[John Corn]

..........FINALLY

Media giant Walt Disney Co. said Thursday it has settled a legal dispute with No. 2 satellite broadcaster EchoStar Communications Corp. that will see EchoStar keep Disney's ABC Family channel on the air and restore ESPN Classic by mid-April.

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[Steve Mehs]

In the words of Blur from Song 2, Woooohooooo!!!

 

[MarkA]

FINALLY! But of course, we all knew this would happen. There's no way it couldn't. It's just sad that we're dealing with a cruddy company like Echostar that uses it's customers as pawns (by taking away our ESPN Classic). I really hate Echostar. The DISHPlayer, the bad customer service, the hold times, the acknowledgement that the DISHPlayer is a problem and the refusal to fix it, the low-resolution picture (and there's NO reason they couldn't broadcast 720x480. Heck, I'd be happy with 640x480. Just something to make it less blurry). Everything about Echostar is bad.

 

[HARVEYSTERN]

mark we must be talking about two different co. i think dishnetwork is fantastic,i cannot say a bad think about this co. harv

 

[MarkA]

You obvious don't own a DISHPlayer And I'm willing to bet you haven't watched DirecTV either...

 

[Chris Blount]

Originally posted by Mark
Everything about Echostar is bad.

Oh come on Mark. Not EVERYTHING about Echostar is bad. There are some good things going on over there. You may not agree with everything but it's unfair to make a blanket statement like that.

 

[MarkA]

Chris, I too use to think that. Unfortunately with the current situation, I'm pretty sure EVERYTHING about Echostar is bad. Okay, the DISHPlayer has a nice remote Oh wait, the receiver is slow to respond to it's commands. Oh well, Echostar is cheap. Wait a minute - with the recent price increase they really aren't any cheaper than DirecTV (even in a Pegasus area!). Yup, everything about Echostar is bad. I just think Pegasus or AT&T would be worse...

 

[Mark Holtz]

Originally posted by Mark
FINALLY! But of course, we all knew this would happen. There's no way it couldn't. It's just sad that we're dealing with a cruddy company like Echostar that uses it's customers as pawns (by taking away our ESPN Classic).

Errr.... ahhh... I disagree. ABC/Disney, Dish Network, DirecTV, and any other MSO treats their customer base as helpless pawns.

The removal of ESPN classic was due to end of contract, and the fees being charged to Dish for carriage was too high. ABC Family was going to be dropped because of change of ownership clause, and, in order to pay for that channel's acquisition, ABC/Disney was going to increase the per-subscriber cost.

And, as for YES, Dish was willing to carry it a la carte, but the Yankees said no, insisting on a basic package. Dish said that the cost would be too high, and said no.

Consumers are stuck in the middle, since by virtue of the programming contracts, we get stuck with channels that we really don't watch.

 

[Karl Foster]

My beef with deleting stations, is that there may be customers who really want those stations. If they delete stations, there should be a corresponding rate decrease. For example, if ESPN Classic was costing $.85 per customer, then rates should decrease by that much per customer. There should also be an out for customers who fall into this category. When a customer signs on the bottom line for a package for a year, then the provider needs to provide that package for the full year. It is almost a breach of contract by the provider.

While I understand that E* is a business and must take care of their shareholders, and the bottom line, they must also be fair to their customers.

 

[RichW]

karl_f,

I will agree with you that having to drop an existing channel is a bad thing. But DirecTV has done this in the past with even less concern for the subcribers. And you should know by now that your residential subscriber agreement gives DBS providers the right to change the lineup and/or the price at any time. If you think that DirecTV is any better, consider this:

In the Portland DMA, DirecTV is unable to provide the CBS affiliate. They still charge for the LIL package, In the case where DISH has not served all four networks in an LIL due to a lack of retransmission agreement, the folks in that DMA got the rest of teh locals for free. Don't you think Dish treated the consumer better in these cases?

Many DirecTV subscribers have been clamoring for superstations. Under SHVIA, DirecTV could have provided them with negotiating for carriage but chose not to. Don't you agree that Dish went the extra mile for subs who wanted superstations. Likewise, Dish provides distant nets from six cities instead of two. Are not comsumers who want those cities better served by Dish than by DirecTV?

Its getting fashionable to pile on E* for its faults. It certainly can do better. But i also believe that Charlie has a better vision for DBS than GM ever had. Thus I am confdent that even better things are in store for the future.

 

[Karl Foster]

I don't mean to pile on to E*. They are very, very popular in our area outnumbering D* by my best estimate 5 - 1, so they must be doing something right.

I will admit that I am not the right person to talk to about local station issues. I have locals on my D* system, including two PBS stations and several independent stations, so I haven't studied up on it that much.

I still believe that whenever a provider drops a channel for whatever reason, they need to pass that savings on to the consumer - no matter how small. That is the main reason I left AT&T cable. They dropped several stations that we really liked, and raised rates at the same time. Not a good way to do business.

I believe both companies can learn from each other, and if the merger goes through (I'm opposed, but that's a topic for another day) I hope they best elements from both companies are incorporated.

Thanks for the friendly debate.

 

[RichW]

"Thanks for the friendly debate."

And thank you too. My comments actually were geared more toward posts like "Everything about Echostar is bad!". I really don't have any emotional ties to my provider. It is just that they have treated me very very well. (And yes, I HAVE a Dishplayer that generally works much to my satisfaction).

I would be for the merger even if it was teh DirecTV management gobbling up E*. Eventually there WILL be a merger, even if this one doesn't go through right now. In a merger, I would like to see Charlie's vision prevail, with plans executed by a great management team from GMH.

Some folks don't want a merger becasue they will lose the ability to play one DBS provider against the other. I think this attitude as not so much as selfishness, but as lacking imaginmation as to what can be done.

Over thirty years ago I was involved in develping the first cellular phone system. It was a daunting task, not only because of the new technology but also because we had to find frequency spectrum and battle other interests for the space. Many of our opponents, NAB included, argues that cell phones would simply be a toy for the idle rich. Boy, were these guys wrong!!!!

A merger can, with the right vision, make DBS an even more interesting and exciting service. I am optimistic that the right synergies will be there with this merger.

 

[Brian Rector]

IMHO, something has to happen at DBS very soon. If it comes to the point where both DirecTV and Dish still be competitors, DBS will not survive in 10 years. The merger is a must if you want to see DBS even be around.

 

[RichW]

"I still believe that whenever a provider drops a channel for whatever reason, they need to pass that savings on to the consumer - no matter how small."

So do you also feel that a provider should pass every little increase in price on ot the consumer as well? I really think that such a policy would be impractical and actualy raise rates. Any change in billing, up or dow, will cause thousands of calls to customer service. Better to price a package with enough margin to absorb small increases.

Also remember that while Dish deleted ESPN Classics, they added Much Music. So in my case, at least (AT150 subscriber) I am still getting the same number of channels. Now we will get ESPN Classics back too, so Charlie's hardball tactics were really a win for us too.