Making television easy again. By Phillip Swann
Q. I thought Dish would have had the Fox regional sports channels back by now with the baseball and basketball seasons starting again soon. What’s new with this? Anything at all?! — Davey, Phoenix. Davey, Dish (and its live streaming service, Sling TV) has been missing the 22 Fox-branded regional sports networks since July 2019
Q. We have Dish and I want to get the new HBO Max which comes for free with HBO. But I can’t order HBO on Dish because it doesn’t have it. How come Dish doesn’t have HBO? — Sheila, Budd’s Creek, Maryland. Sheila, Dish has been without HBO now for 20 months due to a
Q. I am a Dish subscriber and it drives me crazy when Dish removes a channel for a long time. Even if it comes back, it still makes me crazy that I have to wait for it to come back. So when do you think Dish will get the NFL Network and Red Zone Channel
Q. I would think that AT&T would have sold DIRECTV to Dish by now. Do you have any idea what’s holding up the deal? Is it Charlie Ergen being Charlie Ergen and asking for a low price? — Manny, Newark, New Jersey. Manny, AT&T has said it’s not inclined to sell DIRECTV, but the company’s
Q. I am a Dish subscriber and it drives me crazy when Dish removes a channel for a long time. Even if it comes back, it still makes me crazy that I have to wait for it to come back. So when do you think Dish will get the NFL Network and Red Zone Channel
Dish and Sling TV have lost the NFL Network and the RedZone Channel due to a carriage dispute with the NFL, which owns the channels. The channels were removed from both services around 9 p.m. ET last night and the league issued a statement saying Dish had rejected its carriage terms. (Dish owns Sling TV,
News Analysis Last week’s Fox Business report that “bankers” are saying AT&T needs to sell DIRECTV because it’s an ‘underperforming asset’ certainly rings true. Since AT&T purchased DIRECTV in 2015 for $49 billion, the nation’s top satellite TV service has lost roughly five million subscribers. Making matters worse, the customer defections are dramatically increasing with
Q. I read your article today about AT&T selling DIRECTV to Dish. Why would Dish want DIRECTV now? Aren’t they losing subscribers, too? What’s the point of buying a satellite TV service in a pandemic, particularly when the business is dying. I don’t get it. And wouldn’t the federal government block the deal anyway? —
Bankers say AT&T needs to sell DIRECTV due to the Coronavirus outbreak and accumulating company debt, according to a Fox Business report. The report does not name the bankers, nor say how many are offering this opinion. It also does not say if the bankers are communicating this position with AT&T, or if AT&T is
Q. I’ve been reading that there will be refunds for our sports channel fees because there’s no sports on now with the Coronavirus. What is the status of that? When will we get our refunds? — Mark, Evanston, Illinois. Mark, the answer is probably never. Let me explain. National sports channels, such as ESPN and
Q. I bought a subscription to DIRECTV’s MLB Extra Innings package in early March and now it looks like the season will at least be delayed for a few months if not cancelled entirely. It doesn’t seem fair that they get to keep my money during this time. I could use it now. Is there
Q. I saw your story yesterday about Comcast stopping their new installations for new customers. It’s very sad about their service guy dying from the Coronavirus. My question is whether DIRECTV and Dish are still doing home visits for both putting up a dish or fixing service if you already have one. — Tommy, Tulsa,