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Viacom and DishNetwork Battle On Air Over Contract
An anonymous reader writes "This weekend, Viacom stations began scrolling messages on their cable stations(MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, etc) stating that DishNetwork may soon be removing the channels from its lineup and urging subscribers to call DishNetwork. DishNetwork subscribers(me!) may have begun to see black bars cover the messages and calls to DishNetwork regarding the messages were greeted with a recording telling subscribers to call the President and GM of KCBS. These antics stem from lawsuits here. I, for one, will be switching to DirecTV if they don't get this figured out."
Here's the list of channels that will fall off of Dish Network if there's no deal by 11:59:59 PM ET tonight:
BET
Comedy Central
MTV
MTV2
Nick Games & Sports
Nickelodeon/Nick at Night (Both East and West versions)
Noggin/The N
VH1
VH1 Classic
All CBS O&O stations (listed here) within their local markets. (Those seeing WCBS, KCBS, or WBZ as a distant CBS service outside of their natrual zones will not be affected.)
All UPN O&O stations (listed here) within their local markets. (Those seeing WSBK as a superstation outside of Boston will not be affected.)
KCAL in the Los Angeles area.
You want to talk about annoying? I'm a Comcast subscriber. I don't even own a dish and I'm seeing these fucking messages.
Dish Network is trying to hold the line on the wholesale price of content. DirecTV, by comparison, just raised prices for their main content packages.
So, if you want to get your content from the low-price supplier, you want to be with Dish Network and put up with these occasional squabbles. If you want a distributor that has a history of bending over whenever the prices go up, you go to DirecTV or your local cable company. Competition in a marketplace is good that way...
You are wrong. DirecTV is owned by Hughes (GM) and is being bought out by Murdoch (who owns NewsCorp). DishNetwork wanted to purchase DTV but the FCC (or pehaps DOJ or both) put the kibosh on that, as there would then only be 1 sat provider. Not sure I like Murdoch better owning my prefered form of TV delivery, but oh well.
you still have to wonder whos really is at fault. I've heard some estimates that Viacom was going up 50% in some cases in price. And we all know from cable that this is why our prices go up. Also the fact that they were making must carry channels (to have CBS you must also carry the Nicktoons channel) is also something to wonder about as well.
Not to meantion viacom trying to make it an national issue as well at the last minute. Im not saying that im sideing on echostar, but it does seem shady on both ends.
Substantially better writeup of the issues involved here.
I actually work For MTV Networks,
I'm not happy about this either, but from I was told by management, Dish wants to pick and choose what they want to air, instead of taking packages. (ie they want MTV MTV2, Nick, and Comedy central but not Spike and cmt, Im not sure if the exact grouping though...) and Viacoms stance is its a package, they want some they take them all. This has started a pissing contest.
Over the weekend We started moving the location of the crawl in order for it to be seen despite the black bar.
At least they tried to black it out. Viacom started moving their crawl around the screen, and the EchoStar folks blew it several times. Childishness all around.
Last I heard, Viacom wants Dish to carry Nickelodeon's GAS channel or some such... and Dish said no, so Viacom said you can't carry anything then unless you pay us more money.
Dish already carries Nick GAS. It's Nicktoons that DirecTV recently added but Dish seems to be refusing to.
BTW, you will still get WBZ and WSBK so long as you're not local to Boston. The distant rights to those stations are granted by law, Viacom can't take those stations away.
I don't know jack about the rate increases and how fair they are, though I have to wonder how much extra commercial networks (ALL of the affected broadcast/cable channels have paid commercial advertising) should be expecting Dish Network and, by extension, their customers to pay for those channels. But the Nicktoons issue is a clear example of a media conglomerate using its consolidated power to force the purchase of something that the customer doesn't want.
The only thing that would really affect me (and deeply at that) is the loss of Comedy Central. But I'm willing to put up with that in the hopes that the little guy (Echostar) can put the big guy (Viacom) in his place.
Tell them how annoyed your are that they'd try and win in the court of public opinion instead of following regular, non-annoying negotiations:
Viacom
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
tel.(212) 258-6000
fax: (212) 258-6464
Your comment about the commercials is a bit of a simplification. The cable/dish companies do indeed inject commercials into the content, but only in the places that the company providing the feed lets them. If you don't believe me, check out MTV or any other channel on C Band. They have lots of commercials. The same commercials that they have on little dish/cable networks...
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
> I, for one, will be switching to DirecTV if they don't get this figured out.
Until this past Christmas, I had been a Dish subscriber for several years. When I initially signed up, they were offering a single receiver and dish (installed) for free with a 1 year contract. Nowadays both Dish and DirecTV offer up to five rooms and the dish (installed) for free, but only for new customers.
Since I already had Dish, the only way to get a multi-room system at no cost was to switch. This was the smartest move I ever made. I keep asking myself why Dish Network wasn't able to make their UI work like DirecTV.
For example, when I hit "Guide" on the Dish system, I'd get the current and next programs available while it downloaded the next few hours of the guide. While it downloaded, no Picture-in-Picture was available. If you scroll two far aheard, the download starts over PiP disappears again.
On DirectTV, I hit guide and PiP works and I have several days of programming available without waiting.
That is only the most obvious and glaring defeciency of Dish Network. I can't think of a single advantage Dish had over DirectTV. The only reason Dish had me for so long was because I always assumed they were basically the same. Switch today!
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
If you have an option to turn off "add new channels to my favorites list" that will probably fix it. I have a DirecTV Tivo so it doesn't bother me because I never need to know the channel numbers for flip through them.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
As a Dish Network customer I'm willing to put up with a few days loss of Viacom crap if it means my bill won't have the obscene inflation that cable customers have to put up with. My Dish Network bill is $34.99 (only rising $1 in the last year) compared to the $65+ I'd have to pay Time Warner for a package with the channels I want.
In my eyes the cost of cable isn't worth it. For my viewing habits getting the highest level of Netflix subscription would be better then putting up with a $65 cable bill.
Viacom should get smacked for scrolling misleading messages to all the cable and sat TV networks. I am paying for content not for your propaganda.
As mentioned before, Dish Network subscribers concerned about the issue may wish to tune into "Charlie Chat" tonight at 9pm. Dish Network's CEO has a show on channel 100 or 101 once a month where customers can call in with questions. (If you miss the show it is rerun frequently).
--- polarbear
The vast majority of commericals on cable channels come from the content supplier. Roughly only 1 to 3 minutes of ad time per hour (depending on what channel we're talking about) goes to the signal distributor.
Apparently, Viacom doesn't have a problem demanding people call someone else. Here's hoping they don't mind Slashdotters contacting them and objecting to their behavior (which is not appropriate in any way).
Viacom Productions
Phone: (310) 234-5000
Fax: (310) 234-5059
10880 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 1101
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Perry Simon President Viacom Television
Sigs are like bumper stickers.
Dish and Direct TV both should be forced to carry programming on a RAND basis. Their customers should be able to choose what they want with a finer grained degree than they do now.
Amen to that. I've had DirecTV for years now I've felt that way since the beginning. It has always annoyed me that I have to pay a ton of money to get the 10 channels that I really want, just because I can't mix and match the plans to get what I want. If I want the Golf Channel, I have to get the stupid local sports package with crap that I'll never watch. Oh, and to top it off, I live in the Philadelphia area so I can't even get my local sports station (Comcast Sportsnet) because Comcast won't allow it on the dish (for obvious reasons). In the end, the consumers always get the shaft, especially in these corporate pissing contests.
I, for one, will be switching to DirecTV if they don't get this figured out.
There was a similar situation with DirecTV, the ABC Family channel, and the 700 Club a while ago. In that case, however, it was DirecTV playing hardball. IIRC, DirecTV wanted to pay less to ABC for the ABC Family channel, and threatened to drop it. Since ABCF is the cable outlet for the 700 Club, the issue of "freedom of religion" came up. So DirecTV started a scroll that said something like "The 700 Club is carried by a number of local channels throughout the country." A deal was eventually worked out, and ABCF is still on DirecTV.
There was also a nasty battle between ESPN and Cox Communications.
In short, these disputes are becoming commonplace. Thank goodness so many good shows are being put out on DVD!
Travis
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I can't say whether you can select channels a la carte there where you are in Florida - I don't have that information. What I can respond to is the statement that law requires it.
The Cable Act of 1992 actually says that they cannot link "premium" channels, such as HBO, Cinemax, etc., to a specific "tier" of programming. That is - you cannot be required to buy the "expanded" package just to get HBO. The law also says that they cannot require you to buy a package of premium channels - you can pick and choose which premium channel you want.
The law does NOT say anything about picking and choosing your standard channels a la carte. If your cable provider allows you to do this - which I highly doubt - it's not because it's required by law, it's just because the provider either wants to be nice or feels that it's a business advantage to do so.
Here's a transcript of a television news story that talks about this.
uhhh...you're confusing the multi-year package reported price with viacom's "annual" rate increase.
For example, 7% for 6 years is a 42% rate increase.
>"...These antics stem from lawsuits here. I, for one, will be switching to DirecTV if they don't get this figured out."
Switch to DirecTV and instead of the stations you watch getting sued, YOU could get sued... for $3,500.00 and on up...
EFF Coordinates Fight Against DirecTV
DirecTV Defense
DirecTV Sues Anyone Who Bought Smartcard Reader?
FreedomFight.CA
DTVLawsuits
Lakeshore Law's DirecTV FAQ
Overhauser Law
WUMarkus' DirecTV Legal Info