Any news on the Turner channels?

[Peter Parker]

Thanks Scott for the news.

 

[AppliedAggression]

^^^ I agree. Dish needs CNN, and CNN needs Dish. Both will just have to back down a little from their demands.

 

[Peter Parker]

You can rationalize all you want but if DISH ever did losr the Turner channels and VIacom all at once it would be BAD thing.

 

[aperry]

I don't think that we would be without either (if they did go dark) for very long...

 

[ScottChez]

Dish Stock would crash if they lost both, the investers would not be very understanding.

 

[TheForce]

ScottChez- Great opportunity to buy in.

 

[James Long]

Charlie may have fudged those charts and graphs a little bit,

Thanks for recognizing that fact. No scale = no reference = limited real value.

Anybody who loves GWB watches FoxNews(GOPTV). Anybody who hates GWB watches MSNBC. CNN usually just takes the high road, BORING!!

E! and VH1 are thataway.

Time Warner wants Dish customers to pay for Time Warner Cable's price hike. That's what's going on here. It's a vertical monopoly at work.

They ask because they hope to recieve. It all depends on who feels they are over a barrel, and who blinks.

What happens when TW channels are pulled:
TW stops getting paid for the channels. I don't know how many millions of dollars per month that represents, but that is their cost of calling in this poker game.

E* gets irate calls from millions of customers and the CSRs get to see what scale SHOULD have been on Charlie's charts, and the real ratings of CNN and the other E* carried TWC channels. (Yes, there are other channels.)

Not to mention (although I'm mentioning it) complaints from AT50's who lose most of their news. (And if they replace with FNC, viewers won't have "boring" they will have GOPTV. That should get liberals in a snit!)

JL

 

[dlsnyder]

If Dish does drop the Turner then Viacom channels due to a contract dispute it probably wouldn't take long for D* to start pitching a "special offer" for Dish Network customers. It would be really tempting for me. My kids and my wife would be all over me to do SOMETHING! Gotta have Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and Nickelodeon. Throw in Food Network and that's about all they watch.

 

[sinnfein07]

Does anyone know what such a major channel loss would do to customers under programming contracts? I am committed to AT50 for another few months, but loss of CNN, TCM, and all of the Viacom stations (read: Nik for my kids!) would VERY QUICKLY send me looking elsewhere.

As Dish is no longer offering a huge number of channels that I signed up (and am paying for!), could I cancel without penalty? It seems like a huge bait and switch for Dish to no longer offer those channels that I signed up and committed to.

I supposed that if I read thru my contract, they have language that "programming can change, blah blah", but that would make me quite irritated.

 

[ROLLTIDE]

The Tuner channels are not leaving dish anytime soon . Calm down people !

 

[ScottChez]

Word has that Dish has uplinked an Explaination channel at 201 that will explain why you are not getting CNN.

The channel is not turned on yet of course because we have not lost them yet.

 

[Peter Parker]

And I thought Dishplayer fees would be the hot topic come 1/01/04.

 

[Stargazer]

Nickelodeon is a popular channel along with CNN, and VH-1, very bad news, looks like I am going to have some people switch to DirecTv or maybe even back to cable (unless they will drop their rates at least $5 and I dont see Dish doing that as consumers wont go for a rate drop of just a few bucks for the loss of these channels). Its going to be harder to get additional subscribers without these channels because some of these are the key lineup channels that Dish Network offers.

This is very VERY horribly bad news. I GUARANTEE te

 

[Stargazer]

Nickelodeon is a popular channel along with CNN, and VH-1, very bad news, looks like I am going to have some people switch to DirecTv or maybe even back to cable (unless they will drop their rates at least $5 and I dont see Dish doing that as consumers wont go for a rate drop of just a few bucks for the loss of these channels). Its going to be harder to get additional subscribers without these channels because some of these are the key lineup channels that Dish Network offers.

This is very VERY horribly bad news. I GUARANTEE the stocks will DROP if this were to happen, not only because of the loss of channels but also for the loss of subscribers in addition to fewer subscriber gains.

My sucky cable company with just 23 or 24 channels even has Nickelodeon and CNN. The consumers will be afraid that more channels will also be dropped, that this will be the norm. If the rates increase in additon to channels being dropped, expect people to drop the service in swarms.

 

[btbrossard]

When Dish starts dropping channels that are considered "Basic" on almost all cable systems, they are going to be in for a rude awakening from angry customers.

When I called today to ask about how long it would take for a superdish install (Milwaukee locals), I asked about these channels. The CSR had a canned speech all prepared for the Viacom channels but had no information at all on the Turner Channels.

When he asked his supervisor, the only thing he could tell me is that they are still in negotiations and that they would continue to hold me to my two year programming commitment no matter how many channels were dropped.

I guess we'll see on Thursday. Dish would have to offer a significant discount to keep me as a customer if they drop many channels. I just hope the 510 will fetch at least $150 on e-bay.

 

[Stargazer]

Hmm, that is a good question. When you get in contract with a company and they start dropping or changing the service from what you signed up for, does that make their contract no good? Isn't that some form of misinterpretation? Its just like someone that signs up just got get a certain channel or two then it gets dropped while in a contract period.

I had someone ask if we had CMT and if it was in AT50 today, interested in signing up for new service that is currently on cable very interested in Dish Network. I am guessing that CMT is also owned by Viacom. I guess I have to tell the potential customers that there is a potential for some channels to not be offered in the future to keep rates down.

 

[jeffwtux]

Doesn't CNN have a New Year's Eve show watching the ball drop? Kind of news oriented Dick Clark show, right? That should be exciting. So you could watch the countdown, the ball drop, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! and then instantly the station could out. WOW

 

[ROLLTIDE]

The Channel is not going anywhere !

 

[Peter Parker]

Not sure Rolltide. Latest speculation is that the Turner channels will go dark. I hope not.

 

[hancox]

Hmm, that is a good question. When you get in contract with a company and they start dropping or changing the service from what you signed up for, does that make their contract no good? Isn't that some form of misinterpretation? Its just like someone that signs up just got get a certain channel or two then it gets dropped while in a contract period.

I had someone ask if we had CMT and if it was in AT50 today, interested in signing up for new service that is currently on cable very interested in Dish Network. I am guessing that CMT is also owned by Viacom. I guess I have to tell the potential customers that there is a potential for some channels to not be offered in the future to keep rates down.

Nope. It's pretty standard to include in the contract something to the effect of "channel lineup can change at any time, without notice" blah blah blah. I'm sure if someone dug into the fine print, it would include something similar.