This has been asked before. But this is regarding stations that opt for retransmission consent. Or compensation, rather then Must Carry.
If a local station (considered a satellite station of the main station) opts for retrans consent rather then Must Carry, but are located in another state. An example would be KREZ is in Durango, CO while it's main sister station is in ABQ, NN. (LIN Television has always opted for retransmission consent with both cable and satellite in all it's markets.) Would Dishnetwork or DirecTV be obligated to carry that signal from the Colorado station, even though it has a main station back in Albuquerque NM? Or does this rule only apply for Must Carry? In other words, once a station opts for retransmission consent, "all bets are off" and both parties (DBS and broadcast) must negotiate some kind of deal, and any rules pertaining to local into local don't apply, other then the station having chosen restrans consent when the DBS firm asked for their signal?
I've only found one exception to this rule regarding a commercial secondary station. WNEG in Toccoa, GA. (a satellite station of WSPA in Greenville-Spartanburg DMA) Dishnetwork lists both CBS affiliates available to that zip code. While DirecTV only lists WSPA available as the CBS affiliate. In this example, WSPA the main station is located in South Carolina, while WNEG the smaller satellite station is located in Georgia. So this makes me think that the rules regarding out of state signal must be replaced with a local in state signal if available. Or is this the only example of such an occurrence, and Dishnetwork has since stopped doing this? Maybe Dishnetwork carried the station before the rules were made for a secondary satellite station? But from what I under stand, DBS only has to give a certain number of days to inform the station that they will be taking them off, while stations can only request under Must Carry every three years, whenever that cycle starts with the DBS company who chooses to carry Local into Local in their market. This also apply under retransmission consent every three years.
On a side note, WNEG is being put up for sale my Media General, with the stipulation that is will lose it's CBS affiliation with the new owners; whomever that may end up being. Forcing WNEG to be a full power independent. I suspect Media General weighed the options of what to do with WNEG (continue to upgrade it, particularly for the digital transition), make it a duplicate of WSPA without local advertising or news (as most have done). But that still leaves them with a large stick and transmitter site, and a small office to maintain in it's city of license. So I suspect they figured they could still cover their DMA adequately with cable carriage and DBS as a means to get to viewers, and maybe just put up a small translator instead. Call that even, and shut down the shop and sell it to the next sucker who will have to upgrade all the facilities to full power digital. If Media General has done what every other television owner around the country has, they have opted for flash-cut, (only pertains to translators and secondary satellite stations) and only have a small power DTV on the air right now. With the intention of just shutting down the analog, and turning on the digital the next day. But by dumping WNEG outright, they don't even have to go through those expenses at all, and still get to keep their DMA and ratings numbers with viewers.
I don't think this bodes well for "hometown" tv stations that have ended up as sticks of the main station over a hundred miles away, and may only have a small news operation and local advertisers who can only afford the local station, verses trying to buy (and compete with deep pocket advertisers far away from their rural budgets) with the much larger main station. If this works for Media General, then we may see this happen all across the nation, and more and more small secondary satellite stations shutting down, never to be tuned on again, and small town America being cut out of TV advertising. Some may consider it small, but certain split DMA's with satellite stations are covering over 300,000 homes just on the secondary station, (such as Springfield-Champaign Ill DMA 65/35% split) That's not small in my book, but it's a mid-sized market right in the middle, while none of the secondary satellite affiliates are even carried by DBS; WICD and WCCU.
Consolidation of media companies has really driven this unfortunate effect of taking over small TV stations in adjacent markets, then turning over those markets into the larger DMA market they were next too. (adding those viewers, and making a larger DMA, higher advertising dollars) Then slowly shut down what becomes a secondary affiliate of the main station. With DBS coming along a few years later, to make it even easier to justify shutting down an operation that appears to be nothing more then a drag on budgets, even though that secondary affiliate brings in local ratings and local revenue that would otherwise not be possible. With the end result being, no real hometown station anymore and finally shut down or sold like Media General is choosing too do.
It's a sad state of affairs for rural America, and there is nothing those viewers can say or do to change this slow downward spiral. My only thoughts are if the rules change for secondary stations that must to be carried by DBS, then secondary stations might have a fighting chance to justify their existence.
If a local station (considered a satellite station of the main station) opts for retrans consent rather then Must Carry, but are located in another state. An example would be KREZ is in Durango, CO while it's main sister station is in ABQ, NN. (LIN Television has always opted for retransmission consent with both cable and satellite in all it's markets.) Would Dishnetwork or DirecTV be obligated to carry that signal from the Colorado station, even though it has a main station back in Albuquerque NM? Or does this rule only apply for Must Carry? In other words, once a station opts for retransmission consent, "all bets are off" and both parties (DBS and broadcast) must negotiate some kind of deal, and any rules pertaining to local into local don't apply, other then the station having chosen restrans consent when the DBS firm asked for their signal?
I've only found one exception to this rule regarding a commercial secondary station. WNEG in Toccoa, GA. (a satellite station of WSPA in Greenville-Spartanburg DMA) Dishnetwork lists both CBS affiliates available to that zip code. While DirecTV only lists WSPA available as the CBS affiliate. In this example, WSPA the main station is located in South Carolina, while WNEG the smaller satellite station is located in Georgia. So this makes me think that the rules regarding out of state signal must be replaced with a local in state signal if available. Or is this the only example of such an occurrence, and Dishnetwork has since stopped doing this? Maybe Dishnetwork carried the station before the rules were made for a secondary satellite station? But from what I under stand, DBS only has to give a certain number of days to inform the station that they will be taking them off, while stations can only request under Must Carry every three years, whenever that cycle starts with the DBS company who chooses to carry Local into Local in their market. This also apply under retransmission consent every three years.
On a side note, WNEG is being put up for sale my Media General, with the stipulation that is will lose it's CBS affiliation with the new owners; whomever that may end up being. Forcing WNEG to be a full power independent. I suspect Media General weighed the options of what to do with WNEG (continue to upgrade it, particularly for the digital transition), make it a duplicate of WSPA without local advertising or news (as most have done). But that still leaves them with a large stick and transmitter site, and a small office to maintain in it's city of license. So I suspect they figured they could still cover their DMA adequately with cable carriage and DBS as a means to get to viewers, and maybe just put up a small translator instead. Call that even, and shut down the shop and sell it to the next sucker who will have to upgrade all the facilities to full power digital. If Media General has done what every other television owner around the country has, they have opted for flash-cut, (only pertains to translators and secondary satellite stations) and only have a small power DTV on the air right now. With the intention of just shutting down the analog, and turning on the digital the next day. But by dumping WNEG outright, they don't even have to go through those expenses at all, and still get to keep their DMA and ratings numbers with viewers.
I don't think this bodes well for "hometown" tv stations that have ended up as sticks of the main station over a hundred miles away, and may only have a small news operation and local advertisers who can only afford the local station, verses trying to buy (and compete with deep pocket advertisers far away from their rural budgets) with the much larger main station. If this works for Media General, then we may see this happen all across the nation, and more and more small secondary satellite stations shutting down, never to be tuned on again, and small town America being cut out of TV advertising. Some may consider it small, but certain split DMA's with satellite stations are covering over 300,000 homes just on the secondary station, (such as Springfield-Champaign Ill DMA 65/35% split) That's not small in my book, but it's a mid-sized market right in the middle, while none of the secondary satellite affiliates are even carried by DBS; WICD and WCCU.
Consolidation of media companies has really driven this unfortunate effect of taking over small TV stations in adjacent markets, then turning over those markets into the larger DMA market they were next too. (adding those viewers, and making a larger DMA, higher advertising dollars) Then slowly shut down what becomes a secondary affiliate of the main station. With DBS coming along a few years later, to make it even easier to justify shutting down an operation that appears to be nothing more then a drag on budgets, even though that secondary affiliate brings in local ratings and local revenue that would otherwise not be possible. With the end result being, no real hometown station anymore and finally shut down or sold like Media General is choosing too do.
It's a sad state of affairs for rural America, and there is nothing those viewers can say or do to change this slow downward spiral. My only thoughts are if the rules change for secondary stations that must to be carried by DBS, then secondary stations might have a fighting chance to justify their existence.
