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Are there any thoughts on whether Dish will carry through with its threats to drop AMC?

Somehow I find Dish's claim that the network with the best current lineup of original programming on television doesn't have enough viewers to justify keeping it. And burying AMC in the 9000s after AMC began its campaign with Dish customers is just petty.

I went with Dish years ago because their customer service was so much better than DirecTV, which sucked at the time (not to mention that DirecTV is somewhat renowned for sticking their customers with false charges), but this isn't the first time Dish has tried to play hardball with a network while its customers suffer. This may be the final straw for me.

I have had DirecTV for 12+ years and I have found them to always be on the top of their game when it came to support and taking care of the customer.  I have also never ever found any "overcharges" on my bill and I go through them with a fine tooth comb.  I still think that DirecTV offers a better sports package than Dish by a long stretch of the imagination.  We subscribe to the Sports Package which gives us all the FoxSports channels as well as NBA TV and several other channels such as Speed, etc.  I also have always been pleased with DirecTV's offerings of channels and now HD and I think their signal is better than Dish's signal for HD environment.

They had a dispute with the local NBC affiliate last year and actually dropped them for about 3 months until it was resolved.  Fortunately, NBC doesn't have any shows that anyone watches, and even if they did, you could still pick them up OTA.  But if I were to lose AMC, I would raise holy hell. :mad:

I've had Dish Network for about 4 years, now.  I have had no issues with them.  I get the same sports stations that Emeril talks about with Direct, plus some.

The dispute with AMC will likely be worked out.  They had the same issue with the Fox Sports network a couple of years back, and Fox renegotiated and kept their affiliation with Dish.  Threats are nothing but a negotiation ploy from both sides.  All of the major satellite and cable providers are going to carry the same programming - they have to in order to stay in the market.   

Dish is less expensive than Direct, and I've had less programming loss issues than my next door neighbor, who is a Direct TV subscriber.  In fact, he told me he is switching to Dish when his Direct commitment is up in a couple of months. 

I have used both and prefer Dish.

Ditto.  We were DirecTV customers for 10 years, and then switched to Dish, and I prefer Dish. 

With regards to having customers raise holy hell for having a channel dropped, that is what AMC (or whoever their parent company is) is depending on.  I now work in the media industry and better understand how those negotiations between cable providers and media companies goes, and what goes into them.  It is quite intersting.

The people in this thread who have had DirecTV and Dish and prefer Dish are the first people I've ever talked to who had that opinion.

I've never had Dish. I love DirecTV though.

I've never had Dish but I've had DirecTV for the last 2 years and it beats the pants off of Time Warner, which I had previously.  I get all the games of the Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves and almost all of the Cincinnati Reds after May 1.  It has always been my impression that Dish has less sports channels than Direct and like Pistol Boy, I am a bit surprised that several of you prefer it.  It IS less expensive though.

I don't think it's a surprise that Dish is sometimes preferred over DirecTV. I've never had an issue with the service or channel selection. The package costs (less than Direct), customer service and instances of Direct customers being slapped with hidden or fraudulent fees has always caused me to lean towards Dish. But that may change. And, yes, I'm quite sure that AMC will continue to be offered (Dish isn't totally stupid) but this isn't the first time in recent memory that Dish has played hardball with a popular network. Plus it seems that the few channels I like are being slowly axed.

I have had DirecTV for almost two years now, and I am pretty happy with it.  It was a huge improvement over my old cable service, particularly with all the discounts I got.  I hit the two year mark in August, and I may have to threaten to leave or actually do so if they jack the rate up that much. I am not sure how much of a discount I am still getting, I think most of it is gone, but I guess I will find out in August.

Those of you who have had DirecTV for a while....does it work to threaten to leave?

Dittos.  I have family who have Dish, and using their remote/guide seems so cumbersome.. it's like I can't find anything.

I understand that these can be some tense negotiations, but it seems that Dish is the only one where it ever comes to the point where they actually drop the channel.  My Mom had dish, and switched to Direct for this very reason.  And I've never had that problem with EPB or Comcast.  Why is Dish the only one who (per all outward appearances) can't come to an agreement with these networks?

From my experience, no.  We threatened to leave right before leaving for Dish. We were asking for a free upgrade to a DVR and a reduced rate for 12 months.  This was based off of our 10 years with them.  No go. 

I threatened to cancel at my two year mark last year, and got all I wanted and more.  I asked for an upgrade to the newest hddvr box and whole-home dvr.  They gave me that plus a pretty good discount for a year.

They didn't want to take any chances negotiating with someone named Vinnie.

Lol

fuhgedaboutit