I say good for Dish Network. Now is the time for Direct TV and the Cable companies to grow some balls and do the same. Viacom is asking too much.

i was just watching mtv2, and they had a scrolling bar at the bottom saying dish was threatening to take away these channels, comedy central, mtv & mtv2, and a bunch of others. the funny part is after they gave dish networks phone number and said to call them if you wanted to keep the channels a huge black bar came on the screen covering the message. i guess dish network doesn't want everyone bothering them. sounds like censorship of free speech to me

Quick lesson for some folks:

DSL = phone line
Cable = coax cable

neapoi, are you talking about a VDSL where you have a gateway box and a cable connection, but it runs to your TV with cable, to your computer via CAT5, and to your telephone? If your caller ID is displayed on your TV screen, that's what you have. That's the only way you could have DSL and cable technically together.

Wow... out of all those channels... I watch none of them... as long as it doesn't hurt cartoon network and RFDTV. I will live.

If they take away my Spongebob, I'm going to kill someone.

Crossbuster.

you got me.

/slinking away like a techy noob

Play4n6

I have a fast connection that downloads the stuff real fast like for me.

I also have a fridge with cold beer inside it -

She calls me.

I heard that the CBS-OWNED affiliates would be the ones that got yanked. For example, LA CBS would go, but Seattle CBS would stay, because it is independently owned. Can anyone confirm?

Anyway, I am a Dish customer, and I back Dish on this one. If they rolled over for Viacom my rates would just go up. I'd rather get CSI off an antenna if I had to.

Lots of people here seem to hate Dish, but my experience has always been good. I first chose them long ago because they had locals and DTV didn't. Maybe DTV would be a better choice today, I should investigate. But unless the cable company comes up with some incredible package... I will stay a sat customer, because I prefer to patronize a COMPETITIVE market, rather than be one of Comcast's captive audience.

The state of TV regulation is incredibly farked in general. I wish it was a more free market, so I could get more HDTV on my darn dish...

The only show I can name on CBS is JAG. My girlfriend watches it. I liked it better 10 years ago when they called it The X-Files.

Wait a minute... I have Time-Warner Cable.. So why am I seeing this message on my screen too?

it looks like i am getting direct tv after i cancel dish network

Bah. I have Dish Network, and this really blows. I'll be missing the Daily Show, Beavis and Butthead on MTV2, my son won't be able to watch his Fairly Odd Parents on Nick, and if Spike is involved, I won't get to see my Trek and Highlander reruns. These are about the only shows (aside from premium (Go Dead Like Me! Whoo!)) that I watch any more. Time to cancel the whole thing, I guess.

And I can't blame Dish for blacking out the scroll. I'm sure their call center has been bombarded.

CaptainWes-

Viacom is sending out the messege not Dish so it doesn't matter what company you get your tv from if your watching a viacom channel you will see it.

Viacom, Vivindi, vivid: I fought, I failed, I farked.

I'll get 'em straight some day

for you DISH folks, I didn't see it mentioned, but I think that the scroll is being stuffed in there by Viacom, because I see it on cable...

I agree w/ the other guys... I hate Rupert & FOX in general, so DirecTV and it's News Corp parents are out...

Comcast feels too pricey, but the service is decent... I pay $125/mo for 2xT1 downloads on my cable modem, plenty of channels + HBO, Starz & Encore... if you break the bill up, it would cost at least as much as Comcast to get the same # of channels via DISH, and only their "180" service plan carries the digital music channels... plus you can't just plug coax into the TV for some channels, you need a receiver...

The biggest compaint I have w/ cable is what the other guys had said... I think it should be more pick n' choose then it is... I never, never, never, never watch MTV, E!, MTV2, VH1, etc... along w/ MSNBC, CNBC, NECN, CNN, CSPAN, CSPAN2, FOXNN, HN and the plethora of other bullshiat news channels...

Hmm, maybe I'll call up viacom and tell them to stop it with the bloody scroll. I'm a comcast customer so I don't need to see that shiat while I'm watchin my TNG.

Anyway, sounds like the cable viewer is getting screwed again as per usual.

All this yap yap but nobody has even mentioned Nickelodeon GAS. It's making EchoStar balk, and I don't even know what Nickelodeon GAS is! Is this a whole network devoted to Ren & Stimpy cartoons and episodes of You Can't do That on Television?? Count me in.

Nickelodeon GAS is Nick Games And Sports. Sorta like ESPN for kids, I guess. Viacom's (likely lawsuit-prevention) attempt to get kids off their fat asses and exercise once in a while. I've got a better idea. Don't let your kids watch more than an hour of TV a day. Get them to read, get them to go outside and play, ANYTHING but letting them sit in front of the boob tube and rot their minds with crap like Spongebob Squarepants and whatever other trash they have.

TV is worthless. Kill your cable. Dump your dish. Do something worthwhile.

DirecTV people rejoice, go "HA-HA"

Yeah, no locals with directv... but a basic subscription to the local cable company(independently owned) fixed that.

^_^

Just saw the block on echostar at work. It's the only place I get Comedy Central. (I'd buy satellite at home, but why flip through 400 channels before settling on the Discovery channel when I could flip through 6, and end up with the same thing on PBS?) It's still entertaining trying to imagine the poor guy at Dish Network with his finger on the Block button, waiting for the scroll to come up...

/waiting for my bootleg copy of The Passion....

DirecTV is where it's at. It always has been the best and the original.

Forget the misleading ads for digital cable you see all the time, forget the free offers and huge deals offered by Dish Network. I've had them all over the years, and DirecTV is the best of the best. The receivers and remotes are simple to use, compatible with all your home stereo and Tivo equipment, change channels quickly, contain no ads in their program guides like most digital cable companies, and nowadays can be rigged to hook up every TV in your house without a problem.

Living in the Bay Area, we never have any problems with reception due to weather, the channel line up is great, and the local channels have been in place and working perfectly for years now.

My only complaints about DirecTV:

No VH1 Soul channel, which made great background party/dinner music.

A whole bunch of foreign language channels, jesus lover channels (700 Club, etc), and home shopping channels. However with your receiver you can just set it to ignore those 20 or so channels.

Their porno PPV channels are sorta-censored and don't play the real hardcore stuff (no orgies, no anal, no DP, etc).

Had DirecTV, switched to DISH. While I do agree that DirecTV's menu's are better (as well as remotes), they severely lack in international channels. All they have are a bunch of Spanish and Chinese channels and nothing else, from a quick look at their website. DISH has Korean, Arabic, South Asian, Polish, Greek, Chinese, and Russian packages, as well as ala carte channels. And RAI (Italian) is the greatest channel in the world.

i called Dish Network last night and told the guy i am canceling it if u get rid of channels and wanted to give me some free months of satelite and i told him i want the porn channels and he told me no god if they want to keep customers gives us the porn channels for free

Farking Hell

Shrug, the job market in Blacksburg is nonexistent during this season... I'm trying to make some money fast, I'll do what it takes and put up with some BS with Echostar if I have to.

Thanks for the tips on the people, though... hopefully I get the young nice n' cute female managers. Well, hopefully there are young nice n' cute female managers...

I noticed that crap scrolling thru my Chappelle Show last night. But what I noticed even more was that they cut Dave's intro to the Lil John piece, where he explains "skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet" with gratuitous hand gestures. Nipplegate fallout? Bastards!!!

Another victory for the consumer thanks to deregulation of media ownership laws! Woohoo!

/Not.

Thank goodness my Dish contract is up at the end of May... geez.

So now all the crybabies whose Dish bill went up a whole whopping dollar and a penny because of higher programming costs as well as all those who wanted to complain that Dish keeps adding channels that they don't want (top 50 just became the top 60, top 100 went to top 120, etc) see why it happens!

IT ISN'T DISH DOING IT, FOLKS, IT'S THESE IDIOTS AT PROVIDERS LIKE VIACOM THAT FORCE YOUR BILL HIGHER!

Key points: Viacom wants to force Dish to add a channel that it doesn't want to add, and pay more money for the whole bundled package that it doesn't want to pay. Why not? Because the customers don't want it, plain and simple. ESPN is famous for doing the same thing, though for reasons I'll never understand people actually watch ESPN. Sports fans, your channels are held for ransom because you're fanatic enough about your (insert league here) playoffs to pay for them.

Viacom, on the other hand, has MTV. Oh, and VH1, and Noggin.

Big farkin' whoop.

I could give a fark if they drop Viacom. I never watch that crap anyway. If my bill gets lighter, I'll be even happier.

2004-03-07 12:14:41 AM Winktologist

TheOther - New Family Guy eposides are going to be on Cartoon Network (and possibly first airing on Fox), not Comedy Central. Not sure if Cartoon Network is Viacom...

It's Time-Warner, actually.

Television, what is television ? I remember something when I was young that really tried to entertain you. Some of you are addicted to it and then cry when you don't have the gonads to walk away from it.

I can see the scroll and I:

- Have cable, not Dish
- Live in Canada

Weird.

Nick GAS has nearly all of the old game shows that Nick had back in the day all the way up to Double Dare 2000. It's a wack ass channel and a waste of satellite bandwidth if you ask me. I was watching Finder Keepers and Nick Arcade for a little bit and they're using their OLD tapes to playback the show. The lack of quality on this channel is wrong on so many levels. Now if they could get reruns of You Can't Do That on Television back on...then maybe it would be worth it (and maybe Danger Mouse). Every other Monday, or maybe it's just once a month, the CEO has Charlie Chat, a live call in show to ask questions. wonder it he'll address this issue. He's usually very frank about these topics. My daughter would be disappointed if she couldn't watch Dora the Explorer or Blue's Clues, but I think I can Netflix a DVD every once in a while for her to watch. And I already get Channel 4 of air in HDTV. Maybe I could Al-a-carte Comedy Central?!? I hope this all gets worked out in the end. And don't EVER touch TechTV, and Food Network!

p.s. www.ycdtotv.com has streaming episodes and interview for You Can't do that on TV fans.

As long as the pron channels aren't owned by the Network Mafia I think we're all good here...

It's not going to matter once the FCC takes over satellite and cable broadcasting anyway.

We'll all be watching Brady Bunch remakes and Pat Robertson's Family Hour 24/7.

I really wonder if we have more or less consumer choice than 20 years ago.