Last night as I was driving home from work, I heard an interesting commercial on the radio. The commercial was done by a cable company advertising that Viacom channels have been pulled from our local satellite service. Apparently the cable industry sees this as an opportunity to regain new customers.
This "conflict" intrigued me. Arriving home, I switched on the local CBS affiliate. Instead of CBS, there was a message from the CEO of the satellite company, urging us to call Viacom and it's advertisers to criticize what has been happening. At 6PM (Central,) the CEO of the Dish Network appeared on a live call-in question-and-answer session. That was interesting.
Apparently, Viacom wants to raise the rates at which they sell their cable channels, as well as tie their rates for local CBS channels to their cable channels. According to Viacom, this will result in an increase of six-cents per customer. When pressed on the amount of the price increase, the CEO of the Dish Network was EXTREMELY evasive. He was asked numerous times during the call-in show, but not once did he give a straight answer. (I am getting the feeling that the six-cent figure is accurate.)
My wife and I are owners of a recently purchased home. One of the reasons that I was so happy to move, was that I could get rid of the cable with its monthly price increases. I am more than happy to have satellite TV with its better range of channels, and consistent pricing. I'll never go back to cable unless the entire satellite industry folds (and if it does, I will be really disappointed.)
I really hope that Dish Network holds strong. This seems like a good example of a powerful network conglomerate holding-up a smaller company for money. To hell with CBS and Viacom. I appreciate a company that has promised (such as Dish Network has) not to raise rates to subscribers. Regardless of whether Dish Network's CEO was being evasive about the six-cents or not, I am sure that future rate increases will depend on whether Dish Network "wins" or "loses."
For the time being I can learn to live without: Crank Yankers, Beavis and Butthead (now on again nightly!), WWE, and I love the 70s/ 80s. Come to think of it: I suppose that I could learn to live without all of those. If Viacom wants more money, they can hit-up their advertisers. Leave the satellite customers alone.