Getting a local channel added

[chaddux]

I live in Tyler, TX and DISH only carries our local ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC affiliates. We have a local WB and a local UPN affiliate. DirecTV carries our local UPN affiliate. I'd like to get DISH to add our UPN since it carries the Rangers, Stars, and Mavericks games.

Is there a process for requesting a local channel be added? Does DISH ever add more locals from a particular market? Any information would be appreciated.

 

[Pepper]

There is a "must carry" rule which states, if I understand correctly, that if a satellite company carries any of the locals for a given market, they must carry all of them. There are exceptions, for example, if a station is below a certain power level it's exempted. Your local WB and UPN probably fit into this category. You could check with the local station management and see what they say.

 

[chaddux]

I know the UPN affiliate is low-power so DISH doesn't HAVE to carry it. I was just wondering it there is a formal way of requesting that it be added.

As far as the WB affiliate, there is nothing on the WB I want to watch. If I'm correct, they dont even broadcast a signal. They are cable-only.

 

[TNGTony]

WB is cable-only in Tyler. UPN does have a low-power station. The only way to get Dish to even consider carrying it is to become a niecense. I have been fighting the good fight to get the Cincinnati UPN added to Dish for 4 years! I recently received news that Dish will *consider* adding it when their new satellite E*10 is up and running, but not before. So at least that is better than the flat "no" or lack of acknowledgement to my communications I had been getting before.

See ya
Tony

 

[Mr Tony]

TNGTony

tvradioworld says the Tyler UPN (KCEB 54) is full power (5000 KW)
Wouldnt that qualify for must carry?

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=KCEB

 

[chaddux]

The Tyler UPN affiliate is KTPN which is low-power but you have raised an interesting issue. KCEB, which is full power, is the Longview broadcast of UPN. We are receiving the "Tyler/Longview" local channel package. Longview residents receive the same package we do. Shouldn't KCEB (which is operated as a duplicate of KTPN and run by the same company) be able to assert it's must-carry rights? Would that force DISH to split Tyler and Longview into different packages, give Longview KCEB, and give Tyler nothing?

 

[Mr Tony]

KTPN is low powered (17KW) but the market is Tyler/Longview/Nacogdoches and has the following full powered available
KLTV (ABC)
KTRE (ABC)
KYTX (CBS)
KFXK (FOX)
KCEB (UPN)
KETK (NBC)
This info is from http://ekb.dbstalk.com/19

Dish only has to carry one of each networks, unless its in a different state. So they carried KLTV for ABC

But I see KCEB is Full Powered, which asks the question...why isnt it part of must carry?

 

[Mr Tony]

Would that force DISH to split Tyler and Longview into different packages, give Longview KCEB, and give Tyler nothing?

No
Everybody in the DMA gets all the channels that Dish carries. Duluth, MN has 2 NBC's (KBJR & KRII). Both are run by the same company and both qualify for must carry (since they are licensed to different states..KBJR is WI, KRII is MN)

Cable gets one or the other (depending on where in the DMA you are)
Dish gets both (even though its basically the same stuff except for news)

The Minneapolis DMA gets a PBS from Bemidji (over 180 miles from Mpls but still in the DMA)...I can barely get this OTA at my lake house, which is 35 miles away...yet I can get it on Dish

 

[chaddux]

There is one aspect that may be the case here. "Must-carry" does not mean "must-provide." A local affiliate is under no obligation to provide its signal to all providers. It could be that our local UPN is choosing not to assert its must-carry rights for the full power KCEB.

 

[Mr Tony]

There is one aspect that may be the case here. "Must-carry" does not mean "must-provide." A local affiliate is under no obligation to provide its signal to all providers. It could be that our local UPN is choosing not to assert its must-carry rights for the full power KCEB.

exactly...but since its full power, Dish can't say "we're not carrying you"

 

[Hall]

Okay Tony, where does UPN-17 fall (they are WHIO's little brother station) in Dayton. I just looked at antennaweb.org and they're not listed. Are they "cable only" also ??

 

[TNGTony]

Yes. UPN 17 is Cable only in Dayton. DirecTV reportedly carries WBQC Cincinnati as the "local" UPN. I'm not sure how, but they must have struck a deal with WHIO.

Tony,

I conmpletely forgot about the parent UPN station! Yes, this station could ask for Must Carry. But my guess is that at some point it asked for retransmission consent due to the sports it carries and Dish passed. If this is the case, by law, the station cannot ask for must carry until the next election cycle next year to take effect in 2006. However nothing would prohibit Dish and the station from coming to a retransmission concent deal in the mean time.

See ya
Tony

 

[chaddux]

Should I try ceo@dishnetwork.com and ask about the situation? I've asked a CSR in the past and, not surprisingly, they had no idea what to say.