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Time to Sue Dish?!
February 27, 2008
It’s the hottest new trend sweeping the nation for 2008 seems to be suing Dish Network. Come on and join in the fun it seems as though everyone is doing it!
Ok maybe not. But over the past few days has been sued, not once but twice by content providers. The question now is are these lawsuits warranted or are they just sour grapes?
It’s time for Scott to play the role of Armchair quarterback here in today’s edition of “The Satellite Dish.”
The first lawsuit this week for Dish Network came from the NFL who is mad as hell because Dish Network dropped the new NFL Network package from its baseline Americas Top 100 package.
Dish promoted the NFL Network for two full years advertising the NFL Network with exclusive games that you could see no where else. Yet the NFL buckled and took away the game of the year a pre Super Bowl match up between the then undefeated New England Patriots taking on the New York Giants from being a NFL Network exclusive to simulcasting this historic game on not only the NFL Network but also on NBC and CBS. All the reasons for any multi-channel company to promote the channel went out the window. I see this is a penalty against the NFL; they made an exciting channel and a great marketing tool worthless by one decision.
I don’t blame Dish Network at all for making this decision, and without seeing their contract, I got to side with Dish Network for sacking the NFL from it’s Top 100 package.
However I must also throw a flag and call a penalty against Dish Network for removing this channel without any warning to its customers. For the past 2 years Dish Network has pushed the fact that the NFL and these exclusive games were available in all of its “America’s Top” packages. Numerous customers have called Dish Network to complain about losing the NFL Network and were told that the NFL Network was only in the AT100 package as a free preview. (This is also what Dish Network posted to their retailer website.) Never in the two years that Dish was advertising the NFL network did they mention that the NFL Network was a special “free preview” for AT100 customers.
Because of the penalties that we have here, if I was the judge here is how I would rule, Dish did the right thing by moving the channel from the AT100 package since the NFL did not give Dish (and other providers) all the exclusive games they promised. However Dish because they didn’t notify subscribers of this change must make the NFL Network available Ala Carte to AT100 customers for the rate of 70 cents per customer per month. (Which is the reported price for this channel.)
Next case!
Next we have Rainbow Media’s VOOM service suing Dish Network for throwing it into a new HD Tier. VOOM is worried about losing customers.
In my armchair quarterback courtroom, I say to VOOM, Grow up!
VOOM is in the same HD Tier as it has always been in, it does not cost customers any more money to get the VOOM channels as VOOM has always been in the $20 HD package.
What Dish Network did was on February 1st it introduced a new “HD Essentials Pack” which for $10 a month Dish Customers only receive the HD channels which they currently receive in standard definition. These channels are mirrored counterpart of their standard definition versions. When Dish introduced this new package they did not downgrade customers to the new package, all customers with the $20 HD package will still continue to have the $20 HD package which includes VOOM unless the customer calls Dish and tells them they want to downgrade to the package without VOOM.
VOOM should have nothing to worry about, if their product was good people wouldn’t want to drop down to the cheaper package, however in recent month the quality of VOOM’s programming has declined greatly. What I use to consider great HDTV is now nothing more the HD demo material. A few months ago VOOM changed its programming on some of it’s channels and now shows loops of the same programming played over and over again. The repeats on VOOM are nuts, former great channels such as Monsters HD are now just lifeless loops of the same movies shown over and over again through the day. For me VOOM gives customers two things, some great looking HD content and repeated great looking HD content.
From where I sit if VOOM does not want people to downgrade their Dish Network HD service then they need to make their VOOM Channels the “Gold Standard” of HD channels like they use to be. People don’t want to pay to see the same thing over and over again no matter how good it looks.
My ruling here is for Dish Network… Case dismissed!
We will see you back here Friday for another edition of “The Satellite Dish” in the next edition we will be doing a special report on Dish Network and their relations with their retailer including the story of how one retailer was terminated by Echostar over a newspaper ad he did not place. Will Dish Network be the hero in this case or will be the evil villain?
We will find out here on Friday here at MultiChannel.COM!
Posted by Scott Greczkowski on February 27, 2008 | Comments (2)
