September 2k Charlie Chat Summary!
Angel Antonio Suárez
This month Charlie has a lot to talk about. Odyssey, the E.R.-less,
Frindsless, and Fraisierless Cincinnati and Greenville Locals and the
channel we've all been waiting for Sony Entertainment Television. (it's a
Hindi channel... in free preview on channel 614 @ 61.5°.... it was a joke.)
Anyway, without any further adieu, here is the September, 2000 Charlie Chat
From ESPN!
"Hi everybody, I'm Chris Burman! Welcome to Charlie Chat, Not Charlie Chan.
Charlie Chat!" Great and funny. intro to the Charlie chat turns into a
commercial for ESPN Game Plan.
Here is Charlie "Choo-choo" Ergin.
We have an agreement with CBS in Nashville that's up
We have 2 new cities Greenville and Cincinnati without NBC. You will get a
4.99 credit until we get NBC. So it will be free for now. of coarse
Nashville will begin to be charged for their locals.
32 cities with LIL up now. More locals than anywhere else.
New Hindi service. Sony Entertainment TV in free preview until October first
on channel 614 at 61.5°. Nice music plays.
Odyssey is added to AT150 on channel 185 at 110° at no extra charge Charlie
says.
Lets review services---Roll the video tape!
Commercial for all the viewing choices with AT40, AT100 and 150, HBO,
Showtime, Starz and Cinemax. and now the America's (almost) Everything Pack.
Well produced commercial too... very sharp, but too slow-paced to be a
"real" commercial.
Jim welcomes us back. The everything pack is touted by Charlie. $69.95 for
AT150 and all the movie channels.
Sports programming:
Dish is going to have 441.5 hours of Olympics on NBC, CNBC and MSNBC. Lets
sell you this! Roll the videotape! (Get used to it, NBC will have 35
minutes of minidocs, 20 minutes of commercials and 5 minutes worth of sports
per hour.)
Charlie and Jim took a tour around the facility so lets look at the tape.
Charlie talks about his first chat attempts with a card table and a singe
camera (and now it's different?)
Plugging ESPN big-time.
Jim now gets to what we knew. ESPN Gameplan. The whole season with 10
games per Saturday (about) for $99 for the whole season or $11.95 per
Saturday.
Charlie lets us know that Tennessee has an open date this week.
Giveaway time!!!! Trivia question is: Who was the collegiate national
champion in Football division one two years ago?
Charlie: What's the prize?
Jim: I don't know!
Charlie: lets make it ESPN game plan!
NFL trickery... We have NFL! ESPN games. Also on your locals there are
two games per net. If you don't have locals and qualify for distants, lots
of games there!
Jim continues with the Referral Program for $100 credit to refer a friend
($50 for each new customer you refer up to two). Any customer who was
active BY August 1st can participate (and get credit). check ch250 for
details. Now there is a videotape selling the Refer a friend program with a
news-style report.
We have a winner on the Trivia Q. Ron knew it was Tennessee! What a
surprise!
AT150 has a promotion. Anyone who is not currently (I think) subscriber to
AT150 is entered into a contest. The rules just changed. Anyone who
subscribes to AT150 before Oct 5 is entered in the contest. The winner will
get to program ESPN Classic for a day.
Question Time:
Mike asks: What is the chance of KPLR WB and Blues games being picked up by
Dish Network.
A: Two Words: Must Carry! No plans I know of
Andy asks about MLB Blackouts on Fox Sports.
A) it's not our doing! three reasons. 1) Local game is not a sell-out
(usually in football) 35-75 mile radius usually.
2 Some one has the national rights and not the local rights so the national
game needs to be blacked out because a local channel has the game.
3 They have the local rights but not the national rights. So unless you
live in the specific area you can't get the game.
Again it's not up to us or the channel. It's up to the sports leagues
that's why its different for each sport.
Ben (or Beau) calls to ask about Gillette 2 home internet service.
A: Gillat to home will have a different name. It will require a different
dish. The service will be rolled out in November. Details on the Tech Chat
in October. Direct PC is a one-way service, Gillette is a two way service.
First Tues in October it will be done in detail.
A guest shows up on the set. Reese Davis from ESPN
They talk about the PAC10 college football in general. (I can hear the
subliminal message now...."buy gameplan....buy gameplan....buy gameplan"
Charlie mentions Tennessee/Florida rivalry and a ton of Gator fans roll in
screaming "Go Gators!" Charlie gives Reece a couple of interesting
T-shirts.
More Questions
Phillip asks for NFL Sunday Ticket?
A: We get a lot of questions about this. DTV owns the exclusive rights for
this. They got the rights before we got here! We will bid for the service
when we can, but that won't be before the 2002 season
Sean calls in to ask if dish will offer Canadian channels at all?
A: It's illegal for us to do that. The government do not allow it now.
Trio is the only exception right now. Maybe later
David e-mails to ask when NBC will go up in Cincinnati.
A: We have to get a retrans agreement from Hearst before we can start
showing it. Call Hearst, call the local and have them deal in good faith.
Anyone who gets their question on the air gets a slew of ESPN stuff
An e-mail asks if he will have to requalify for nets if he gets AT150 from
AT100?
A: No... Only if you drop service and try to pick it back up?
Fred asks if there will be a reduced Gameplan rate halfway through the year
A; No
An e-mail, are there any more family stations on its way?
We will have a few more public access channels by December 31.
A "few" more AT150 channels and one or two more movie channels. That's it.
An OHS grad calls to ask when is Knoxville going to be available
A: Ain'ta gonna happen anytime soon. Possibly with the spot-beam satellite
in 2002.
Joe emails to ask: When are you going to make my box be able to see what
channel its on without hitting the guide?
A: HUH? Try the "view" button.
David wants to know if ThrillerMax and ActionMax can be added.
A: Only if HBO doesn't want to charge too much. Right now they want to
charge too much. Here's the option: Steady price or more channels? Take
your pick.
ESPN does not plan to have a reduced mid-season rate. Charlie does quick
math. 8 Saturdays or less, do it ala carte.
Catalina from PR wants to know what is the plan for E* 6
A: E* 6 will be turned on about October 1 and it should (SHOULD) have a
better signal for Alaska, Hawaii and maybe PR.
Mike emails to ask if Much Music and the All News channel will be added?
A: They haven't made the cut yet? But my gut feeling is no. Not too many
requests for these channels.
Jim makes a comment about thematic music channels "we already have". Okay
Jim, READ THE QUESTION...VH1 Classic? BET on Jazz? MTV Thematic channels
(Not M2)?
Sheldon wants to know about NHL.
A: If you want the out of market games, go to DirecTV. We will bid next
year when we can to get this package
They try to sell some dish wares on their web-side and talk about the Tech
Chat Next month and the next Charlie Chat is on November 14th!
--
See ya
Tony
Space Cowboy
Angel Antonio Suárez wrote in message <39b5b...@news2.one.net>...
snip...
>David wants to know if ThrillerMax and ActionMax can be added.
>A: Only if HBO doesn't want to charge too much. Right now they want to
>charge too much. Here's the option: Steady price or more channels? Take
>your pick.
>Mike emails to ask if Much Music and the All News channel will be added?
>A: They haven't made the cut yet? But my gut feeling is no. Not too many
>requests for these channels.
>
>Jim makes a comment about thematic music channels "we already have". Okay
>Jim, READ THE QUESTION...VH1 Classic? BET on Jazz? MTV Thematic channels
>(Not M2)?
>See ya
>Tony
Okay, I've always wondered. Where are the callers viewing their channels
that they now want on DISH? Is there a single source that lists every
channel on every satellite in the known universe?
Is it time for me to get my own dish array? Maybe I can convince the IRS
I'm using it for SETI and write it off as a business expense :-).
---
Jim
jbuff
Cowboy" <nets...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> Is there a single source
> that lists every
> channel on every satellite in the known universe?
>
--jbuff
Visit the Echostar Knowledge Base http://echostar.swiki.net
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ElecConnec
>Okay, I've always wondered. Where are the callers viewing their channels
>that they now want on DISH? Is there a single source that lists every
>channel on every satellite in the known universe?
They often AREN'T viewing them! That's the problem. They hear about them and
decide they want them based on title! Remember all the hue and cry on this NG
for channels like NASA, BBC America, the new Discovery channels, etc.?
After we finally get them, we usually get a new round of posts like "We waited
for THIS?"
--
Todd Allcock, DISH/DirecTV Dealer
Electronic Connection, Lee's Summit, MO
"Under the new Usenet Home Reader's Improvement Act (UHRIA), you may only
receive this post if you are located in the Kansas City Designated Market
Area."
73115...@compuserve.com
>They often AREN'T viewing them! That's the problem. They hear about them and
>decide they want them based on title! Remember all the hue and cry on this NG
>for channels like NASA, BBC America, the new Discovery channels, etc.?
>
>After we finally get them, we usually get a new round of posts like "We waited
>for THIS?"
My only complaint about BBC America is that they insert commercials into
programming that was designed to be commercial free.
But that was Discovery Network's decision (the supplier), not BBC or Echostar.
George Nelson
Channel, everything permitting.
Roger A. Moncrief
You may be right about some people however there is rarely a week goes by that I
don't watch at least one or two programs on BBC. As for the new discovery
channels, there is rarely a day that goes by that I don't watch one or more
programs on one of them, usually the Wings or Science channel. I did watch a
shuttle launch on NASA but there isn't much going on unless there is a shuttle up.
ElecConnec wrote:
--
Roger A. Moncrief
http://www.indrev.com/
Indepth Reviews
Indepth reviews of WinImages, trueSpace 3.1, Imagine for Windows, Ray Dream Studio
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also contains a brief Photoshop 5 issues report.
Space Cowboy
<20000906145724...@nso-fu.aol.com>...
>In article <8p5eui$194$1...@slb3.atl.mindspring.net>, "Space Cowboy"
><nets...@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>
>>Okay, I've always wondered. Where are the callers viewing their channels
>>that they now want on DISH? Is there a single source that lists every
>>channel on every satellite in the known universe?
>
>They often AREN'T viewing them! That's the problem. They hear about them
and
>decide they want them based on title! Remember all the hue and cry on this
NG
>for channels like NASA, BBC America, the new Discovery channels, etc.?
So you think it is simply somebody thumbing through a program guide?
Charlie says it is customer demand. I think it is simply adding any (more)
channels without raising our rates to fill AT150.
I've been waiting for Fox Sports World. I never seen it but I have seen the
program listing. I know I'd watch some of it. Now after the ESPN chat I
wonder if it isn't just a function of Charlie's taste for college football.
Does anyone believe Charlie's statement that DTV subscribers are paying an
$2/month to subsidized NFL gameplan? Come on Charlie, fess up, ESPN doesn't
want more sports programming on DISH from any competitors.
>After we finally get them, we usually get a new round of posts like "We
waited
>for THIS?"
So you're not a fan of BallyKissangel? One thing about those launches they
sure make alot of noise. I'll even watch some Odyssey.
---
Jim
Tony @ Work
the
> program listing. I know I'd watch some of it. Now after the ESPN chat I
> wonder if it isn't just a function of Charlie's taste for college
football.
> Does anyone believe Charlie's statement that DTV subscribers are paying an
> $2/month to subsidized NFL gameplan? Come on Charlie, fess up, ESPN
doesn't
> want more sports programming on DISH from any competitors.
:::Sigh:::
It's a price vs.. benefit issue. It took E* years to get things settled
with Speedvision for much the same reason. If FSWo was free (or say $0.05
per subscriber) with the condition it be put on the lowest tier, or if it
was expensive but could be sold a la carte, I'm willing to bet it would have
been up a long time ago. E* has always been responsive to its customers.
But this channel refuses to be sold a la carte and it's too expensive to put
on a package where most people could care less about it and would resent a
price hike. I'm still trying to figure out what is so hard about this to
understand?
I guess continuing customer pressure for more for less is always a good
thing. However, there are limits to what a company can do and still remain
viable.
See ya
Tony
Jeff Chandler
wrote:
>So you're not a fan of BallyKissangel?
I'm a fan of BallyKissangel when presented in the proper aspect ratio and
without six commercial breaks inserted into each episode where none
appeared originally. Which is the way my local PBS station airs it.
Unlike Discovery Networks/BBC America.
--
Jeff Chandler
"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."
------ Paul Simon
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Bennett Broder
>My only complaint about BBC America is that they insert commercials into
>programming that was designed to be commercial free.
>
>But that was Discovery Network's decision (the supplier), not BBC or Echostar.
>
It's not my only complaint about BBC America:
1. They have a huge bug (logo); it is opaque and very annoying.
2. When they are running a special or promotion, they will often put a
text crawl on the bottom of the screen (as OTA channels due for a
severe storm warning or critical news), and repeat it dozens of time
through the show.
3. They have too many commercial breaks, and the insertion of those
breaks is done without regard to the dramatic flow of the show.
I'm probably in the minority, but I would gladly put up a 61.5 dish
and pay a subscription fee to get the real BBC channels live from
England. But, since that isn't likely to happen, I still enjoy BBC
America. (It is a godsend to EastEnders fans) And if Dish dropped
the channel, I'd be picking up a Direct TV setup on my way home from
work.
ElecConnec
<r_mo...@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>Todd,
>You may be right about some people however there is rarely a week goes by
>that I don't watch at least one or two programs on BBC.
Don't get me wromg- I like BBCA, I was just pointing out the NG griped quite a
bit about it after it debuted. BBCA pi**es me off, however because of the
editing. I watched an old episode of "The Young Ones" last week end that even
though the expanded it to 40 minutes to allow for commercials, still had about
5 minutes of content chopped vs. the "syndicated" version MTV aired a decade
ago. (Including Dexy's Midnight Runners excellent cover of a classic Van
Morrison tune!)
>As for the new discovery
>channels, there is rarely a day that goes by that I don't watch one or more
>programs on one of them, usually the Wings or Science channel.
If you keep that pace up for another week you'll have seen every program they
show twice! (Ok, I exagerrating a little, but they are fairly repetitive!)
>I did watch a shuttle launch on NASA but there isn't much going on unless
>there is a shuttle up.
Agreed. I like NASA as well, (I've received it on my big dish for years and
years) but to hear the NG describe the channel you'd think it was just short of
the Rapture in potential interest. After it moved to 110, we got weeks of
complaints about it here!
ElecConnec
<nets...@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>I've been waiting for Fox Sports World. I never seen it but I have seen the
>program listing. I know I'd watch some of it. Now after the ESPN chat I
>wonder if it isn't just a function of Charlie's taste for college football.
>Does anyone believe Charlie's statement that DTV subscribers are paying an
>$2/month to subsidized NFL gameplan?
Yes, I do believe him, to a point. Reportedly, DirecTV paid the NFL $300
million for a 3-year exclusive deal back in 1998. Figuring the (then) 4
million DirecTV customers, that worked out to $75/customer or roughly $2/month.
Of course the DirecTV customer base has grown, but if you take the "average"
number of DirecTV customers over the three years 1999, 2000, and 2001
(estimated of course!) you probably get an easy $1/month anyway. And that's
just NFL. The MLB, NHL, and NBA packages have "upfront" license fees as well.
I wouldn't be surprised if in aggregate the sports packages hit DirecTV at
about $2/customer.
73115...@compuserve.com
>3. They have too many commercial breaks, and the insertion of those
>breaks is done without regard to the dramatic flow of the show.
I actually traded email with someone at BBC America about this when the channel
first started up. The person I spoke with said that this was another Discovery
Networks issue - that Discovery set the ad clocks. She said she'd raise the
issue and see if something could be done.
73115...@compuserve.com
>I'm probably in the minority, but I would gladly put up a 61.5 dish
>and pay a subscription fee to get the real BBC channels live from
>England.
As would I. Even the ITV shows with only one commercial break would be great.
Ed Ellers
"BBCA pi**es me off, however because of the editing. I watched an old
episode of "The Young Ones" last week end that even though the expanded it
to 40 minutes to allow for commercials, still had about 5 minutes of content
chopped vs. the "syndicated" version MTV aired a decade ago. (Including
Dexy's Midnight Runners excellent cover of a classic Van Morrison tune!)"
They may have had to take that out because of rights problems.
My biggest gripe with BBC America -- aside from that damnable logo -- is
that they use a very poor standards converter, misadjusted no less, for the
BBC World newscasts; that's why they look so disastrously bad. (The other
programming is converted in London, just as it is for syndication, and sent
to Discovery Networks on NTSC tape.)
Incidentally, those station IDs they use (with the globe balloon) were
originally produced for use in the UK on BBC One. The big difference is
that the BBC America announcements are prerecorded generic ones, while BBC
One still uses live announcements which, to me, add a certain touch to the
presentation.
73115...@compuserve.com
>Incidentally, those station IDs they use (with the globe balloon) were
>originally produced for use in the UK on BBC One. The big difference is
>that the BBC America announcements are prerecorded generic ones, while BBC
>One still uses live announcements which, to me, add a certain touch to the
>presentation.
That really caught me off guard on a previous trip to England! I had this
momentary "what channel am I watching?" sensation....
Roger A. Moncrief
going to start and about a few other things. They have always been very good about
responding to queries.
73115...@compuserve.com wrote:
--
Space Cowboy
>On Thu, 7 Sep 2000 07:21:28 -0600, "Space Cowboy" <nets...@ix.netcom.com>
>wrote:
>
>
>>So you're not a fan of BallyKissangel?
>
>I'm a fan of BallyKissangel when presented in the proper aspect ratio and
>without six commercial breaks inserted into each episode where none
>appeared originally. Which is the way my local PBS station airs it.
>Unlike Discovery Networks/BBC America.
What uneditied episodes are you watching on PBS which is where I first saw
the series? BBCA is caught up through last season ie., BBCA picks up the
series after the BBC season is closed. When I was watching PBS the series
was at least two seasons old and only once a week. I'll put up with
commercials to see current episodes.
---
Jim
Bob Nielsen
BBCA just completed reruns of series 5. Most of the PBS stations run
one series after another, with occasional reruns, so they are catching
up. The local PBS station (KCTS, Seattle) has almost completed a
first-run of series 5.
The local is also running a new series (copyright 2000) of "As Time
Goes By" while BBCA is still showing the older episodes.
I'd like to see more foreign networks (including DW and CBC), preferably
without the excessive á la carte fees of the current foreign language
offerings, but I expect those are dictated by the originators, not
Dish.
Bob
ElecConnec
<ed_e...@msn.com> writes:
>They may have had to take that out because of rights problems.
That was my first thought as well- however the second edit was a non-musical 2
or 3 minute sequence with only the actors that, if memory serves, was no more
or less "raunchy" than the rest of the series is, so I doubt it was a
"standards and practices" issue either.
ElecConnec
>I'd like to see more foreign networks (including DW and CBC), preferably
>without the excessive á la carte fees of the current foreign language
>offerings, but I expect those are dictated by the originators, not
>Dish.
I suspect DISH's business plan requires each channel "slot" to generate x #
dollars of income. At $11.99, HBO "pays for itself" because of the vast number
of subscribers. A channel like TV Asia might only have 50,000 subscribers
nationwide, so those costs have to spead among those 50,000 rather than the
million who subscribe to the 7 channels of HBO.
jbateman
question was about getting more channels and no one asked when they're
gonna give us "laser disc picture quality and CD sound".
Apparently the folks who subscribe to Dish are the same folks who
settled for VHS.
Alan Dana
Someone on the alt.dss newsgroup mentioned a survey conducted last
year of dbs users and only 8% stated that picture quality was a
significant issue to them. I'd say that was a clear message to
both Dish and DTV. And that it reflects the general attitude of
this newsgroup.
I've stated in other messages that the general public's standard
for acceptable picture quality is pretty well defined by the
sales data on VCRs. Tens of millions of VHS VCRs have been sold
and hundreds of millions of pre-recorded tapes. Most viewers
have found the VHS standard satisfactory.
As DVD players continue to rise in popularity, perhaps DBS
subscribers will eventually raise their standards.
Alan