Dish Network probs????

[Gregg Lengling]

Just saw a crawler on SpikeTV (over Directv), about Dish Network is threatening to drop MTV and a whole bunch of channels.  It had a phone number for Dish Network to call and complain.  Sounds like they are trying to renegotiate their carriage fees is my guess.  As find more information I will post it.

[Sparkman87]

It is a Dish/ Viacom issue.  Viacom is insisting that DISH add Nicktoons in order to renew the contract which includes the CBS O&O stations.  Channels include Nickolodeon, TV Land, MTV's VH1's, Comedy Central, but I believe Spike TV has a seperate agreement.  Chicago CBS is affected, along with CBS-HD.  If you want to read alot about it, go to //www.satelliteguys.us, the are many threads about it there.  Midnight on Monday night is when they will be cut off if no agreement is reached.

[tbarney]

The ticker is getting a little old.  I'm already pissed at viacom for making me, a cable customer, put up with the crawl that is intended for Dish customers.  I found another site that posted the CEO's contact number.  Maybe I'll have to give viacom a call.

[Gregg Lengling]

You have to remember that the crawler is coming from the station and not the Satellite/Cable provider.  So it can't be removed.....so we'll just see what happens.....doesn't affect me so no big deal...but it is a sign of things to come on some of these contracts.  It could affect any of the cable and sat. operations in the future if these stations and their owners do this type of negotiation.

[Gregg Lengling]

It's coming down to the wire for EchoStar and Viacom, two companies engaged in the bitter programming carriage dispute that has landed in federal court.

Viacom networks and owned-and-operated CBS channels delivered via EchoStar's DISH Network are poised to go dark at midnight tonight. That is unless the two sides of the programming carriage skirmish reach a last-minute deal or the U.S. District Court overseeing the case makes a move that could keep the channels live on the DBS service.

During the weekend, a scroll detailing the looming shut-off of signals for Viacom networks has appeared sporadically on MTV, channel 160 on DISH Network. Sometimes, a black bar appears across the scroll.

Some familiar with the skirmish said while both sides appear to be far apart, the situation with the negotiations remains "fluid." Still, EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen said last week he wasn't positive about keeping the Viacom networks, telling reporters last week, "I am not feeling really good about them right now."

As of press time, both Viacom and EchoStar had no comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, tonight, Ergen may address the Viacom situation during his monthly "Charlie Chat" with customers.

[kjnorman]

Heard it on the Fox6 news this morning.  As of this morning, Dish has dropped CBS and all Viacom channels.

I bet Rupert is loving this!

[Gregg Lengling]

EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen was not optimistic about DISH Network keeping Viacom networks and CBS owned-and-operated channels in certain markets on the satellite TV service, telling viewers of his monthly "Charlie Chat" Monday the programming was set to come down at midnight last night.

And late in the evening, EchoStar said it was left with no choice other than to remove Viacom's owned-and-operated CBS stations and its nationally distributed cable/satellite channels as of midnight Pacific Time. EchoStar made the announcement about the channels going dark at 12:45 a.m. Eastern Tuesday/10:45 p.m. Mountain Time Monday.

During his chat, Ergen said repeatedly the channels "are coming down" since Viacom "refuses to be reasonable" about continued carriage of the programming. "We really have no choice," he said. "It's pretty hard to believe."

In addition to the O&O CBS channels, Viacom networks affected by the programming carriage skirmish include MTV, Nickelodeon, Noggin and VH1, among others. A temporary restraining order issued by a federal court in California keeping Viacom networks on DISH Network expired late last night.

The "Charlie Chat" program contained televised graphics criticizing Viacom, suggesting the programmer wanted $200 million in additional fees and $350 million for channels considered as having low viewership, although the graphics didn't offer specifics. Another graphic said "Viacom refuses to be reasonable."

EchoStar said it would provide a $1 monthly credit to DISH Network customers who lose CBS programming in the following markets with CBS O&O stations: Austin, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Wis., Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City and San Francisco.

Customers who had been receiving Viacom's cable/satellite channels on America's Top 60, America's Top 120, America's Top 180, America's Everything Pak, and DISH Latino Max will also receive a $1 monthly credit while the channels are unavailable.

In its statement, EchoStar said Viacom used tactics to demand a re-negotiation of current agreements on other Viacom channels, allowing Viacom to require carriage and higher rates on those channels. "Our goal is to remain the best value for our customers for the lowest price," said Ergen. "To do this, we need fair contracts with competitive pricing that allow DISH Network to select the channels most compatible with the interests of our customers."

Two hours before "Charlie Chat," a MTV Networks spokesperson reiterated the company's stand on the negotiations and EchoStar's opinion on the matter.

The company said while EchoStar has recently raised some rates, all Viacom is asking for is less than an additional 6 cents a month per subscriber for the channels in question. The spokesperson also pointed out that more than 20 percent of U.S. viewers watch Viacom networks, and Viacom networks cost EchoStar less than 5 percent of what the satellite TV company generates from the average customer.

For more information on the loss of Viacom channels, viewers can check: http://www.dishnetwork.com/programming.

[Gregg Lengling]

After EchoStar pulled the plug early Tuesday morning on a number of Viacom networks once delivered by DISH Network, Viacom went on the offensive, addressing the programming carriage skirmish with media. EchoStar went back to DISH Network customers to explain its side of the story.

Mark Rosenthal, president and COO of Viacom's MTV Networks, said during Tuesday's conference call the company was "disturbed and disappointed" the channels went dark on DISH Network. He also said it was reprehensible that EchoStar would "treat customers with such disregard."

Rosenthal also criticized EchoStar for playing the victim role in the skirmish. "EchoStar is not a small mom and pop operator," he said. "They are the fourth largest distributor."

As for previous talks, Viacom and CBS executives said they were "extremely flexible" with EchoStar during negotiations. "We couldn't work harder to work out a deal with EchoStar," Rosenthal said. He also pointed out that Viacom has reached carriage deals with virtually all other distributors - including agreements with cable giant Comcast and satellite's DirecTV.

Rosenthal described the offer given to EchoStar for carriage of Viacom nets and CBS channels as "modest and reasonable." The deal involved less than 6 cents per subscriber per month, but executives wouldn't go into further details on the offer.

Viacom executives said they are open to receiving calls from EchoStar, but had nothing to report on the stalled negotiations as of Tuesday afternoon. EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen said later in the day that Viacom officials have been in contact with EchoStar executives: "They want to do a deal, and we want to do a deal," Ergen said.

Meanwhile, EchoStar went back to its subscribers, addressing the missing Viacom and CBS channels during a special presentation on the satellite TV service Tuesday evening.

Ergen reiterated the company's stand on the skirmish, saying Viacom wanted carriage of additional channels that appeared to have little value to the DISH Network service. Apparently, Viacom told EchoStar during the negotiations that if DISH gets CBS, "you have to get all of this stuff (extra channels) and at a higher rate," Ergen said.

Ergen also said Viacom gave EchoStar a "take it or leave it" proposition on a carriage offer, and threatened to take away CBS channels before the network's coverage of the Super Bowl if EchoStar didn't ink their deal. In addition, Ergen said Viacom wanted EchoStar to tear up its contracts for other Viacom nets - CMT, Spike TV and TV Land - and extend those deals at higher rates. Those channels remain on DISH Network.

Viacom networks affected by the programming carriage skirmish include MTV, Nickelodeon, Noggin, BET and VH1, among others.

In addition, Ergen disputed the 6-cent offer per-subscriber/per month from Viacom. "If it was really 6 cents, I would sign that contract tomorrow," he said.

[Gregg Lengling]

Before a number of CBS owned-and-operated CBS stations and some Viacom networks went dark on DISH Network, EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen sent a letter to Viacom COO Mel Karmazin, telling the exec he was "deeply disappointed and outraged that CBS/Viacom is once again playing a deadly game of chicken with EchoStar and its subscribers - all because of a desire to leverage your economic monopoly over programming another notch."

The letter, sent Monday, pointed out that at midnight two days ago EchoStar was "left without a contract to provide CBS programming in 16 major markets we serve - all because you insist on saddling our subscribers with higher prices for programming they really don't want." Ergen also said, "EchoStar does not want increased rates to its customer base so that you can force us to carry unwanted cable channels, like Noggin and the Games and Sports (GAS) channel.

"The more I watch CBS's tactics in these matters, the more I realize that the odds are really stacked against independent companies like EchoStar when it comes to media giants like CBS who now control what viewers can watch and what they must pay," Ergen said in the letter, released to the media late Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, DISH Network began running an on-screen graphic on the missing channels stating that Viacom "has demanded rate increases which are unreasonable and would contribute to a higher bill for you. We continually strive to control costs on behalf of our customers and are hopeful that this matter will be resolved quickly."

On channel 101, DISH Network's informational barker channel, CEO Charles Ergen has been adressing customers through a short video-taped presentation on the matter. The looped presentation uses on-screen graphics that state "Viacom refuses to be reasonable" and reiterated that customers with certain programming packages (America's Top 60, America's Top 120, America's Top 180, America's Everything Pak, and DISH Latino Max) will get a $1 credit while the channels are missing. Also, customers in markets where there is a CBS owned-and-operated station customers with local TV packages will get a $1 monthly credit.

Ergen also said during the presentation that EchoStar will "continue to negotiate with Viacom to get these channels back as soon as possible."

The short presentation gave DISH Network subscribers options for the missing channels, such as Fuse for music videos or Disney's networks for children/family programming.

(For the story detailing the Viacom/CBS channels being yanked from DISH Network, please see: http://www.skyreport.com/viewskyreport.cfm?ReleaseID=1337.)

[Todd Wiedemann]

From SkyReport:

BREAKING NEWS: DISH, Viacom Settle Dispute
Early this morning, Viacom and EchoStar said they reached a long-term agreement that provides for the satellite TV distribution of CBS, BET, and MTV Networks channels previously dropped by DISH Network.

"It's great to have our networks back in front of all our viewers, and to bring a new service, Nicktoons, to DISH Network subscribers," said Mel Karmazin, president and COO at Viacom. "We apologize to our viewers for the disruption in their service, and want to thank them for their patience and support. We look forward to continuing to serve our viewers through DISH Network well into the future."

Said EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen, "This agreement with Viacom allows DISH Network to remain the lowest-cost, all digital TV provider in the country. We understand that this has been a difficult few days for our customers, and we thank them for all the encouragement they have given us throughout. We also look forward to a long relationship with Viacom in which we can provide their quality channels to our viewers."

The multi-year agreement restores full service of CBS in 16 markets as well as Comedy Central, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Noggin, GAS, VH1, VH1 Classic, MTV Espanol and BET in all markets. Additionally, the agreement extends the term of the carriage for CBS HD (East and West) channels, as well as Spike TV, CMT and TV Land. DISH Network will also launch Nicktoons on its America's Top 180 package this spring.

As part of the agreement, Viacom and EchoStar said they have settled all litigation between the two companies.

[Gregg Lengling]

While EchoStar's new programming carriage agreement with Viacom may not be perfect, CEO Charles Ergen described the final deal as a winner for both sides.

During a conference call Thursday, Ergen said, "Like all negotiations it's not as good as we wanted. But we got a deal that's good enough."

Ergen said EchoStar didn't want to carry extra Viacom channels like Nicktoons. But he said that during the renewed negotiations this week "Viacom treated us fairly."

The multi-year agreement restores full service on DISH Network of CBS owned-and-operated stations in 16 markets as well as Comedy Central, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Noggin, GAS, VH1, VH1 Classic, MTV Espanol and BET. Additionally, the agreement extends the term of carriage for CBS HD (East and West) channels, as well as Spike TV, CMT and TV Land.

DISH Network will launch Nicktoons on its America's Top 180 package this spring.

Ergen also spoke about EchoStar's new deal with Gemstar TV Guide. Through an agreement between the companies, EchoStar will get access to Gemstar's intellectual property and technology as well as use of the TV Guide brand on its interactive program guides. And the companies settled their litigation.

EchoStar also will acquire Gemstar's C-Band, UVTV Distribution and SpaceCom businesses. With the C-Band assets, Ergen said DISH Network will gain direct access to a 300,000-viewer strong customer base "to grow our business with."

Ergen also said the deal with Gemstar, controlled by News Corp., doesn't hurt EchoStar's relationship with the media giant, which recently gained controlling interest in EchoStar's main competitor DirecTV. "My gut feeling is that we will find things that we can work on," he said.

The next big programming negotiation EchoStar will have later this year is with FOX, News Corp.'s programming arm. Ergen said he doesn't anticipate problems with the discussions, since News Corp. would have to go through arbitration if a deal couldn't be reached, a provision required by federal regulators in their approval of News Corp.'s takeover of DirecTV and Hughes.