Msguy said:
Here is my take. Not being able to receive Distant Networks on Satellite TV is a joke. We can receive channels from outside the country via satellite especially if you have the 5 LNB Dish with an HD receiver but we can't subscribe or request to get Distant Network Feeds from other Cities in this country. This just proves how fouled up this country really is. Our Senators and NAB put restrictions on getting TV stations from other cities. It's B.S. and it's B.S. that Local Stations lose revenue due from someone watching television from another city. It's just B.S.
What's even more galling is that people living in other countries can get any US station they want piped in if their programming providers are willing to carry it. People in Detroit are limited to Detroit stations, regardless of how many dollars they wave at a provider; people a few miles away in Windsor can buy just about any darned US feed they care to for mere pence. This how our government protects us from any nasty old freedoms we might want to exercise.
(Yes, I realize this is supposed to protect "exclusive" contractual relationships between networks and local affiliates -- but network/affiliate relationships are just about the
only such general programming contracts that are afforded territorial exclusivity. [Yes, there's SYNDEX, but nearly all syndicators now require waivers of SYNDEX rights from local broadcasters, as so much programming is offered simultaneously to basic cable and the superstations.])
Can you imagine a situation where folks in Des Moines were blocked from subscribing to the NEW YORK TIMES, or where Oregonians were barred on pain of fine from logging on to the WASHINGTON POST website -- but Toronto residents could do either with impunity? That's the sitch we have with broadcast television signals.
The technical limitations on national distribution of local signals have been overcome; it's long past time to break the shackles of government-backed local programming monopolies. Do it for the children. (No, I dunno what that means either. But it sounds good.)
