Significantly Viewed is HERE for Baltimore and Albany GA

[BobMurdoch]

Sigh. Still no mention here in SE Monmouth County/NE Ocean County, NJ where both the Philly and NYC channels are carried by cable. I wrote the FCC about significantly viewed and had my comments posted, but they were ignored for now I guess. I'll keep an eye out.

 

[bcshields]

I found out something interesting today. Some areas in my not-offered Salisbury, MD DMA are eligible for local channels from neighboring Baltimore DMA.

So if you are in a border town with a DMA that is offered, and you are in a not-offered area.. you may be eligible when Dish works out your Significanlty Viewed zones.

 

[Peter Parker]

That IS interesting.

 

[BobMurdoch]

If cable can carry two markets, why can't satellite? I know the laws are different, but there is NO logical reason why they should be.

 

[James Long]

If cable can carry two markets, why can't satellite? I know the laws are different, but there is NO logical reason why they should be.

I'm sorry, but laws are written by Congress, And you are asking for LOGIC?

Satellite can:
* Carry every full power channel within each local TV market to service addresses within the same market (with the exception of channels that selected "Consent to Carry" and have failed to come to agreement with the satellite carrier.)
* Carry any LP channel they wish to customers within 30-50 miles of the transmitter site within the same local TV market. (New)
* Carry channels that appear on the FCC's Significantly Viewed list in the counties where those stations are deemed significantly viewed. (New)
* Provide up to two distant network feeds of each network to customers who cannot receive a local affiliate of the network in question. The distant network station does not have to give permission and cannot withhold their signal being used.
Satellite MUST:
* Carry all full power channels within each local TV market that has elected "Must Carry" - effective in all markets where any local TV is carried. PBS is defined as a Must Carry. Duplicate network affiliates need not be carried unless they are PBS or in different states within the same market.
Satellite cannot:
* Carry a channel outside it's own market unless it is on the FCC Significantly Viewed list for the customers who get the channel or the customer cannot receive any reception of a local affiliate ot that station.

The cable limitations are different. Their "Must Carry" is based on stations actual/predicted coverage of the community served - not arbitrary markets - with the FCC Significantly Viewed list being a tool for stations to prove that those communities are served by the station and should be on cable. Cable is not required to carry all qualified stations - their requirement is that a certain percentage of their channels need to be set aside for locals.

Yes the rules are different. Congress said that the intent of SHVERA was to level the playing field between cable and satellite. They failed. In some areas cable wins, in others satellite wins. I'm not sure where the consumer wins.

JL

 

[TNGTony]

I've posted this before, but it never seems to be received very well.

The differences in the laws dealing with local channels on cable and satellite are born from the differences in the birth of each industry. Yes, both transmit TV signals to subscribers, but it is the beginnings of each medium that define the differences.

Cable was born as a way to deliver TV signals to rural or isolated communities. The first cable system is attributed to a community antenna TV system (thus the abreviation of cable to this day being CATV and not just CTV) started by a department store trying to sell more TVs in Scranton, PA in 1947.

Basically cable systems were just antennas on nearby hills or mountain tops plucking signals from whatever channels they could receive and distributing the signal to the subscribers. This wasn't a problem until the 70's and 80's with the explosion of satellite delivery systems. Basically, the laws developed to protect copyrights took into consideration what cable was originally.

Satellite TV OTOH was never "cable in the sky" until DirecTV and Dish came on the scene. Even until 1999 local into local was not really legal. Why? Because satellite was originally meant as a distribution system for the cable companies, networks and syndicators. It was the "middle man".

Well, as more and more people went right to the middle man rather than the cable systems, the laws for satellite were written to protect the ditributrer's product and no consideration was given to the rural viewer with the exception on the SHVA. This law was so weakly defined and poorly written, it was easily circumvented. As law suits from copyright holders and court cases piled up, Congress finally acted by redefining the SHVA and the SHVIA (and LIL for satellite was born). Then the SHVREA was another refinement.

There is a lot more to both stories. But the reason the laws are different for both is that these industries had nothing in common until very recently so the laws started off in different places and evolved separately. Combining them now would be more difficult that you could imagine. Have you ever tried to get 536 people (House, Senate and the President) to agree on ANYTHING? It's amazing any laws get passed.

See ya
Tony

 

[James Long]

I just wish they would have done better. Two major errors:
1) Grade B should have been used, not just the SV list
2) The rules for changing the SV list should not have been locked in the past

Congress tied the FCC's hands.

JL