Yes! Locals are a requirement for us. Without LiL, we never would have gone to satellite.
Is Dish heading towards dropping locals?
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Yes! Locals are a requirement for us. Without LiL, we never would have gone to satellite.
I think it bears reminding that we need to separate locals retransmission fees from signal delivery costs. Even back in the early CATV days, subscribers were legitimately charged for signal delivery. It's the Congress approved copyright based retrans fees that have caused the skyrocketing costs. My own opinion is that Congress got it wrong in that carriers are not profiting from reselling copyrighted programming, rather they're profiting from delivering the programming. Would a delivery service be in copyright violation for delivering a book? Of course not...
Over the years we have discussed all of this. There is no good solution, none, unless and until the rules are changed in regards to re transmission via cable/sat. That can be done in any number of ways but if you have been holding your breath waiting for FCC changes you are dead. We miss you.
Antennas have popped up in our area a lot through the years, but I know many that are willing to pay for locals on Dish, even though there is better variety OTA.
We watch a lot of Local programming so PTAT is a boon for us. We are affected by the Harlington/Dish ABC dispute so we keep the RV in Corpus Christie. The Boss would prefer McAllen ads, so I investigated OTA DVRs.
My problem is that I have yet found a way with a 4 channel OTA DVR to record all four broadcast channel for the evening because of the before/after padding causing no-available channel problems. I guess I could just record the whole evening as one four hour manual timer.
My point is I will be sticking with Dish for Locals as long as they are there because of the convenience of PTAT.
I feel the Congress and the FCC created these DMA monopolies. Monopolies are necessary at times. But one of the jobs of the government is to control monopolies because there are no competition controls. Allowing Dish to backfill during a dispute would put competition back into the game. Then a subscriber could choose between just receiving network shows or receiving local programming.
My problem is that I have yet found a way with a 4 channel OTA DVR to record all four broadcast channel for the evening because of the before/after padding causing no-available channel problems. I guess I could just record the whole evening as one four hour manual timer.
My point is I will be sticking with Dish for Locals as long as they are there because of the convenience of PTAT.
I feel the Congress and the FCC created these DMA monopolies. Monopolies are necessary at times. But one of the jobs of the government is to control monopolies because there are no competition controls. Allowing Dish to backfill during a dispute would put competition back into the game. Then a subscriber could choose between just receiving network shows or receiving local programming.
That's been brought up before, and so I ask the question... if Dish could fill in (with a nearby local) when a contract dispute happens, what keeps Dish negotiating "in good faith"?
I still think there is a simple solution...
1) Determine which ratings company (or combination) to use.
2) Use 3rd party arbitration to determine a cost/rating point.
3) ALL MVPDs pay per subscriber based on the average rating point/station over the last year (or 3 years or 2, whatever).
This would mean:
A) No blackouts.
B) Incentive to local broadcasters to have better programming (better programming = better ratings = more $$$)
Yes, I know most here would say it's easier to do away with retransmission. As Tampa8 says, try holding your breath until that happens. So instead of coming up with unrealistic solutions, how about everyone compromise?
Bringing in a foreign station as a replacement for a blacked out local would likely result in a lot of subscriber complaints over the foreign station's programming. My current service address happens to be in a dual DMA area, and the Nexstar dispute has taken down the Fox station in the Albany, NY DMA. The alternate Fox station in the Burlington, VT DMA does carry the couple of programs we regularly watch fortunately, but there's also a lot of different programming, including the local news, that we prefer the downed station for. Obviously not the end of the world, but I did fire off an email to Nexstar letting them know I'm not happy about the situation.
From what I can find out WXXA channel 23 is owned by Shield Media. They share news and other facilities with Nexstar's channel 10 but they aren't owned by Nexstar outright. Nexstar owns a lot of channels and Shield only owns two channels so I don't think Dish puts a high priority on settling this dispute. If all of Nexstar's channels were off I think it would be settled quickly.
WXXA-TV - Wikipedia
No, the part where you said you could see Dish eliminating locals... that's a core part of their business especially now due to underserved rural areas...
The terrain in my location makes it impossible for me to get my local CBS (Scripps) or Fox (Sinclair) stations. If Dish decides to force OTA I am SOL.
He got the price wrong too. He posted $13 for locals and I do believe it's $12.
I know it went way up...I just dont know if it varies by market...some have 20 locals others might have 4 or 5
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Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!
$12 a month for locals in all DMA's.
From what I can find out WXXA channel 23 is owned by Shield Media. They share news and other facilities with Nexstar's channel 10 but they aren't owned by Nexstar outright. Nexstar owns a lot of channels and Shield only owns two channels so I don't think Dish puts a high priority on settling this dispute. If all of Nexstar's channels were off I think it would be settled quickly.
WXXA-TV - Wikipedia
Oh I agree, and yes, Shields owns the station and Nexstar manages it as I understand it. I mention that one dispute purely as a real life example of a distant being available when a LIL is down, and that it may not be as much of a leverage killer as we might expect it to be. There would likely still be a fair number of folks threatening to switch if the LIL isn't restored instantly.
Between the dual DMA's and streaming options we can watch the few Fox programs we enjoy, so it's really not an issue on my part, but if I were in the Albany only DMA, I'm sure it would be a much larger issue for myself, as it is for many other people.
AFAIK there is no reduction of the $12 a month for locals, dispute or not.
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