown]

Is Charlie going to have his monthly merge-a-thon this month? Figured someone would have posted a date by now.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Does anyone care is the question.... :)

I think there is a chat on Monday night. I bet if its a Charlie Chat that Charlie won't be there.

[Geronimo]

Maybe he could do it from DC? He could use the studio here at the reservation if he wants.

[Darkman]

Retailer Charlie chat is soon too
i think on 17th as was mentioned by someone before..

But the Chat's page is not updated still :)

[Unthinkable]

TechTV had an ad for the next Charlie Chat yesterday which showed Oct 14th as the date. Same time and same channel as before.

[Rick_EE]

That would make sense.  Gov't people don't work on Columbus day.

[Doug E]

Yep, Charlie Chat on Oct 14 at 9pm EDT according to the Dishnetwork website that I just visited.

[bryan27]

Well, after today's FCC decision I would say that the Chat is a must see. We should make a drinking game out of it. Everytime Chucky says "Blame..." it can be anyone as he blames everyone but himself, lets drink a shot. Or we can all drink a shot when he says "We would have done it if we got the merger". I have to agree with Scott now. Charlie isn't going to show up for this chat.

[Mark Holtz]

For all those who say that the merger is dead--think again.

There is now a 30 day window in which an ammended deal can be filed. No doubt Tuesday's Charlie's Chat will be a rally the troops.

[Ronmort]

The merger is dead. A 4-0 vote is an indication of how one-sided the decision was. Plus the DOJ is probably also in agreement. The concessions to overturn that vote would have to be so great that the merger wouldn't be worth the paper it would be written on. Ergen will probably give it a try but to fight beyond that point in the courts would be ridculous. It's probably already a no-win situation.

[Bob Haller]

Nex cghat will be how the merger will be GOOD for competition! Deal will be like Lazarus, resurrected from the dead...

[jericho]

Again, I ask why the FCC was so adamant about not approving this deal because of anti-competition reasons, when they are all for cable anti-competition?

[Scott Greczkowski]

The main thing I read from the 4 voters at the FCC was that they were mad at Echostar for ignoring the FCC in regards to requiring 2 dishes to recieve locals.

This came back to bite Charlie on the butt HARD.

[Mark Holtz]

I am not surprised on this issue. When the two-dish plan was rumored in December, 2001, I raised an eyebrow, but it wasn't surprising. We knew that E* had significant delays in launching E*7 and E*8. (So did DirecTV, and they almost didn't make it.) It was our understanding at the time that this was a temporary solution, and that Dish would move all of the stations to 110/119 once E*7 and E*8 was launched, negating the need for a second dish. This is especially important considering the costs of the switches and the second dish. (Some of us needed a SW64-a $150 switch).

Now, Echostar's tune seems to be that second dish will be a permament part of the landscape. The spotbeam satellites were designed with the hope that the must-carry rules would be overturned... yet another sore point.

[Geronimo]

i don't think Echostar EVER said the locals at 61.5 were temporary. Everyone assumed this but I don't believe they ever said it.

[Mike123abc]

E* has figured out that very few people will order the extra dish. For example the NY DMA has 8 channels on the wings. This is enough for an entire market to be added. They know the cost of people ordering the second dish will be way below the $6/month they will get from all the people served by the added DMA.

I think it is the FCC/NAB being rediculous here. By wanting to have some barker channels carried on the main satellites they would deny an entire markets LIL. I think what E* is doing is good for the satellite business in general, they will provide a free upgrade to recieve these channels if you really want them, and they provide LIL to markets that would not have them.

I know many will take advantage to get the second sat installed to get international and HDTV. This is the cost of doing business for E*, they will lose some doing all these second dish installs, but they gain whole markets for LIL.

I know the free dish was the compromise made with the FCC (E* wanted to charge for it). This is also correct on the part of the FCC, must carry is must carry. Forcing E* to carry all channels on the main is as bad as forcing customers to pay more for some channels. This is really a good deal now for both the FCC and E*, both sides have problems with it, but both really get benefits too.

[Geronimo]

I don' think they ever wanted to charge for the second dish. They dida t aone point ask you to name the channel number or call letters of a station on the side satellite to get it and they did not promote the free second dish.


Then came a very confusing mass mailing and eventually the on screen notices about a second dish.

[oblio98]

I think the FCC decision came down to one thing - Murdoch, the NAB and the Cable Industry had the more powerful lobby group. VERY VERY powerful.

Too much for Charlie!

A monster satellite company would hurt the poor cable monopolies!

[James_F]

No a monster satellite company hurts the consumers. That is why the merger was rejected. Don't try and pin this on New Corp. They have less friends than Dish does.

[bennej]

No merger= no more bandwidth, who wants to bet tonight that they now offer x number of foreign channels. If they cry we have no room then stop adding foreign channels that probably 3% actually subscribe to. I feel E* needs to get their dam priorties straight!

[Mike123abc]

Dish does not add channels that they think no one would want (except for the required public interest ones that they pick the ones that they think are most popular). When they add a foreign channel it is like adding another HBO. They charge a lot for these channels. $5-$20 bucks a month for a single channel (no 10 channels like the movie packages).

They have their priorities strait... Making money and taking it strait to the bank.

[mnassour]

Originally posted by Rick Densing
That would make sense.  Gov't people don't work on Columbus day.

It's pretty obvious you don't know everything about government!:eek:

Mike Nassour
an employee of the Great State of Texas
(on lunch break!:))

[Lyle_JP]

Foreign channels are a cash cow. They cost little to carry and Dish charges an arm and a leg for them. Imigrants looking for a taste of home will gladly shell out $25 per channel, and it doesn't take many of them to make the channel pay for itself.

-Lyle J.P.