[Scott Greczkowski]

Dish Subs Could Lose Fox Locals
By Monica Hogan
Courtesy of Multichannel News

EchoStar Communications Corp. CEO Charlie Ergen warned subscribers Monday night that some of them could lose access to their local Fox broadcast signals via satellite if the direct-broadcast satellite company fails to sign new contracts with Fox Broadcasting Co. over retransmission consent for its owned-and-operated stations in markets where Dish Network offers local-into-local coverage.

During an on-air 'Charlie Chat' with subscribers Monday, Ergen said he was hopeful that the companies would reach an agreement before the current contract expires June 30. If not, Dish would continue to offer local broadcast packages without the local Fox feeds, discounting the package to subscribers by $1 per month.

To read the rest check out http://www.tvinsite.com/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=90079&display=breakingNews

 

[Mark Holtz]

Remember, Charlie emphasized could and noted that it only affected Fox Owned & Operated Stations.

The last time around (in December), Charlie said that some Fox sports channels may be going off-air along with ABC Family and ESPN Classic as of December 31st. What happened next?

* An agreement was reached, so no Fox Sports were lost (although some still want Dish to carry Fox Sports West 2, which is currently missing), however, the alternate channels were temporarily reduced from four to three. Within the past month, the fourth alternate channel has returned to the lineup.
* The contract with ESPN Classic expired, and the channel went off-air on December 31st. It was originally signed with Classic Sports Network, but ESPN bought them out. Dish/ABC-Disney were not able to reach an agreement at the time.... but see ABC Family.
* ABC Family (which had just changed ownership from Fox Family), was also slated to be dropped on December 31st, however a last minute injunction prevented the channels removal. The injunction was extended several times, and ABC Family and Dish made up. As a result, a long-term carriage agreement was signed, and ABC Family stayed on Dish, and ESPN Classic returned to Dish in April.

 

[John Corn]

I feel those comments Charlie made were nothing more than public negoiations.

 

[Guest]

Charlie better hope to hell they fulfill negotatiations successfully. While this "only" affects Fox O&O stations, look at the HUGE markets it could affect: L.A., N.Y., Philly, Atlanta, Denver, Boston, Dallas, Cleveland, Chicago, K.C., Houston, Detroit, D.C., St. Louis, Tampa and Phoenix - that's hardly worth an "only these cities would be affected. That's likely 90% of the Fox market for Dish local subs. Kind of a big deal if negotiations don't pull through.

 

[Maniacal1]

If no agreement is reached, this will become a big story in the Boston market. The Fox affiliate here carries the Boston Red Sox over-the-air games.

When our local cable company couldn't reach agreement with Fox25 for carriage, 4,000 people showed up at the town hall (in a town of 22,000) to demand the cable operators' heads on a platter. That's when a lot of satellite antennas suddenly went up.

 

[invaliduser88]

You mean that I will have to use the digital offair signal that has better picture quality instead of the DBS signal for my Fox local....wait a minute....I already do!
:rolling:

 

[Kevin]

That would really suck if they took everyone's Fox away! I hope Echostar and Fox Broadcasting can put something together quick!

 

[Chris Freeland]

I suspect if E* and NewsCorp do not come to an agreement by the deadline, there will be a temporary extension untill a deal is reached, this is too important for both parties involved.

 

[Nick]

Posted by invaliduser88...

You mean that I will have to use the digital offair signal that has better picture quality instead of the DBS signal for my Fox local....wait a minute....I already do!

Well said!

 

[Karl Foster]

Why is it that E* always seems to put off negotiations until the last possible second? Was it a surprise that this contract was coming due?