Back launched HD locals

[kurts]

On the last charlie chat in sept. they had mentioned that in 30 to 45 day a certain
amount of markets were going to be launched....one of those markets being in my
area. True to their word when I came home one night I had noticed my market
was announced. Thus checking my dish I found we had one of the four channels
that were in HD. So after a month later and the other three not on yet I kind of
figure it may be a while for this. This seems to be happening in other areas also
and most of the locals not in Hd is probably not Dish networks fault but it has to
do with the local stations themselves working out a contract with Dish network
...but on the next charlie chat I hope they don't take credit for Hd locals launched
in cities when less than 50 percent of that market is in HD.

[Bill R]

Actually it is not the local stations themselves but it is their greedy parent companies. Newport Television LLC and Sinclair are too of the big problems. They want additional payment for their HD feed. In our area the local cable company is having the same problem with Sinclair and they can't carry their feed.

Things may get worse next year as current agreements expire.

[CorpITGuy]

Yes, this idea that the local network affiliates who make us watch commercials should be charging the same amount to be carried as HBO and Showtime is just ridiculous. In my suburb, Dish network is king.... there are no reliable cable companies and most folks don't know Uverse from a hole in the ground... if these corporate parents don't get on board soon, a lot of revenue will be lost.

[phrelin]

Well, here's my usual take on this which is oriented towards saving bandwidth and giving everyone access to HD broadcast network content.

The real issue here is the networks who have supported the primacy of locals in the satellite TV regulatory scheme. That was great in 1958, but just weird in 2008. Let's just have national networks in HD, one each for each time zone, and let the availability of locals be a function of Dish Network customer demand.

There would be alot of cool ways this could be accomplished. On the West Coast where I am, for example, I could see one network station that agrees generally not to deviate from their major network offering each from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, with the "minor" networks like The CW and MyNetworkTV perhaps coming from California's Central Valley and Eastern Washington/Oregon.

We all could get to see local news and other local programming from different regions. And there would be no issues around "distant networks" for HD and the advertising-based local SD channels would continue to be offered if they don't charge. PBS would be another issue altogether.

That's my dream. Now about getting this through Congress and the FCC....:confused:

[Bobby H]

The Wichita Falls, TX - Lawton, OK market had only 1 of its network affiliate channels added in HD (KAUZ-TV channel 6, CBS).

I've been in contact with general managers of the ABC affiliate (KSWO-TV channel 7 in Lawton) and the NBC affiliate (KFDX-TV channel 3 in Wichita Falls). The company running the NBC affiliate also operates the FOX affiliate too (KJTL channel 18). These managers have indicated there is no carriage disagreement. E* could carry those channels in HD if they wanted to do so. It looks an awful lot like E* just doesn't have the bandwidth available on 61.5° to add all the network affiliates for each market in HD. They're just cherry picking a few.

Overall, E* might as well have not even bothered adding any of the HD channels in my market if they weren't going to add at least 3 or all four major network affiliates. I'm not spending $60 or re-upping my 2 year contract to add a wing dish only to get 1 measly HD local channel. If 1 local HD channel is all we're going to get then I'll just install a powerful outdoor antenna and pick up those channels OTA.

[Bill R]

These managers have indicated there is no carriage disagreement. E* could carry those channels in HD if they wanted to do so.

That may or may not be true. The manager of a local station told me the same thing months ago but when our HD locals were made available last week his station was not on. I called the parent company of the station (in this case, Newport LLC) and talked to someone that told me that the company does NOT have an agreement with DISH to carry their HD stations (the current agreement only covers SD locals).

So beware of what a GM tells you. Sometimes, they are not "in the loop".

[CorpITGuy]

I've really grown to hate Newport, LLC. They think they're selling HBO.

[Bill R]

I've really grown to hate Newport, LLC. They think they're selling HBO.


Newport LLC is run by some of the same people that ran the Clear Channel TV group. The people that I talked to from the company seen very greedy and arrogant. The people at their local station, WKRC, Cincinnati, are very arrogant too, especially their "behind the scenes" news people.

[ruffledrooster]

Ugh, Clear Channel...I really hate those people. They re-vamped the radio scene here in St. Louis like 5 years ago and I went to sat radio. All they care about is profits...which I can understand being that they are a corporation with shareholders. However, if their customers hate them, then that's not real good business either:nono: