Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Bring Back AMC, Dish Network!

I want some Zombie action/drama and when I want it is when it comes back to AMC.  June 30th AMC was dropped from Dish Network, because of some petty negotiations between them and the owners of AMC.  Thus some other channels that are packed with it; ie WE and IFC.  Now I used to love IFC, so that doesn't make me happy either.

Here was my reply as I really love "The Walking Dead."

"Ok, I just heard you dropped AMC. Now there really isn't anything on there I watch. But there is one program that I'm a huge fan of The Walking Dead and I'm telling you now, that if AMC isn't put back on by Season 3, I will go nuclear! Bring back AMC and resolve this petty money dispute."


They replied back with this full length e-mail.


"Dear Valued DISH customer,

Thank you for your e-mail.  

The channels AMC Networks forces us to deliver -- WE, IFC and AMC -- do not give our customers the best content at the best value.  We have permanently removed them from the DISH line up as of June 30. 
AMC Networks has further devalued its programming by making its handful of popular shows available to consumers via iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.com. This means that AMC Networks wants us to pay many millions of dollars for content that is available to our subscribers the next day for just a couple of dollars.
Among DISH viewers, movies on AMC are substantially more popular than its few original series. But customers have better choices than AMC as DISH offers Blockbuster @Home, dozens of movie channels from partners like HBO, Showtime, Starz, EPIX, HD Net, MGM HD, IndiePlex, RetroPlex, PixL and the latest new releases on DISH Cinema.

People don’t want to and shouldn’t have to watch their movies interrupted with commercials.  The movies shown on AMC are not commercial-free.  DISH is proud to offer customers alternative programming options that deliver great movies, un-interrupted. 

DISH is providing more movie content to its customers. We will offer top quality, commercial-free HDNet Movies at channel 130 to replace AMC.  HDNet, soon to become AXS.TV, will be at channel 131 to replace IFC.  Style will replace WE at channel 128.  Additionally, we are providing all of our customers with a free preview of great independent films on IndiePlex and to dozens of top movies on Encore for the month of July. This will give our customers a taste of the thousands of movies on demand as part of Blockbuster @Home.

At DISH, we stand up for our customers every day to deliver more than just the best in entertainment.  We have remained in contact with AMC throughout this situation.  Should AMC choose to change their position, we remain open to a proposal that would resolve this issue.

Thank you for being a valued and loyal customer.

Sincerely,
DISH"





Now I may only watch "The Walking Dead" on that channel, but some other shows people will miss are "Breaking Bad," "Mad Men," "The Killing," and "Hell on Wheels."

They claim to be looking after the customer, because there are alternative channels with free movies without commercials, some of which are also old movies.  AMC, of course, does have commercials and I'm sure they edit them.  But there's really no excuse here.  It's really all about the green.

The way I see it we have two options.  Dish customers mass e-mailing them on why they don't want to lose the channels or mass mailing AMC to get them to change a proposal to Dish Network.