EchoStar (Dish Network) Pulls Plug on Viacom Channels

[Liberal Veteran]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Satellite TV giant EchoStar Communications Corp. pulled the plug on MTV, Nickelodeon and CBS affiliates in more than a dozen cities early Tuesday in an escalating legal dispute with Viacom Inc. over the price of programming.

As many as 9 million customers of EchoStar's DISH Network nationwide were affected, including 1.6 million who watch CBS programming in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. The move that could threaten their ability to watch, among other things, the March Madness (news - web sites) college basketball tournament.

"We are willing to negotiate as soon as Viacom is willing to be reasonable," EchoStar spokesman Steve Caulk said. However, he said he knew of no negotiation plans.

"Viacom, which owns CBS, got the airwaves for free from the American public, allowing them to provide CBS," Caulk said. "Now they're using that as leverage to force us to pay ridiculous amounts for other channels people don't necessarily want."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040309/ap_on_bi_ge/echostar_viacom_9


Wow. I can't believe that they actually did it.

[PartyPooper]

1. *Sigh* Well, I will miss "60 Minutes" and the CBS Evening News.

But, that's about it.

[Anus Retainus]

2. Aargh! No more Daily Show!!

Does anybody have VOOM? Should I look at that instead, or should I swap to DirecTV?

[buddy22600]

3. Doesnt Murdoch own DirectTV?

[w4rma]

7. Yup. But this article is about Dish, Murdoch's satellite competitor. (n/t)

[RoundRockD]

4. VOOM?

What is VOOM? I have DirecTV, but only for NFL ticket. Have had no problems as of yet.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. VOOM? What is VOOM?!!

"...VOOM is so hard to get. You've never seen anything like it, I bet".

- Dr. Suess, from "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back"

[tkmorris]

5. Actually

I think what Echostar did is a good thing. I may be forced to miss The Daily Show, and that hurts, but I'm glad that they are not allowing Viacom to shove a deal down their throats.

[Say_What]

6. Free Speech TV and Link TV trump 60 minutes any day

:-)

[tkmorris]

8. That is a FACT

I think I'll mention my appreciation for those two channels (again) when I write them my letter of support. :hi:

[kysrsoze]

11. I agree. I'm sticking with Dish. DTV isn't bad either.

Of course, Comcast has jacked their rates up over 20% recently. I will never go cable again.

[kysrsoze]

10. I almost went to VOOM until I found out you have to pay $750 to start

However, the starting equipment costs are now dropping to $500. Still too much for me. I ended up going to Dish b/c they give out free HDTV receivers whereas DirectTV does not ($300, I believe).

HDTV sucks right now anyway. I get more entertainment out of local digitals than what the satellite companies carry. ESPN is almost never in widescreen and most of HBO is in 4:3 format except movies and Sopranos. HDNet carries such great series' as Hogan's Heroes and Charlie's Angels. It's a lot of crap right now. I would consider going to cable which has more HDTV, but Comcast is an absolute ripoff and I hate them.

Guess that's what we get for being early adopters.

[shanti]

9. i will ask this again

is direct tv protesting this rate increase also? are they even being CHARGED the rate increase??

on edit: does anyone realize how MANY channels this applies to? it's not just cbs and nickelodeon. they are pulling SUNDANCE too! wahhhhhhh!

[CO Liberal]

12. I Have DirecTV

So far, none of our channels are being threatened....

[mikehiggins]

14. The endgame approaches for the media long before it will

for the oil companies, but it is the same in the end for all of them.

Companies have to continually improve their bottom lines to keep the game going. Eventually they have to go to the mattresses with other companies just as big as they are, or fall by the wayside.

I'm not sure, but I suspect that is inherent in what Dennis calls predatory capitalism. When you eat up all the market, you have to start eating your own. Sort of like a media Donner Party.

[Sgt. Peppers]

15. I ditched them for broad band last year. :)

Sooooo much faster and it is nice to talk to someone in my city if their is a problem. So far its all been good, ecept I do miss VH1 Clasics.