With retrans consent, this exclusivity should change. Consumers are being hurt by this monopoly. The networks are using this exclusivity in a market to force local station owners to ask for huge increases in retrans fees and sending a big chunk back to the networks. A more open market would put a restraint on this. Ask for too much and a station in a neighboring market could pick up your viewers by offering a better deal. Competition, it's a good thing.
Tribune Broadcasting Company Blacks Out DISH Customers in 33 Markets;
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Are they saying you can only get your TV signal from one station?
I agree, you can only get "The Biggest Loser" or "CSI" from one station. That's not a monopoly though. That's why I compared it with Kroger brand cheese. You can't get Kroger brand cheese at Meijer, but you can get other cheese there. Just because you don't like the other cheese doesn't mean Kroger has a monopoly.
One of my first jobs was at a small station. LiL was just starting and I said it would become a contentious subject with viewers if they suddenly lost carriage arguing over cost. Those viewers would likely not come back.
The affiliates do very little anymore to serve their local viewers, as the stations are being bought and owned by bigger station groups. You get very little local news and more generic stuff that applies to all stations owned by the group. That is why the local cbs leads in news ratings around here. It's locally owned and puts a lot into local stories and events, unlike the Scripps, Sinclair and Cox stations.
The affiliates do very little anymore to serve their local viewers, as the stations are being bought and owned by bigger station groups. You get very little local news and more generic stuff that applies to all stations owned by the group. That is why the local cbs leads in news ratings around here. It's locally owned and puts a lot into local stories and events, unlike the Scripps, Sinclair and Cox stations.
Yeah, it's pathetic. Here in Jacksonville, even the local news operations are shared between stations. First Coast News is aired on both NBC and ABC affiliates. Action News Jax is shared by the CBS and FOX affiliates. The only independent station, touted as "THE Local Station", is owned by Graham Media, which owns 5 stations across the nation. Local my ass.
If the government is stopping someone from buying Kroger cheese and taking it to a town without a Kroger and giving it to you, whether for a nominal transportation fee, the sale price, or for free, is there a problem?
This sounds similar to what happened to me.
I got the original invite but it wouldn't activate. Sling referred me back to Dish and regular Dish people were of no help. I spent a few weeks with some DIRT members here trying to troubleshoot it and he eventually gave up - saying it's a Sling issue and out of his prevue. I just tried to log in last night for the first time in a while and I have service - so I don't really know what happened or when (and neither do they).
regarding the emails - they kept telling me they're sending emails to, but I never received them.
I found out by logging into Sling during that period that support changed my ID - to reflect the caseworker and the date they worked on my account.
That ID is used as the email contact, so it's no wonder why I never received the emails (was of this format: dm_0718_myemail.com)
But the Government isn't stopping you from doing that with locals either. I can bring my Tampa locals (Kroger Cheese) to Ct where there is no Tampa locals (Kroger Cheese) only Ct Locals. (Different brand of cheese) and do it the time. But I have to "go get it" by getting the signal in Tampa then using Sling to watch in Ct. (Driving the cheese to Ct myself) I am in effect driving the locals (driving the Cheese) to Ct the Tampa locals are not delivering there. I can bring the Kroger Cheese/ Tampa locals to wherever I want if I get them on my own. But Kroger isn't providing me a way to do it, neither are the Networks.
I'm guessing if you go to your neighboring town, buy all the Kroger cheese, then go back to your town and put up billboards, flyers, radio ads, etc saying "buy your Kroger cheese here!", regardless of price, Kroger would ask for a "cease and desist", or find a way to charge you.
Assumption on my part.
And how do you get around the syndicated programming exclusivity?
Only way I see is to make exclusivity agreements illegal. That includes local channels, content, and other monopolistic agreements like Sunday Ticket.
If I could get even 3 locals reliably with a powered antenna, I'd be very pleased, but no one in this neighborhood can get any locals out of Seattle. They're 60 miles away, N/NE, behind some very tall, tree-covered hills to the north and northeast. To be quite honest, the only reason I can get a sat signal is that I live in a open valley with a really good view to the SE sky, otherwise I'd have Comcast for TV also. There's only one other home in this neighborhood that can say that. Everyone else has no view to the SE sky due to heavy tree population and/or hills. I took a little drive earlier this morning down the hill and no one in about a 2-3 mile area around our neighborhood has antennas of any kind either. So, that means either they all have Comcast (the only cable game in the area) or they do Netflix and/or other streaming services...or they just don't have TV. My point being in all this? That the number of houses not able to get OTA in the roughly immediate area is substantially higher than the 340 homes in the neighborhood - my estimate is closer to 500 homes in the general area not able to get OTA. Now, granted, that's not a huge number, but it is a relatively significant number. I guess I could just get Comcast in here for TV, but power outages are frequent in the Fall/Winter months (October - March) due to wind storms that take trees down onto power/cable lines (nope, they're not underground here). Since most people living here have generators for electricity to run our well pumps and provide lighting when the line power is out (longest it was out was 6 days about 5-6 years ago), the cable goes out when the line power is out...not so with a good generator...satellite TV works just fine. So, I'm glad I went with satellite and have a nice view to the SE so I can get the Western Arc sats. I also want KCPQ back...
Probably got a complaint from the Tribune police.
Not really. Using http://www.seattle.gov/dPd/cityplanning/populationdemographics/aboutseattle/housing/default.htm, there are ~283K homes in Seattle itself. Your 500 homes would be less than 1/4%.
Personally, I think people who legitimately can't receive OTA shouldn't be charged for locals. That's just my opinion though and I don't know how to regulate it.
Well, we're 60 miles South and West of Seattle, so while there may be ~283k homes in Seattle itself, there are also a lot of homes in the Olympia/Lacey/Tumwater area...
I agree, if we can't received them OTA, we shouldn't be charged, but I don't mind paying for the locals that much, I just want them all to be there...
I agree, if we can't received them OTA, we shouldn't be charged, but I don't mind paying for the locals that much, I just want them all to be there...
In this case the networks have made deals with stations across the country to get their programming into these markets. THos deas give stations exclusivity in their DMAs.
When people say WGN isn't worth the amount Tribune is asking for, many people believe they're referring to WGN TV9 Chicago, especially around Chicago. Many people forget there is a WGNA too or don't know.
I've seen the confusion in other forums and comments sections in articles. Many forums simply now refer to them as WGNA (WGN America) and WGN9 (WGN TV9 Chicago) to prevent any misunderstandings/confusion.
The Tribune created the confusion by not branding WGNA as something totally different and by making it WGN TV9's evil twin by retaining the WGN in the branding. They need a marketing department overhaul.
Yes, but I'm not posting to people around Chicago, a tiny percentage of subscribers or posters here get the local WGN, all the rest wouldn't even think of it. My point was it's making something out of nothing . And if people in Chicago are confused blame Tribune for insisting on bundling and carrying a cable channel with locals.
Tomorrow, I'm contacting the FCC...maybe they'll help resolve this situation if a complaint is registered with them...
Exactly what would we accuse them of doing that the FCC can take action on? I do not like this situation either but I do not see the FCC as either causing this or being the savior.
Be aware that Dish is no longer offering the antenna to pick up your lost locals. Instead the are offering a temporary subscription to Sling TV. Problem is that Dish is having problems emailing you the information on how to activate it. I contacted Sling TV and the confirmed the offer but the link they gave me isn't working properly. I sent an email to Sling Support to let them know.
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Because it would likely do me more good airing my gripe to them than to my congressman, who is a worthless liar who cares for nothing but getting re-elected at this point... I've lodged my complaint with Dish, with Tribune (twice) and the local FOX affiliate (KCPQ) and so far nothing's come of doing that (except a reply from KCPQ saying, essentially, "sorry, but there's nothing we can do"). So I'd likely be wasting my time/effort with the FCC too, but at least I might feel better...
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