Not surprised. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=580&u=/nm/20021010/bs_nm/media_hughes_fcc_dc This opens the door now for News Corp/Rupert Murdoch to come in and make another bid. Would not be surprised if Cablevision tries to hook up with Murdoch. If Murdoch gets it, will be interesting to see what kind of impact it would have with regards to Fox (i.e. FSW) programming on Dish Network. (Would Dish "retaliate" and drop FSW for example?) The soap opera continues.
Thats a good question. Wouldn't surprise me. However, from my experience with Dish - they seem to really care about Intl programming (or did a few years ago). And by "care", I mean, know they can make money from it. That was their reason for picking up PPV cricket. They had so many requests from fans here in the States. I would say Dish customers should make sure they send letters of praise for FSW if a situation arises.
if there were to be any retaliations couldnt you just switch to the other dish provider the harshness of cable always used to be that if they dropped your channel you had no where else to turn at least now with 2 dish companies and cable you have options
The down side of this news, as it pertains to us soccer fans, is that part of the reasoning that Echostar (Dish) used for the merger was that it would free up some bandwidth when the two companies joined operations. Both companies operate off the same satellites (which are operated by Echostar), so they are dividing the available bandwidth. A single company would have more bandwidth space to offer more channels, interactive services, and high-speed internet. The danger, in theory, is that if Dish runs into a bandwidth crunch, channels like FSW will be the first to go. One of the stated goals of the merger was to free up space to offer local channels nationwide and to provide new services like broadband internet and interactive programming. Those things are crucial to remaining competitive with cable. If it comes to staying competitive vs. offering small niche channels like FSW, the niche stuff would go away.
The so will I. I went with Dish after Comcast dropped FSW. If Dish drops it, then I have no problem going back to basic cable. ************'em all if they do that.
I don't think you have that right. Each company sends up their own satellites and allocates its bandwith as it sees fit. Did I misunderstand your comment?
hgold, Actually you were misinterpreting my comment, but I went and checked it out and it runs out I was wrong about Echostar owning the satellites (sorry). Both companies have their own. I could have sworn I read somewhere that Echostar owned them all... Anyway, here's a good link: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/satellite-biz-02p.html My main points are still the same.
I'm glad the FCC voted to keep the two companies separate. I agree that Dishnetwork has more international programming, but they're a__holes to deal with and a lot less cordial than the customer service rep's at Directv. Put them together under Dishnetwork and you'd have a monopoly with serious attitude problems when it comes to customer service. Competition is good; whether it's on the pitch or between satellite companies.
Of course, the satellite providers are advocating their own position in this piece. As things stand today, they could provide more local channel coverage and less competitive coverage. But they feel they need to duplicate coverage in the major markets. Well I live in a major market, and I don't subscribe to satellite for local coverage; I'd lose my local PBS station if I did. I use satellite to supplement my basic cable service and to supply my soccer viewing needs. Neither cable nor satellite services solely supply me with what I want today, so I need some of each. I don't need a less competetive situation, so I'm pleased with the FCC decision.
The thing is at the same time the FCC is about to approve a merger between Comcast and ATT Cable. No loss of competition there right? I guess Charlie needed to put down some more scratch in the donations box.
I think this is what it comes down to. The approved ATT/Comcast merger has more combined users than the declined Dish/DTV merger. They make a big deal about some small amount of rural users who would not have a choice, but how many current cable users are there in cities/apartments that only have one choice because they can't put up a satellite? Anyhow, as a Dish user, I am disappointed because they were going to use the extra bandwidth to put RAI and the french TV5 on the 119 (or whatever) so that I could subscribe to it and get more French and Italian soccer.
DirecTV Quoting: Well I live in a major market, and I don't subscribe to satellite for local coverage; I'd lose my local PBS station if I did. I use satellite to supplement my basic cable service and to supply my soccer viewing needs. Neither cable nor satellite services solely supply me with what I want today, so I need some of each. I don't need a less competetive situation, so I'm pleased with the FCC decision. I have DirecTV in Tampa. That is one of the markets that has local channels available. Besides the obvious local channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX), I also get a local PBS, WB, UPN, and a few Spanish channels that I never turn on. DirecTV just added those additional local channels about a month or two ago. All of those come with the local channels package through DirecTV. I am not sure if they have those channels (PBS, WB, etc) where you live, but its worth looking into.
RAI is already on 119 (the main one with most of the channels). There have been perpetual rumors of it getting switched over to a side satellite but there must be some "influential" Italians out there who have managed to prevent it so far.
Is the bandwidth really that big of an issue here? I have a hard time believing that. I personally see this as a good decision. I subscribe to DirecTV, and I prefer it over DISH, even though DirecTV was going to allow itself to be acquired by DISH. My in-laws have DISH, so I've seen it in action. I have to admit that DISH seems more soccer-friendly, but there are some things I don't like about DISH. For one thing, I don't have to commit to an annual contract, I just pay month-to-month, and I can modify my service at any time under this arrangement, including suspending my service but leaving the account active for a $3 monthly fee.
The difference is that Comcast and AT&T don't compete, at least not in the same markets. In some places, Comcast is "the cable company." In other places, AT&T Broadband is "the cable company." They don't compete, and you don't get a choice. You're stuck with one or the other. There was almost no competition yesterday, and there will be none tomorrow. Meanwhile, DirecTV and DISH were real competitors all over the nation. Almost everywhere in the US, they're your two choices for satellite TV. If the government had approved the merger, there would've been one satellite company, period.
As soon as people in Congress realize the 1996 Telecom deregulation bill f*ed everything up the better off the consumer will be.
I can see it (blocked) with my dish pointed to 119/108- but when I call they say that I have to get a second dish pointing to 148 in order to subscribe to it. I've called twice now. Do you have RAI with the lone dish?
No offense to any Dish CSRs out there, but my limited experience has taught me that they don't always know what they're talking about. I was trying to get TV5 when I first signed up and was told I'd have to point to 129, which basically just gets the Philly locals. They were wrong. Two conflicting reports about RAI. This link says it's already on 119: http://www.lyngsat.com/dig/dish7.shtml This one says it's only on 61.5 and 148: http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/.../rai/index.asp?viewby=2&packid=10019&sortby=1