I don't understand the problem with getting locals?

[pastorgadget]

Why is it such a big deal for sations to send a feed to Dish for up link at least allow them to put up an OTA and take it from there? It just does not make sense, a lot of them do it for Cable. Is my understanding correct that the "Carriage" fees are paid by the Satelite and Cable provider. So the station makes a little bit of money off of the Cable provider or Satellite provider and they increase their reach. I do understand TV marketing and stations make their money off of advertisers if they can show they have a broader reach reaching more customers that is a win win. What is the big deal, is it that Dish offers too low a fee for carriage? Are the stations influenced too much by the Cable companies, they buy huge blocks of advertising. Why is it that Cable has always provided locals and dish can not is it the up linking and cost or are the stations a problem.

The last question is who do we bug to get locals, the stations, Dish or both.

Just some questions.

[TonyM]

Dish & Direct WERENT allowed to offer locals until 1999.

The main reasons that locals arent available is a combo of the following
-not enough room on the satellites (this is the big one)
-the 2 sides cant agree on a retrans. agreement. Also, if a company owns a lot of stations and they cant agree, Dish isnt going to put it up if they know they can't agree.
-satellite concentration...if there isnt many satellite system in an area, why put up locals?
-local availability..If an area doesnt have at least the Big 4, they usually pass that area (there are exceptions to this rule). Since cable can "pipe in" locals from neighboring areas and Dish/Direct can't, thats a big reason. The new SHVIA is trying to get a level playing field, so if your area doesnt have a NBC, they can pipe one in.

I see you're in Beaumont. The locals that could be offered are CBS, ABC, and NBC. The Fox is low powered (KUIL) and technically doesnt qualify for must carry (but Dish would probably put it up if they reached an agreement).

[finniganps]

I understand your frustration on the locals. I didn't switch to E* until 1999 (from cable) when they offered my locals. I could not receive my locals OTA, so I stuck with cable until that point. I'd STILL be with cable today if E* or D* didn't offer the locals. The adding of locals has been a big part of the growth of the satellite companies.....hopefully they'll keep adding them and taking more customers from the cable companies.

[TonyM]

Dish is putting a new satellite up (AMC15, which is replacing AMC2 at 105W)

The new satellite has spotbeams so they should be putting more locals up

[Greg Bimson]

Here is the other reality not mentioned, so far.

DirecTV and Dish Network do not have to offer local channels. Cable must, usually because of the franchise agreements with the specific municipality.

Tony M, however, has hit the nail on the head. There are many reasons why the DBS companies may not be offering local channels to a specific market at this time. For DirecTV, the issue is satellite capacity. Most of the spot-beams have been maxed out, so DirecTV simply doesn't have the space to provide more markets.

Dish Network has more capacity, but the large issue at this point seems to be setting up a local "office" to gather the local signals and send them back to be uplinked on satellites.

[pastorgadget]

hmm a lot of good thoughts. I know for my DMA there is a local office in the hub of the region so that should not be an issue. I do wonder about the spot beam issue looking at a map of the spots that I found here at dbstalk show that our region is at the edge of one of the spot beams.

I know that Satellite does not have to offer locals but if they want to compete against cable they better offer it. That is what the market wants, IMHO.

With all the issues is it possible for E to get 100% coverage in the near future?

[pastorgadget]

Dish is putting a new satellite up (AMC15, which is replacing AMC2 at 105W)

The new satellite has spotbeams so they should be putting more locals up
when is that expected to go up?

[rocatman]

Dish has plenty of room on the 121 satellite and for locations in Texas, they could also put the locals on 148 which also has quite a bit of room. It's probably more an issue of market priorities or re-transmission agreements. In regards to AMC-15, the launch of it was recently postponed from September 24th. I have not heard of a new launch date. The original plan for the spotbeams (which are Ka-band) was for internet access.

[James Long]

Dish is putting a new satellite up (AMC15, which is replacing AMC2 at 105W)

The new satellite has spotbeams so they should be putting more locals upThe spotbeams on the future 105º are in the ka band, not the ku band used for television.

JL

[Bill R]

The last question is who do we bug to get locals, the stations, Dish or both.


It wouldn't hurt to contact them both but it is that DBS companies that choose to, or not to, carry an area's locals.

As for getting locals from out of your area, it has to do with distribution rights that restrict locals to their own DMA. That is just the way that the rights owners want it and they have been able to get the government's help (in the form of regulations) to help keep it that way. So to answer your question, you need to contact your legestrators to try to get them to pass laws that would change that.

[Mike D-CO5]

I talked to the Channel 6 KFDM engineer in Beaumont, a couple of weeks ago and he said that Dish had already talked to him about 6 months ago about putting their station up on the satellite, but he has heard nothing back from them about when. He said that he would love to go up on the satellite when and if they ever come back to negotiate a deal. I expect by next summer or sooner that the Beaumont/Pt.Arthur area will be uplinked. There is only like 63 cities left till Dish is finished with the analog local channels. Then we get to start all over again with the digital ( hd ) locals.