ACTION: Pentagon Channel and Dish Networks- CALL DISH

[liveoaktx]

I've been disturbed the last couple of days by Dish's announcement that they would be carrying the Pentagon channel free of charge.
http://www.afrc.af.mil/NewsXtra/channel.htm Unlike companies that are private entities showing war justifications on their own dime, OUR TAX MONEY pays for this, and Dish is complicit in allowing the Pentagon to air, free of charge, as *public interest*. Not only because federal law prohibits the use of public money for propaganda purposes, but also because of the revelations over the past year that the government actively seeks to propagandize its people, reason enough to, firstly, call Dish to tell them this channel crosses the line.

I spoke a bit ago with a representative of Dish in the executive offices (suggesting that the people on the front lines don't understand the issue, so ask to talk to someone where you can formally lodge a complaint) and she said that she appreciates knowing what the subscribers opinion is, and if enough people call to complain, they may consider taking it off.

RE: The Pentagon channel performing a service for the military families of this country. First, it would be entirely different if a private corporation opted to do this. Second, the Pentagon has been known (Rumsfeld's disinformation office) to actively propagandize (Jessica Lynch, the fake Saddam statue topping, for example).
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/02/26/defense.office/ Third, the channel will show up without specific request. Fourth, the Pentagon channel says it's not propaganda, but look at Rumsfeld's disingenuous comments and the track record of this administration, particuarly recently (fake news anchors, fake WH reporters, payola to others, etc etc etc)

I am not one who advocates getting rid of cable/sat just because. I BLOCK the channels I don't want to watch and then have created custom favorites list from those. I like to watch Cspan/Cspan2/FSTV, LinkTV and TDS-but I'm willing to give them up if Dish decides that joining with the government to spend tax money to propagandize is okay. Saying that this is not a technical issue of blocking channels, but an ethical issue of how our taxpayer money is being used to propagandize using one of only a few satellite providers.

Anyway, strength in numbers. Please CALL Dish and talk to someone who will take your comments/complaints and tally them (again, might not be the person first taking your call, ask to speak to someone who KNOWS the issue and can tally this).
The number to call is: 1-800-333-3474.

(Please kick this after you call to keep it current-this is so important. It's one thing to believe that news shows such as CNN, etc are being used by the government to propagandize, it's quite another for our TAX dollars to pay for it.

[Sweet Pea]

1. Good to know what is going on

“Know your enemy and know yourself, and in one-hundred battles you will never be defeated. If you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, the chances of winning and loosing are about equal. If you are ignorant of both the enemy and yourself, there is danger in every conflict.”

--“The Art of War”, Sun Tzu

[liveoaktx]

2. Call them (best) , email or send a form

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=18530

[e-mail] (Head of Dish)

[e-mail] (Thinks it's great because the channel will provide for the military-tell him that's baloney)

Dish Network-http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/aboutus/contact_us/index.asp

[JDeaver9]

3. We've already got it!

Our family's been included in BETA testing operations for the Dish network for the last 2 years. They track viewing habits and try out new channels before they go public. Have had the entagon channel for 3 weeks now. It's your usual military propagands. My husband grew up in Russia and said wtching the Pentagon channel is like being a kid again in the Soviet Union. All one sided, THEIR side! What worries me is that my 15 y/o twins and their friends are into it. Between this and the military channel I'm afraid killing and being soldiers with guns is staring to look glamorous to them. You know, "bad" guys vs "good" guys crap?

[liveoaktx]

4. Beating this drum- CALL them and tell them you don't want it

The lady I spoke to said if their subscribers call and don't want it, they may DUMP it.

To me, it's like the frog in boiling water example. The line HAS to drawn here and it is OUR money. You're right, it is party propaganda.

[JDeaver9]

5. You convinced me, I'll do it. Thanks

[liveoaktx]

6. self-serving kick-because the law that says Public Money should

not be used for propaganda purposes applies here.

[Lisabtrucking]

7. Just another propaganda channel. n/t

[UTUSN]

8. OtOH, MURDOCH Owns DirecTV

I dislike not being able to pick and choose channels--blocking them is like using the "Ignore" function, the stuff is still there. Packages mean having to have 99 channels never watched, in order to get 1 or 2 that you *do* watch. And Dish *does* carry Free Speech TV and such, and "Charlie" has these call-in things where subscribers supposedly are listened-to. There are SCADS of channels I have never seen FOR AN INSTANT: Disney, NASA, M-TV, and on and on.

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.newhumanist.com/buyout.html

Published on Wednesday, December 31, 2003 by the Houston Chronicle

Fox News owner and the Mother of All Media Buyouts

by Edward Wasserman



In the spirit of giving, just before Christmas FCC regulators approved a proposal from Rupert Murdoch that will make him the country's mightiest media baron. By a 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission gave Murdoch's News Corp. permission to buy control of DirecTV, the No. 1 U.S. satellite broadcaster.

Like the FCC's plan to scrap key protections against concentrated media ownership, which sparked heated protest when it was made final in June, Murdoch's DirecTV buyout has consequence way beyond what its passing mention on the country's business pages would suggest.

News Corp. is huge. Even before the $6.6 billion DirecTV deal, its U.S. holdings included: ....

********UNQUOTE*******

[liveoaktx]

10. I agree about Charlie Chat and I made that point to the person

I spoke with this morning. I told her that Dish had the appearance of being worlds above the competition DirecTV by dint of listening to customers. She told me, and I repeat, that if Dish hears from enough people about this PROPAGANDA, they will PROBABLY REMOVE IT. So, if you, like me, LIKE channels like FSTV, believe that blocking the P-Channel isn't the point but asking them to NIX it because it's the wrong thing to do, CALL THEM AND LET THEM KNOW.

[Roland99]

9. Do it better...cancel Cable TV and/or Satellite

Kill your TV!


Television, Drug of the Free
by Disposable Heroes of Hipocrisy (Michael Franti, 1991)
One nation under god has turned into
one nation under the influence of one drug

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., it satellite links
our united states of unconsciousness
apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
the methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching
T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent
of our nation reads books daily
why most people think Central America means Kansas
socialism means unamerican
and apartheid is a new headache remedy
absorbed in its world it's so hard to find us
it shapes our mind the most
maybe the mother of our nation
should remind us that we're sitting too close to...

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

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