News & Politics - EchoStar Pulls Viacom Channels

mcdreamylover · 03-09-2004, 11:34 AM

Quote:

EchoStar Pulls Viacom Channels
1 hour, 49 minutes ago Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - EchoStar Communications Corp. on Tuesday pulled from service 16 of Viacom's local CBS stations and 10 of its national channels after the companies failed to agree on contract terms and prices.

Viacom said in a statement it was "dismayed and disappointed" by the action, which affected channels like MTV and Nickelodeon, after a deadline expired early on Tuesday.

Satellite company EchoStar said it would like to transmit CBS programing on its DISH network again, but both parties stood their ground in the dispute.

The move, which analysts say affects 1.6 million EchoStar viewers in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, follows a lawsuit from EchoStar in January after a four-month deadlock over rates and conditions.

EchoStar said Viacom was illegally forcing its DISH Network to carry cable networks it does not want in order for it to retain the right to transmit CBS.

"DISH Network would always have a place for CBS, and we're willing to pay for retransmission rights," said EchoStar Chief Executive Charles Ergen, but he said Viacom was "holding the public airways hostage."

EchoStar said Viacom had also asked for rate increases of up to 40 percent over the length of its contract with the company.

Viacom urged EchoStar customers to switch to another distributor, and said the satellite company should be able to cope with a rate rise since it had already raised its own fees to end-users.

"They recently hiked their subscribers' bills by as much as $3 a month. Yet they are unwilling to consider paying an additional six cents a month per subscriber for the right to carry our channels," Viacom said in a statement.

EchoStar said it would provide a $1 monthly credit to customers who lose programing while the channels are unavailable.

(additional reporting by Kenneth Li)

Enigma, I.C. · 03-09-2004, 12:09 PM

We have Directv and they keep running crawls saying "Echostar/Dishnetwork want to take the following channels away from their subscribers: blah blah etc." This will certainly backfire on Echostar/Dishnetwork, as they will have many irate customers calling them.

Lexi A. · 03-09-2004, 02:39 PM

Yeah, I'd have to say I'm pretty frustrated that when I got home today I found that I couldn't get any of the Viacom channels - some of which I do actually watch.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can do about it right now. Unless I want to pay an amazingly high amount of money, I can't drop the Dish Network service until my contract runs out in August. *sigh*

girl in a cardigan · 03-09-2004, 03:58 PM

I saw that scrolling as I watched MTV last night, but I didn't know what was going on.

Cox Cable did something similar a few years ago with Fox and it blew up in their face.

last beautiful girl · 03-09-2004, 10:03 PM

Echostar's a satelitte dish, right? Not cable.

mcdreamylover · 03-09-2004, 10:10 PM

last beautiful girl · 03-09-2004, 11:03 PM

Oh. Okay.

mcdreamylover · 03-10-2004, 10:35 PM

From Yahoo! News:

Quote:

EchoStar Customer Sues Service Over CBS Dispute
1 hour, 10 minutes ago Add Entertainment - Reuters TV to My Yahoo!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An irate EchoStar Communications Corp subscriber sued the satellite service provider on Wednesday, after EchoStar pulled CBS and 10 Viacom Inc. cable networks this week.

The subscriber, Rebecca Dolan, filed the suit in San Francisco Superior Court, after EchoStar's DISH Network satellite television service dropped Viacom's programming, including Viacom-owned CBS, "without warning."

"Dish is saying that it has the right to eliminate critical aspects of its programming packages, yet its customers have no right to terminate their relationship ... unless they pay a termination fee of up to $240," said Eric Gibbs, an attorney at Girard, Gibbs & DeBartolomeo LLP, who represents the plaintiff.

EchoStar is offering to reimburse customers between $1 and $2 a month for the outage.

EchoStar pulled CBS from 16 cities and Viacom cable networks nationwide after failing to arrive at an agreement to renew a deal to carry Viacom channels.

EchoStar, based in Englewood, Colorado, sued Viacom in January, charging the media conglomerate with illegally forcing it to carry cable networks it did not want in exchange for the right to retransmit CBS broadcasts in some local markets.

Dolan remains a subscriber, Gibbs said.

Katis · 03-10-2004, 10:42 PM

My mom has DishNetwork, or whatever. I remember seeing the scrolling thing. What crap. $1? For taking away how many channels? Jerks.

mcdreamylover · 03-11-2004, 07:47 AM

Yahoo! News:

Quote:

Angry Viewers Push EchoStar, Viacom Deal
22 minutes ago

By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

DENVER - After a two-day blackout that brought the wrath of satellite television viewers by the thousands, EchoStar Communications Corp. and Viacom Inc. reached a deal that restored several popular channels such as MTV and Nickelodeon to the DISH Network.

The two sides reached a deal early Thursday. Within 20 minutes, Viacom's channels, including VH1, Comedy Central and BET, were back on DISH, EchoStar spokesman Marc Lumpkin said.

EchoStar had dropped Viacom channels early Tuesday in a dispute over fees. Up to 9 million DISH satellite television viewers were affected.

The dispute also left as many as 2 million DISH viewers without CBS shows when EchoStar pulled the network's programing in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis and Dallas.

DISH subscribers in those cities were threatened with the loss of the upcoming NCAA (news - web sites) men's basketball tournament, which begins March 18 on CBS. Viacom is CBS' parent corporation.

Viacom and EchoStar began sparring after a contract for the DISH Network to broadcast Viacom channels expired Dec. 31. The contract was extended at least three times, with the latest court order expiring late Monday.

MTV spokeswoman Jeanine Smartt said customer displeasure as a factor in the renewed negotiations that led to a deal.

"Really, it was the outcry from the viewers that truly, I think, brought EchoStar back to the negotiating table," Smartt said. "They called us by the thousands and thousands."

Financial terms of the new contract were not disclosed.

The deal will add the Nicktoons channel to some DISH packages this spring. It also extends the length of DISH's contract to carry the CBS HD East and West, Spike TV and CMT channels.

"We understand that this has been a difficult few days for our customers, and we thank them for all the encouragement they have given us throughout," EchoStar chairman and CEO Charles Ergen said in a joint statement with Viacom. "We also look forward to a long relationship with Viacom in which we can provide their quality channels to our viewers."

In the statement, Viacom president Mel Karmazin apologized for the service disruption and thanked viewers "for their patience and support."

EchoStar said Viacom illegally tried to force it to carry channels at unfair prices in exchange for the right to also carry 18 CBS-owned stations in 16 markets.

It said New York-based Viacom sought rate increases up to 40 percent over the length of the contract, which would total potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.

Viacom officials said EchoStar was fighting over what amounted to 6 cents more per customer per month.

DISH customers will receive a credit of $1 if they lost CBS programming and an additional $1 if they lost any Viacom channels during the blackout period.

Besides CBS, media conglomerate Viacom also owns MTV and the Paramount movie studio.

The blackout was the largest disruption since 2000, when a similar dispute between Time Warner cable and ABC interrupted service to 3.5 million cable customers.

SuperDeluxe · 03-11-2004, 10:59 AM

2 bucks for losing like 26 channels?

Lexi A. · 03-12-2004, 01:42 PM

Well, the whole thing is over now. We have our channels back, and our bill isn't going to be raised.

Headhunter · 03-12-2004, 04:09 PM

More customers should place harsh pressure on corporations to demand what they want; clearly, it works very well.

I'm Not Your Boy Toy · 03-14-2004, 11:50 PM

i was originally under the impression that the channels were pulled because of the stunt at the Super Bowl. if that were the case id support it because its about time that someone stood up for what was right.

now that it comes down to money and contracts theyre a bunch of punks who need to throw out the cash. besides more and more people are switchin over to cable, myself included.


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