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AT&T Blacks Out HBO, Cinemax For Dish, Sling TV Users Over Carriage Dispute (telecompaper.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Telecompaper: AT&T has blocked its HBO and Cinemax channels for Dish and Sling TV customers over a carriage dispute. This is the first channel blackout for HBO in its 40 years of operation. Pay-TV provider Dish and OTT services Sling TV said AT&T is making "untenable demands designed specifically to harm customers, particularly those in rural areas, as well as damage competing pay-TV providers" and that at the time of the merger, no guidelines were set in place to ensure AT&T "played fair" for HBO and Cinemax subscribers, regardless of their pay-TV provider.
Dish said AT&T is demanding it pay for a guaranteed number of subscribers, regardless of how many people actually want to subscribe to HBO. The company noted that during the arbitration process, AT&T will have to restore its channels to Dish customers. The company and Sling TV will credit customers on their bill for the time they do not receive either HBO or Cinemax. Dish added that it is also offering customers a free preview of HDNET Movies. An HBO spokesperson said in a statement: "During our forty-plus years of operation, HBO has always been able to reach agreement with our valued distributors and our services have never been taken down or made unavailable to subscribers due to an inability to conclude a deal. Unfortunately, Dish is making it extremely difficult, responding to our good faith attempts with unreasonable terms. Past behavior shows that removing services from their customers is becoming all too common a negotiating tactic for them. We hope the situation with Dish changes soon but, in the meantime, our valued customers should take advantage of the other ways to access an HBO subscription so they can continue to enjoy our acclaimed programming."
Dish said AT&T is demanding it pay for a guaranteed number of subscribers, regardless of how many people actually want to subscribe to HBO. The company noted that during the arbitration process, AT&T will have to restore its channels to Dish customers. The company and Sling TV will credit customers on their bill for the time they do not receive either HBO or Cinemax. Dish added that it is also offering customers a free preview of HDNET Movies. An HBO spokesperson said in a statement: "During our forty-plus years of operation, HBO has always been able to reach agreement with our valued distributors and our services have never been taken down or made unavailable to subscribers due to an inability to conclude a deal. Unfortunately, Dish is making it extremely difficult, responding to our good faith attempts with unreasonable terms. Past behavior shows that removing services from their customers is becoming all too common a negotiating tactic for them. We hope the situation with Dish changes soon but, in the meantime, our valued customers should take advantage of the other ways to access an HBO subscription so they can continue to enjoy our acclaimed programming."
Who cares about HBO and Cinimax
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
See, there was a gubernatorial debate scheduled. But Kemp wanted to cancel, and did, while blaming the other side for not rescheduling.
So...
$15/month for HBO Now (or the same via Amazon). Monthly cost via cable or satellite is higher.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Sorry, trying to get out of work and wasn't thinking
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
We the captain now.
Drop those fuckers, pirate the shit out of them and maybe even some deranged Trumpster will blow the shit out of AT&T.
Hey we can always dream no ?
We cut the cord, switched to an antenna and Netflix, and now we're about to drop the latter. Turns out there are other things to do than watch TV. Who knew?
at$t is looking out for their property, directv. I guess they are going to make their competition pay a premium for the service.
As usual
GOODEVENING HBO
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
$12.95/MONTH ?
NO WAY !
[SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]
AT&T owns DirectTV along with HBO, so of course they are going to play dirty and try and screw Dish. It will only benefit DirectTV which in turns is good for AT&T
...that Ajit Pai wants for the internet.
Substatntial content providers like netflix, nytimes, fox new, mlb, etc. are expected to negotiate with "content distributors", aka ISPs and their peering providers to get their bits to customers.
Not sure if I have HBO. Don't think I would miss it.
ORANGE MAN BAD
Dish says AT&T is blocking the channels.
AT&T is saying Dish has decided to not broadcast as a negotiating tool. Which seems stupid as it only hurts Dish when their customers get angry.
If you believe AT&T, Dish is basically saying "Hey AT&T, we're going to fuck over our own customers and give them discounts and other free services, in the hope they don't cancel their subscriptions with us and switch to your wholly owned competitor, DirectTV until you agree to our terms. TAKE THAT!"
If you believe Dish, AT&T is saying "We're going to block the content your customers pay you for, until you agree to our terms, while your customers switch to our other business that directly competes with you"
I'm inclined to believe Dish here.
As most peeps here know, trying to get customer to pay for content on website is near-impossible, and customer hates the ads etc. This makes sense, I'm the same kind of cheapskate :)
Where I get confused is TV. People are paying Dish, ATT, Sling, whoever, big bucks...this fight is over food chain of all that loot. But said customers are providing the loot to spend their time watching ads these properties are shoving hard 24/7 - and customer is paying for this, PAYING FOR ADS.
Why people so different from one medium to the next? I really don't get it.
Why are DISH and SlingTV customers getting HBO through them instead of HBO Now. They'll be paying the same price and getting an inferior experience. Things like access to HBO back catalog and movies are so much better on HBO Now. SlingTV is a decent live TV service but they limit VOD content from channels. HBO Now has their entire back catalog with much better UI.
You never are. Why are you pretending to be employable, nazi trollbot?
ORANGE FAN MAD!
Cut the cord.
Please tell me where I may get 'Douchebaggery for Dummies'!
I want them to do this and lose common carrier status. ISPs will be prosecuted for transmitting child porn, sex trafficking, money laundering, hacking blackmail, and etc.
We have bikes in this town! ...
What, you still don't realize HDTV signals are free and you can get like 150+ of them in any major city? Next thing you know, you'll tell me you don't realize they broadcast in a higher resolution than cable provides ...
And you can sub to them on the web if you need them, they are required to provide low-income 40 Mbps service for around $30 in most cities.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
AT&T Blacks Out HBO, Cinemax For Dish, Sling TV Users Over Carriage Dispute
This thing media has started doing with commas in headlines - what's up with that? Is "and" really too long to write out? Because when I read stuff like this headline, I read "AT&T blacks out HBO" separately from "Cinemax for Dish" and from "Sling TV users over carriage dispute". The first one might make sense on its own but the other two don't.
Please don't try to be stylish. Just give me a normal headline I can fucking read without having to go back and read again.
AT&T Blacks Out HBO and Cinemax For Dish and Sling TV Users Over Carriage Dispute
AT&T owning HBO & Cinemax and then raising the rates for other providers knowing the other providers will balk at the cost increase, while AT&T gets to send to their subscribers for peanuts.
This is *EXACTLY* why media / content distributors should *NEVER* be allowed to own / interfere with media/content creators.
"Dish said AT&T is demanding it pay for a guaranteed number of subscribers, regardless of how many people actually want to subscribe to HBO."
In other words, AT&T is still clinging to the old cable tv all-or-nothing business model, where you were a subscriber whether you liked it or not. Whatever Dish has to pay for HBO will have to be passed onto their customers, (as Dish is a business, not a charity) no matter how many actual subscribers there are to the channel.
That said, years ago I went to internet only (currently 100/100) and wife and daughter seem quite content with their roku and firestick.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
And here I thought African-Americans were grossly underrepresented in the American media and political landscapes.
HBO is like for grandpa right?
Capitalism has to go. A society that claims to be civilized can't live by the law of the jungle. Not to mention that profiting off of other human beings is morally wrong and Jesus would not approve. Remember how he threw over the tables of the moneylenders?
Screw'em and just use Bit Torrent, and just remember kiddies use a VPN. ;-)
The contracts that towns signed for exclusive cable TV rights included many things that the cable companies aren't doing. There are requirements for educational channels and rules about kids programming. Many towns had deals about rate increases and rollout rates. Many towns could dig out their old contract, figure out how to nullify it and allow a second provider or even take over control of the local assets using eminent domain. Or they could be like a cable company and just change their mind.
Not HBO's first blackout...
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
I'm looking forward to watching Westworld season 3,but it's gonna be a couple more years. No point in paying for HBO until then.
I just subscribe to HBO directly and itâ(TM)s the same price itâ(TM)s ever been.
I'd expect this practice of distribution companies buying up content that they can hold ransom over other distribution companies to become more common place. AT&T of course directly competes with Dish with its Uverse and DirectTV products, so trying to leverage as much as they can over them will be common. I'd expect Comcast to get into the game as well, with their NBC/Universal companies and try to squeeze more out of rivals. The biggest losers in all this is of course the consumers, who will at best have to pay more for their shows, or worst, have to subscribe to multiple services (e.g. cable and satellite) if they want everything.
I'm pretty sure you can have DSL without POTS for a good number of years now.
Availability of naked DSL depends on the jurisdiction and on the phone company's policy. If a phone company charges $30 for a residential POTS line, $60 for residential naked DSL, or $30 for DSL for residential POTS subscribers, then naked DSL doesn't save any money.
HBO is doing fine then all of a sudden is not when is bought. Didn't see this coming at all.
Cable has ruined the customer experience. Flipping channels was a somewhat enjoyable (if mindless) activity when there was less than 50 channels and they could display in a fraction of a second after changing the channel.
;)
Now there are thousands of channels (many duplicate) which take 3+ seconds to change and whole blocks of numbers just not available anyway, a cumbersome and slow digital 'guide', hundreds of low tier 'filler' channels which must be purchased before in order access the small amount of desirable content far up the tier.
Don't play the game. Get yourself a $20 digital OTA antenna. (You may have to invest in a signal booster if you live far outside the city limits) and find an affordable internet wholesaler/reseller then pick no more than 1-2 streaming services. Make that 'must view' show a social experience where you make an event out of viewing by going to a pub or friends house. Invest $2-$5 in a no-log VPN to enhance your privacy on the internet anywhere public wifi may be used (side benefit: no content is unavailable
...that for true competition and fairness, content providing companies need to be completely separate from content distribution companies. Since the government has allowed monstrosities like AT&T (plus Comcast, etc.), now all they have to do is extort their distribution competition into submission.
Meanwhile I'll continue to direct everyone to use 0sec drsftp, SSL pirating, anything that will subvert these nigge-rs profits untill they go out of business.
I'll gladly take my amazing free TV (thanks GOT, but you're still greedy money hungry nig--gers). and not pay them a single fucking dime for their 'work'.
Fuck AT&T, fuck HBO, and fuck hollywood! Pirate everything to your heart's content.
Never ever ever give the jew kikes of hollywood money. If it all went away i wouldn't give a single fuck about hollykike. I'll just consume their content until they die, for free.
any port in a storm? wow.
I was a Dish installer from 2000 to 2003. When did we have a "strong relationship" with ATT? Lemme guess 1999 or 2004 amirite?
Eurofags use a goddamned comma for the fucking decimal point all the while not bothering to use a comma for a thousands separator. They also count shit in thousand thousands and other preschool kid nonsense.