Women's net Lifetime has launched a five-city ad blitz to try and get DISH Network subscribers to switch to DirecTV, and is getting help from DBS, cable, telco and even broadcast partners.
Locked in a bitter carriage dispute with the network, DISH parent EchoStar on Dec. 30 dropped Lifetime and its movie network from DISH's 12-million-sub DBS operation.
The Lifetime campaign asking viewers to "Take Back Your Lifetime" and "Switch From DISH," includes TV, radio and print ads in Houston, Orlando, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Albuquerque, N.M., and Greenville, S.C., all markets where DirecTV or some other multichannel video provider in competition with DISH has agreed to team with it on the effort.
Lifetime says those partners include Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, Bright House, the broadcaster-backed multichannel DTV service USDTV, and Verizon's FiOS multichannel video service.
Lifetime also motorwomaned an "open letter" to DISH CEO Charlie Ergen from 50 women's groups, including the National Organization of Women and YWCA, asking it to restore the networks.
