Dish Network's Eric Sahl Out?
Reports are coming out that Dish Network Senior Vice President of Programming Eric Sahl is leaving the company by the end of the year. The first report of his departure came from an unusual place that being SportsBusinessJournal.COM and not an industry site such as MultiChannel.
Eric Sahl took over the position of Senior Vice President of after Michael Schwimmer left the company in the summer of 2005.
I contacted Echostar for comment on Eric departure and received back just a “no comment.”
The news of Eric’s departure has taken me by surprise, besides being known as a tough negotiator with program providers Eric’s quick wit and charismatic personality have made Eric a popular guess on Dish Network “Charlie Chat” show with Charlie Ergen, and Sahl also seemed to like playing the role as head mascot and cheerleader for the company at company events such as Dish Networks Team Summit event for retailers.
Over the summer I was able to sit down with both Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen and Eric Sahl and talk with them off the record about the industry and was very impressed with how open and honest both were and why they do some of the things they do.
Sahl has been known to be a tough negotiator and has had numbers public fights with companies such as the NFL, VOOM, NHL, MLB and others. In the end of most of these fights Dish had the programming it wanted, who knows what the programmers got.
If indeed Eric Sahl is leaving then I can do is wish him the best, as he deserves it.
I will continue following this one closely.
Sling Launches Media Portal
Echostar’s Sling Media company has taken the wraps off of its new Sling.COM website. When most people think of Sling they immediately think of the Slingbox, but now Sling is so much more. At Sling.COM internet users can watch many of their favorite shows online, with complete episodes and clips from many popular shows such as “The Simpsons”, “60 Minutes” and “The Unit.” In addition Sling.COM’s portal lets you enjoy all your favorite classic television shows as well.
The nice part about all of this is you don’t need to own a Slingbox to enjoy Sling.COM, in fact the Sling.COM portal is free. But if you do own a Slingbox you can watch your Slingbox on any PC via the Sling.COM website without having to download or install and Slingplayer software!
If you’re a fan of TV you might want to bookmark Sling.COM, after all what more fun than shopping online on Cyber Monday then watching television? J
LUIS commented:
WE NEED TVN. CHANNEL FORM CHILE BACK.
ecm44 commented:
Do you know if Canal Uno from Ecuador is back with Dish Network? They say they are but I can\’t find them.
michael55 commented:
Maybe now with this person leaving ,I might be able to get local channel CARIBE VISION CH24 in Puerto Rico ,this is Puerto Rico's version of ESPN and it has all the local sports on this channel ..I ,ve been asking Dish Network for years to put this channel on there local lineup.
Juice commented:
I also agree with NightNinja. I really enjoy your blog and your insights, but maybe you can have someone else proofread it before you publish it? But I do have to say that your english has improved and keep up the hard work! We all love your work!
NightNinja commented:
Although I do enjoy your insights on the satellite industry, sometimes your blog is difficult to read due to the many grammatical and typographical errors. Do you read what you write before you post it or do you just run it through a spell checker assuming that is good enough? Although your writing has gotten much better over the 200+ blog postings, sometimes it is unbearable and I can't finish it. I do realize you are not a writer by nature, but I do appreciate your hard work and hope you can work harder at polishing your writing before publication.
Media Man commented:
What does Mr. Sahl's departure mean for Dish Network? Will they bring back Voom? Will they finally pick up channels I have been begging them to carry?