Somewhat lost in the recent DirecTV/Viacom shuffle is the fact that AMC is still knee-deep in their own battle over carriage rates, with the network currently blacked out for all Dish Network subscribers. Considering the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad debuts in less than a week, some Dish Network subscribers are justifiably freaking the hell out about it. To combat this, and in no way whatsoever try to endear themselves to subscribers in an attempt to win the public relations battle in a heated negotiation, AMC has announced that they will stream this Sunday’s season premiere for free on their website.
Here’s the press release from 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.
To recap the day’s events: Viacom is fighting with DirecTV so they yanked all their programs off the Internet, and AMC is fighting with Dish so they’re putting one of their most popular programs ON the Internet. I’ll tell you what, if all these networks and providers keep fighting like children and dragging the Internet into the middle of it, I’m afraid it might start acting out for attention. Smoking cigarettes, being disruptive in class, you know how it goes.
Look, I … I wasn’t going to tell you this, but… I was walking behind the Internet the other day, and a flier for amateur night at The Landing Strip fell out of its backpack. It’s not for another two weeks, and I don’t know if the Internet is just joking around here, but, I mean, I really think everyone needs to take this seriously and evaluate what they’re doing. This is the Internet’s future we’re talking about.
