The Missouri attorney general is crying foul over a dispute between Fox Broadcasting network and satellite television provider Dish Network, while managers of local restaurants that cater to sports fans note the uproar could have been worse, noting that at least it’s not during baseball season.
While Dish Network and Fox are locked in a months-long battle over rates, Fox’s regional sports channels, National Geographic and FX were blacked out on Dish starting Oct. 1. Both sides have set up Web sites to throw blame at each other. On
www.weofferedfoxafairdeal.com and
www.foxrefused.com, Dish claims that Fox is asking for an increase of more than 50 percent. At
www.getwhatipaidfor.com, Fox disputes the claim.
“Their suggestion that we’re seeking a 50 percent increase in programming fees is flatly wrong,” said Mike Hopkins, president of Fox Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing, in a news release posted on the site. “It’s completely disingenuous for Dish – a company that is on pace to extract more than $10 billion in revenue and $3 billion in profits from its subscribers – to suggest that we are bullying their customers.”
On Oct. 20, AG Chris Koster weighed in by sending a letter to Dish Network voicing concerns that the satellite TV provider was violating a 2009 Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, noting that Dish subscribers entered into long-term contracts with the company believing Fox programming would be part of their service. In his letter, Koster further requested that subscribers who asked to be released from their contracts would be allowed to do so at no cost and that subscribers who continue their service be given a discount equivalent to the amount of money Dish saves by not paying for Fox channels.
“We’ve been receiving complaints,” said Nanci Gonder, press secretary for Koster’s office. “I think 15 formal complaints have officially been completed, and we’re also getting a lot of calls.”
While Dish responded to the letter in a press release, Gonder said the AG’s office continues to wait for an official response.
Meanwhile, on Oct. 26, Koster sent another letter to Dish, this time asking the company to stop deceptive advertising practices, referring to signage found on Scottrade Center in which the company claims to be “The Official TV Provider of the St. Louis Blues.”
Dish spokesman Marc Lumpkin responded to the second letter during a telephone interview. “We’re proud of our sponsorship of the St. Louis Blues,” he said. “We are working for a fair deal with Fox so we can return St. Louis Blues games to Dish Network viewers.”
Locally, the restaurants that cater to sports fans aren’t experiencing any backlash, primarily because a staple of fall sports programming, the NFL Sunday Ticket, is not one of Dish’s offerings. Both Skybox Grill & Lounge, 1271 E. Montclair St., and Buffalo Wild Wings, 2725 N. Kansas Expressway, are DirecTV subscribers.
At Buffalo Wild Wings, general manager Nathan Ross said there may have been some increase in sales during some of the local college games, but the biggest impact the dispute has had on business is in phone calls.
“There’s an influx of calls about whether or not we’ll be airing a game,” he said. “Before, it was assumed that we’d have it, but now, people feel like they should call and ask.”
Skybox manager Tommy Creek noted that the first University of Missouri football games of the season were pay-per-view, so the Fox Sports Midwest blackout didn’t have an impact. But he checked the sales receipts from Oct. 16 – the day Mizzou played Texas A&M, which was aired on
Fox Sports Midwest – and said there was a larger than usual crowd that afternoon.
“We probably did at least double the amount of business we normally would have done, if not triple,” Creek said. “Even though it’s hard to get people out of the house on a weekend afternoon to watch the game, we had guys lacing up their shoes and coming out because they couldn’t see it at home.”
The next Mizzou game scheduled to air on Fox Sports is Nov. 27, Creek said, so there won’t be many games that will affect Missouri fans.
“Blues hockey fans, though, half their season is gone if they have Dish Network,” he said, noting the prediction is roughly 30 games out of a 70-game season will be blacked out on Dish.
The general consensus among Skybox customers, Creek noted, is that for now, it’s a minor annoyance. But if the dispute were taking place during St. Louis Cardinals season, it would have been harder to swallow.
“So the timing is good in one sense,” he said. “But in this economy, for Fox to be demanding a 50 percent increase in rates seems unreasonable.”[[In-content Ad]]
