Q. I would like to watch HBO on Dish, but it’s been off for a long, long time. Do you think it will ever come back? — Ginni, Jacksonville, Florida.
Ginni, it’s been 10 months since Dish and HBO couldn’t reach a new carriage agreement. And when the old pact expired on November 1, HBO pulled both HBO and Cinemax from Dish, and the Dish-owned live streaming service, Sling TV.
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When the blackout began, I predicted it might take months to resolve. And, Ginni, I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t foresee it ending anytime soon. In fact, I would not be surprised if Dish never makes a deal with AT&T, which owns HBO.
Why? Two reasons.
1. If any subscribers planned to drop Dish or Sling due to the loss of HBO and Cinemax, they would have done it by now.
It’s been 10 months. Dish really doesn’t have to worry about subscriber defections now.
And while some Dish and Sling subscribers initially dropped their service due to the loss of HBO, most HBO fans probably signed up for the channel’s standalone version. (HBO Now), which costs the same as the Dish/Sling version. Rather than having to get a new TV provider, Dish and Sling customers can simply watch HBO online.
Consequently, there’s very little pressure on Dish to make a deal.
2. Dish has a history of playing tough in carriage negotiations, which has often led to long blackouts.
Dish likes to prolong negotiations to get the best deal possible — and save some carriage money during the blackout. And now that it doesn’t need to make a deal, it can wait until AT&T caves.
But AT&T is highly unlikely to cave because it’s trying to generate more revenue from HBO, not less.
Add it all up and you may never see HBO on Dish and Sling again.
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
You would think HBO-AT&T would prefer to make “some” money, rather than NONE.
But don’t forget, we are talking about AT&T. They HATE Customers and enjoy making people’s life miserable. LOOK at the Call Center DISASTER
Another problem with getting HBO NOW, I don’t think you can Record it. .
Rosemarie in Maryland.
I have Dish and I am disappointed about not having HBO and Cimax.
On Line HBO is expensive.
I will.not support ATT because of this problem.
This is only the first of many content providers that will pull their product and wait for people to subscribe to their online product where they can make more money. CBS will be next. They can make more from their online service than on Dish, Directtv, Comcast rtc.
The elephant in the room though, is the AT&T ownership of Time Warner (which owns HBO) and DirectTV….Dish’s main competitor. HBO is forever gone from Dish, as it is now essentially a sister company of DirectTV. It’s not so much about negotiations anymore; it is a competition dynamic.
I would be stunned if that changes.
Drop dish and go with YouTube TV. Cut your bill in half then have more money and get HBO now.
Streaming services are fine… IF YOU HAVE HIGHSPEED INTERNET! Which we do NOT have available to us!! HughesNet. That’s it…. This really sucks.
This is very typical of Dish. It promises the consumer everything then, at the first opportunity and without lowering rates, starts stripping away programming. They say “we’re in negotiations” but for some reason nothing ever happens to benefit those paying exorbitant cable fees.
Dump Dish! Avoid Sling while you’re at it.