Saw this on The Consumerist, a – maybe the – top consumer protection side on the web. Not a healthy way to start the day:
Dish CEO Says His Customers Don’t Watch AMC Because “They Live In Farms & Ranches” – by Chris Morran
To all you Dish subscribers who have to go over to your friends’ houses to watch Breaking Bad because you no longer have AMC, the satellite service’s CEO has a message for you: Stop complaining and don’t watch good TV, because he never has.
“I’ve had satellite television for as long as satellite television has been around and there’s never been one minute that I know of anybody in my family, or anybody who’s came to my house, has ever watched one second of any of those channels,” explained Dish’s Charles Ergen about the company’s reasons for dropping AMC-owned channels — AMC, WeTV, IFC, Sundance Channel.
While Ergen restated the company’s position that the main sticking point with the AMC negotiations was the broadcasters’ insistence on bundling the lower rated channels with AMC, which also airs popular shows like Mad Men and The Walking Dead.
But, he insists, these shows are not anything Dish customers really care about anyway.
“They live in farms and ranches… They have no clue about zombies and New York.”
I suppose I should tell all the people here in Philadelphia who have Dish dishes slapped on their roofs that they are actually living on very small farms.
So here I am, a DISH subscriber for as long as the service has existed. And now I learn that the head of the company thinks I’m a clueless buffoon. Since I’m basically a bad-tempered, clueless buffoon, my blood pressure is soaring. DirecTV in our area is offering some pretty good specials. What should I do?
EDITED TO ADD: Of course, there is a negotiation going on, so, wise as Consumerist usually is, this interview still could be part of an attempt to play us. But here’s the thing – Hey, Charlie, the play is succeeding.
