National Feeds

[ktk3438]

I called D* last week, and told them that I was paying extra for HD, but when it came to revceiving the locals, I only get Fox, ABC, & NBC. So after being transferred to someone, I was told that my local CBS "Might" be available in the spring, but when I argued that I'm paying more and getting less than cable will privide, I was told I could get the National Feed "CBSE", but that a waiver had to be submitted & approved, and then after 45 days, I would have "CBSE".

Has anyone else done this, and does it really take 45 days? Did it come sooner or later?

Thanks

 

[branchbouncer]

Could take longer,you need to check D* site and see if you are eligible, if the station shows a grade A or B signal the station will refuse the D* waiver. There is a better way, contact the station yourself about the waiver. When we were with D* they applied for the waviers and all were refused for the heck I shot off e-mails to CBS and they granted the waiver. Refused D* but granted it for an
individual.

 

[Greg Bimson]

There is a bigger issue at play here...

Assuming the info you provided is correct, you are either in the Indianapolis or the Milwaukee market.

The CBS station in Indianapolis is owned by LIN Broadcasting, which appears to have an issue with DirecTV. Just so that everyone understands LIN's practice here, DirecTV is not showing these stations, because they cannot get to an accord with LIN:

Indianapolis CBS
Hartford ABC
Grand Rapids NBC
Providence CBS and FOX
Austin NBC
Green Bay FOX

This also impacts some of the markets DirecTV had planned on adding, such as:

Norfolk's FOX and NBC,
Albuquerque's CBS and FOX
Buffalo's CBS
Mobile's FOX
Toledo's FOX.

Pretty impressive, huh?

If you are in Milwaukee, the CBS station is owned by Weigel, which owns some smaller stations in Chicago and South Bend. Weigel was a painful addition for DirecTV when they starting adding local channels back in 2000. It took some time before an agreement was reached.

Now, the reason I bring this up...

Because you have to have a "waiver", DirecTV will then be asking a station which will not come to an agreement with DirecTV to provide an out-of-market channel affiliated with the same network. If you were LIN or Weigel, would you OK a waiver only because for some reason you cannot come to terms with DirecTV?

This ends up being like Don Quixote.

 

[dfergie]

LIN doesn't play nice with E* or Comcast either...

 

[mdonnelly]

I thought you were buying SD locals (which are all available), and the HD was thrown in for free.

 

[ktk3438]

There is a bigger issue at play here...

Assuming the info you provided is correct, you are either in the Indianapolis or the Milwaukee market.

The CBS station in Indianapolis is owned by LIN Broadcasting, which appears to have an issue with DirecTV. Just so that everyone understands LIN's practice here, DirecTV is not showing these stations, because they cannot get to an accord with LIN:

Indianapolis CBS
Hartford ABC
Grand Rapids NBC
Providence CBS and FOX
Austin NBC
Green Bay FOX

This also impacts some of the markets DirecTV had planned on adding, such as:

Norfolk's FOX and NBC,
Albuquerque's CBS and FOX
Buffalo's CBS
Mobile's FOX
Toledo's FOX.

Pretty impressive, huh?

If you are in Milwaukee, the CBS station is owned by Weigel, which owns some smaller stations in Chicago and South Bend. Weigel was a painful addition for DirecTV when they starting adding local channels back in 2000. It took some time before an agreement was reached.

Now, the reason I bring this up...

Because you have to have a "waiver", DirecTV will then be asking a station which will not come to an agreement with DirecTV to provide an out-of-market channel affiliated with the same network. If you were LIN or Weigel, would you OK a waiver only because for some reason you cannot come to terms with DirecTV?

This ends up being like Don Quixote.

I do receive Milwaukee locals, and I watch CBS quite often, and it kinda pisses me off that I don't get it in HD. So let me get this straight, did D* lie? They told me it would be no problem, only a delay of 45 days. And she said I might be still be getting it the "normal" way by then, and I might even have both.

 

[Greg Bimson]

I do receive Milwaukee locals, and I watch CBS quite often, and it kinda pisses me off that I don't get it in HD. So let me get this straight, did D* lie?

Not really. They just opened the book of standard operating procedures, and figured they'd ask for a waiver to mollify your concerns. I happen to believe you have a better chance at winning the Powerball before getting the out of market CBS HD station.

And if you somehow manage to get the distant CBS HD, it will be shut-off once you receive the Milwaukee CBS station in HD.

I thought you were buying SD locals (which are all available), and the HD was thrown in for free.

There is a long story here, so I'll try to keep it short...

DirecTV needs to have agreements with each station, for both SD and HD. Some of the larger "small market" broadcasters are trying to extort large sums of money for delivery of their HD feed. LIN Broadcasting is one of those groups. DirecTV has an agreement with LIN for the SD channels, but not the HD ones.

And for new customers, I believe DirecTV requires the purchase of the HD Access pack in order to receive HD programming. Without the $10.99 monthly price, I believe that you cannot get the locals in HD.

 

[raoul5788]

LIN doesn't play nice with E* or Comcast either...

Actually, in CT, Comcast is one of the few places that you can find LIN stations in hd.

 

[ktk3438]

Not really. They just opened the book of standard operating procedures, and figured they'd ask for a waiver to mollify your concerns. I happen to believe you have a better chance at winning the Powerball before getting the out of market CBS HD station.

And if you somehow manage to get the distant CBS HD, it will be shut-off once you receive the Milwaukee CBS station in HD.There is a long story here, so I'll try to keep it short...

DirecTV needs to have agreements with each station, for both SD and HD. Some of the larger "small market" broadcasters are trying to extort large sums of money for delivery of their HD feed. LIN Broadcasting is one of those groups. DirecTV has an agreement with LIN for the SD channels, but not the HD ones.

And for new customers, I believe DirecTV requires the purchase of the HD Access pack in order to receive HD programming. Without the $10.99 monthly price, I believe that you cannot get the locals in HD.

I pay $9.99/mo for HD, and I do get most locals in HD, just not CBS. I don't know if that's part of the D* fee or if it's free, but they seemed to agree with me that I'm paying and should get it, and they seemed to be willing to help. I guess I'll find out in a month or so!

I'll let you know what happens when/if it does

 

[mdonnelly]

I pay $9.99/mo for HD, and I do get most locals in HD, just not CBS. I don't know if that's part of the D* fee or if it's free, but they seemed to agree with me that I'm paying and should get it, and they seemed to be willing to help. I guess I'll find out in a month or so!

I'll let you know what happens when/if it does

Lots of people pay for HD and locals, and get no HD locals at all.

 

[techstar]

I think you might want to add Sinclair to the list of those firms trying to extort large amounts of money to feed their HD signal to D*. I live in Asheville, NC (part of the the Greenville, SC DMA, 36th largest in US and largest in US with no locals in HD on D*). Sinclair cut their feed to Mediacom a while back, a large cable provider in the area and that was for SD. I wouldn't be surprised if that was part of the holdup in us getting our locals in HD. Being that this is a mountainous area, it's very difficult to get HD OTA, in Asheville I can only get in the local PBS and ABC, the two stations based in this city. It's very frustrating.

 

[sfollenius]

Fox 21 can be pulled in OTA (Its antenna is also near the WLOS ABC antenna) fairly easily in most asheville areas and suburbs. I am waiting for D* or E* to get the locals in HD, who will get there first?

 

[Newshawk]

I thought you were buying SD locals (which are all available), and the HD was thrown in for free.

D* may throw access to your locals in HD for free (where available) but that doesn't mean the broadcasters throw in the HD signal to D* for free. As others have said, there are companies out there like Lin that have determined that because you want to get your HD locals from D* that they (Lin) should make money off you.