DirecTV & Lin Television

[TMullenJr]

Does anybody know what the deal is with Lin Television? My local ABC affiliate is owned by Lin, and D* doesn't broadcast their HD channel. I've believe that D* doesn't have any HD Lin channels. I've sent a few emails to the CEO of Lin about getting a waiver, but he hasn't even replied.

[John W]

In several cities, including Tucson, St. Louis, New Orleans, Providence, Norfolk, Albuquerque and Indianapolis, local TV stations are refusing to let cable and/or satellite operators offer their high-def signals.

The local stations, which are owned by broadcast groups such as Belo, Sinclair and LIN TV, are demanding that the TV providers pay them for the right to carry the HD feeds.
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The TV providers are refusing the demand, saying the signals are available for free via off-air antennas. They also note that local stations in the past have not asked for cash payments for analog signals.

Because of the impasse, however, millions of cable and satellite subscribers are unable to watch their local channels in high-def.

[Jon D]

In several cities, including Tucson, St. Louis, New Orleans, Providence, Norfolk, Albuquerque and Indianapolis, local TV stations are refusing to let cable and/or satellite operators offer their high-def signals.

The local stations, which are owned by broadcast groups such as Belo, Sinclair and LIN TV, are demanding that the TV providers pay them for the right to carry the HD feeds.
___________________________________________


The TV providers are refusing the demand, saying the signals are available for free via off-air antennas. They also note that local stations in the past have not asked for cash payments for analog signals.

Because of the impasse, however, millions of cable and satellite subscribers are unable to watch their local channels in high-def.


One would think that this is a violation of FCC regulations that state in order for a Television/Radio station to transmit over public air waves, they must operate in the public interest.

By refusing to allow sat/cable providers to retransmit the HD signals under the same terms as the analog signals the TV stations in question are effectively denying many people in their assigned DMAs from being able to receive their signal who are out of antenna range or blocked by terrain.

Maybe we need to get some senators and representatives to look into this.

Fortunately there is virtually no programming on ABC worth watching other than the occasional sporting event.

[dtv757]

lin has an agreement with Verizon (http://www.lintv.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=273&Itemid=114) so i would think the other companies would come to an agreement soon.

[jpl]

One would think that this is a violation of FCC regulations that state in order for a Television/Radio station to transmit over public air waves, they must operate in the public interest.

By refusing to allow sat/cable providers to retransmit the HD signals under the same terms as the analog signals the TV stations in question are effectively denying many people in their assigned DMAs from being able to receive their signal who are out of antenna range or blocked by terrain.

Maybe we need to get some senators and representatives to look into this.

Fortunately there is virtually no programming on ABC worth watching other than the occasional sporting event.

I seem to remember, several years ago, a similar claim made by networks with regard to cable companies. Some networks (or affiliates - at least in the NYC area) were trying to get the cable providers to pay a stipend to the networks for carrying their stuff. Made no sense to me, personally. They claimed that the cable companies were getting their content for free which they were then retransmitting. As such, they should get "royalties" for providing the content to the cable companies. That never went anywhere - I think they may have even gone to court, to no avail. The notion that these TV stations use the public air-waves is what gives the cable companies the ability to retransmit free of charge (as long as they don't retransmit outside of the stations DMA). I can't imagine that these stations would have any grounds for limiting HD broadcasting.

[croaker]

In several cities, including Tucson, St. Louis, New Orleans, Providence, Norfolk, Albuquerque and Indianapolis, local TV stations are refusing to let cable and/or satellite operators offer their high-def signals.

The local stations, which are owned by broadcast groups such as Belo, Sinclair and LIN TV, are demanding that the TV providers pay them for the right to carry the HD feeds.
___________________________________________


The TV providers are refusing the demand, saying the signals are available for free via off-air antennas. They also note that local stations in the past have not asked for cash payments for analog signals.

Because of the impasse, however, millions of cable and satellite subscribers are unable to watch their local channels in high-def.


you can take St Louis off that list with the exception of the CW & PBS we get our locals in HD. Also the signals here are pretty well positioned and strong. I live about 30 miles from the City in House Springs and i had no trouble getting everything in on rabbit ears prior to getting the HR20.

IMO PBS has arguably the most and best HD content of all the locals, a strong signal, and a really good picture that is why I was glad they got the OTA thing straightened out.

[dishrich]

you can take St Louis off that list with the exception of the CW & PBS we get our locals in HD.

He was probably thinking of the latest dust-up between Charter cable, which is the predominate cable provider in STL & the local Belo (CBS) & Sinclair (ABC) stations.

[veryoldschool]

In my area, there is another twist: My locals want more bandwidth, that is to say they want the cable & SAT providers to carry their sub channels also. They're holding out the HD content in an attempt to get up to five channels "for the price of one" transmitted through cable or SAT feed. FWIW

[jpl]

I still don't see how the broadcasters have a case here. While services like DirecTV aren't allowed to rebroadcast outside of the station's DMA, these are OTA broadcasts - using public airways, regulated by the FCC. I don't see how these guys can put conditions on how someone like DirecTV carries their signals. What's next? Can they demand that these carriers not compress their signals? I think if this comes to a head, and gets to court (which I believe is where this is heading) that the broadcasters will have no case. They don't pay DirecTV to carry their stuff - DirecTV is grabbing it out of the air. DirecTV isn't rebroadcasting to anyone not allowed to get it... Unlike a pay service, where you can set up some restrictions, these are broadcast, like I said, on public airwaves.

[veryoldschool]

I think their position is "all or nothing", and not just picking the HD.
Now I'm not in favor of this, so please don't get me wrong. I'm just posting what is going on in my area with "public service" announcements [yeah, right, like I believe that too].

[Jon D]

I still don't see how the broadcasters have a case here. While services like DirecTV aren't allowed to rebroadcast outside of the station's DMA, these are OTA broadcasts - using public airways, regulated by the FCC. I don't see how these guys can put conditions on how someone like DirecTV carries their signals. What's next? Can they demand that these carriers not compress their signals? I think if this comes to a head, and gets to court (which I believe is where this is heading) that the broadcasters will have no case. They don't pay DirecTV to carry their stuff - DirecTV is grabbing it out of the air. DirecTV isn't rebroadcasting to anyone not allowed to get it... Unlike a pay service, where you can set up some restrictions, these are broadcast, like I said, on public airwaves.

I sent an email to the FCC earlier today basically saying what you just said. It will be interesting to see what they say.

[jpl]

I sent an email to the FCC earlier today basically saying what you just said. It will be interesting to see what they say.

Me too :)

[Steve Mehs]

The TV providers are refusing the demand, saying the signals are available for free via off-air antennas. They also note that local stations in the past have not asked for cash payments for analog signals.

Because of the impasse, however, millions of cable and satellite subscribers are unable to watch their local channels in high-def.

Thanks to the Sinclair-TW spat, I now get FOX in HD. LIN owns our CBS and CW affiliates, Sinclair owns the FOX and MyTV affiliates. CBS HD has been available on cable forever. Don’t really care about CW HD or MyTV HD. I didn’t think much of the WB and UPN and I think even less for these two.