New Planned Cities on Dish Network?

[Adam Richey]

Hey everbody. I got a Club Dish packet in my mail yesterday, and there was a list of planned cities for launch. The list is about 2 weeks old since it includes a few that have already launched (Clarksburg, Idaho Falls, Panama City and Terre Haute). Here are a few that I have NEVER heard any other buzz about. I figured I would give a few people hope about their local cities.

Billings, MT
Bismarck / Minot, ND
Casper, WY
Erie, PA
Gainesville, FL
Great Falls, MT
Meridian, MS
Rapid City, SD
Twin Falls, ID

[gor88]

I got that mailing yesterday as well. I didn't get a chance to read it, since our state fair is this week.

So...Tony Suarez was right! :D He predicted a couple of months ago that Meridian, MS would most likely be the next MS market to be offered by Dish. It probably has to do with the fact that, of the remaining native MS markets, it is closest to having the big five (only missing FOX). The funny thing is that it is the smallest market that covers any portion of MS (DMA #184).

Once released, MS is only missing the following markets:
Greenwood-Greenville, MS (ABC, CBS, PBS)
Hattiesburg-Laurel, MS (CBS, NBC)
Biloxi-Gulfport, MS (ABC, FOX, PBS)
Baton Rouge, LA (for Amite and Wilkinson counties)

Hattiesburg and Biloxi are adjacent to each other and share each other's locals, so both markets will probably be released simultaneously once significantly viewed offerings become legal.

[visitor1]

I heard some rumblings from retailers that Casper may be getting locals sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[garypen]

Casper? That's not fair. What about Baby Huey?

[BFG]

Gainesville would make Florida locals complete. So would be a nice add there.

[MSoper72]

Midland / Odessa, Texas would almost make Texas complete. It would be nice to add these as well.

[Adam Richey]

Odessa / Midland, TX would bring Texas closer, but there are still 6 other DMA's that would need locals. Odessa / Midland is ranked 158, so I doubt they would come first. I could be wrong though.

1. Abilene / Sweetwater (Market Rank 163)
2. Beaumont / Port Arthur (Market Rank 138)
3. Corpus Christi (Market Rank 129)
4. Laredo (Market Rank 190)
5. San Angelo (Market Rank 196)
6. Victoria (Market Rank 205)

[compubit]

Midland/Odessa might be next - seems that some of the stations in Beaumont & Corpus are not friendly to satellite...

These are the same ABC affiliates in the towns that pulled themselves off of cable after cable wouldn't pay them to air their signal when retranmission consent started... Corpus is without ABC on D*...

Jim

[gor88]

The Beaumont and Corpus Christi affiliates need to get their heads out of the sand and realize that they are p***ing off viewers. As I recall, ABC hasn't been performing well for a few years now.

Maybe viewers in those two markets should send email to the main ABC feedback line and ask them to tell their affiliates not to jeopardize rebroadcast on satellite by charging fees. State that ABC won't get your viewership otherwise. :mad:

This is why significantly viewed will be such a good thing. DirecTV and Dish Network can simply pull ABC from a nearby market and cause the local affiliate to lose audience. After that, I bet a lot of these stubborn holdouts get their heads on straight to keep their viewership. :D

I know for a fact that the FOX, WB and UPN (although Dish still won't carry it) in Jackson do not charge any rebroadcast fees. I don't think PBS does either in Miss. I have no clue on the big three, though.

[khearrean]

Odessa / Midland, TX would bring Texas closer, but there are still 6 other DMA's that would need locals. Odessa / Midland is ranked 158, so I doubt they would come first. I could be wrong though.

1. Abilene / Sweetwater (Market Rank 163)
2. Beaumont / Port Arthur (Market Rank 138)
3. Corpus Christi (Market Rank 129)
4. Laredo (Market Rank 190)
5. San Angelo (Market Rank 196)
6. Victoria (Market Rank 205)

Looking at your list and the market ranking #'s, is there any way to estimate when a particular DMA might be planned? I live in the Beaumont/Port Arthur market and had been told some time ago by a local HT Dealer he had heard we were probably not going to see locals (via Dish) until perhaps 3rd quarter '05.

Ken

[Adam Richey]

You have to take a few things into account. Market size obviously isn't the most important thing to Dish Network. Ability to get retransmission consent is the biggest thing along with the number of stations in a given market. I think Beaumont is probably in the running with 1 or 2 other Texas markets (Abilene and Corpus Christi) to be carried next. Fortunately, Beaumont has only 4 stations that would be carried. That's fewer than Abilene and Corpus Christi.

There are SEVERAL holes not filled considering market size on Dish Network. With this upcoming AMC 15 launch, I'm sure lots more markets will launch along with any HD that Dish is planning. Here's a look at some holes that will PROBABLY be filled in the next 6 months to a year. Thanks to Tony for his chart information.
#96 - Baton Rouge, LA
#106 - Springfield / Holyoke, MA
#123 - Lafayette, LA
#125 - Columbus, GA (Don't be surprised if Dish pops this one up out of the blue. It would take care of Georgia.)
#129 - Corpus Christi, TX
#138 - Beaumont / Port Arthur, TX
#140 - Wilmington, NC
#142 - Erie, PA (Planned)

[Mike D-CO5]

I sure would love to have our locals in Beaumont/ Pt. Arthur. My question is with the changes in the satellite law in congress , they say they can provide significantly viewed channels that can be pulled in from a side dma. Houston has the Upn and WB( since we have no ota wb or upn) and even the Fox since our local fox is lowpowered and there is no Digital signal of Fox. Do you think that Dish will do this and charge the same for the locals or will they make us sub to the superstations as well to get our UPN and WB?

I would love to "move " back to my hometown. With the 921 I am getting the locals from our area in addition to the Houston locals , but it would be nice to have them on the satellite to be able to record them 2 at a time. It would also make it so easy to sell Dishnetwork to my friends. The one thing they say when I try to sell them on Dish is : " Do they have my local stations? No well tell me when they do and I will be interested then." :nono2:

I have sold very few people at work due to this one thing. I got two people to buy dish with a gift card by telling them about the terk 44 clip on antenna for local channels. I then had to show them how to set it up etc. It would be so much easier to just to say:" YES they have your local channels!" :D

[Adam Richey]

I think you will probably have to subscribe to the superstations as well to receive UPN and WB.

[James Long]

I believe to stay competitive with cable, E* will have to sell "significantly viewed" channels as part of their regular locals or for a very low price. This is good legislation that allows the channels to be offered. To extort more money from viewers would spoil it.

JL