Fox Pulls Plug on Dish By Mike Farrell Multichannel News
10/4/2010 12:01:00 AM http://www.multichannel.com/article/458028-Fox_Pulls_Plug_on_Dish.php Fox Networks pulled the plug on a number of networks last week, leaving 14.3 million Dish Network customers in the middle of an increasingly contentious carriage dispute that could set the tone for higher stakes retransmissionconsent negotiations next month. The status of the negotiations as of press time is in flux, and a deal could be reached at any moment. Given Dish’s track record in carriage disputes, that could mean a deal could be reached in a few days, a few weeks or never. The deadline to reach a deal for FX, National Geographic Channel and 19 Fox Sports Net regional sports channels came and went at midnight (PT) on Oct. 1. As both sides traded barbs, Dish concentrated on the exorbitant 50%-plus rate increases it claims the broadcaster is demanding (and which Fox predictably denies), while News Corp.-owned Fox focused on its desire to be fairly compensated. While neither side would give specifics, SNL Kagan estimates that FX receives average monthly carriage fees per subscriber of 43 cents and Nat Geo of about 21 cents. Fees for the sports networks range from 52 cents to $2.88 per subscriber per month, according to Kagan data. “Dish Network is not going to allow Fox or any programmer to bully our customers into paying such an unconscionable price increase,” Dish senior vice president of programming Dave Shull said in a statement. In the meantime, Dish said it is making several channels available to its customers at no additional charge during the dispute, including HD Net Movies, HD Theater, NBA TV, NFL Network, NHL Network, and several other regional sports networks. Fox countered that it is only asking for fair compensation for its networks. And it warned that Dish subscribers could face the same problems with its Fox broadcast and MyNetwork TV stations come Nov. 1, when their retransmission-consent deals expire with the satellite giant. “The proposal we’ve offered Dish is fair and in line with the tremendous value we provide,” Fox said in a statement. “We regret the inconvenience to our viewers, but Dish has asserted its subscribers do not value our channels and has made a decision to go forward without them.” Fox encouraged Dish customers to vist its www.getwhatipaidfor.com website for more information. Among Fox’s recommendations on the site is for Dish subscribers to switch to DirecTV, FiOS, AT&T U-Verse or their local cable operator. Fox and Dish both have a history of tough negotiations over carriage agreements. The programmer had a high-profile retrans battles with Time Warner Cable in January and is currently in negotiations with Cablevision Systems. Dish has not been afraid to allow networks to fall off in past negotiations — about 10 Viacom cable networks, including MTV and Nickelodeon, and 15 CBS broadcast stations went dark for two days on Dish in 2004; and Lifetime channels met the same fate for several weeks in 2006. And the No. 2 satellite carrier has never carried YES Network, the regional sports channel carrying New York Yankees baseball games. This year, Fuse network fell from the satellite giant’s lineup in July and HD feeds for Disney Channel, Disney XD, ESPNews and ABC Family all fell off in June and remain so. While Dish may seem to have the upper hand in the current carriage fight — the upcoming Major League Baseball playoffs will be on other channels — it could be in for a battle come November. By that time, Fox Broadcasting stations will be well into Major League Baseball’s World Series (beginning Oct. 27) and weekend airings of National Football League games. According to www.getwhatipaidfor.com, Dish customers in 18 markets — including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia — could lose access to Fox owned-and-operated stations in those areas. Fox said it continues to negotiate with Dish and is “working hard to reach an agreement.” In a separate dispute, MSG Networks pulled its New York regional sports channels MSG and MSG Plus from Dish on Oct. 1, after the two reached a stalemate in negotiations. And though the networks are different, the arguments on both sides are the same — Dish thinks it’s paying too much and MSG thinks it isn’t getting paid enough. -- ======================================== 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 Medianews@etskywarn.net http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
