Dish Network flexes its Muscles but AMC Has the Goods

I'm in the middle of David Foster Wallace's magnum opus INFINITE JEST and I've found throughout this book a lot of eerie prognostications about where America is heading. From a comical president who gives away a chunk of land to the Canadians in exchange for getting to use it as a dump thanks to America's overt consumption to a prediction of the death of television at the hands of some futuristic, like, grid where shows can be beamed to people's homes so that you don't have to subscribe to a bunch of trash for the few things you actually want to watch. Of course this is overblown and the demise of networks at the hands of cable networks and then cable at the hands of the big 4 (CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox) is a bit of an exaggeration but not as far off as we think. He predicted the issues that we would have, like, special VCR-type machines that allowed us to fast-forward past commercials at the detriment of ad-based commercial networks and that traditional TV distribution will either collapse or adapt to some new model if they wish to exist in Foster Wallace's post-millenial world (he wrote this in 1996). Interestingly enough, as I read in my book about how emerging technology will threaten the way the TV business had been run, I came across this article about how Dish Network, tired of paying for AMC's networks in a bundle (a value for the eponymous network AMC but a drag to have to carry such duds as IFC, Sundance, and WE), will be dropping them .

There's a bit more to this than the complaint of having to pay for a package when they only want bits and pieces (AMC is claiming it's because they're suing Dish Network for improperly dropping a network) - and one can't help but see the irony in a cable provider dropping a network for providing a bunch of shitty channels they don't want to pay for (I'd personally love to subscribe exclusively to HBO, Showtime, AMC, the big 4 if only for sports and, like 4 shows, ESPN, History, Discovery and Travel channel and drop all the others - maybe keep MTV and Bravo so the wife can watch her reality shows). But their point, even if it's only part of the truth, is a valued one. Dish Network is saying they can no longer justify keeping a network whose content is available online for free or cheap, especially when said content has bound them into carrying a bunch of other networks nobody watches. Their claim is it dilutes the brand if you can go on iTunes or Netflix to watch these shows. With a gain in revenue and subscribers Dish Network is trying to throw around its weight. Surely this is partially just to get a better price for the growing cable provider but it's also an effort to fight the encroaching nightmare that is the current state of television.

Back in the day TV was little more than interesting stories written to make people pay attention to the ads between. You had 4 channels to choose between (or was it 3?). If you wanted to see a show, you had to be in front of your TV at the exact hour that it aired. Or wait a few months until repeats, in the summer. And commercials were a part of watching TV, you learned to appreciate them almost as much as the schmaltzy early TV programming. And as time went on this stayed mostly the case. Enter the 80's and cable television. And the VCR. Suddenly there were options. Still, the networks and the cable channels found they could play nicely until Tivo came out. Then all hell broke loose.

Suddenly people could record shows. They could watch only the ones they wanted, never having to waste an afternoon brainlessly viewing crap in hopes that they'll catch their show. Viewers didn't have to tune in at any specific times, ruining shit for schedulers. And especially they didn't have to watch commercials.

When Internet TV showed up, television as we knew it was already hurting. Now, hell, now you don't even need cable anymore. I know more than a few people who get by just fine with a Roku or some sort of Internet box. Between hulu, Netflix (though that's for watching last year's shows, like the way my wife and I and, apparently, like, half of America watched MAD MEN seasons 1-5 in epic fits of streaming, leading to this season's record-setting premiere), individual network's you can subscribe to online (like HBOGO.com) they get by great without cable. For live events, y'know, gotta watch my Sunday football, unless you have NFL Sunday Ticket you spend most of the time having to go to sports bars anyway.

Basically, here's what it amounts to. Dish Network is having a pissing match with AMC, one of the few basic cable channels that's actually worth watching. Between BREAKING BAD, MAD MEN, and WALKING DEAD you have 3 of the most highly-regarded series on Television. What will be interesting is, if Dish Network actually drops AMC in June like it's threatening, will people start dropping Dish Network? I know I will.

The thing is, as much as these bastards hem and haw about little details and whatnot, the long and short of it is that the world as they know it is ending. It's a scary time for TV distributors as well as for studios and networks but in the end, there's one basic rule - the content is what matters. Or as AMC says, "Story Matters Here." Distribution methods have evolved through the ages without pause. Mail was distributed by foot or ass with falcon-carried communiques and then, once the new world was found, trans-oceanic cruisers for the upper class. Jump forward and there are regular trans-Atlantic steamers so everybody can communicate with Europe. Then we get cables for telegraphing and whatnot and eventually telephones. Go on to airplanes. Then faxes. Now most people communicate through email. Fast, easy, cheap; hell, you can send 'em off every day without having to incur any expenditure except for the time requisite to get it all written down.

TV was sent off solely through air signals, then came satellite, then cable, now you can choose all three or VIA phone lines. And even more, the infrastructure all these cable networks put in place can now be utilized as fiber optic internet delivery devices, possibly leading to the demise of their cable business but the building of the Internet business which will probably someday put cable delivery companies out of business.

Because Dish Network, DirectTV, Time Warner and Cox and so on, the thing is you're the middle man. You're developing some production holdings, like DirectTV did with FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS for a season, sure, but for the most part you're the middle man. I will develop loyalty to AMC, just like I have with HBO and Showtime (I even gave GIRLS a watch... ughhhh....). But I won't develop any loyalty to the bastard who charges me over a hundred bucks a month to watch shit I can mostly watch online if I just hustled a bit. I don't choose cable provider on anything but bang for my buck and content. And AMC is a deal-breaker for me. Dish Network you need to know your role - you're not Walter White (BREAKING BAD reference), you're not even Jesse - you're the head of Los Pollos Hermanos and without product, you have nothing. That's why you can't kill your cook, can you? Instead of fighting AMC over their bundles and this contract, take that money you got from all these new subscriptions and figure out some fucking way to deliver internet over your satellite dishes. Because your days are numbered. Just ask David foster Wallace about the Interlace network grids. Actually, you can't. Know why? Because he's dead.

Bummer.

- Ryan