UPN's message to DISH customers

[amheck]

I saw something which I found very funny this evening. Tonite, my wife had the TV on UPN (which it's almost never on). Tuesday's have been pretty bad for TV lately (except for the Amazing Race, but that's over), so for some reason she had Gilmore Girls on.

Anyway, as I was walking by, I saw a msg scrolling across the bottom of the screen. I stopped to read it. It said something to the idea of UPN is in negotiations with DISH Network, but they don't have everything worked out, so there will probably be a loss of service on so-and-so of a date. So then they basically told people to contact their local cable company or DirectTV if they wish to make sure they don't loose UPN.

I thought this was a very clevar negotiation technique. Anyone else seen this? Maybe this is old news since this may have been running for weeks and I just never saw it.

Aaron

[Floyd]

All of the players in this negotiation are in it for the money, and they push it to the limit. I suspect that UPN is balking at the number of DTV promos they want to insert over the original programming. It surprises me how many self-promoting commercials I have to watch on DTV.......when I allready have paid to watch their subscribed channels.

[Dknow]

To Dish's credit this happens periodically and it is egg on their faces, but they do still have the lowest prices. The Viacom situation last year is ancient history now, but Dish didn't have to raise prices too much because of their demands. I might be signing up for Dish soon.

[Brian@Digital Solutions]

I am a Dish retailer and Dknow is right. When these providers renew contracts, some of the networks, like OLN, Lifetime, and Viacom, etc have really tried to raise their rates, and I'm talking about 4 times the normal inflation, which then gets passes on to the customers. CEO of DISH Charlie has had noting to do with it and has played hardball right back.

[D.Vinly]

lol thats too funny.. I need a black tail like that on my dish..lol

[Roger 9]

I am a Dish retailer and Dknow is right. When these providers renew contracts, some of the networks, like OLN, Lifetime, and Viacom, etc have really tried to raise their rates, and I'm talking about 4 times the normal inflation, which then gets passes on to the customers. CEO of DISH Charlie has had noting to do with it and has played hardball right back.

I don't have a problem with Charlie playing hardball but for cripes sake, why do we not have MLB when the other three major sports are already there (not to mention all the college specialty stations).

MLB wants their station on basic/extended basic and Dish only has NFL there. NBA and NHL are extra so just add MLB. What's the problem there?

And I don't understand why the MLB Extra Innings PPV package isn't available because it cost the same (for consumers) whether it is on satellite or cable.