Nexstar Info

[ncted]

Legislators From Eight States Have Now Called on AT&T to Negotiate in Good Faith and Restore Nexstar’s Stations and Programming

This makes it sound like AT&T did actually pull the channels and not Nexstar. If so, why isn't the FCC fining the heck out of AT&T?

Legislators From Eight States Have Now Called on AT&T to Negotiate in Good Faith and Restore Nexstar’s Stations and Programming

 

[Don in CT]

Almost all the money goes back to the network. Local stations mainly survive on advertising revenue.

So why both to have local affiliates if we are just paying the networks directly? Let them push their own national feeds and have the locals all go independent.

 

[Don in CT]

Legislators From Eight States Have Now Called on AT&T to Negotiate in Good Faith and Restore Nexstar’s Stations and Programming

This makes it sound like AT&T did actually pull the channels and not Nexstar. If so, why isn't the FCC fining the heck out of AT&T?

Legislators From Eight States Have Now Called on AT&T to Negotiate in Good Faith and Restore Nexstar’s Stations and Programming

The FCC is in bed with both companies, they don't care either way.

 

[ncted]

Almost all the money goes back to the network. Local stations mainly survive on advertising revenue.

That may be true in the case of independent or small groups of stations, but big companies like Nexstar and Sinclair make tons of money off the cable and satellite fees they get from subscribers. Their ability to "synergize" and cut expenses makes them very profitable. Being big means getting a better deal from both the Networks themselves and from DirecTV and the like, plus they have consolidated newsrooms, and they commonly own more than 1 station in a market, making them more attractive to advertisers who are then willing to pay higher rates.

 

[Juan]

So they have one master control with a bunch of full power translators?... kinda sad what has happened to broadcasting

That may be true in the case of independent or small groups of stations, but big companies like Nexstar and Sinclair make tons of money off the cable and satellite fees they get from subscribers. Their ability to "synergize" and cut expenses makes them very profitable. Being big means getting a better deal from both the Networks themselves and from DirecTV and the like, plus they have consolidated newsrooms, and they commonly own more than 1 station in a market, making them more attractive to advertisers who are then willing to pay higher rates.

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[slice1900]

This makes it sound like AT&T did actually pull the channels and not Nexstar. If so, why isn't the FCC fining the heck out of AT&T?

Why would they fine AT&T? They aren't under any obligation to carry locals at any price, nor to give negotiating leverage away by allowing extensions. Because only a fool would think that Nexstar will allow extensions forever while they negotiate. No, what they really want is to allow extensions until right before football season and the new fall schedule, and then say "sorry we've given you 60 days of extensions but that's enough" and put maximum pain on the customers. AT&T was smart not to fall for that tactic.

 

[ncted]

Why would they fine AT&T? They aren't under any obligation to carry locals at any price, nor to give negotiating leverage away by allowing extensions. Because only a fool would think that Nexstar will allow extensions forever while they negotiate. No, what they really want is to allow extensions until right before football season and the new fall schedule, and then say "sorry we've given you 60 days of extensions but that's enough" and put maximum pain on the customers. AT&T was smart not to fall for that tactic.

Please correct me if I am wrong, as I have not studied this in depth, but I thought must carry (or is it carry one, carry all?) made the decision to remove the stations entirely the purview of the station owners. If AT&T pulls the stations without the station owners' consent or direction, wouldn't AT&T be in violation of SHVIA?

 

[slice1900]

Please correct me if I am wrong, as I have not studied this in depth, but I thought must carry (or is it carry one, carry all?) made the decision to remove the stations entirely the purview of the station owners. If AT&T pulls the stations without the station owners' consent or direction, wouldn't AT&T be in violation of SHVIA?

Must carry only applies to stations that don't charge. If they elect to charge a fee MVPDs are not obligated to carry them.

 

[texasbrit]

What the press release does NOT say is anything about the "terms" of Nexstar's proposed extension. In fact "on the current contract terms" is noticeably absent from the release. Note also this is a Nexstar press release, NOT a story from a journalist.

 

[ncted]

Must carry only applies to stations that don't charge. If they elect to charge a fee MVPDs are not obligated to carry them.

Again, not a legal expert here, but, if there is no retransmission contract (i.e. it has expired), doesn't it revert to must carry on the part of the MVPD?

 

[slice1900]

Again, not a legal expert here, but, if there is no retransmission contract (i.e. it has expired), doesn't it revert to must carry on the part of the MVPD?

No, stations have to elect "must carry" status, and it applies to all providers over a three year period. Even if they could change that status at a whim for a single provider, then Directv would be obligated to carry the station but the station couldn't charge Directv for it. I'm sure Directv wouldn't mind that one bit, but it seems unlikely

I believe there have been a few cases where a station forgot to re-elect must carry status and got dropped by Directv since they were no longer required to carry them.

 

[ncted]

No, stations have to elect "must carry" status, and it applies to all providers over a three year period. Even if they could change that status at a whim for a single provider, then Directv would be obligated to carry the station but the station couldn't charge Directv for it. I'm sure Directv wouldn't mind that one bit, but it seems unlikely

I believe there have been a few cases where a station forgot to re-elect must carry status and got dropped by Directv since they were no longer required to carry them.

Thanks. In any case, AT&T is clearly claiming Nexstar pulled the channels:

https://www.multichannel.com/news/at-t-nexstar-pushes-retrans-meeting-to-saturday

“AT&T has been ready to negotiate since Nexstar removed its stations more than a week ago,”

 

[TheTechGuru]

This one sure is going on a long time, Nexstar must be really greedy fockers. Luckally there isn't anything I watch on NBC...

Now if this were happening to my CBS I would have "moved" my service to another market right away.

 

[ClarkGable]

Local Nexstar is WANE 15 in Fort Wayne, IN. They are putting a crawl on the screen about how "Your friends and ours are missing all the great programming on WANE 15. Help your friends and ours by calling Directv and tell them to bring back WANE 15."

Interesting tactic of recruiting viewers who don't even have a stake in the the dispute.

 

[ncted]

This one sure is going on a long time, Nexstar must be really greedy fockers. Luckally there isn't anything I watch on NBC...

Now if this were happening to my CBS I would have "moved" my service to another market right away.

Most of the station owners are either greedy or short on cash due to commitments to the Networks or both. There are a few exceptions of course. Either way, this is why I am intent on adding OTA, whether to my Hopper or as a separate thing.

 

[Claude Greiner]

If they did allow it all the local channel operators would loose virtually all their negotiating power.

IMHO, as long as the locals offer their signal free OTA, they should not be entitled to get paid to rebroadcast their signal.

They should be happy their signal is on cable and satellite.

 

[TheTechGuru]

Is there a compatible OTA receiver for the HR24? I'd really like integrated DVR ability of the OTA, plus that would add me a 3rd tuner right?

 

[rad]

Is there a compatible OTA receiver for the HR24? I'd really like integrated DVR ability of the OTA, plus that would add me a 3rd tuner right?

You mean besides finding an AM21 and connecting that? If not then an upgrade to a HR44/HR54 is the only way.

 

[EarDemon]

This one sure is going on a long time, Nexstar must be really greedy fockers. Luckally there isn't anything I watch on NBC...

Now if this were happening to my CBS I would have "moved" my service to another market right away.

How's this for irony. As I mentioned a few times, due to some glitch when I 'moved' back due to a service call, my locals are fragmented. On my HR44, I get my real locals from Buffalo, on my HR24 I get my 'moved' locals from Rochester. Nexstar owns the CBS affiliates in both markets as well as CW in Buffalo. In Buffalo, it was originally owned by LIN, which was bought out by Media General in 2014, which was bought out by Nexstar in 2017.

I hardly watch local channels anyway, but when flipping through on cable, I see they are still running scrolls at the bottom of the screen. Kind of stupid since DirecTV subscribers obviously won't see them, and it just annoys those watching OTA or on other providers. I did notice that now the scroll just says DirecTV. I know this is a canned corporate message, but last week it mentioned AT&T U-Verse, AT&T doesn't have any territory within hundreds of miles of here. It will be interesting to see if this goes into the Fall. Being an AFC team, the majority of the Bills games are on CBS.

 

[slice1900]

It will be interesting to see if this goes into the Fall.

These types of disputes rarely go very far in the fall. Maybe the first week's games but that's it. That's why Nexstar was so willing to give Directv an extension, so they could delay the things until football season and then stop offering extensions so customers would put maximum pressure on Directv. This is why you often see carriage agreements expire right before the football season starts, right before the Super Bowl, right before March Madness, right before the Olympics...

By taking the outage now when fewer customers care, Directv puts pressure on Nexstar who are losing revenue from Directv which will impact their quarterly earnings, especially if it drags all the way until September. They're hoping Nexstar management (worried about losing bonuses based on earnings, perhaps?) will feel pressure to make a deal with Directv before September. However, if Nexstar can hold out until then, then it is Directv who will really feel the pressure, not only from their residential customers but commercial customers who can't put the local team's football games on TV will be screaming at them too.