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The fur is flying between DirecTV and Comcast over Versus
By Zach Arnold | September 2, 2009
USA Today says Versus is paid 30 cents per subscriber by DirecTV for the channel and that they want to jack it up 20%. Variety reports that DirecTV is not only arguing with Comcast over money for Versus, but wants to bury Versus on a separate pay-tier which would slice DirecTV viewership of the network in half. The LA Times notes what is at stake if the two sides can’t come to an agreement.
From an MMA perspective, a weakened Versus channel all but makes WEC a liability than an asset for Zuffa. From a general sports perspective, the NHL is the major loser here (what a surprise under the leadership of Gary Bettman). Other big losers include the UFL (which is set to launch this Fall) and the Tour de France.
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
(what a surprise under the leadership of Gary Bettman)
Please tell me that’s sarcasm mate. I’m a bit messed up at the moment so I can’t tell if you’re legit surprised or not lol.
J.P. Losman’s dreams are dashed
Gary Bettman is no hero in Canada. Take for example the current situation with the Phoenix Coyotes. They were formerly the Winnipeg Jets. The NHL doesn’t want this team to return to Canada where they have a guaranteed big market in the Hamilton area, they want the bankrupt team to stay in Phoenix. I don’t personally call that leadership, I call that fixing the game. And it’s something Gary Bettman has done since he’s come to the NHL from the NBA.
I have Direct TV and what they’re running in place of Versus on the channel is a message that blames Versus for being greedy and unfair.
I was never a fan of DirecTV…while Dish Network is far from perfect, it offers everything I, and most guys, need at a lower price. HDNet is always on and now I get free VS until December as well. 🙂
In this article on Mad Men:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/01/is-mad-men-worth-it-for-amc/26024
it says the carriage fee for AMC is 0.23 per subscriber. I can’t imagine that Versus gets more viewers than AMC, so I don’t really blame DirecTV for not wanting to pay them 50% more than it costs them for AMC.
I am surprised that Comcast let it go so bad.
I thought the rumor-mill was that Comcast wanted to build a legit sports network and were slowly spreading the seeds like the NHL and UFL deals.