The Cubs’ new network on Dish? Don’t bet on it
Impasses with Fox, others and costs makes it tough for carriage
If you are a Cubs fan and you are looking forward to watching Kris Bryant and Co. on their new Marquee Sports Network on Dish, let me give you a heads up: it’s not likely to happen.
With nearly 150 games set to air exclusively on the Cubs’ new channel starting in 2020, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen told investors in an earnings conference call a few days ago he is unlikely to return Fox’s regional sports networks to the satellite provider and Sling streaming service after an impasse was reached Friday after the channels were removed. Ergen is considering dropping all regional sports networks once their contracts come up, citing the high costs of carrying them.
“It doesn’t look good that the regional sports will ever be on Dish again,” Ergen was quoted as saying in Ad Age. “The frustrating thing is, they are not very good economic deals for us.”
The move comes as the 21 regional Fox Sports networks and the Yankees’ YES are being sold by The Walt Disney Co. to Sinclair Broadcast Group (with Amazon taking a stake in YES) as a result of the Justice Department ordering Disney to divest the properties once it bought much of 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion, RSNs included. But the channels were sold at below-market value as most media companies were not interested in acquiring them. The deal has yet to close because the Justice Department has yet to sign off on it.
Sinclair is a partner with the Cubs and the Ricketts family in the Marquee Sports Network.
Now keep in mind this doesn’t necessarily mean Marquee and Dish won’t come to a carriage deal. In fact, Dish is actually open to making a deal with Sinclair for the Fox RSNs. But Sinclair isn’t negotiating with Dish yet because the deal is still pending – a third party appointed by Disney is doing so instead (and obviously not doing a good job.) But the chances of Marquee landing on Dish are severely diminished. After all, Dish doesn’t carry the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Spectrum SportsNet LA and neither does anyone else, outside of Spectrum.
So far, Marquee has one carriage deal: Charter Communications – the same outfit who owns SportsNetLA. Charter’s presence in the Chicago area is only limited to Kenosha, Wis. (you can debate among yourselves whether the city belongs in the Chicago or Milwaukee market.)
Ergen is gambling that the number of lost customers from dropping the RSNs wouldn’t affect Dish despite more and more people cutting the cord. Ironically, Dish has lost fewer subs than rival DirecTV, who had lost over a million homes in the past year. Dish is known in the industry as a tough negotiator; they are currently in another standoff with HBO and had a nine-month impasse with Univision, who kept their signals off the air.
There are a number of impasses taking place between broadcasters and satellite TV providers; Dish with Meredith and DirecTV with Nexstar and CBS, the latter owner of WBBM-TV whose ratings have dropped 28 percent in total-day ratings since the blackout began.
Whether Marquee gets wide carriage in Chicago and beyond depends on how much they would ask for the channel; negotiations will step up once the baseball season concludes. But if operators balk at paying high prices in this environment, getting wide clearance for the Cubs’ new network is going to be even more challenging than first anticipated. If Marquee and the Ricketts Family thought they were going to get carriage deals done because of the power of Cub Nation, they might want to think again.
28 thoughts on “The Cubs’ new network on Dish? Don’t bet on it”
Comments are closed.
Dish can bet on me cancelling their service.
I’m cancelling next month
DITTO! I’ve been a dish customer at least 15 yrs. but…no Cubs…no Dish!
I’ve been a dish customer for 14 or 15 years. I’m getting fed up with having to to for another network. I’m seriously thinking of getting rid of dish getting certain networks on my smart tv. What happened to five locals, rabbit ears and not paying for every channel. A la carte is getting costly
Time for me to evaluate everything.
Been a dish customer for almost 20 years, NO CUBS, NO DISH
No cubs no dish get rid of the other junk
Will definitely leave Dish if they do not carry this network have been a dish customer for 16yrs
No cubs or cardinals no dish! !!
I’m willing to pay for it as a premium channel. But I agree I will move to whatever provider supplies the cubs.
I agree no cubs no dish.
I fully agree — no Cubs, NO DISH.
I also have been a Dish custumer for well over 15 years, starting to look seriously at other options, most definitely tho, no Cubs no Dish.
No Cubs, No Dish!
Bye, bye, Dish!
No cubs no dish
Dish, you better get your shit together. I will definitely move on from Dish of there are no Cubs games.
No Cubs, no Dish
That’s the main reason we went with DISH. Like their DVR….but won’t keep it if the CUBS are not on it for sure!
What is meant by a “carriage deal?”Would that enable us to see the Cub games? The team “blackouts” are bad enough without having to deal with Dish refusing to carry the Cubs channel.
What is meant by a “carriage deal?”Would that enable us to see the Cub games? The team “blackouts” are bad enough without having to deal with Dish refusing to carry the Cubs channel.
“Carriage” generally means a distributor (Xfinity, RCN, DirecTV, etc.) agrees to terms to carry a cable channel.
I applaud Dish for negotiating unfair price increases but “no cubs “,”no dish”. Somehow they have to work it out. Sorry to say, I’ve been a Cubs fan for a lot longer than Dish, & that means something.
Been a Dish customer for over 30 years. First no Blackhawks, now if no Cubs then I’m gone. No Dish Network.
No Cubs No Dish!!!! Been with Dish along time.
Totaly in agreement No Cubbies, No Dish!!
in agreement No Cubbies, No Dish!!
I use Dish in two locations. But, NO CUBS = NO DISH
DISH CAN COUNT ON ME CANCELING WITH NO CUBS GAMES!!