Just got a call regarding local channel carraige

[chaddux]

I've been trying for a couple of years to get DISH to carry a missing local channel (now two missing local channels) that DIRECTV has carried since they were launched. One of them is a must-carry eligible full power station in our DMA that tried to get carriage in 2004 but was denied based on some timeframe technicality. The other station is a digital subchannel.

I just got a callback from my email I sent to DISH. Although in the past I've received pretty decent responses, this lady obviously had no clue what she was talking about. Her basic excuse was "we have no plans to carry it." Ignoring the digital subchannel, when I explained the whole must-carry thing, she first tried to tell me that DISH Network has no control over which local channels are included in the packages. That is determined "by your local channel people." I have no idea who this mysterious group is and neither did she. She said the local channel people decide which channels are included.

Then, she tried to say that they couldnt carry this channel because they are barred from carrying distant network channels. I explained that this has NOTHING to do with distant networks because IT'S A LOCAL CHANNEL. Basically, she seemed to know absolutely nothing and was completely unhelpful.

That means that people in the city of Tyler TX will, once again, miss about a quarter of Texas Rangers baseball games because our local channel that shows them isnt carried and they will be blacked on the ALT channels because it's our "local" team.

 

[Darrell S]

E* will not carry a digital sub-channel except when they are forced to. For example, in my market Wichita Falls,TX, they were forced to carry a Telemundo digital sub-channel to get the rights to carry the local ABC station. As far as must carry stations go, Charlie is good at finding loopholes to get out of carrying them. There is a LP station in my market (which is not covered by must carry) that carries all the sports, which means I'm screwed as far as Texas pro sports goes also. At least you have the option of switching to D*, which doesn't bother to carry my locals.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I've been trying for a couple of years to get DISH to carry a missing local channel (now two missing local channels) that DIRECTV has carried since they were launched. One of them is a must-carry eligible full power station in our DMA that tried to get carriage in 2004 but was denied based on some timeframe technicality. The other station is a digital subchannel.

I just got a callback from my email I sent to DISH. Although in the past I've received pretty decent responses, this lady obviously had no clue what she was talking about. Her basic excuse was "we have no plans to carry it." Ignoring the digital subchannel, when I explained the whole must-carry thing, she first tried to tell me that DISH Network has no control over which local channels are included in the packages. That is determined "by your local channel people." I have no idea who this mysterious group is and neither did she. She said the local channel people decide which channels are included.

Then, she tried to say that they couldnt carry this channel because they are barred from carrying distant network channels. I explained that this has NOTHING to do with distant networks because IT'S A LOCAL CHANNEL. Basically, she seemed to know absolutely nothing and was completely unhelpful.

That means that people in the city of Tyler TX will, once again, miss about a quarter of Texas Rangers baseball games because our local channel that shows them isnt carried and they will be blacked on the ALT channels because it's our "local" team.

IF you have the 622 or 211 receivers you could just put up an ota antenna and add the channel yourself. I do this with my ota stations and I "moved" to Houston to get the hd ones from there. I get guide data for my ota stations because Dish carries my cities locals . But I don't get sub channel guide data anymore since Dish pulled it last month. But you could get a tv guide and set manual timers for that sub channel .

 

[garys]

Wondering why csr didn't bring up "We don't have carrage consent." If Dish cannot get a contract with a particular channel, they have no right to carry it. Must Carry or not.

 

[Darrell S]

Must carry is consent if this works like the cable retrans. law. Must carry means the programmer must carry the channel,but doesn't have to pay the channel. This is used by the least popular channels. The more popular channels get to ask for money and carriage of their little watched cable channels.

 

[naccoachbob]

That means that people in the city of Tyler TX will, once again, miss about a quarter of Texas Rangers baseball games because our local channel that shows them isnt carried and they will be blacked on the ALT channels because it's our "local" team.

I'm in Nacogdoches, and we get the same channels that the Tyler, Tx people get. Last summer, we got almost all the Rangers games on FSN SW as well as on the Alts. Seems whenever it wasn't on 416 (FSW) it was a KDFI broadcast that was carried on an Alt station. Hope they do that this year. The games that we missed were shown on the Dallas local Fox station. I'm thinking I might have to "move" this summer too.

 

[Hall]

I'm pretty sure that "must carry" only applies to cablecos.

 

[dishcomm]

I've been trying for a couple of years to get DISH to carry a missing local channel (now two missing local channels) that DIRECTV has carried since they were launched. One of them is a must-carry eligible full power station in our DMA that tried to get carriage in 2004 but was denied based on some timeframe technicality. The other station is a digital subchannel.

I just got a callback from my email I sent to DISH. Although in the past I've received pretty decent responses, this lady obviously had no clue what she was talking about. Her basic excuse was "we have no plans to carry it." Ignoring the digital subchannel, when I explained the whole must-carry thing, she first tried to tell me that DISH Network has no control over which local channels are included in the packages. That is determined "by your local channel people." I have no idea who this mysterious group is and neither did she. She said the local channel people decide which channels are included.

Then, she tried to say that they couldnt carry this channel because they are barred from carrying distant network channels. I explained that this has NOTHING to do with distant networks because IT'S A LOCAL CHANNEL. Basically, she seemed to know absolutely nothing and was completely unhelpful.

That means that people in the city of Tyler TX will, once again, miss about a quarter of Texas Rangers baseball games because our local channel that shows them isnt carried and they will be blacked on the ALT channels because it's our "local" team.

Two options for you..One is an OTA..the other is "Lifeline' cable tv..

 

[chaddux]

I'm in Nacogdoches, and we get the same channels that the Tyler, Tx people get. Last summer, we got almost all the Rangers games on FSN SW as well as on the Alts. Seems whenever it wasn't on 416 (FSW) it was a KDFI broadcast that was carried on an Alt station. Hope they do that this year. The games that we missed were shown on the Dallas local Fox station. I'm thinking I might have to "move" this summer too.

Those ALT channels were usually blacked out when the game was on KDFI. Off the top of my head, I don't remember watching a single game from KDFI on an ALT channel. I assumed that was because our local channel rebroadcasts KDFI's signal.

 

[chaddux]

Must carry is consent if this works like the cable retrans. law. Must carry means the programmer must carry the channel,but doesn't have to pay the channel. This is used by the least popular channels. The more popular channels get to ask for money and carriage of their little watched cable channels.

According to both stations, they have tried to get DISH to carry them but DISH has refused (either because they dont have to or they are using that technicality).

 

[naccoachbob]

Those ALT channels were usually blacked out when the game was on KDFI. Off the top of my head, I don't remember watching a single game from KDFI on an ALT channel. I assumed that was because our local channel rebroadcasts KDFI's signal.

What channel is that?

 

[chaddux]

What channel is that?

What channel is what? MYTX18 (KYTX-DT2) rebroadcasts KDFI's signal. The ALT channel varies by game.

 

[DishAggie]

In College Station/Bryan, Texas, Dish has yet to offer local full-power CBS affiliate KBTX. Dish offers KWTX from Waco, while Direct TV offers both and has for a while.

Calls to Dish result in a myriad of responses which are never the same.

The local station's GM says Dish is the road block not the local station.

 

[chaddux]

The local station's GM says Dish is the road block not the local station.

DISH is always the roadblock. They dont care.

 

[Mr Tony]

Seems like Dish will only carry the digital subchannels if its a netowrk (Fox as an example) or if the station that owns the DT-1 stations holds their net hostage.

As for the other station, technically Dish only needs to carry one of each network. They could carry both if they wanted to but don't have to. Only time Dish really has to carry both is if there are 2 of same networks in same DMA but different states.

 

[chaddux]

Seems like Dish will only carry the digital subchannels if its a netowrk (Fox as an example) or if the station that owns the DT-1 stations holds their net hostage.

I'm hoping that will be the case. The one I'm concerned with is a digital subchannel of our local CBS. Maybe next time they have to sign a carriage deal with DISH, that channel will be included.

 

[Mr Tony]

I've got the same thing here in Duluth, MN. We have a digital subchannel of "My" on the NBC station and they show lots of sports yet we dont have it on Dish either.

 

[skysurfer]

Last summer, we got almost all the Rangers games on FSN SW as well as on the Alts. Seems whenever it wasn't on 416 (FSW) it was a KDFI broadcast that was carried on an Alt station. Hope they do that this year.

That situation should be in effect again this year as KDFI and KDFW once again return as free-tv rightsholders to carry 75 games. FSN Southwest will again this season syndicate those 75 games outside the Dallas DMA to cablecos/television stations. On DBS, you can see those games on the "ALT" feed if you are in the right location to have that feed not blacked out.

If it's a national FOX game on KDFW and not a local Rangers broadcast, then you'll have to have access to KDFW to view those.

FSN Southwest carries 80 games, fyi. The 7 remaining games are either not televised at all on the Rangers end or the Rangers don't have rights to allow local broadcasts as those games are exclusive national telecasts.

 

[dishcomm]

In College Station/Bryan, Texas, Dish has yet to offer local full-power CBS affiliate KBTX. Dish offers KWTX from Waco, while Direct TV offers both and has for a while.

Calls to Dish result in a myriad of responses which are never the same.

The local station's GM says Dish is the road block not the local station.

How can you be so certain the station isn't operating at full power? Do have any proof?

 

[Hall]

How can you be so certain the station isn't operating at full power? Do have any proof?

That's public information available from the FCC's website. KBTX has a "Modification of construction permit" filed that indicates 1000kW of output power. That's "full power" to me !

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