What’s next?

[Khh]

Now that the District Court has ruled in favor of ATT, can we ever expect to get hbo back?

[Chadt4141]

It is not likely.

[MikeSF]

@Khh  I wouldn't hold my breath. There is a "possibility" that if ATT/Directv are not successful in getting all of the DISH customers into their clutches that HBO might actually make a serious offer in order to keep as many subscribers as possible. However, the trend in media providers seems to be in the direction of exclusivity--if we want their content we will have to deal directly with them.  Speaking for myself, HBO is not worth it. I can get HBO through other sources, including Amazon Prime, but having gone without it for 3 months since returning to DISH mid-November I have found that we really don't miss it. 

[Herb]

I would hope that Dish retuirns to serving us as customers versus fighting the AT&T merger.  I use my Dish equipmet to record almost everything we view, so loosing HBO access is a real problem.  As a customer who gave up on Directv and signed up for Dish, I would prefer to maintain my Dish service, with HBO.  Dish, get with it and negotiate a settlement for HBO as your customers want it!

[Chadt4141]

It’s not likely to return. Everyone keeps saying “do it for your customers” however they keep forgetting that if they take the only offer on the table, it means charging the majority of their customers that have already said they do not want HBO. It is not likely to return at the point.

[rugby49]

Cannot speak for everyone but in Vermont I do not have cable and Internet is through TDS at usually 4 megabytes per second or less so streaming is not an option. Off and on I have been with Dish for around 17 years and would really prefer to stay with them. And I have always subscribed to all the movie packages including HBO and Cinemax. I do agree that everyone should not have to pay for this.  I would be willing to pay more to have them as if I was able to stream it would result in a $20 to $30 extra monthly charge anyways. But I do not think cost is the issue and it is more about the minimum subscribers that AT&T is looking for.  Just kind of frustrating for many of us who used HBO and Cinemax and also have no option to stream.  

[Wtk]

This whole issue with Dish and HBO is just BS and it seems to me more on the Dish side. Dish pulled HBO and Cinemax off. HBO was willing to keep the channels available to Dish customers while the Negotiations were continuing from what I understand.
Why is it that Comcast, PlayStation Vue, Hulu, spectrum, Verizon Fios and many more offer HBO/Cinemax. Last I knew none of these companies were owned by AT&T, I would say Dish is the ONLY provider who does not have HBO/Cinemax available to their customers. In my area Comcast is advertising they have HBO/Cinemax available, I am sure they are hoping to grab some Dish customers too.
Also It looks like a dispute with Starz is coming soon. As you can’t find Starz listed in the Dish Premium offering. So it’s a possibility that Dish will not offer Starz as well. Dish needs to work this out. just my opinion, for what it’s worth.

[SadedraJ]

Hello WTK. The fact is, only HBO can remove your access to their content. HBO is making unreasonable demands for the carriage of their channels. We are actively negotiating and are open to a fair deal for the restoration of HBO. Once an agreement is reached, HBO’s channels will be restored and available immediately.

[Chadt4141]

The others contracts haven’t expired. They are usually years apart to prevent any two providers down at the same time. Hulu is also owned by ATT.

[Wtk]

From what I read from several very interesting articles, DISH pulled the channels. Dish says HBO did it and HBO says DISH did it. Whatever... It’s
Going to come down to survival of the fittest in the end anyway. And if I really want to get HBO/Cinemax I have options.