Is Direct adding diginets?

[CSM]

FETV is a pay to play station similar to infomercial channels that pay DIRECTV for satellite carriage. They have carriage as long as the check clears every month or quarter.

Sorry, I forgot about that.

 

[steve615]

Now that the Nexstar contract has been renewed, Philly, Harlingen and Marquette now have their AntennaTV stations in test mode, but ONLY because they pre-empt primetime for MyNetworkTV. Savannah has their CourtTV station in test mode for the same reason.


On the otherhand, 385 H&I's national feed is now in test mode on satellite. Stream/Internet customers already have their streaming feed that replaces any programming that Weigel doesn't have the streaming rights to. If it's anything like the MeTV deal, on satellite it will be blacked out in markets that get it as a LIL channel like Los Angeles (KVME/20), Seattle (KVOS/12), San Francisco (KTLN/68) and Alexandria (KBCA/41).

Any chance that Movies! channel gets added to both satellite and stream services in the future? That is another Weigel owned brand / channel, per their website. What about MeTV+?

 

[telstar_1]

Now that the Nexstar contract has been renewed, Philly, Harlingen and Marquette now have their AntennaTV stations in test mode, but ONLY because they pre-empt primetime for MyNetworkTV. Savannah has their CourtTV station in test mode for the same reason.


On the otherhand, 385 H&I's national feed is now in test mode on satellite. Stream/Internet customers already have their streaming feed that replaces any programming that Weigel doesn't have the streaming rights to. If it's anything like the MeTV deal, on satellite it will be blacked out in markets that get it as a LIL channel like Los Angeles (KVME/20), Seattle (KVOS/12), San Francisco (KTLN/68) and Alexandria (KBCA/41).

Interesting the mention of CourTV- of course we remember when this came out almost 30 years ago with the premise of covering trials & justice system, hit its zenith with the OJ trial and then the trials coverage faded out and was replaced by other formatting. Was this brought back?

 

[KyL416]

Scripps relaunched it as a diginet.

 

[CSM]

Any chance that Movies! channel gets added to both satellite and stream services in the future? That is another Weigel owned brand / channel, per their website. What about MeTV+?

Those channels would need to have a national feed if DTV considered adding them.

 

[KyL416]

MeTV and H&I are Weigel's flagship networks so they have wider distribution. The rest of the networks have national feeds, but so far only streaming providers like Philo and Frndly have them. Then you got the co-owned ones that make it complicated, like Paramount (via CBS) handles Start TV's distribution deals with YouTube, Dish and Sling.

 

[CSM]

I wonder how they decide which channels to add because if they based it on ratings. I don't see how most of them are on the air.

All 153 Linear TV Channels Ranked by 2023 Viewership

Qatari cable channel beIN Sports can’t catch a break — in any language.

www.indiewire.com

 

[steve615]

Here is what appears in the program guide between channels 77-85, in the middle TN area at the current time. I'm curious if these channels vary by regions across the states. I know very little in regards to how all of the diginet and what not stuff works, when it comes to channels of this nature. I get quite a few channels, via an OTA antenna connected various ways in my setup. But, it would be cool if DIRECTV would add more of these channels to their satellite and stream services in the future. I am well aware that lots of folks could care less about stuff like this. For me, it's a simple matter of different strokes for different folks.

 

[KyL416]

Here is what appears in the program guide between channels 77-85, in the middle TN area at the current time. I'm curious if these channels vary by regions across the states.

For satellite, WINS on channel 1 and channels 70 and above are the same nationally, although 77 MeTV is blacked out in markets that get it as a LIL channel either by being a primary channel or in some markets sharing a subchannel with MyNetworkTV. Only channels 2-69 vary from market to market.

I wonder how they decide which channels to add because if they based it on ratings. I don't see how most of them are on the air.

A lot of the niche channels get carriage by being included very cheaply with their more popular sister stations. The no-name independents usually pay their way. There are a few caveats, like Hubbard's Reelz and Ovation basically have guaranteed DIRECTV carriage as a condition of the USSB merger.


On DIRECTV:
77 MeTV and 385 H&I are Weigel, who also owns several Big 4 affiliates in the midwest.
80 Cozi is NBCU
81 Grit and 82 Bounce are Scripps who also owns Ion and multiple Big 4 affiliates across the country
83 GetTV is Sony (who also owns GSN, Sony Movies and Sony Cine)
342 Grio inherited BNC's cable and satellite distribution. Its eventual renewal will likely be a lock as it's now under Allen Media who owns Weather Channel, Comedy.TV, Justice Central and in recent years acquired multiple Big 4 affiliates that had to be divested by other companies like Gray.

 

[lordodogg]

It's eventual renewal will likely be a lock as it's now under Allen Media who owns Weather Channel, Comedy.TV, Justice Central and in recent years acquired multiple Big 4 affiliates that had to be divested by other companies like Gray.

Does that mean we might see a repeat of what happened back in January 2014 with TWC? I hope not.

 

[KyL416]

385 H&I is now available via DIRECTV Satellite

 

[CSM]

385 H&I is now available via DIRECTV Satellite

Cool. Do you think they add Charge?

 

[KyL416]

I doubt we'll get any of Sinclair's diginets (Comet, Charge, TBD, Nest) unless they're included as part of a discount next time the contract for Sinclair's locals is up for renewal as they stream for free online via their websites

Out of the diginets DIRECTV currently carries, only GetTV streams for free, but in that case it's limited to select 3rd party platforms like Freevee/Prime Video and Samsung TV Plus.

 

[CSM]

Antenna TV doesn't have a national feed right?

 

[KyL416]

Nexstar has yet to sign any national deals for their diginets.

 

[CSM]

Does DirecTV have to do a separate deal with each Weigel channel? It can't just do all of them at once? Unless DirecTV wouldn't want all of them?

 

[KyL416]

MeTV and H&I are their two flagship networks that have deals with traditional providers where some providers like Spectrum also carry their national feeds in markets without local affiliates.

Only Frndly and Philo carry all of Weigel's national feeds. Start TV also has some extra streaming distribution due to CBS including it as part of their deals with YouTubeTV and Sling.

 

[Peter Parker]

Antenna TV doesn't have a national feed right?I

I thought they only have one fed. Am I wrong?

 

[KyL416]

They have a national satellite feed that is sent to local stations, some of which pre-empt/delay programming and insert custom branding. They also have designated breaks where affiliates can insert local ads.

i.e. Their stations in Philly, Harlingen and Marquette pre-empt 2 hours for MyNetworkTV programming and WNEP in Scranton delays Carson by 30 minutes so they can have a 10pm newscast and also pre-empts for extra morning newscasts and live events. WPIX used a variation of their "11 Alive" logo and WPHL used their "Great Entertainer" logo, while WNEP just calls it "WNEP2"

 

[PrinceLH]

Directv added some, but you'll pay for them. They aren't in the base package and to upgrade will cost you S30.00.