February Carriage Agreements Notice

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Below is the latest notice of carriage agreements expiring found in the link below.  I'm posting this strictly as informative.  It is not intended to stimulate discussion or speculation.

February 20, 2012

AT&T's contracts with programmers for the content displayed on our U-verse TV service periodically expire, but are usually re-negotiated or extended with no interruption or change for our U-verse members. Contract(s) for the programming listed below are set to expire as indicated, and AT&T is making every effort to reach a fair agreement to continue carriage. However, if a reasonable agreement cannot be reached with such programmer(s), we will no longer have the rights to carry their programming on U-verse TV. While the programming listed below will continue to be available to U-verse members so long as AT&T has the rights to carry it, if a reasonable agreement cannot be reached with the programmer the programming will no longer be available at that time.

March 31, 2012:

The impacted national channel is Zee TV (channel 3702).

April 2012:

The impacted national channels (in alphabetical order) are Estrella (channel 3024), INSP (channel 564) and La Familia Cosmovision (channel 3056).

In addition, AT&T’s carriage agreement with Showtime Networks, Inc. is set to expire in April. The following channels (in alphabetical order) are potentially impacted:  FLIX (channel 890); Showtime (channel 852 and 1852 in HD); Showtime -West (channel 853 and 1853 in HD); Showtime Beyond (channel 860); Showtime Extreme (channel 858 and 1858 in HD); Showtime Extreme -West (channel 859 and 1859 in HD); Showtime Family (channel 862); Showtime Next (channel 864); Showtime Showcase (channel 856 and 1856 in HD); Showtime Showcase -West (channel 857 and 1857 in HD); Showtime Too (channel 854 and 1854 in HD); Showtime Too -West (channel 855 and 1855 in HD); Showtime Women (channel 866); Smithsonian Channel (channel 118 and 1118 in HD); The Movie Channel (channel 882 and 1882 in HD); The Movie Channel -West (channel 883 and 1883 in HD); The Movie Channel Xtra (channel 884 and 1884 in HD); and The Movie Channel Xtra -West (channel 885 and 1885 in HD).  IMPORTANT NOTE:  Even if an agreement is reached between AT&T and Showtime, AT&T may modify the channel availability for the AT&T U-verse TV service by removing the Showtime channels listed above from the U300 lineup, the U400 lineup, the U450 lineup, and/or The Movie Package.  In the event the Showtime channels are removed from the U300 lineup, the U400 lineup, the U450 lineup, and/or The Movie Package, we will carry the Showtime channels consistent with the terms of any future agreement with Showtime (as permitted).

In addition, in the San Diego, CA market area, an impacted local channel is KUSI (channel 9 and 1009 in HD).

[rt123]

All premium will be signed i think they will remain were they are .

[rt123]

do any of you have any info on Disney Jr. that channel has been highly requested by a lot of customers i have been reading on U-verse social media .

[boogerbomb]

If they remove it from my current package then I will definately dump U-Verse for a provider that can provide HD service without audio problems.

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

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boogerbomb wrote:

If they remove it from my current package then I will definately dump U-Verse for a provider that can provide HD service without audio problems.

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If they remove what?  What is "it?"  KUSI?  Showtime?  Zee TV? or ????  

[rt123]

They should not worry about this Showtime is not leaving the U-300 i would not be surprised if HBO and Showtime are already signed not saying it is but could be .

[JohnMcCoy]

At&t u-verse's website, att,com/u-verseprogrammingchanges, indicates that a whole host of channels related to showtime may be dropped from the u300 and u400 packages in April even if At&t's agreement with showtime is extended.  The website did not indicate there would be any changes in the amount billed for those packages should this occur.  Call me paranoid, but my experience has been that drops in the value of the service have not been met with any corresponding drop in price.

Should showtime's family of channels be dropped by At&t u-verse for whatever reason I will probably start looking for another provider.  I'm not even certain that a huge drop in price would keep me in on board with u-verse but that at least would give me something to think about before I actually decided to jump ship.

{post merged}

[dwinth]

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JohnMcCoy wrote:

At&t u-verse's website, att,com/u-verseprogrammingchanges, indicates that a whole host of channels related to showtime may be dropped from the u300 and u400 packages in April even if At&t's agreement with showtime is extended.  The website did not indicate there would be any changes in the amount billed for those packages should this occur.  Call me paranoid, but my experience has been that drops in the value of the service have not been met with any corresponding drop in price.

Should showtime's family of channels be dropped by At&t u-verse for whatever reason I will probably start looking for another provider.  I'm not even certain that a huge drop in price would keep me in on board with u-verse but that at least would give me something to think about before I actually decided to jump ship.

{post merged}

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There is no need to panic. The February Carriage Agreement notice posted by Texasguy37 on February 21, 2012, is just an announcement mandated by Federal Law whenever a carriage agreement between a cable, digital, or satellite provider and the parent company of a television channel or set of channels is up for renewal.

According to the notice, which is mandated by Federal Law, the carriage agreement between the Showtime Networks and AT&T is due to expire in April, 2012. There is nothing in this notice that says that the Showtime Networks will definitely not be on U-Verse after April, 2012,

Most likely, a new agreement will be reached just like it has been done many times in the past. The only instances where there has not been a new agreement were with the Hallmark channels and the NHL Network.  All other carriage agreeement contracts have been renewed.

According to your theory, everytime U-Verse adds a channel there should be an automatic price raise rather than just one yearly raise. If AT&T followed your example, no one would be able to afford U450, U300, or U200. Maybe the barest bones plan would be affordable.

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.

[JohnMcCoy]

There is a difference between adding one or two channels, particularly those of questionable value like home shopping networks etc., than dropping an entire family of what have been considered "premium" channels.  In my view dropping the Showtime family of channels from the U300, U400, and U450 packages definitely would decrease the value of the package that I ordered.  To me that very obviously should trigger a huge drop in price.

When a new family of valuable channels is added to the service that should trigger a rise in price but accepting those new channels and the increase in price should be an option.  The customer should decide whether or not the new channels are worth paying the new price.

Part of the reason I went with the u-verse package I did was because of the Showtime channels.  Should u-verse be able to decide unilaterally that they are not going to provide those channels to me in spite of what I ordered?  And if they should decide to deliver less than they initially promised, shouldn't they lower the price?

To use your stocking the refrigerator analogy, if I contract with the local grocery store to have a list of food products delivered to my refrigerator each week for a certain fee and they later decide to send less food or different food than I ordered shouldn't there be a change in price?

What is the reason why these channels "may be dropped from U300, U400 and U450 even if u-verse's agreement with Showtime is extended"?  I don't understand this.

[dwinth]

I am not going to worry or panic about what may or may not happen with Showtime in April. You are automatically assuming that there will not be a new carriage agreement between AT&T and Showtime.

AT&T is smart enough to know that if they drop all of the Showtime and The Movie Channel channels, there will be a wholesale defection from U-Verse to another provider.

In the meantime, enjoy Showtime on U-Verse, and do some research so that if Showtime is dropped you will be ready to go to another provider. Of course, you need to make sure that the carriage agreement between Showtime and your new provider is not coming up for renewal. Otherwise, you could find yourself in the same situation.

As far as the statement  in the notice that  says " Even if an agreement is reached between AT&T and Showtime, AT&T may modify the channel availability for the AT&T U-verse TV service by removing the Showtime channels listed above from the U300 lineup, the U400 lineup, the U450 lineup, and/or The Movie Package.  In the event the Showtime channels are removed from the U300 lineup, the U400 lineup, the U450 lineup, and/or The Movie Package, we will carry the Showtime channels consistent with the terms of any future agreement with Showtime (as permitted).", I feel that this is just a bunch of legalize that AT&T is using just to protect itself in case  the negotiations for the new carriage agreement do not go as planned.

Again, I am not going to worry about anything until there is or is not a new carriage agreement between AT&T and the Showtime Networks.

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.

[JohnMcCoy]

First of all I'm not panicing.  I believe as you do that there probably will be a carriage agreement reached.  What I am is angry.  I become angry when I read "legalize" that AT&T may remove these channels even if the agreement with Showtime is extended.  I view it as AT&T saying to me: "We may do this if we consider it in our best interests.  We may do it because we can.  You, the consumer, have the same two options you always have: take it or leave it.

I am sick of this cavaliere treatment of customers.  I know it's not unique to AT&T U-verse but the fact that other providers have the same attitude does not make it right.

Cynic that I am, I'm convinced that if this family of channels is removed from my package AT&T will not lower the price I have to pay.  When did any provider ever lower their price simply because they lowered the value of their service?

Customers have at least the moral right to continue receiving the service they ordered.  Unfortunately they do not have the legal right to do so.  Every provider's contract reserves to the provider the right to change the deal at their pleasure.  All we can do is take it or leave it.  That, my friend, makes me angry.

[dwinth]

If Showtime is entirely removed, and you have U300, then U300 will be the same as U200. In that case, change your subscription to U200, and you will pay less.

If you have U450, then I do not have an answer for you.

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

The U300 package does have over 20 non-movie channels that are not included in the U200 package.

[dwinth]

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texasguy37 wrote:

The U300 package does have over 20 non-movie channels that are not included in the U200 package.

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Having U450, I did not realize that.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Also, the U300 package includes the Starz channels and the Encore channels which are not in the U200 package.

[JefferMC ACE - Wizard]

Basically, AT&T is serving notice that if Viacom ups the price-per-subscriber for subscribers getting the Showtime cluster through U300 above a certain level, this is going away.  A prudent move on their part.

Probably also a negotiation tool for AT&T, letting Viacom know that AT&T is posititioned to quit paying them anything per U300 subscriber vs. the higher price being requested.  Though, yes, it does impact the value of the U300 tier quite substantially.