Ratings/Distant Networks

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I'd like to know if subscribers having distant networks on satellite has ever affected the Nielsen ratings that significantly for local stations in the market.

I'd only think it'd be a real concern if a distant station like WABC New York was getting higher ratings in the market than the local ABC station in the DMA.

They make such an issue of distant networks now and I would guess that only a small number of people in each DMA even have them. Sometimes to my surprise, some people never knew they existed or were even an option and most would prefer their local one or don't care what one they have as long as they have each network affiliate.

With these new laws, why couldn't they have just made a stipulation that you could only have distants in addition to your local affiliates (for those who qualified). That way it would require subs to have their locals ones but then could pay extra for a secondary network affiliate if they wanted to spend the money and also not require people to have to make a choice between them.

[SimpleSimon]

Nah - that makes too much sense.

The problem is the gorillas at the NAB, trying to preserve their obsolete distribution system.

They're the same people that opposed insterstate highways because it bypassed small towns.

[FTA Michael]

I'd only think it'd be a real concern if a distant station like WABC New York was getting higher ratings in the market than the local ABC station in the DMA. No, it causes concern (for the local station) if any significant fraction of the viewing audience leaves for any reason. Every thousand viewers lost is a thousand sets of eyeballs the station can sell to advertisers, and whether they're watching a different network or another station on the same network doesn't matter much.

I always contend that if anyone could buy any distant locals, (1) few folks would pay for mostly duplicated programming, (2) ad dollars lost because of lost local viewers would be offset by fees from distant folks who buy the local station, and (3) if a local station doesn't have sufficient local programming to keep local viewers from paying to see a distant channel of the same network, then that station deserves whatever it gets.

Unlimited distant locals would also turn sports programming on its head (no need for Sunday Ticket, for example, if every CBS/Fox affiliate is available separately). That's yet another reason why we can talk about this, but it'll just never happen.

[Paul Secic]

No, it causes concern (for the local station) if any significant fraction of the viewing audience leaves for any reason. Every thousand viewers lost is a thousand sets of eyeballs the station can sell to advertisers, and whether they're watching a different network or another station on the same network doesn't matter much.

I always contend that if anyone could buy any distant locals, (1) few folks would pay for mostly duplicated programming, (2) ad dollars lost because of lost local viewers would be offset by fees from distant folks who buy the local station, and (3) if a local station doesn't have sufficient local programming to keep local viewers from paying to see a distant channel of the same network, then that station deserves whatever it gets.

Unlimited distant locals would also turn sports programming on its head (no need for Sunday Ticket, for example, if every CBS/Fox affiliate is available separately). That's yet another reason why we can talk about this, but it'll just never happen.

What sufficient local programming? News? Dopy talk shows like Regis & Ripka? Come on, local programming is junk!

[SimpleSimon]

What sufficient local programming? News? Dopy talk shows like Regis & Ripka? Come on, local programming is junk!What Paul said. Locals are a total waste of bandwidth.

[FTA Michael]

Nationally syndicated shows are not local programming.

Most local programming is local news, but there are other shows. Here in Denver, the local CBS affiliate has a weekly (occasional?) half-hour show highlighting fun/quirky/interesting places in Colorado.

My point is that a local station that shows network programming _and_ has unduplicated local content should have little to fear from distant network stations. Who else will tell you where the tornado is headed, or talk about the costs/benefits of the school bond election? But stations that don't bother with local content, those are the ones who have good reason to fear competition.

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I think if the local stations are popular with their local content, coverage, and newscasts people would be inclined to choose it over distant stations any day. However, now we are running into HD situations where some locals aren't providing HD yet.

Some local stations are poor and not worth watching. Take KDNL the ABC station in St. Louis. It is one of the most worthless ABC affiliates I have ever seen with no local news operation. I can see why viewers in that market would want a distant ABC station.

I'm glad that the new law says subscribers can have a choice for distants they have been getting or locals. My parents have had distants for 10 years now and don't care a thing about their lousy 3 local stations. They aren't available on satellite yet and they could care less if they ever are because they don't want to watch them.

[SimpleSimon]

carload: You have a valid point - but there's no need to dedicate multiple channels slots for what is likely to be less than 20-30 hours of "local" content a week.

Time to go back to the "local access" channel concept. One per DMA. Merge the news departments - maybe having some independent groups within - so that opposing views can be heard. Expand local news to an hour twice a night if needed. DVRs let you pick which local news/opinion you want to see - even if it's on a little early/late.

As for emergency weather/traffic/disaster/whatever, the current concept does NOT work - you aren't going to see it when you're watching HIST/SHO/AMC/whatever.

HOWEVER, there's an EASY EASY EASY fix. Take SOME of the HUGE amount of extra bandwidth we just freed up and add it to the overall system data that exists on each bird. Make it a data feed (news crawl). Add priority encoding, and some software to pop the crawl - no matter WHAT channel you are watching. Maybe it can even be ID'd with zip codes, and your box can be told what zip codes you care about - tha's a nice feature - you can call your elderly grandmother 5 states away and tell her a storm is coming. :)

Of course, it must be able to be disabled by user option.