PP123 said:
Appreciate this and all your other feedback. I'll see what can be done with the roof mounting situation and/or attic. Too bad there isnt a way to just get these channels from the cable or sat providers.. being a paying customer and all, I would have expected (hoped) that I am entitled to get the channels I want if I pay for them, especially if the providers are capable of delivering them (which they are)...too bad regulations (dictated by marketing/ money) come in the way...
While I agree with you I understand what happens with this. DirecTV offers the Distant Network Signals (NYC and or LA local channels) to anyone who qualifies and those channels are available nationally. What happens every time the bill comes up to extend the DNS feeds and anyone wants to alter it to allow exceptions there is a hearing with the Committee for Technology where they bring in a rep from DirecTV or Dish, sometimes specific stations or companies that own stations, FCC and someone from the NAB.
The NAB whines that the locals paid for the right to be exclusive in their local area and that they make their money from add revenue that is generated based on the fact that the commercials are reaching their audience in that area. When another signal is allowed in, that is not happening. NAB also says that due to emergency broadcasts, its better to get the stations you are supposed to get.
I dont fully agree with that as stated above, my locals tend not to care about me as I am the only county in this state that they cover. The NAB also says that there should be no distant signals for anyone. the distant signals were designed for people who were missing one of the major affiliates in their market and they didnt want to be denied the right or watching programming due to no fault of their own. Per the NAB they dont care if there is no CBS in your market. They dont think you should get an out of market signal from any provider. That being said, someone usually asks them arnt they the same group that things that artists should not get paid for having their music heard on the radio? They tend not to answer that question.
They are also the group (NAB) that claims there are less blackouts and that the stations dont need anyone stepping in to assist with any local channel negotiations either. Its usually brought up that there was a higher amount of blackouts from this than the last year and the NAB acts like its nothing. In the end the NAB dont care about customers. They care about themselves getting their money and that is it.
It boils down to there are enough rich people that control the politicians so that there are never any changes. This is and was a huge reason why I persued the Significantly Viewed stations here. There was no stopping it if the significantly viewed stations and DirecTV both struck a deal and everyone in my county with DirecTV benefited form it. It was the ultimate win. We now have 2 in state locals from another DMA and no other provider in my county can say they even offer one. If you want in state locals, to know about bad weather before it gets here or better sports options to watch via locals, DirecTV or a huge antenna is the only way to get it in my county.
Not to mention part of the fun of doing this was to stick it to the GM of the CBS and FOX stations in Pittsburg Kansas. That D-bag would never approve my waiver when we didnt have locals in my area. He said he would never do a deal with DirecTV because they lied to him in the past and that was that. I even offered to do the site test as I was pretty sure I would qualify for FOX. When digital became the standard, it wasnt really updated for a long time what the standard was for a site test for a digital signal which to me meant that the station could say the test failed for any reason and get away with it. Both parties had to agree to the tester and I am sure the station would not agree to anyone who would approve me.
Eventually after submitting my own waivers myself on DirecTVs website and resubmitting the same day they were denied, I was granted them. I dont know if someone got sick of seeing my requests or I heard that they let their license with the company that maintains the waivers and it automatically approved me. Waivers for DNS feeds are a pain in the ass. The law is written that if a station does not reply to a waiver request after 30 days the waiver is considered approved. DirecTV says its 45 days but then refuses to approve it even if its not approved after 45 days. I think they dont want to piss off the local affiliate because eventually the contract will be up again and they dont want bad blood at the table.
Any ways, sorry for the long version here. Getting out of market local channels is not super easy when you want someone else to provide them. This is why antennas exist. It is also one of those things that if you want something done about it, your gonna have to work on it yourself and push and work hard to hopefully get anything in return.
There was another option not to long ago that might be worth reading up on. The below company wass offering NYC locals to people for a monthly subscription fee. I know they lost in court though and suspended service. It appears now though that they were bought by TiVo so they must of thought they could do something with it. Might look into that more and see what came of that and if there is a new option there that would work for you. Dont forget slingboxes as well. There are options. Its a matter of how much you are willing to spend and or how much time you are willing to spend to get what you want.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aereo
