A couple of weeks ago, D* announced that it was providing HD local service for Las Vegas. However, they only put up the two 720p affiliates, FOX and ABC.
Everybody says that the reason that they did not put up the 1080i affiliaties, NBC and CBS, is that those stations haven't agreed to broadcast agreements.
However two pieces of evidence make me question their claim. First, I contacted the general manager of one of the stations who told me that D* had not communicated to the station that D* was broadcasting in HD in local markets. They said they are willing for D* to broadcast their signal, but that D* hadn't completed the agreement, which obviously D* was not in a hurry to do because D* hadn't even said that other stations were going up. Second, the other station's top engingeer was unaware as of yesterday that D* was broadcasting in HD here in Vegas. He said he would contact D* and would possibly even provide a fiber link to D* (his station broadcasts on a lower frequency which is spotty and OTA might not be the best way for D* to get their signal).
All this makes me quite concerned, especially given D*'s slowness to implement OTA. Meanwhile, there has been bad audio stutter for the last couple of days on the two stations they do carry. This, according to JeremyW, is a D* issue because he experiences it as well.
So to sum up:
- D* claims that NBC and CBS are the reasons that they haven't put up those channels in HD, but neither station was aware that D* had even launched HD locals until users contacted them. Somebody is lying.
- D* still hasn't activated OTA, a promised feature.
- D*'s audio is barely listenable at present for me in Las Vegas on their 2 HD channels.
I'm wondering if other people have insight into how long it has taken markets that launched with just a couple of HD stations to get the full lineup? Note: I am not talking about markets which launched with all 4 (or 5) majors. I mean places like Seattle which STILL don't have all the HD locals after SIX months.
Any thoughts on what we can do?
Everybody says that the reason that they did not put up the 1080i affiliaties, NBC and CBS, is that those stations haven't agreed to broadcast agreements.
However two pieces of evidence make me question their claim. First, I contacted the general manager of one of the stations who told me that D* had not communicated to the station that D* was broadcasting in HD in local markets. They said they are willing for D* to broadcast their signal, but that D* hadn't completed the agreement, which obviously D* was not in a hurry to do because D* hadn't even said that other stations were going up. Second, the other station's top engingeer was unaware as of yesterday that D* was broadcasting in HD here in Vegas. He said he would contact D* and would possibly even provide a fiber link to D* (his station broadcasts on a lower frequency which is spotty and OTA might not be the best way for D* to get their signal).
All this makes me quite concerned, especially given D*'s slowness to implement OTA. Meanwhile, there has been bad audio stutter for the last couple of days on the two stations they do carry. This, according to JeremyW, is a D* issue because he experiences it as well.
So to sum up:
- D* claims that NBC and CBS are the reasons that they haven't put up those channels in HD, but neither station was aware that D* had even launched HD locals until users contacted them. Somebody is lying.
- D* still hasn't activated OTA, a promised feature.
- D*'s audio is barely listenable at present for me in Las Vegas on their 2 HD channels.
I'm wondering if other people have insight into how long it has taken markets that launched with just a couple of HD stations to get the full lineup? Note: I am not talking about markets which launched with all 4 (or 5) majors. I mean places like Seattle which STILL don't have all the HD locals after SIX months.
Any thoughts on what we can do?
