ABC being dropped OTA in far western North Dakota

[Mr Tony]

ABC is being dropped on the subchannels of CBS in far western North Dakota

courtesy of northpine

A notice running on Forum Communications ABC affiliate KBMY/17 (Bismarck) says the station's programming will no longer be carried on channel 2.2 of Nexstar CBS affiliate KXMA (Dickinson) beginning March 4. The change follows the sale of KXMA and the other western North Dakota CBS affiliates from Reiten Television to Nexstar, which was required by FCC rules to give up a joint sales agreement with KBMY. The ABC affiliate also has a satellite in Minot, KMCY/14, but relied on KXMA and channel 11.2 of KXMD (Williston) to reach the western cities of the vast market; KXMD is presumably dropping the KBMY/KMCY feed as well. KBMY/KMCY had operated analog translators in Dickinson and Williston prior to the subchannel simulcasts. An announcement running on the station says cable and satellite providers will still offer KBMY/KMCY in Dickinson and Williston, and they are exploring opportunities for restoring over-the-air coverage of the cities. However, Nielsen Media statistics posted by TVB show just a small fraction of viewers in the market rely on over-the-air signals.

 

[Mr Tony]

Here is the thread about Nexstar buying Reiten
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/thr...a-stations-from-reiten-television-inc.353471/

 

[Mr Tony]

Note this only affects Williston & Dickinson where ABC is carried as a sub on CBS. That was due to the agreement with Reiten running those 2 stations out there.
In Bismarck and Minot ABC is on its own station.

Forum owns all the ABC stations licensed in North Dakota (WDAZ, WDAY, KMBY, KMCY)

This goes back to the FCC rule now about owning a station and running another Top 4 in the market station. In this case its just a JSA but it still has to be wound down.

 

[Trip]

I thought it was a bad idea when Forum let the translators in those areas go. Seems I was right.

- Trip

 

[Mr Tony]

I thought it was a bad idea when Forum let the translators in those areas go. Seems I was right.

- Trip

agreed.

 

[Mr Tony]

I wonder if maybe they could hook up or buy the (former) 2 FOX translators that were out there?
I know that the one in Dickinson (KNDX) is digital but looks like the one in Williston (KXND) is still analog

 

[Mr Tony]

and it happened Friday at 9AM

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/ne...signals-go-away-friday-western-north-dakotans

Western North Dakota television viewers who watch ABC affiliates KBMY and KMCY through over-the-air digital channels 2.2 and 11.2 will see those signals disappear at 9 a.m. MT Friday.

A joint-sales agreement between Forum Communications Co. and Reiten Television, which was purchased in February by Nexstar Broadcasting, is expiring because of Federal Communications Commission rules.

Forum Communications broadcasts the two stations over the air and estimates the signal shutdown will affect an estimated 1,000 households in Dickinson and another 350 households in Watford City, along with rural viewers in those areas.

KBMY is on Channel 2.2 in the Dickinson area. KMCY is on Channel 11.2 in Watford City and Williston areas.

 

[localclassictvfan]

Hey Ice keep us up to date if Forum or whomever owns the stations dropping the ABC will replace it with anything else besides what you posted already.

 

[Mr Tony]

Hey Ice keep us up to date if Forum or whomever owns the stations dropping the ABC will replace it with anything else besides what you posted already.

Forum was piggybacking off the CBS there which was owned by Reiten but now is Nexstar
As part of the agreement for buying Reiten, Nexstar had to end the JSA (joint service agreement) which meant they had to take ABC (which is still owned by Forum) off their (Nexstar) owned station.
Nexstar still has the weather on the -3.

This is not Nexstar's fault (as you probably would claim it is). It is the FCC's fault with them not allowing JSA's/LMA's anymore when buying a station.

While Forum says they are exploring other options, those options are kinda nil. There are only 2 other full powered stations in each area
1 is PBS
the other is NBC, FOX & Me (owned by Gray)

As I noted above there is a low powered translator in each area (owned by Gray) that did carry FOX (before Gray moved it to the high powered NBC). Forum could buy those and move ABC there (but as noted above...one is still analog).

While the article says about how many people lost ABC OTA, doing the math it is about 9% of the people. Later in that article it says
KBMY remains available to an estimated 11,000 cable and satellite subscribers in the Dickinson area, and KMCY is still available to about 3,650 cable and satellite subscribers in the Watford City area.

 

[localclassictvfan]

Forum was piggybacking off the CBS there which was owned by Reiten but now is Nexstar
As part of the agreement for buying Reiten, Nexstar had to end the JSA (joint service agreement) which meant they had to take ABC (which is still owned by Forum) off their (Nexstar) owned station.
Nexstar still has the weather on the -3.

This is not Nexstar's fault (as you probably would claim it is). It is the FCC's fault with them not allowing JSA's/LMA's anymore when buying a station.

While Forum says they are exploring other options, those options are kinda nil. There are only 2 other full powered stations in each area
1 is PBS
the other is NBC, FOX & Me (owned by Gray)

As I noted above there is a low powered translator in each area (owned by Gray) that did carry FOX (before Gray moved it to the high powered NBC). Forum could buy those and move ABC there (but as noted above...one is still analog).

While the article says about how many people lost ABC OTA, doing the math it is about 9% of the people. Later in that article it says
KBMY remains available to an estimated 11,000 cable and satellite subscribers in the Dickinson area, and KMCY is still available to about 3,650 cable and satellite subscribers in the Watford City area.

Yeah I know I have a habit of blaming nexstar of stuff even if they are not involved. Losing the ABC sucks for the Antenna viewers...

 

[Mr Tony]

But it happens. Looking at options there they have Midco (Midcontinent cable) and they offer lifeline for $20 which includes some stations not available OTA there but in Bismarck (which is still part of the market) like CW, Justice, KBMY Xtra and H&I.

It does suck as ABC has been on a sub for 7 years....but again FCC rules back then (even a year ago) and now are different

 

[Mr Tony]

Sadly when you live in a short market (meaning missing nets or not enough transmitters so everyone could be a -1) you will see things like this happen.

 

[localclassictvfan]

Sadly when you live in a short market (meaning missing nets or not enough transmitters so everyone could be a -1) you will see things like this happen.

Yeah its a bummer

 

[MontanaGuy]

I read that KXMA moved CBS programming to 2.2 this week and now carries CW programming on 2.1. Does this make it likely that Dish and DirecTV will add KXMA CW HD to the Minot/Bismarck/Dickinson locals spot beam? It would be great to finally receive CW programming in HD! Not sure how long it takes from the time a local station goes on air for the signal to be uploaded by Dish or DirecTV. Dish had WPIX/KTLA in SD which has been removed given the Tribune dispute, and DirecTV also only has CW SD distant feeds available (from Washington DC and San Diego I think). Fingers crossed CW HD will finally be available on Dish and DirecTV in this market!