This kind of dispute between content providers and content distributors happens all the time.
Comcast - Disney - AT&T - Nextstar - Sinclair, etc... It's an everlasting dance that's been doing on for decades.
The only reason this is interesting to the HN community is because it's happening to Sling. But if Sling wants to play on the level of Scripps, Gannet, etc... it has to play by those rules, and expect these sorts of things to happen.
I'm not saying AT&T is right here. But I witnessed at least a dozen of these temporary content blackouts in my previous life in broadcasting. Just because your TV company doesn't have towers doesn't mean you get a free pass.
No, it doesn’t happen all the time. In fact the article is quite clear that this never happened with HBO before the merger.
And also no, Sling being included is not the only reason this is interesting. It’s interesting because it’s a major telco using their newly acquired content as an anticompetitive bludgeon, in direct violation of their quite recent promises to the contrary.
Yes, it does. You are correct that this is the first dispute between HBO and Sling. But as I stated, this type of dispute between content creators and content distributors happens all the time.
Welcome to professional broadcasting. So much for the SV "disruption" strategy.
It does with Dish/Sling. Fox has been blacked out multiple times on Dish. There is nothing inherently wrong with ATT or the fact that they own HBO that caused this. They want to raise prices and Dish doesn’t want to pay. This is how Dish negotiates and they tell their customers it’s to keep prices low. Channels get blacked out all the time on Dish.
There is no free pass expected. This is a simple result of ATT flexing its muscles after consolidation. I don't think you can genuinely say this is business as usual if it is the first time in HBO's history it has happened.
As for it happening to Sling/Dish, yes, absolutely I think ATT picked a fight with them first due to it being their main competition with DirecTV.
No worries. Eventually, the online streaming services will become so fragmented it'll be just like cable tv all over again.
Comcast - Disney - AT&T - Nextstar - Sinclair, etc... It's an everlasting dance that's been doing on for decades.
The only reason this is interesting to the HN community is because it's happening to Sling. But if Sling wants to play on the level of Scripps, Gannet, etc... it has to play by those rules, and expect these sorts of things to happen.
I'm not saying AT&T is right here. But I witnessed at least a dozen of these temporary content blackouts in my previous life in broadcasting. Just because your TV company doesn't have towers doesn't mean you get a free pass.