Many, many years ago, did Dish carry local channels for any areas or did everyone get the distants ??
when DIsh started in 95 or 96 they had "PrimeTime 24" which was the 4 networks from different cities. I remember (from Primestar) it was
WSEE Erie PA (CBS), WUSA Washington DC (ABC), WHDH Boston (NBC), Whatver the Fox in Philly is (Fox 29)
The west coast were from I think Seattle, Sacramento, San Fran & LA (San Fran was Fox and Sacramento was whatver Channel 3 is)
Rules to get PT24 were pretty simple. Call in and answer 2 questions
1. Can you get an "Acceptable" signal OTA
2. Have you had cable in the last 90 days
Answer "no" to both...voila...distants
4.99 for one, 7.99 or both. When the Supers became their own package (before that they were part of what would be AT120 now...it was AT50+ the music back then) it was 9.99 for all 3..still have the brochure around
I know when Mpls came online in 98 we still had distants (by then it was the distants we know now...Denver, Chicago, LA, NY, Atlanta) and the Big 4 from Mpls
Going forward, once your locals became available, sure, Dish "grandfathered" you into allowing you to keep those distants, but legally they shouldn't have been doing that.
I think if you were still outside Grade B you did qualify. In 2003 I legally qualified for all distants but CBS + Minneapolis locals at my dad's cabin
Again, I don't believe for a second that 800,000 to 1 million customers will lose their network programming, i.e. ABC, NBC, etc. Sure, they'll lose the NY and LA feeds, but not their local networks. A much, much smaller number will truly lose all network programming and those shouldn't "suffer" for what Dish has done.
very true. Its the people who live in areas like Glendive, MT Mankato, MN & Presque Isle, ME where they are one channel DMA's (none of which are on Dsh) and so they probably automatically qualify for part of the distants (Mankato qualifies for NBC & FOX...ABC is Grade B)
I'm wondering, if I lived in a true "white area" today and knew I would be losing my distant networks, what would Dish tell me today if I called to re-qualify ??
I'm sorry sir I donot know what you are talking about (translation...CSR's would be clueless)