Friday, October 05, 2012

GCI threatens to bolt from Dish over ad-skipping

Gannett is threatening to withdraw broadcasting on Dish Network if the satellite TV provider does not block the commercial-skipping feature on its digital video recorders or agree to pay massive penalties. The fight, which faces a Sunday midnight deadline, could impact viewers in in 19 cities including Atlanta, Washington, and Denver.

27 comments:

  1. This could get interesting. I have to say, I have the ability to manually skip over commercials on my DVR, and I mostly do. But there are some ads that slip through when I'm not paying attention, or some that I actually stop to watch. With the automatic ad-skip feature, nothing gets through, and advertisers know this.

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  2. Am I to understand that the other broadcasters in my area (Denver,CO) have not made the "Hopper" an issue? If so, I believe KUSA will lose. They do not have the right to demand viewers actually view all commercials. In addition, those of us who do not currently have the "Hopper" already fast-forward thru unwanted ads anyway. There has to be some other agenda behind this.

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  3. Let the war of words begin. Notice that satellite providers have gotten tighter with their money. AMC makes a point on their promos, stating "Not available on DISH".

    In the West, we cannot get the PAC-10 Network on DirecTV. Time-Warner has forever forgone the NFL Network. Everyone is recognizing cost restraint is the new paradigm. Here's the Phoenix message.

    http://www.azcentral.com/12news/dish_info.php

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  4. 11:55, I think the broadcasters have a right to say that Dish can't carry their signal for whatever reason.

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  5. I NEVER WATCH A COMMERCIAL as I won't watch anything that isn't taped in advance. Even if it is a show I really want to watch, I will tape it and watch something else for at least a half hour so I can time it right. I don't need to pay extra for a "hopper" feature-fast forward works just fine.
    When I watch a few videos where I am forced to see the same ad over and over first,I mute during the ad and will avoid that product at all cost and tell everyone else to do the same. I DON'T want those forced ads to work because I don't like being told what to do.

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  6. How can Kare 11 require a 300% increase in their fees to DISH? I just want to get my favorite station, period! I do not care about the "Hopper" to skip commercials, in fact I do not think the Hopper is a good idea. But I am paying my DISH bills, so I can get my local stations. When does the customer get to say anything? I pay for what I signed up for!

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  7. This obviously goes way beyond Gannett, this being a battle between Dish and the broadcasting industry itself. Yes, should be interesting to see who blinks, or goes on the blink!

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  8. When a company takes freedom or personal choice and preference away (fairly intrusive, that), I and everyone else in their market have the right to reject that affront and find other media which has more respect for the consumer.

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  9. It is generally accepted that 50% of cable viewing is of local channels. I would guess the percentage is the same for satellite. Here's the rub:

    While cable and satellite now have to pay (or set aside spectrum for other channels) for local signals, cable and satellite get nothing for that right. Can't run ads during, say, the Super Bowl. So it's a money and spectrum drain for cable and satellite.

    Broadcasters need to be mindful that viewing habits, once broken, seldom resume. Once a financial tipping point is reached, and the cable/satellite people say "no more", then where do the broadcasters go? The internet?

    How many new TV's even have an antenna hookup? Most now only have coax.

    Finally, how much network-affiliated TV is unique to a broadcast station these days? My local station will let me watch the news on their website. I can see most network shows a day or so later - with fewer commercials - at my convenience.

    Live sports is the last elephant in the room. And most pro sports (and plenty of college conferences) now have their own distribution.

    While broadcasters still get a big audience compared to non-terrestrial channels, their piece of the pie is ever-shrinking. If that sounds a lot like the current state of newspapers, it should.

    Ask yourself why local TV stations have five-hour morning (I hesitate to call it news) programs, two hours (or more) or news in the afternoon, and another two hours at night. It's ALL THEY HAVE LEFT to distinguish themselves from the rest. Again, if that sounds like the current state of newspapers . . .

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  10. I do not think it's fair for Gannett and Dish to make the Public pay for the fight that is essentially over a Feature that only a few people have. I unfortunately live in a rural area where satellite is the only way other than an antenna to receive any kind of TV signal. My local station is a CBS affiliate and yes my favorite shows are on that particular channel but I can always watch others, and I don't think that CBS will appreciate that there viewership will fall significantly with this fight. As I'm sure ABC and NBC will also feel the pinch in viewership depending on the local affiliation.

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  11. This is just another ploy on the part of
    Gannett to boost the bottom line without and concern for the customers (viewers)

    I hope Dish sticks to its guns and tell GCI
    to go take a flying leap over the cliff....
    they are already there so this will just hasten their demise.

    As it is well known the 'media' have sold out to the socialist administration and no longer provide a balanced watch dog
    viewpoint as expected in the Constitution.

    The internet rules now and unless the govt. starts to censor it (as they would like to do) viewership and readership are long gone and will soon be worth nothing to the advertisers. When you
    deliver crap on the airwaves and newspapers to will reap what you sow.

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  12. Personally I think the news Monopolies need to be broken up. They have completely lost their objectivity and truth is just a meaningless word. Advertisers are all private and the public has no way to join in on reaping the financial benefits enjoyed by the billions of dollars. NBC would not have done this during the olympics.

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  13. I don't really watch many ads any more. I think ads are pretty much for geared for Fox news viewers that have nothing to do and just leave the tv on all the time,basically scared old people and trailer park tea baggers. Funny , that sounds like the same demographic that still buys the local shill "newspaper".



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  14. Does anybody under age 50 even watch broadcast TV? As others have noted, it's not far behind newspapers on the obsolescence curve.

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  15. SILLY

    My TVs have had an "ad-skipper" button for, oh, about 15 years. Fast-forwards for X-number of seconds. And I use it, intensely.

    Duh.

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  16. What's next - will Gannett block browsers like Firefox with the Adblock plus add-on.

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  17. I for one am willing to have fewer channels, with that said didn't Gannet get paid by the ad companies for ad revenue, yes. So the question is if I save it on my DVR and watch it later I can skip through the commercials without "skip ad feature". Have you noticed that there is 16 minutes of ads per hr of programming during primetime!
    For me TV is not that worthwhile and I would rather drop Dish than watch ads... That was the origin of Cable, pay for content for fewer ads! It's greed. Thanks

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  18. We are going to be letting advertisers, in an around the Jacksonville FL area, know that, as a result of the dispute between Gannett Broadcasting and Dish Network, viewers will not even have the option to fast forward through their ads or skip them, because they will not be seeing the ads AT ALL!

    What are you thinking, Gannett?

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  19. Both companies are absolutely disgusting me. This is putting the consumer, who in good faith, WANTED their local programing, and is in a very rural area, where I can't receive the signal with an outside antennae. Not only that, I just recently signed a 2 year contract with DISH, so there is no way to break the contract... or is there? This is just wrong and greedy if the issue is over jumping thru and over the ads. Never watch the ads anyway. May the consumer prevail on this one.

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  20. See ya later abc

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  21. Gannett how do expect to get the rate your demanding to get for ABC for Dish Satelite. If this like the time that Gas Companies and Gas Station owners were accuse of Price Gouging, But your rate that you want is not price gouging of 300%, it's just down right Strong Arm ROBBERY. It is sicking to see big componies asking so high and then the satilite customer just raise the price up so they can keep selling shows. But Gannett your just plain old GREEDY and no feelings for the elderly

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  22. Charles Everett10/08/2012 8:17 AM

    Gannett said last night it was still talking with Dish Network. As my area doesn't have a Gannett-owned TV station, I'm not aware if the Gannett stations are off Dish.

    Apart from that, I have never seen a thread on this blog where so many post so much that's wrong.

    Am I to understand that the other broadcasters in my area (Denver,CO) have not made the "Hopper" an issue?

    CBS has -- it's threatened to pull its owned-and-operated stations off Dish because of AutoHop. Gannett and CBS both own stations in Denver.

    While cable and satellite now have to pay (or set aside spectrum for other channels) for local signals, cable and satellite get nothing for that right.

    Cable/satellite channels do charge a carriage fee per subscriber. Earlier this year MTV and Nickelodeon were off DirecTV for a while over subscriber fees.

    This is just another ploy on the part of Gannett to boost the bottom line without and concern for the customers (viewers)

    In a 500-channel universe TV stations have to bring in revenue any way they can. WPIX in New York has been off Cablevision since mid-August in such a dispute.

    Time-Warner has forever forgone the NFL Network.

    Time Warner Cable added NFL Network last month.

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  23. Dish should agree to remove the auto-hop feature IF Gannett agrees to remove their stupid logos from the bottom of our tv screens.

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  24. Most of the people I know don't even watch TV anymore. It is just the old people on entitlement programs that sit around and watch TV; Fox news come to think of it. I switched my sports preference to soccer because the ads and marketing were consuming football.

    Don't worry about all this garbage, just stop watching it. Stop reading the drivel that local papers put out. It is mostly trash if Gannett runs the thing and it will affect your thinking. Go for a jog, read a book, find a paper that hires real journalists in a market close to you. Your life will be better, you will feel better, and the world will be a better place.

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  25. Thanks for solving all of those problems for us, 12:03. Now, a few suggestions for you:

    (1) Try removing your head from your ass. The air will be cleaner, and it will smell better.

    (2) Try being less stupid and arrogant in the future. This will improve things for everyone around you. You might find it hard to believe that people will function without your useful tips, but it will be true.

    (3) Try not posting your stupid crap here. We will all be better off.

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  26. Nice 1:02. Good stuff. I think the teen section is over there though, youtube maybe.>>>>

    Good content though, it might need a comment about 12:03's mother, but on the whole, great post!

    Are you an aspiring newspaper person? Content or management?

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  27. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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