That would be a gamble for both sides. What many on here seem to forget is customers WANT the locals. If Dish wanted to "call the bluff", they'd take the chance of losing subscribers. I still say while MVPDs do help reach some viewers that couldn't otherwise get the signal, the majority can pick up locals with an antenna. OTA was around LONG before DBS. Something tells me they'd find a way to survive.
Phoenix Meredith stations dispute?
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The number of people using OTA has shown Dish can call the bluff.
And it looks like DTV is even reinforcing the call. 9 of the CBS O&O cities that are currently dark on DTV are available to subscribers from Locast.
If Dish would hurry up and come out with the quad OTA tuner I will drop my locals in a heartbeat.
OK, I'll bite... do you have any numbers showing how many Dish subscribers have dropped sat delivery for OTA?
I wonder how many folks will start screaming when they realize no internet = no Locast.
Don't get me wrong, great idea. And it might survive.
No electricity, no TV at all... Is your glass always half empty?
Now maybe because of the ability to integrate OTA via antenna with the Hopper and record it, the gamble is just as much by the local stations that are asking for the increased fees.
Also as more and more people get used to having OOT services that don't include the local stations it becomes less of a gamble for the satellite providers to say NO to the increased fees. When locals via satellite first started is was a huge selling point, maybe not so much now. I actually expect for locals to become an opt-in option instead of automatic.
And No, I do not expect the local stations to disappear, what I expect is after 6 months or more of no retransmission fees the MVPDs might just see their way to being a bit more reasonable about the increases they are looking for. Don't forget that if they are off Dish and DTV they have fewer viewers and few of those advertisers might just want lower rates or rebates because of fewer eyeballs.
Actually the other day, our internet went out for four hours. Had power, had TV (OTA & Sat), but no internet. I think construction crews took out the line feeding our area (wasn't just our house, but our neighborhood and surrounding). I thought about the people relying on streaming for entertainment.No electricity, no TV at all... Is your glass always half empty?
OTA has been able to be integrated via antenna since the ViP days. I have a 612 and 211 w/OTA antenna and have had them for years. The integration isn't new. What's new is the ability to not have to pay for locals.
OTT service? Like YouTube, DirectTV Now, PlaystationVue, Hulu? Those (I"m sure there's more) all can carry locals (they do in my market). I'm assuming they're paying something. The bottom line is people WANT their local stations.
I would like to see ratings that actually prove this theory.
Yes, it happens occasionally... But then we have three Internet providers, and the odds of all three going down at the same time are pretty slim. The last time we were at our NY cottage, Spectrum went out for a few hours due to a car accident. We didn't even know it until a neighbor asked us if our's was out too. The devices that were using Spectrum had jumped over to AT&T or Verizon.
Having the guide available for the OTA stations without subscribing to them is new, the ability to opt out of locals is new. The ability to OTA by selecting the show from the guide is new.
My market doesn't have locals for all those linear OTT services and plenty of markets that don't have locals included plus two of the more popular OTT services (NetFlix and Amazon Prime) don't provide locals at all.
Logic says if a user can't receive via antenna or doesn't have an antenna then if Dish or DTV drops service then the local station will have fewer viewers. Might not be more than a few hundred in smaller markets but every viewer counts.
That, while factually true is disingenuous. Broadcasters were behind both though especially the repack and move to the new broadcasting system. Their intent was not to make the signal less attainable, but that is the result and they knew that would be result.
That said when ATSC 3.0 is fully implemented it sounds like the reach will increase and be easier to receive including mobile.
The DISH Promise page isn't very.... Sounds like they are no closer now than before.
Unfortunately, Meredith continues to demand DISH pays higher fees to carry their channels than any other broadcaster in the nation. We offered to match the rates paid by other pay-tv providers but Meredith Corporation refused this offer. The fact is, only Meredith Corporation can choose to remove their channels from DISH customers. We had hoped to avoid service interruption for our customers by offering to extend the contract so you would not be impacted but Meredith Corporation refused.
Unfortunately, Meredith continues to demand DISH pays higher fees to carry their channels than any other broadcaster in the nation. We offered to match the rates paid by other pay-tv providers but Meredith Corporation refused this offer. The fact is, only Meredith Corporation can choose to remove their channels from DISH customers. We had hoped to avoid service interruption for our customers by offering to extend the contract so you would not be impacted but Meredith Corporation refused.
OK, I'll bite... what are the broadcasters gaining by the repack?
I had not heard broadcasters were behind the move to DTV. Do you have any links (I don't doubt you, but would like to read about their reasoning)?
If this keeps up until the new Fall Network season I may have to get a second AirTV Dual Tuner Adapter for my Hopper 3. I would use it only to record the channel (Fox) that has been dropped. I would still keep my locals for the rest of the local channels.
No link, but it's pretty obvious to me the DTV transition was all about taking control of pirating and attacking "fair use". Even today, recording HD content for offline use (unless you pay a monthly DVR fee or lose it when you switch providers) is much more difficult than in the VCR/DVD recorder days. So yes, the content owners and broadcasters had much of a stake in it. The higher resolution was just the eye candy to lure consumers into the windowless van of consumer control.
