I am mad at Dish Satellite

[Aurora Astrum 0]

I had to get up to use the washroom at about 4:30 today, and mom fell asleep watching tv, and I thought that she had one of the Dish music stations on. When I got out of the washroom, there was a message saying that for the time being, Dish had no choice but to drop CBS, UPN, Nicolodeon, Comedy Central and a few other stations because Viacom raised their prices for satellite and cable channels to carry them. 4 of the shows I watch on a weekly basis are on those channels---Enterprise is the obvious one, but on CBS I like to watch Navy NCIS, Joan of Arcadia and JAG. And my nieces and nephews are going to be mad about us not being able to get Nicolodeon. I never watched Comedy Central, so that is no biggie, but I do not know what other channels Viacom owns. As soon as I find out the address for Dish, I am going to be writing one nasty letter, but I won't be surprised if it doesn't do a thing. I have a tv in my bedroom that is not hooked up to satellite, but CBS comes in extremely snowy, and UPN is a close second. We do have a tv in the kitchen, but same results for CBS, and it only goes up to channel 13, so no alternative tvs to watch them on. Do they still make Sony Watchmans, and if so, how much?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Aurora :) who feels like doing this :) and this :( to Dish!!!

[Indy 8]

It's due to a legal dispute. This is what TrekToday said:

 

TV Week has reported that EchoStar Communications' DISH Network will stop carrying signals from 15 CBS stations at midnight tonight if the satellite company and Viacom can't resolve a legal dispute. If the Viacom networks carried by EchoStar go dark, UPN, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon would all be affected.

 

And this is what TV Week said:

 

EchoStar Preparing to Drop Viacom Channels: EchoStar Communications' DISH Network satellite service will stop carrying signals from CBS's 15 owned-and-operated television stations at midnight Monday if the satellite company and CBS parent Viacom can't resolve a legal dispute over retransmission fees and the networks EchoStar must carry.

 

The deadline stems from a restraining order imposed by a federal judge that was set to expire March 8, after which EchoStar must cease airing those 15 O&Os if the two companies have not reached a settlement. Local affiliates not owned by Viacom are not affected.

 

At issue is the rate EchoStar must pay Viacom to retransmit CBS and which cable networks the satellite operator must carry. Specifically, EchoStar officials are balking at Viacom's demand that in order to carry CBS it must also carry the Nickelodeon GAS channel. EchoStar filed an antitrust suit against Viacom to challenge the media giant's demands.

 

If no agreement can be reached by the deadline, all of the Viacom networks carried by EchoStar would go dark. In addition to top-rated CBS, the networks affected include MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

 

Maybe if they resolve their differences, all will be well again. Good luck.

[stoned_vulcan 0]

Good luck with teh dish and the disputes if i could send you some tapes of trek i wood... i hope that it comes back soon

[Guest Ktrek]

I also have Dish Network but so far my local UPN affiliate was not affected by the blackout. I doubt that it will go on long and I wouldn't really hold Dish Network responsible. They have been negotiating with Viacom to not have to raise rates. I think the blackmail that Viacom is doing shows who the real bad guy is here. If you still want to see your shows you can download them via bit torrents if you have high speed internet. I download ENT on Tuesday evenings and watch it on my DVD player after burningit in VCD format on Wed. right after work.

 

Ktrek

[shadowfigment 0]

This dispute is over... It usually dosent take long for disputes like this to get ironed out.