Wow, it sure was fun to watch the Rose Bowl on a 4.5 inch screen this afternoon.
That's the only way I could see the game — via the Internet — thanks to the hugely frustrating standoff between the DISH satellite TV network and Fisher Communications, which owns several ABC stations in the northwest, including Portland's KATU.
Like I said before, curses on both DISH and Fisher. And I know a lot of other DISH subscribers feel the same way.
I've asked representatives of both companies to give me the details of this contract dispute. How much was DISH paying previously to rebroadcast local ABC stations? How much is DISH willing to pay now? How much is Fisher asking?
George left a seemingly knowledgeable comment on my first post which said in part:
network is not saying is that Fisher wants a new contract that will
last years by the way, where compensation will be raised from 8 cents a
subscriber to 15 cents a subscriber…a 80% increase, dish only pays
right now your locals 8 cents a subscriber and charge you $5 bucks a
month for the locals which in some areas is only 4 channels so 8×4 = 32
cents and then they charge you 5 bucks again who's being greedy here.
This has a ring of truth to it. But when I wrote the KATU general manager (John Tamerlano), asking the questions above, all I got emailed to me was a form letter. Excerpt:
OK, that also sounds believable. So I've come to be more pissed off at DISH than Fisher.
I've told the head guy at DISH that I'd be happy to send him a couple of bucks to pay for a year's worth of getting KATU at a higher rate if he'd get a contract approved. For less than the cost of a latte, I'd like to be able to watch Lost, Dancing With the Stars, and other favorite ABC shows.
For a while I seriously considered switching to DirecTV. But then I realized that while I'd be making a point to DISH, I'd also be causing myself television-watching grief.
It's complicated to switch satellite services. We've got over fifty hours of saved-up shows to watch on our DISH DVR. I like the DISH equipment (especially the 30 second skip feature) and the programming.
The only thing I don't like is not getting our local ABC station.
However, we've found that the KGW news is more enjoyable to watch than KATU's, so that's no loss. And if KATU is still off the DISH lineup when the new season of Lost starts, we can watch via the Internet (and probably on our television set, once I figure out how to connect my MacBook to it).
So I've decided to stick with DISH. There's no guarantee that DirecTV won't get into a similar contract pissing match and cut off some other channel that we like.
That almost happened recently with the Time Warner Cable system. Viacom was on the verge of pulling the plug on a bunch of channels, including (gasp!) Comedy Central.
If we lost The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, our lives would barely be worth living. Fortunately for Time Warner subscribers, the shutoff was averted at the last moment.
I still think DISH owes me something, though, for making me watch the Rose Bowl on a 4.5 inch laptop window rather than the 42 inch LCD television we got recently.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to suck a HD DVR receiver upgrade out of DISH's greedy little hands. Having them waive the $10 a month fee for getting a bunch more HD channels on our current programming package also would be a nice gesture.
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I’m set up to convert to Verizon’s FIOS service next week. Did so because of Dish’s failure to resolve this Fisher thing w/in a few days, and that I’ll be able to get to see the Blazers on Comcast’s Sports network, and I’ll save about $40 a month to boot (bundled w/ my internet and landline phone). Had been loyal to Dish for 4+ years, but time to switch.
I’m in the same boat, I really dont want to leave Dish, but I can’t go without ABC.
I blame all of the above.
I’m starting a little site called DishandFisherSuck.com I’ll let you know when it’s up.
I’ve emailed and called both companies from here in Bakersfield, CA.
Keep up the fight!
Regards,
-Ollie
It would seem as if we, the consumers paying for the product we are not getting would have the ability to file a breach of contract class action lawsuit against Dish. Anyone else have any relevant information on this?
I’m in Pocatello, Idaho and our CBS channel is the one that got dropped. I was doing ok with that until Survivor and Amazing Race started. I was able to call Dish and make them switch my location address so that I am now picking up the Salt Lake City, Utah locals. It was a fight, but it worked. Please post when this dispute finally ends so I can switch back to my local channels.
Dish is the only TV service company that has shown a past and current pattern of greedy business practices, i.e. refusing to pay a couple more cents per subscriber for something that it makes a buttload of money off in the first place. your $5 local channels fee generates over $4.25 in profit every single month for Dish.
The truth is, this dispute isn’t about the per-user retrans fees. It’s about seven figures that Dish owes Fisher because Dish isn’t honoring a previous contract.
That’s why both companies are screwing the poor TV consumer. Also, Dish has all the marketing power here. That’s why you got the specific response that you did from them and a more general response from Fisher – Fisher is working hard to avoid breaching the good-faith negotiation clause that Dish could use as evidence to get the lawsuit tossed out.
My neighbor works for a Fisher station… he said there’s no end in sight as far as he’s heard.