Dish Network planning to drop BTN on Saturday
Dish Network is at it again. They pulled MSG and MSG+ in October of 2010 (and still haven't restored it), dropped SNY on Opening Day of the Mets 2011 season, and have had issues with various other regional sports networks. I'm not even taking into account the current dispute that has resutled in AMC being pulled off the air, right before the start of season five of Breaking Bad. Now, Dish is going at it with another sports network: the Big Ten Network.
Dish is scheduled to drop BTN on September 1st. That's this Saturday, or as sports fans know it, the first college football weekend of the year. To BTN's credit, they've created a very informative and detailed website (as well as a dedicated Twitter account) about the dispute, outlining the points of contention between the network and Dish. The BTN site is also showing fans which games they'll miss this football season if the dispute isn't resolved, and shows a nice summary of Dish's previous disputes with other networks.
Some of the responses by Dish on Facebook have been.... interesting....
I didn't post the numerous comments from customers complaining where Dish essentially said "we're sorry BTN dragged you into these negotiations." But the first comment is the one that would really irritate me if I were in this situation with Dish. Nine of the twelve Big Ten teams (wtih Nebraska, Michigan, and Penn State being the lone exceptions) have games on BTN over the first three weeks of the season. If I can't watch my team with my TV package... why would I care that I can watch 130 other games? If this was happening in the south, SEC fans would be going insane if they were told they couldn't watch their team because of a dispute between a network and a provider.
As a sports fan, I'd be wary if I were a current or potential Dish customer, especially if I were a fan of a regionalized team. With Dish dropping New York RSNs, BTN, and not having a future agreement for the Pac-12 Network, what could this mean in the future for other RSNs or conference specific networks? More business for DirecTV perhaps?
I have Dish and am now awaiting AT&T U-Verse to be installed at my house. I will miss week one from the comfort of my own living room, but I will not miss week two.Dish dumped many channels and has offered nothing of value in return. I'm done with them. I actually thought about DirectTV, but decided differently, after reading about their Viacom debacle.
Everyone thinks this is Dish Networks fault when in reality it's the stations asking for a ridiculous increase in what they receive from Dish. Put the fault on these greedy stations, not Dish.
@pepca Says the likely Dish shill. Dish Network continues to lose channels (most notably AMC recently) and has offered NOTHING to their customers. Customers were promised these channels when they signed up. Dish should either lower their prices, or allow these customers to leave their contracts. Dish is a JOKE!
@pepca it goes both ways, I would assume it to be all the greedy stations but at the same time Dish is the only one losing sports networks yet not lowering prices to compensate so I must also assume Dish is at fault and greedy as well.
@MichaelJacob1 why do you believe Dish needs to lower their prices? They have the lowest prices in the industry. I left DirecTV because I could get more channels AND pay $35 less/month with Dish. They are trying to keep prices as low as possible so I don't blame them when they balk at paying outrageous increases from some of these stations.
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To be fair, DirecTV isn't much better. Remember their dispute with Viacom? Wasn't that long ago, either. Add the fact that neither Dish or DirecTV carry Pac-12 Network or WatchESPN. Every cable and satellite carrier tends to be more and more prone to these and it's a real shame because all it does in hurts the consumer. And all of this just for money.
Mark Silverman, President of BTN, did a pretty extensive regional media campaign (local sports talk radio) by executive standards over the last week or so to position the network as the victim/protagonist in all of this. Without taking any sides, from a PR standpoint, BTN is winning in a landslide in public opinion.
