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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."
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.
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.
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