A Dish-aster

A few months ago it was announced that the Dish Network planned to drop a few high-profile channels from its line-up. I don’t have or rely upon Dish Network for my television, but I was still a little surprised to hear that IFC (a channel with TV shows from wonderful comedians like Scott Aukerman and Marc Maron, not to mention the delightful Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein and their acclaimed Portlandia) and AMC (a channel that, without any shadow of a doubt, has some of the best programming currently on television) would no longer be piped into the living rooms of Dish subscribers.

Certainly, I don’t mean to heap any more servings of blame upon Dish Network. The eventual dropping of the channels was the result of a contract dispute between Dish and AMC Networks, and I’m sure both sides are perfectly entitled to have taken whatever actions they eventually took. Dish gave ample warning and time for customers to complain and/or switch to an alternative provider (unfortunately, that alternative provider is most likely one of the crew of cable providers who, comfortable in their regional monopoly, provide horrible service to customers with government complicity). AMC took the corporate high road and organized some kind of protest boycott and filed a lawsuit.

This entire event, along with Community being cancelled on NBC, has to be one of the greater tragedies of television politics. AMC provides excellent, quality programming to its viewers. They got to that place in the cable pantheon by taking fliers on shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad, shows that other networks were not willing to fund. They like were a local restaurant that served much better food, and more expensive food, than any of the chains. They cultivated a relationship with viewers and critics. We might not be able to maintain corporate profit margins, the network implied and viewers understood, but we are dedicated to getting out our quality product to a dedicated audience.

Until the summer of 2012, when, undoubtedly, Dish and AMC refused to come to terms on a suitable contract and the network lost. Perhaps they could have budged, AMC, and given up a little more money in order to ensure that they could still deliver their shows to an expectant viewership. But they wouldn’t. Or they couldn’t. All that matters is that they didn’t.

I don’t know if you know this, but we are supposedly currently living in this wonderful, new digital age of information. I can share in mere seconds a Youtube video of a man lighting his crotch on fire with a friend in India. A picture of a waterfall in Argentina can be sent to a computer screen in Germany before your eyes can blink. I can fart into a microphone and broadcast its sound to millions across the globe before its smell dissipates from the room.

But, for some reason, the actual entertainment industry is dominated by archaic corporatism. The decision to drop AMC from Dish was made by a bunch of number crunching suits in a conference room. Not once did they consider the audience who, for whatever sorry and pathetic reason, rely on these television shows for an ounce of happiness. Not once did they consider the actors, writers, producers and directors of these shows, who dedicated their careers, their lives, to these shows and just wanted to share their vision with someone else. They thought about their wallets, their bottom lines, forgetting that, like most things, these numbers will be wiped away like chalk from a sidewalk when the proper time comes. But they wanted to make a profit.

For a business decision, something that is actually valuable, something that attempts to spread joy, attempts to understand humanity, attempts to subliminally disseminate meth-recipes to millions of suburban families can be taken off the air in without a second glance. I’m sorry Michelangelo, but marble is rather expensive. Don’t worry! David still look great made out of mud! 

This entire event serves as a reminder to the public. We have to be responsible. We have to make demands. Yesterday, they came for the the niche television programming; today they come for PBS. What will be the next sacrifice made to the gods of Profit and Bottom-Line?

(pic from @STDYNews here: http://twitter.yfrog.com/nz3fnjfj)