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Nexstar Media Group is largest local station blackout in TV history - resolved

11K views 189 replies 37 participants last post by  crodrules 
#1 ·
Nexstar Media Group threatens largest local station blackout in TV history, according to DISH

- Nexstar turns back on public interest obligations, holds local viewers hostage to create negotiation leverage
- Broadcaster giant demands more than $1 billion for local broadcast station fees


ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Nov. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexstar Media Group, the largest local broadcast station owner in the nation, is threatening to black out DISH customers' access to 164 local channels in 120 markets across 42 states and the District of Columbia. The broadcast giant is trying to use its market power to demand unreasonable rate increases while intentionally using millions of Americans as pawns in their negotiations. This action by Nexstar would result in consumers being blacked out from the highest number of local broadcast stations in the nation's TV history.

In recent years, Nexstar went on a $12 billion local broadcast station buying spree to become the largest and most powerful station owner in the country. Now that Nexstar is the biggest in the industry, it is trying to strong-arm companies like DISH to pay outrageous rates and force unprecedented increases onto customers. The broadcaster continues to threaten to blackout its stations from DISH customers to gain negotiation leverage in an effort to line its wallet with viewers' hard-earned money - a tactic it used last year against DirecTV and AT&T U-verse.

"Since becoming the nation's largest local station owner, Nexstar has increased its annual revenue by $1 billion a year. Now, it has set its sights on DISH customers as their next big payday," said Brian Neylon, Group President, DISH TV. "Nexstar is demanding more than $1 billion in fees for its television channels. This shocking increase is the highest we've ever seen. Nexstar is intentionally turning its back on its public interest obligation and instead demanding consumers pay significantly more for the channels they could receive for free over-the-air."

Nexstar is also forcing DISH to carry WGN America as part of this deal, a channel that has experienced declining viewership in recent years. Nexstar acquired this channel when it bought Tribune last year. Now, the broadcast owner is looking to DISH customers to pay back this investment. Nexstar is demanding a significant payment for this low-rated channel that airs syndicated reruns found on other DISH stations and features a news program that can be accessed for free online.

"With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect the nation and unemployment on the rise, subscribers need access to their local programming," said Neylon. "Nexstar's tactics are hurting millions of Americans at one of the most difficult times in recent history."

In an additional hit to customers, Nexstar announced that it is expecting to pay out over $100 million to its shareholders - this is the same money Nexstar is making on the backs of Americans nationwide.

"It's our goal to reach an agreement with Nexstar that is fair for all parties involved, especially our customers," added Neylon. "We will continue to fight on behalf of our customers to keep TV bills as low as possible, and we hope Nexstar sees how important it is to come to a deal that is beneficial for all."

DISH customers can visit DISHPromise.com for more information.
 
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#157 ·
#159 ·
Interesting about Nexstar as some lost the OTA guide on this Dish receivers. Some didn't. Glad to see Apollo agreement. Hopefully one will be forthcoming for Nexstar. I feel it was terrible to have this dispute now. They are always bad, but during COVID and also during the Christmas season?
 
#160 ·
Interesting about Nexstar as some lost the OTA guide on this Dish receivers. Some didn't.
Hopefully, most people didn't. Dish had a massive uplink in the middle of November to provide separate OTA guide data streams for the Nexstar stations, and remove the link to the satellite-delivered version's guide data. However, that is a huge total number of stations affected, so it may be understandable that some of them slipped through the cracks, and did not get covered by that first uplink. Dish had another such uplink recently, apparently to fix this issue with some more of the Nexstar stations. There may still be some that Dish did not catch yet, though. Also, there is the looming possibility that even more stations will be dropped if this dispute drags on long enough. (The Vaughn Media stations operated by Nexstar.) So, some of those stations may also end up having the same issue when they get dropped.

The same thing happened at the start of the Apollo dispute. That one seemed to catch Dish off-guard, as they did not prepare for it in advance with separate OTA guide data streams, like they normally do for these local channel disputes. Dish had to do the uplink later, well after the start of the dispute, to fix this issue.

Here is the uplink that came after the Nexstar dispute started, to add separate OTA guide data streams for some channels, and remove the guide data link from the local dispute message channels:
Uplink Activity Updates » Blog Archive » 12/4/20 at 4:29pm ET (v30) - 18 changes seen
 
#161 ·
I expect some issues with the channels the day that the OTA EPG moves between the satellite channel and the OTA guide channel. It may take until the next day for the guide to reload correctly and pair the correct channel to the OTA signal. Each transition also provides a chance that there is an error (such as missing a channel or getting something wrong in the way the channels are flagged). There are also places with translators where the guide for OTA is never correct - I do not expect the restoration of LIL channels to fix that problem.
 
#162 ·
That is interesting, so Dish is getting their OTA guide from a different vendor? My old KOIN guide was messed up on the 211k. Now it is accurate. Fortunately I get most of the Portland OTA stations via translators. Only few are missing. As we have no translators for ION, TBN, or a couple lp stations. Otherwise the rest we get. That all changed for the better this last Fall with the "stacking" with NextGen 3.0.
 
#163 ·
No recent vendor change ... what I was referring to is how the EPG is matched to an OTA channel. It isn't a perfect system.
 
#166 ·
Maybe it is your local translator that changed something, such as changing the TSID (Transport Stream ID) they are broadcasting, to match the TSID that Dish uses for that station in their guide database. Some translators can use the same TSID as the main station, apparently, based on OTA guide data results myself and others have gotten from translators. However, if there are any differences between the translator and the originating station (such as the translator carrying a different subchannel than the main station carries, for example) then each station must use a unique TSID. If you recently re-scanned your OTA locals, that also could have updated your OTA guide data links. This can either cause them to match the TSID for the Dish-provided data (fixing any issues) or potentially break the link to Dish's guide data, which causes issues.
 
#169 ·
The matching alogrhythm for other devices is not the same. DISH relies on the stations to transmit one exact TSID for each station that they are matching. Any deviation from the TSID DISH expects to see is a mismatch that will lead to either no information or the wrong station's information being displayed. They do not use any other data (such as zip codes, IP geolocation, physical channel or virtual channel) to make the match. The transmitted TSID must match the TSID in DISH's data. (The subchannel number is also in DISH's data - to match subchannel 1, 2, 3 etc. But DISH relies on the TSID to identify the station being received.)

This means a translator using a different TSID than the main station (for any reason) and stations that share a transmission due to the repack will not have the correct EPG on DISH for the OTA reception. Any errors in the match will lead to missing EPG.

Non-DISH receivers use different matching methods.
 
#171 ·
The matching alogrhythm for other devices is not the same. DISH relies on the stations to transmit one exact TSID for each station that they are matching. Any deviation from the TSID DISH expects to see is a mismatch that will lead to either no information or the wrong station's information being displayed. They do not use any other data (such as zip codes, IP geolocation, physical channel or virtual channel) to make the match. The transmitted TSID must match the TSID in DISH's data. (The subchannel number is also in DISH's data - to match subchannel 1, 2, 3 etc. But DISH relies on the TSID to identify the station being received.)

This means a translator using a different TSID than the main station (for any reason) and stations that share a transmission due to the repack will not have the correct EPG on DISH for the OTA reception. Any errors in the match will lead to missing EPG.
Yes, 4 out of 5 of our translators have "Re-packed", but even before that, the guide was messed up. I called some of the stations, but they claim the info sent out to Dish is correct. I cannot disagree, as all other OTA guides work. But I still wonder if it has something to do with the vip211k's memory or how it processes OTA guides?
 
#173 ·
It is odd that it is working on one 211k and not the other. Perhaps a firmware change if there have been any updates since the spare was taken offline?
I like the theory that the lower number of subscribed channels is helping the 211k - but even on a subscribed receiver the number of channels an individual subscriber sees should not be excessive. DISH discards the EPG for hidden unsubscribed channels. Non hidden channels should still be in the guide stored on the receiver as "unsubscribed" (although not seen unless one selects "unsubscribed" in the guide).

OTA is a little different since one no longer has to be subscribed to locals to see the guide data. But there have been a lot of changes over the years. There have been times where customers could only see EPG for their own market and not neighboring markets. Sometimes some customers could see neighboring stations while others could not. When all works well OTA EPG is available - but it is easier for things not to work well.

DISH's focus is on the channels carried via satellite. If anything else works it is a bonus. Especially on sub channels. It has been years since I tried, but the people I talked to at DISH executive office didn't seem to understand where the EPG comes from. They claimed that the actual guide data presented was received OTA instead of via satellite. If that were true there would be a lot more guide data for local subchannels in the guide ... and no channels in the 14xxx/15xxx range providing EPG. There was talk a few years ago about DISH receivers using the Internet to download additional guide data but I have not seen that occur. I really do not expect improvements.

I appreciate that there is some effort made to provide an EPG for OTA when a local channel has been taken down in a dispute. That is certainly an improvement over a few years ago when a dropped channel meant no EPG for the OTA.
 
#174 ·
I appreciate that there is some effort made to provide an EPG for OTA when a local channel has been taken down in a dispute. That is certainly an improvement over a few years ago when a dropped channel meant no EPG for the OTA.
James, I have been meaning to ask you why those separately-added OTA guide data streams for dropped channels do not appear in your Locals List: Local Channels on DISH Network (Unofficial Listing)

For example, in Cleveland, Ohio WJW has been lost due to the Nexstar dispute. There is a separate OTA guide data stream uplinked for WJW, so the OTA channel still has guide data. However, WJW 8-01 is completely missing from your list of OTA guide data for Cleveland:
Cleveland, OH
...
OTA Program Guide Data:
3-01 WKYC TSID 0x08CD, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5202/8512)
3-02 WKYC2 TSID 0x08CD, Subchannel 02 (DISH Channel 14666)
5-01 WEWS TSID 0x08CF, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5200/8510)
12-01 WMFD TSID 0x08F1, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 8522)
19-01 WOIO TSID 0x08FD, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5201/8511)
19-02 WOIO2 TSID 0x08FD, Subchannel 02 (DISH Channel 14875)
23-01 WVPX TSID 0x08AF, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5212/8524)
25-01 WVIZ TSID 0x08D3, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5206/8516)
25-02 WVIZ2 TSID 0x08D3, Subchannel 02 (DISH Channel 14668)
25-03 WVIZ3 TSID 0x08D3, Subchannel 03 (DISH Channel 15187)
25-04 WVIZ4 TSID 0x08D3, Subchannel 04 (DISH Channel 14531)
43-01 WUAB TSID 0x08EF, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5205/8515)
43-02 WUAB2 TSID 0x08EF, Subchannel 02 (DISH Channel 14667)
47-01 WRLM TSID 0x08BF, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 8523)
49-01 WEAO TSID 0x08B1, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5210/8520)
49-02 WEAO2 TSID 0x08B1, Subchannel 02 (DISH Channel 14529)
55-01 WBNX TSID 0x08B3, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5204/8514)
61-01 WQHS TSID 0x08D5, Subchannel 01 (DISH Channel 5211/8521)


It is the same way for every market that I have checked where there is a dispute. I was just curious why that happens.
 
#178 ·
Exactly! Moving an external hard drive from one ViP211 to another ViP211 on the same account works just fine. the same holds true for moving an external hard drive from one Wally to another Wally on the same account, which I have actually done. The issue comes when upgrading from a ViP211 to a Wally, or when downgrading from a Wally to a ViP211. In either of those cases, the receiver will ask you to reformat the drive, which will erase of the recordings. These models (ViP211 series and Wally) were intended to be compatible with each other as far as the external hard drives. However, Dish has never gotten that to work properly in my experience.
 
#181 ·
A deactivated 211k can still use the EHD for storing the 7-day guide, even without DVR functionality. So, you could still try hooking that hard drive up to the other 211k, just to see if that 211k will recognize that drive. If it works, then you could try activating the 211k, to see if it will let you watch the content. On the other hand, if it doesn't work, then there is something wrong with that particular hard drive.
 
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