Dish Network may drop CNN (and the rest of Turner Channels) [View All]

[havocmom]

Saw it on TV a minute ago (I watch CNN once a month, whether I need to of not) and checked the web site (CNN). After a search on their site, came up with this link

http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?symbols=NYSE:TWX&story=200404131813_RTR_N13412290">EchoStar

<snip> NEW YORK, April 13 (Reuters) - EchoStar Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) Chief Executive Officer Charles Ergen warned viewers of its Dish Network satellite TV service that they may soon take CNN, Cartoon Network, CNN Headline News, and Turner Classic Movies off the air in a fee dispute Turner Broadcasting System.

<snip> In a signal that the talks haven't gone particularly well, Charles Ergen took to the airwaves Monday night in one of his "Charlie's Chats" to explain the impasse to viewers and the reason they might lose CNN in the midst of renewed hostilities in Iraq.

<snip> An EchoStar spokesman said the company is seeking to wean the networks off a "satellite premium" the company had to pay in the past when the service was much smaller.

<snip> "We had to pay (a premium) when we were starting out in the business and had a small customer base," said EchoStar spokesman Steve Caulk. "Now we have 9.9 million subscribers we would like to get programmers out of the habit of receiving a satellite premium from us."


While I might miss TCM once in awhile, the thought of the US population missing out on CNN does give me a bit of hope about the future of America. Would miss Lou Dobbs, but having the rest of the hair-dos off millions of TVs wouldn't be such a bad thing.