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Dish Pulls Fox News, Fox Business Network As Talks Break Down

An anonymous reader writes Fox News and Fox Business were pulled by Dish Network over the weekend, as both continue to argue over a fee agreement. From the article: "Dish said in a statement early Sunday morning that 21st Century Fox had blocked access to the two networks after Dish balked when rates for other networks owned by the media conglomerate were made a part of the negotiations. Tim Carry, executive vice president of distribution at Fox News Channel, countered in a statement that "Dish prematurely ceased distribution of Fox News in an attempt to intimidate and sway our negotiations. It is unfortunate that the millions of Fox News viewers on Dish were used as pawns by their provider. Hopefully they will vote with their hard earned money and seek another one of our other valued distributors immediately."

15 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. Dish Customer Here by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful
    We also lost CNN and the Turner stations in October/November due to a renewal disagreement.

    This is far from limited to just Dish customers, as each major cable provider has to renegotiate regularly.

    I've noticed a common theme, though... no matter who you talk to, it's the other greedy bastard who's being unreasonable.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Dish Customer Here by kimvette · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have an idea - let them run adverts and offer the channels for free, OR charge cable and dish companies (ultimately the viewer) for the channels and run no adverts. End the greedy double-dipping. Cable and Satellite carriers perform a service by increasing their potential viewer share, which increases their advertising value. It is the networks who are greedy, not the rebroadcasters.

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  2. Re:You forgot something... by kimvette · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Faux News is not much of a loss. :)

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  3. Re:Pulled Fox News ... by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do differing viewpoints upset you?

  4. You forgot something... by timeOday · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I actually do see a connection to unions here - if you're not genuinely willing to walk away from a bad deal, you're not actually negotiating. Businesses know this and it sometimes results in temporary outages, such as a TV channel or the Amazon dispute with publishers. In America we hardly have unions any more, and our media reports on strikes (e.g. a railroad strike in France) with derision and as a sign of a failed system. But I see it as a sign of tough negotiations between parties who both have something to lose. Ideally, each industry would have about as many unions as it has employers, and there would be more than one of each.

    I actually don't like the idea of being a faceless member of a collective, or causing a great divide between management and workers. But right now we have a situation where one side is organized and using its leverage to drive a tough bargain (with companies growing ever-larger, and more profitable), and the other is just lying down.

  5. Re:Get Out of Your Bubble by JBMcB · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You need Fox news so Democratic administrations are held accountable.

    You need MSNBC so Republican administrations are held accountable.

    There are blowhards and static on both channels, but there is some useful information to be gleaned amongst the chaff.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  6. Dish customer here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    These outages can be pain, but as long as it keeps my bill from increasing, I support Dish's tough negotiating tactics.

  7. Broadcast TV viewer here by PPH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't really understand the issues. How much was Dish charging Fox News to deliver their content to Dish viewers? And what sort of fee increases was Dish asking for?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  8. Re:Pulled Fox News ... by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Fox News is not offering a different viewpoint, they're offering right-wing FUD.

  9. Re: In unrelated news: Average IQ up 5 points in by analien7901 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Says the person posting on Slashdot trying to exert the fact that he is smarter than everyone......

  10. Re:Pulled Fox News ... by schnell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do differing viewpoints upset you?

    There is nothing wrong with Fox News as a source for people who go looking to hear the news from a particular viewpoint. The problem with Fox News is that they pretend - smirkingly because they're smart enough to know the truth - that they are "fair and balanced." And some (many, actually) people who are naive or intellectually uncurious actually believe this is an even-handed depiction of reality instead of an editorialized view. This leads these people to think that everything in the world that is wrong is due to muslims, liberals or Obama (who is both). And that in turn leads to extremism and fosters ever more deep and toxic political divides.

    I have no problem at all with differing viewpoints. I only have a problem with those - and this includes "news" sources across the spectrum from the New York Post to Adbusters - that are willing to actively mislead the reader in order to advance their particular editorial slant and agenda. While it may be fun as entertainment for the knowing, it is deadly poison for the health of the community as a whole for those who really believe it. Think about someone who has a 100 IQ... and then realize that half the country is dumber than that.

    --
    "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
  11. Re:You forgot something... by TWX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wasn't that the bigger issue actually? FOX/Newscorp trying to push a whole slew of their channels on DISH for fairly high rates, and using FOX News as the leverage, when those other channels aren't popular and aren't worth the money that was being demanded of them?

    Personal opinion on the merit of FOX News aside, I can see where it has fiscal value as it's turned on and left on all over the goddamn place. Lobbies, break rooms, waiting rooms, all seem to have left CNN for FOX News and it's rare to find other stations on these days. But, it sounds like it's FOX News that's worth something, not the other, lesser channels, and even then, FOX News' value might itself be overinflated if it's serving as background noise more than actually being watched by the people in those lobbies, break rooms, and waiting rooms.

    We don't have any subscription TV because we didn't want to pay for channels that we don't watch. This licensing model that is being pushed on DISH in turn forces DISH to push on to consumers, as if DISH has to pay for twenty channels to get one or two that people want to watch, they must charge for those twenty channels and push them to consumers, even if no one watches them.

    I didn't expect to hear myself say this, but good on DISH for standing up to FOX/Newscorp for now.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  12. Re:Pulled Fox News ... by schnell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    looks like someone is hurt

    Who's hurt? I have no problem with Fox News per se and I have no problem with people who agree with Fox News. If that's what you like, that's fine, especially if you understand Fox News to be an editorial product. But it is clearly disingenuous at best when it claims to be "fair and balanced," and some people either trust Fox more than they should, or are not possessed of enough critical thinking skills to see if for what it is, which is bad for society.

    fox news is number one in viewers and ratings for every 1 cnn hln etc viewer there is 100 to 10,000 watching fox news . if it was fud then other news networks would eat them alive

    I think you are equating being "popular" with being "good," and that is a pretty serious mistake. I think it's also a mistake to recognize that it may well be popular entirely because it's FUD. Many, many people - conservative Fox viewers, liberal MSNBC viewers, whatever - want someone to pick all their news for them in advance so that they don't have to encounter any news in the world that doesn't agree with their beliefs. That's their right but I think we would be less of a toxically polarized society if we listened to more two-sided views, or at least acknowledged the biases that were driving us to want to only consume a politically slanted news message.

    --
    "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
  13. Re: In unrelated news: Average IQ up 5 points in U by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I must admit, I wasn't really on the band wagon of making the comments. I came here looking to read the humor.

    I personally don't depend on any of the networks because I have had the displeasure of having the opportunity of learning how broadcast journalism actually works. As a result, I have absolutely no use for their media. I certainly don't wish to be a target for what passes as journalism today.

    The government operations (like the Senate, House, etc...) are broadcast an televised. We're choosing candidates as members of a team. We pick a team like Fox or CNN and they broadcast play by play or blow by blow reports of how they interpreted events in the government. We don't choose politicians to represent our best interests. We choose politicians to be a member of one team or another. We want our teams to win and we don't care what they have to do in order to do it. We love the technicalities too. Like, "My team doesn't like what the president did. Look here, there's a little rule in the rule book which says we can throw a card and sue the president for doing his job the best he can".

    I must admit, I put little faith in the silliness you seemed to come here to attack. I have far less use for a drone like yourself who seems to think that just because someone won a popularity contest and was voted CEO (which actually doesn't mean what you think it does) he/she or they are special by some means.

    Comments here are a waste of time and effort, but for many of us provide an outlet for our frustrations with the system. It's probably no more productive than talking sports at a bar, but it at least keeps us from being drunk all the time. If you're not interested in the Slashdot method of communicating, why would you bother coming here? Of course, I guess maybe you're just using the comments as a place to be a dick and unload a bit. More power to you. Enjoy, Slashdot is here to offend and we are its little helpers :)

  14. Re: wrong totally by jmac_the_man · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I've never heard of a cable package with CNN not on basic cable. You usually get CNN, Fox, and MSNBC. Dish network, the company who we're allegedly talking about, has all 3 on their basic service.

    Also, the bonus for doctor's offices and car dealerships doesn't account for the success of Fox's prime time shows. Fox News routinely blows out its competitors in prime time, a time at which most of those businesses are closed and viewers are watching at home.