[psanrules]

Tegna wants too much money and I have heard their sub channels are to be included in the contract. Crime, Qwest, and Twist are the three carried on our local KGW.

DISH does not have the space to carry subnets for each individual market (with local ads and any other local differences). If Tegna has a national channel they want carried and the price is good I am sure DISH would consider it.

I presume "Crime", "Quest" and "Twist" would be offered with national feeds just like the rest of the diginets are. I never thought Dish would carry individual diginets for each city.

Tegna does own those sub channels ... so they could distribute a national feed. They can pay for carriage or offer carriage at a reasonable price.

Hopefully, Dish would carry the national feeds, but still include them in the local package in Tegna markets. (Either mapped down to virtual channel numbers in the local channel range, or simply included in the "locals" package but still only available on the national channel numbers.) This would be slightly different from the way that Dish carries the other diginet national feeds. (Although it is exactly the way that Dish used to carry ION, many years ago.) However, it would ensure that every local subscriber (even those without a high enough base package to receive the other diginets that Dish carries) in a Tegna market would be able to receive these feeds, without eating up any additional satellite space. (Other than the space needed to add a couple more national feeds, in addition to returning the previously-carried True Crime Network.) This may be what Tegna is asking for in these negotiations.

 

[James Long]

Mapping channels down to the right OTA channel in each market is complicated and requires a link channel for every map down. They could map to fake OTA channels (channels 70-99 where not already in use). There are a few channels there where they can catch the attention of people looking for their local channels. Or just put them where DISH is putting most of the "diginets".

They are decent channels but they are not major networks ... DISH shouldn't have to pay too much (if anything) to carry them. Even pennies per month add up.

 

[psanrules]

They could map to fake OTA channels (channels 70-99 where not already in use). There are a few channels there where they can catch the attention of people looking for their local channels.

Yes, that was my idea. Since Dish is no longer using those channels for holiday music map-downs (now they use four-digit channel numbers for ViP or older receivers, which map down to collapsible channel 098-xx for the Hopper interface every holiday season) there should be plenty of room there to group a few more diginets next to the local networks.

 

[mwdxer]

Yes, that was my idea. Since Dish is no longer using those channels for holiday music map-downs (now they use four-digit channel numbers for ViP or older receivers, which map down to collapsible channel 098-xx for the Hopper interface every holiday season) there should be plenty of room there to group a few more diginets next to the local networks.

I have no idea what Dish pays for diginets, but probably not a lot. I could care less about the Tegna diginets as I almost never watch them OTA. I do enjoy the Weigel ones like METV & H&I. I would hope Dish would add Decades & METV+. Even Antenna TV would be nice (Nexstar).

 

[psanrules]

Although it is also owned by Tegna, I will note that the national feed of True Crime Network has been off of Dish for a very long time, in a separate dispute. (Or at least, this particular channel was removed earlier than the locals, due to its contract expiring sooner. True Crime has been missing since 10/31/2020.)

Dish just reached a deal with Tegna for the return of their local channels. I wonder if this is a good sign that True Crime Network may also be returning soon.

 

[jsk]

If you get a decent antenna and the OTA adapter and can get your locals, you can save the $12/mo for locals and never lose them during disputes. You get all of the diginets too and can even DVR them. Google AntennamanPA. He has antenna recommendations and you can pay him to make specialized recommendations for your location.

 

[mwdxer]

If you get a decent antenna and the OTA adapter and can get your locals, you can save the $12/mo for locals and never lose them during disputes. You get all of the diginets too and can even DVR them. Google AntennamanPA. He has antenna recommendations and you can pay him to make specialized recommendations for your location.

Here on the Oregon Coast, we have no large cities in the area, but even here we have 6 operating translators (Portland) and LPTV, with 32 OTA channels. Soon to be 33 by the end of March. So adding an antenna is a very good idea. In many cases you will receive channels Dish does not even have. It is a nice addition and OTA is free. I have a friend near NYC and he also can get OTA from Phily. Depending on where you live sometimes you can get out of market locals OTA. Like Baltimore or Washington DC.

 

[psanrules]

If you get a decent antenna and the OTA adapter and can get your locals, you can save the $12/mo for locals and never lose them during disputes. You get all of the diginets too and can even DVR them. Google AntennamanPA. He has antenna recommendations and you can pay him to make specialized recommendations for your location.

For those areas where OTA is not a viable option, perhaps streaming from LocalBTV will work, if you live in one of the markets they serve. I recently found out that they added Toledo. (I think they already had Cincinnati the previous time I checked.) So, while they are not yet in my part of the state, they are at least serving some markets in Ohio. LocalBTV is also continuing to expand to more markets.

Of course, LocalBTV is not an option for receiving the four major networks, since they don't carry those. However, it is a nice way to get all of the available subchannels and diginets without needing an antenna. So, this may eventually be a substitute for the service that Locast used to offer.

 

[psanrules]

Dish just reached a deal with Tegna for the return of their local channels. I wonder if this is a good sign that True Crime Network may also be returning soon.

Signs look good, according to today's uplink:

Uplink Activity Updates » Blog Archive » 2/16/22 at 3:51pm ET (v24) – 48 changes seen

uplink.jameslong.name

New Uplinks / Mappings – Channels Available
252 LAWCR True Crime added to 110° TP 1 (SD) AVAILABLE (Limited)
252 LAWCR True Crime added to 61.5° TP 1 (SD MPEG4) AVAILABLE (Limited) EPG linked to 110° TP 1 Ch 252

(The "Limited" means not yet actually available to subscribers, but it is still a sign that Dish may be working on adding this channel.)

 

[James Long]

The "True Crime" name on the channel was left over from when True Crime was on the channel. LAWCR would more closely match the Law & Crime network.

 

[psanrules]

The "True Crime" name on the channel was left over from when True Crime was on the channel. LAWCR would more closely match the Law & Crime network.

Good point. I just assumed that the channel had been rebranded yet again since the last time I looked up True Crime to post about that dispute earlier in this thread. (The channel had been called Justice Network the last time I actually received it in my Dish subscription.) Anyway, by leaving the INFO channel on that channel number almost the entire time since True Crime was dropped, and then adding (testing) this similarly-named replacement channel, Dish is apparently hoping that nobody will notice the difference or complain about it.