Dish & Fox Networks Settle Dispute
I may have missed it posted elsewhere, but it looks like Dish and Fox have decided to not screw with the rest of our football season.
October 10th, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
I'm not a client... but wow... for those that were/are, that was some seriously fucked up shit!
October 10th, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^
I look forward to the day we can buy a la carte subscriptions directly from the broadcasters
October 10th, 2019 at 1:44 PM ^
Agreed 100%, but I doubt it happens in our lifetimes.
October 10th, 2019 at 1:49 PM ^
I'd tend to agree with you, but I'm still not sure that's it going to be saving us consumers any money. I'd love to be proven wrong on this though.
October 10th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
The channels you want will be super expensive. Before ESPN started streaming, there was an estimate done based on the % of people with cable subscriptions actually watching ESPN and the fee that providers pay to include ESPN. It estimated that ESPN would need to charge $20/month to break even. That's why ESPN has been a money drain for Disney in the last several years.
ABC and NBC are releasing their own streaming services, which will probably be $10+/month if you want sports. At that rate, if you want ABC/ESPN, Fox, NBC, and CBS, you're looking at the $40-50 range, which might as well just be a local bundle from a cable company. The one benefit would be the ability to only sign up for a few months a year. Outside of that, these companies are accustomed to making a certain amount each year and they aren't going to switch to a model that results in them making less money.
October 10th, 2019 at 2:12 PM ^
At that rate, if you want ABC/ESPN, Fox, NBC, and CBS, you're looking at the $40-50 range, which might as well just be a local bundle from a cable company.
I do Hulu plus TV for $45 a month and get everything I ever watch college football on like ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, ESPN 2, & BTN. Plus you get all the other stuff like TBS, TNT, FX, etc. That would easily cost over $100 with cable. The only reason I do that is to get BTN. Then, once the CFB season is over I just do Sling Orange for $15. I easily save myself $500/year over cable prices.
The one benefit would be the ability to only sign up for a few months a year.
That's a huge benefit, in addition to flat prices year after year versus cable's introductory prices which then balloon in the second year of service.
Outside of that, these companies are accustomed to making a certain amount each year and they aren't going to switch to a model that results in them making less money.
I think they'll have to or go out of business.
October 10th, 2019 at 2:57 PM ^
It's their content. As long as people refuse to give up live access to sports, they can charge whatever they want.
To your point about paying $45/month, that's the range that I suggested you'd have to pay to have access to all of those channels. The other channels that you mention are not what people sign subscriptions for. They are largely subsidized by commercials.
But the original point was about signing up for channels a la carte. For Michigan football games, you basically need Fox and ABC, but for SEC games you need ABC and CBS. For basketball games, you need ABC and CBS. If you can sign up for exactly the channels you want for exactly the time period you want, then the price is going to go up to support their costs. If half the country is no longer paying for Fox or CBS, then those prices are likely to double. The alternative is for them to make money with more commercials or to sell your data.
October 10th, 2019 at 6:10 PM ^
It's their content. As long as people refuse to give up live access to sports, they can charge whatever they want.
I think that's exactly what people are doing. Or at least choosing streaming services over cable. I haven't had cable for 3 years and would never go back until they change their prices or subscription options. I'm predicting other people do the same and they are forced to get more competitive with the streaming services, change their business model, or go out of business all together.
To your point about paying $45/month, that's the range that I suggested you'd have to pay to have access to all of those channels.
The only way to get BTN where I live through cable is by using Comcast/Spectrum. In order to get just BTN you're required to purchase the basic package plus the sports package which in total is $139.99. But, you can get them all through Hulu TV, Youtube TV, PSV for around $50.
October 10th, 2019 at 6:10 PM ^
It's their content. As long as people refuse to give up live access to sports, they can charge whatever they want.
I think that's exactly what people are doing. Or at least choosing streaming services over cable. I haven't had cable for 3 years and would never go back until they change their prices or subscription options. I'm predicting other people do the same and they are forced to get more competitive with the streaming services, change their business model, or go out of business all together.
To your point about paying $45/month, that's the range that I suggested you'd have to pay to have access to all of those channels.
The only way to get BTN where I live through cable is by using Comcast/Spectrum. In order to get just BTN you're required to purchase the basic package plus the sports package which in total is $139.99. But, you can get them all through Hulu TV, Youtube TV, PSV for around $50.
October 10th, 2019 at 8:10 PM ^
I have Spectrum internet + PS Vue for about $100 or so a month total.
October 10th, 2019 at 6:15 PM ^
...but haven't we already learned that they are selling more commercials (e.g. 4 min Red Hat breaks) and our data (e.g. Vizio lawsuit, Roku adding in ads).
I have a gmail account knowing that they are scanning the hell out of that data but it's free. If a Pay TV provider wants to do the same go ahead but me shelling out $60-100/mo is going away quickly.
October 10th, 2019 at 3:32 PM ^
I find a lot of these recurring conversations on here amusing. I'm told that I will not save any money with these new plans and I have to laugh. My Dish network subscription was $102 a month when I cancelled it for essentially the same thing I periodically subscribe to on YouTube TV, minus a few channels I never watched anyway. I now pay $49.99/month. I can cancel my subscription at the tail end of a month for a week or so if no games I want to watch are on the horizon. I can easily cancel for months at a time without calling anybody. My plan is to cancel it in February after the SB, start it up in early March for late season M basketball/tourney purposes, and cancel in April through September. $250 vs $1,200. I guess it's impossible to save money this way
October 10th, 2019 at 2:27 PM ^
No you most certainly do not. Unless you wish for a day with less options and paying the same amount per month for 5 channels of shittier quality than you currently do for 80 channels.
October 10th, 2019 at 1:46 PM ^
I'm glad to see that a group of billionaires settled their commercial dispute.
October 10th, 2019 at 3:25 PM ^
Don’t get mad.
Get etrade
October 10th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
I'm happy to have the channels back but I still can't get Fox Sports Detroit.
I believe Sinclair owns the regional fox sports channels now. Hopefully Dish and Sinclair can agree on something.
October 10th, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
its so nice when we can all just get along.
October 10th, 2019 at 2:03 PM ^
Been a mostly content DirecTV customer for many years and the NFL package was a big factor in that. Never really entertained Dish Network. Finally cancelled the NFL package after many years and have found that the pirate streams on line are way better than a few years ago (had to use them in years past because our local team was being blacked out for non sellouts) - the buffering every 20 seconds is gone. Been great.
October 10th, 2019 at 2:08 PM ^
This shit happens every year. Just use https://www.reddit.com/r/CFBStreams/
October 10th, 2019 at 2:16 PM ^
I am a Dish customer and it didn't hit me too hard; only because I went to the games against Rutgers and Iowa and I had a birthday party to go to during the Lions-Chiefs game.
We still don't have Fox Sports Detroit though- so I'm missing out on the Wings and Pistons fighting it out for the basement.
October 10th, 2019 at 3:39 PM ^
What about the Tigers? Oh wait, they don't need to fight for what they already have.
October 10th, 2019 at 2:19 PM ^
Now can NFL and ATT solve their dispute?
October 10th, 2019 at 2:20 PM ^
They settled it last Sunday morning, right before the games started here on the west coast. I am sure they got a ton of flack and decided to settle. I thought they would settle because of college football, but it looked like they were fine not having college football for two weeks. However the NFL is a different thing altogether and I actually thought they would settle before any NFL games were impacted. They also gave free Sunday of redzone to maybe pacify their customers.
Seven of the top-10 shows in one week were NFL related, meaning some pre-game shows got higher ratings than other primetime shows.
October 10th, 2019 at 2:23 PM ^
As a DISH user, it pretty well sucked. But I have to admit - was kind of funny to watch Fox basically bitch slap DISH using commercials, telling everyone to switch from DISH for two weeks.
October 10th, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^
This happened like a week ago.
October 10th, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
I have Comcast, and so far, I feel like I've been fortunate that all I need to do is bitch my way to a reduced rate every 18 months or so. Of course, my luck might change one day.
October 10th, 2019 at 9:27 PM ^
Huge. Good deal.
October 10th, 2019 at 10:55 PM ^
Few days ago.
October 11th, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
Your all welcome. I cancelled that shit service the second they dropped BTN and let them know it was because they were playing shady games just like they did with HBO. Dish executives are cheap as they come. I am guessing another dispute will take place soon.