The Dish-AMC feud lives on. While Dish customers are still without AMC because of the satellite provider’s refusal to give into carriage fee hikes, the cable network wants cable watchers the world over to know they still care. That is why today they have announced that those who pre-register will still be able to view the upcoming fifth season premiere of Breaking Bad. Here is what the channel has to say on the matter:
Every cable, phone and satellite company other than Dish carries AMC. AMC wants its loyal Dish viewers to experience the excitement of the Breaking Bad premiere at the same time as their friends and neighbors, and we want to give Dish customers an extra week to switch providers so they can enjoy the rest of the season.
The AMC-lover in me wants to say that this network really cares, they are the Apple of the television world, and other good things; however, the cynic in me leads me to believe they may use these registration figures as leverage to show that overall ratings do not matter as much as viewership for the network’s top programs. That has been the chief argument at play here as while the cable channel has some of the most sought-after scripted offerings on all of television, they air few and far between resulting in lackluster ratings overall.
While both have a point, I doubt any pay-TV provider wants to start rewarding a network for their individual programs as that opens up a slippery slope. Who is to say that Nickelodeon cannot rest on their ability to air SpongeBob? This is not a premium channel. This is a group of channels and they are pre-packaged buy-ins meaning that AMC may have to step up their game outside of Sunday night in order to get the rates they believe they are entitled to. That said, we are still only talking about 30-40 cents a month for Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Mad Men. To get something like that on HBO or Showtime costs 20 times that amount.