[While I am sure these channels have many devoted fans, I am not among them. I wouldn't watch them even if they paid me. The fact that my subscription is paying them 36 cents/month really rubs me the wrong way. In a free market I would choose not to subscribe. But of course, we don't have a free market in subscription TV.]
E!, Style Face Dish Disconnect On Jan. 1 Comcast, DBS Provider Are Negotiating Contract Renewal Ahead Of Deadline Mike Reynolds Multichannel News 12/30/2010 4:22:02 PM http://www.multichannel.com/article/461631-E_Style_Face_Dish_Disconnect_On_Jan_1.php Add executives at E!, Style and Dish Network to those who will be engaged in contract negotiations on New Year's Eve. The parties face the expiration of their contract at midnight on Jan. 1. E!'s Chelsea LatelyThe Comcast-owned networks are running crawls on their air indicating that Dish customers could lose the services in January. In a statement, network officials said they are in renewal talks with the DBS provider. "We are in active negotiations with Dish Network. We are trying to reach a fair agreement, however, it is our belief they will once again turn their backs on their subscribers by dropping the networks and holding E! and Style fans hostage. In actively choosing to discontinue these two networks, Dish is denying their subscribers E!, the ultimate network for entertainment fans with marquee January events from exclusive coverage of "Red Carpet" season to the premiere of the new season of the Kardashian show Kourtney & Kim Take NY, and Style, the home of transformations, from fashion, to beauty to home, featuring all-new seasons of Kimora and Jerseylicious. The networks are encouraging viewers to visit fansfightback.com or call 877-5-Fans-Fight to make their voice heard. On Thursday afternoon, E! ran a spot indicating that Dish customers, starting Jan. 1, could miss out on Kourtney & Kim Take NY, its Red Carpet coverage, E! News, The Soup and Chelsea Lately. According to SNL Kagan estimates, E! has an average monthly subscriber fee of around 23 cents, while its sister service receives about 13 cents. "Dish Network has been negotiating diligently with Comcast for some time for continued carriage of E! Entertainment Television and Style," said Dave Shull, senior vice president of programming for Dish Network LLC, in a statement. "We're disappointed that Comcast is now unwilling to engage in good faith negotiations. We remain willing to meet with them to continue the discussions." The potential disconnect with entertainment networks isn't the only contractual issue between Comcast and Dish. Comcast SportsNet California has been off the No. 2 DBS operator's air for more than five weeks. Dish dropped the regional sports network at midnight on Nov. 24 about a dozen hours after it lost a baseball-style arbitration for its proposal before a Federal Communications Commission arbitrator on Nov 23. Dish had initiated the arbitration under a condition imposed upon Comcast's (and Time Warner Cable's) 2006 acquisition of Adelphia Communications that enabled the No. 2 DBS provider to ask for an FCC-mandated arbitrator to settle any pricing impasse. The parties have been out of contract since September 2009, but CSN California had remained on Dish's air until Nov. 24. Dish has also initiated other arbitration proceedings against three other Comcast-owned RSNs: CSN Bay Area, CSN Chicago and CSN Mid-Atlantic, all of which are also out of contract with the distributor. -- ======================================== George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
