[BrettR]

They added 3 chinese stations to 61.5 after mustcarry, they had space for 2 Grand Rapids channels also that were started at 61.5 and moved later to 119. That's 5 right there. Could have put WFMZ, WGTW, WYBE, WWAC and WNJS at 61.5.

Now they signed to carry Discovery HD which will be partime with Demo loop. Could have been space for the rest: WUVP and WWSI. Then some station like WTVE and WMGM decided to request mustcarry but not follow pursue on it, but Dish still had to reserve space for them.

I'm sure Charlie makes more money selling 3 Chinese channels and most international programming, Cricket PPV with a high markup cost, than Philly locals. They also want to be the leader in HDTV. So it was a business decision. once E8 is operational, they'll free Conus space. Philly locals wont move there either. Ergen says the big dish until merger.

 

[BrettR]

In the end, it was E* business decision.

They configured how they wanted their spotbeams,
they decided which TPs are reserved for locals,
they chose which markets go where,
they knew about mustcarry when SHVIA became law and used SHVIA to carry local markets,
they knew approximately how many full power channels were in Philadelphia DMA,
they knew they didnt have access to Comcast Sportsnet,
they had the ability to clicktv.com or tvguide.com, and check Center City Comcast's cable lineup seeing how many full power local channels were able to get a quality signal to Comcast's and Urban Work's headends in Philadelphia,

they knew ahead of time, and leased space from 129.

it was all their decision. Some might justify E* actions as they didnt have space. Well if they reserve it for space for another programming content(Chinese channels, different markets), it shows their priorities are not to Philly. Comcast is part to blame, but Dish has made no indication of Philly locals on 129 are because of lack of CSN. They have been fighting mustcarry all along and are dodging it now.

 

[BrettR]

It makes it a bigger hassle for those that have 61.5 for HD already and upgraded for this, at one time upgraded from Dish 300 to Dish 500, and find out just for some additional locals they need to upgrade again. The big dish does have its advantages but not everyone will want it or think they want one.

It makes Philly an already exceptional market (lacking an RSN) even more of an exception. It would be one thing if Dish kept all the Philly locals together, but keeping half one bird, another 7 on 129, certain stations like WGTW WFMZ arent satisfied and dont want to be isolated from the rest of the Philly group. Their station viewing will be affected. WFMZ paid a fiber connection in anticipation they'd get carriage, followed the mustcarry to full extent, Dish drops them to 129, not a common satellite and away from the more watched Philly group. It makes it difficult for WGTW, WFMZ to compete with stations like KYW, etc. when Dish is using a cookie cutter approach saying customers only want network affiliates and dont want home shopping feeds what Dish considers most mustcarry channels even when they are not.

One might say Philly DBS penetration is already so low because of CCSN, its minimal loss to these stations. But E* gave no indication that if they got CCSN, that the Philly locals would all be together for customer convenience. Instead, Charlie said only after merger. If mustcarry was overturned(what Charlie was praying for) E* could drop them too or demand these stations pay for carriage or lose carriage. Time Warner has made adhesion contract with Low Power UPNs (that are ineligible for mustcarry carriage) share their revenue with them. Or in case of Cincinnati, Time Warner will only carry the station during evening hours. I'm sure only because Viacom wanted UPN coverage, but the LP station affiliated still isnt carried fulltime and doesnt have mustcarry privilege. Time Warner's reason for not carrying a LP channel fulltime isnt because of channel capacity(where E* deficiency lies), but because the cable system usually competes with broadcasters for local advertising, and most cable companies dont want to carry too many local channels especially Low powers when they dont have to.

If Dish got CCSN, it would be a bigger threat for a station like WGTW if they were still left at 129. IMO, if Dish complied with mustcarry and configured their spotbeams like how DirecTV did (Dish would have to move core to 110 probably), and all locals were together, they would have had NAB support probably for the merger.