With all due respect, you understand BOTH sides will spin the facts, right? Tribune could be asking for a one cent per subscriber increase and Dish can claim it's "significant". Is 2.4x "significant"? Maybe. What was the last negotiation for and how long is this one? Let's get some hard facts. Speculation does no one any good.
Tribune Broadcasting Company Blacks Out DISH Customers in 33 Markets;
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It helps that Charlie came out and said Tribune is wanting 10's of millions of dollars more than what Dish has offered and what Dish pays other providers, and that right now they are just too far apart. Still trying to figure out why Tribune won't accept arbitration. Hell, include a clause that neither party can back out without both agreeing to the backing out.
With malice towards none I look at it differently. Let’s say I have a gas station in my town that sells me gas for $3/Gal. In my neighboring town there is a gas station that sells the same gas for $2/Gal. Not only that, but I live closer to the gas station in my neighboring town than the one in my town. So I go to the gas station in my neighboring town and I’m told I can’t buy gas there because I live in a town with a differ zip code. That’s exactly what the FCC is doing with must carry broadcast stations. There are actual people whom live closer to a network station in another state than the same network station in their state. Yet because of their zip code, cannot receive that station from their satellite/cable provider because of their zip code.
Back to my earlier example, let’s say I live closer to the gas station in my town than my neighboring town. Why can’t I still purchase gas at the station with the lower price? Which bring us back to DISH. If DISH can provide me with (say Fox) programming at a lower price than the one in my neighboring zip code why can’t I choose to save money and receive it? This would give the power to the consumer.
Why is importing distant locals a bad idea. If people are mostly watching for the sitcoms, and sports, isn't it true competition and competition to allow the people to choose the location they get their locals from(blackout rules for sports still applying)? Why is geographical monopolies ok, caused by the government ? Wouldn't the station that offered the most to its viewers receive the most viewers? They would need to work for the people. Now I'm not talking ala carte. What if we changed the rules to the point that you get your locals the way it is now, with the option to order as many locals from outside your DMA independently(similar to the superstations), while still maintaining blackout rules? Seems everyone wins there.
Everybody but the station owner that thought he had exclusive rights in his DMA>
Doesn't mean it's true just because he said it....
If they hadnt gotten greedy and started demanding way too much money over the years, he wouldn't have to worry about that as this wouldn't be an issue.
Monopolies are bad. Period. Just because he needs a monopoly to survive, doesn't mean he should get a monopoly.
DISH has come to agreements with others, so there must be something to it.
those exclusive rights were originally crafted for broadcast - from the tower.
(Other than the fact that there's an FCC order that states otherwise...) I'd argue that they don't apply to retrans. Nearly every person who receives them via retransmission *could* receive them OTA. So the retrains fee is basically a convenience tax for the consumer to be able to receive all their channels in one spot. And the local broadcaster has nothing to do with the build out of that infrastructure.
I understand the argument that the broadcaster is entitled to be compensated for someone making a profit using their signal.
But that logic is flawed too, I think - because of the whole FTA issue. If no one had cable, OTA broadcasters would have no extra retrans $. So just because someone found a more convenient way to distribute their signal - OTA believes they should get a cut of the profits, when they're receiving increased revenue by more having increased viewership/ratings/ad buys because of a distribution system that has nothing to do with them.
I just realized I sound like a shill for Comcast. SMH.
believe it or not, I use to work for a local broadcaster. I had the same discussions in the newsroom back when the retransmission fees were first being instituted....
He makes valid points. We have some good information for some of what is going on but like always we don't know or probably will ever know all of it.
"Nearly" is an awfully broad term there. You come checkout the neighborhood I live in (about 340 homes, approximately, very rural, lots of trees and hills). Not a single antenna on any roof. You have exactly 2 options (and in most locations here, only 1 option). Comcast cable or satellite. With all the hills to the north, there isn't any antenna that's going to get a signal from Seattle. If it were possible to get OTA, I wouldn't be griping about the dispute...
As much as I think the way the broadcast fees work has to be changed, comparing it to how we buy gas has no bearing. I won't go into all the reasons but one of the first is we go to get the Gas, it doesn't get sent to us. When the item is delivered there are many instances where you can't choose.
So based on that, lets compare the locals to Dominoes pizza delivery. And this is real life. The Dominoes closest to me in Ct is on a University Campus, it delivers to me but costs more than the Dominoes in Town, who will not deliver to me because it isn't their district (DMA) They can't deliver to me because the Campus store has the rights. Propane delivery? I can choose from different companies (Networks) but if I want Brand X I can only get deliveries from the one in Town, the one further away won't deliver in another's district. (DMA)
I have no real problem generally when the affiliates have exclusive rights to a market and the results in free service. I would love to have Distants again and have said for many years they should just come up with a way we have to pay for them and the cost goes towards repaying the locals for lost advertising revenue. It isn't easy so won't happen. That said we aren't discussing this all the time because we can't get a different affiliate. It's because of the blackouts. Something has to change in how they get compensated and how it gets negotiated.
Once you allow the provider to pick and choose who they can carry for affiliates two things happen. I may not get my local news, and the cost to get my local may actually go up because an affiliate in East Hogwash is taking away their ad revenue.
I know "all" is not correct but I feel "some" is underselling it. I don't know the stats, but I'd bet the majority of people in the country have access to OTA. I know there are exceptions - I'm an exception. All the maps say I'm right in the middle of my DMA and can receive all 7 locals. But in reality, I'm at the bottom of a hill and can only receive 2 locals reliably, 3 more with a powered antenna placed at the correct angle on a specific wall, and 2 other not at all.
Hi all. Has anyone received the SlingTV 3 Month trial offer from Dish for this dispute? I called a few days ago, & explained that with an antenna, i only get some local stations & the FOX station does not show via antenna. (they are sending me their antenna solution also.) The Rep offered me a 3 month SlingTV trial & stated they were sending me the code via email. I didn't receive, so the next day i called. They changed my email & the same thing. I have been calling the last 4 days & they keep saying they are sending the emails. I do receive emails stating they made changes to my account & that my email address changed, but no emails from SlingTV trial! I even called and got SlingTV's number & called! They did something to my dish account (received emails!), but nothing about the trial! SlingTV couldn't set up the account & refer me back to Dish! Anyone else have problems or get this offer from Dish? How did the email come in? I have hotmail & gmail accounts & am a network admin so i know how email works & how to check, but nothing comes from this supposed trial! I am getting FED up with Dish, but wanted to see if anyone else had issues with this offer. Thanks for any replies!
I think arbitration is a good way to prevent these kinds of disputes.
Both of these quotes go together. Yes, the stations DO have exclusive rights in their DMA. The station that has Jeopardy! is not allowed to show it outside his DMA and he sure doesn't want another station showing it inside his DMA.
No. Do you work, have stock, or a family member who works at Dish?
I don't think it's a monopoly. The definition is "the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.". There is competition... other TV stations (to say nothing about MVPDs). Does Kroger have a monopoly because you can only get their brand of cheese in their stores?
Tribune has come to agreements with others also.
"Nearly" is accurate though. Yes, there are people who can't recveive OTA. But when you compare it to the amount of people who CAN receive OTA, those that can't are in a minority (by far).
If the government said you can only by cheese from Kroger because they have a monopoly on cheese, that's not good.
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