Goodbye Ad-Supported Broadcast Television?

[morphy]

As a DirecTV sub with Sunday Ticket, there's not really much on broadcast networks that I care about. Sure there are a few shows like Heroes and The Unit, but ironically those shows would be better without the restrictions that the FCC imposes on them.

Privatize it ALL, I say!

[sandor]

Originally Posted by robogeek

Our local FOX affiliate just pulled its content off of Time Warner Cable last week

http://Just-Say-No-To-LinTV.com

it would be interesting to see who exactly is behind the anonymous party that made that website...


in my point of view.....

the affiliates create content.
content creators should be able to get paid.
cable/sat companies pay HBO, etc based on consumer demand.
cable/sat companies should pay affiliates based on consumer demand.


just because the affiliates want (have) to broadcast OTA for free doesnt mean that a 3rd party should be able to re-sell the content for a profit without the affiliates seeing a share.

[reggie14]

I'd be perfectly fine with broadcast stations charging cable companies if we let cable companies buy whatever affiliate they want to. If the local Fox affiliate demands money from the cable company, that cable company should be free to go to a neighboring (or, really any) market and buy retransmission rights from that affiliate.

My understanding of the current law* says that if the cable company doesn't carry the local Fox affiliate, they can't air any Fox affiliate.

*Edit: After a bit more research, it might not be a matter of law. It might just be that affiliate agreements forbid an affiliate from selling retransmission rights to cable/satellite providers in a different market. Still, I think that's essentially anti-competitive behavior, and should be forbidden.

[Ender]

My local CBS station WBNG TV-12 digital channel has not been in my local Time Warner line up since it went High Definition the analog channel is still there of course. Fortunately I can get it OTA with a 85-95% signal strength.

The funny thing, four years ago when I bought my HDTV, the Digital version of Channel 12 was the showcase channel heavily advertised, on TWC, now it is nowhere to be found.

As far as I can tell it is a disagreement over money. The affiliate says the need to be paid to carry it, whereas the cable co thinks it should be covered by Must carry.

I just wish I could get the NYC locals, the pq is 100% better than my local ones.

Oh well, can't win them all.

[clip]

Well of course, I couldn't leave it alone.

Brighthouse provided a free OTA indoor antennae to pick up the CBS station and I connected it to one of the HDHomeRun inputs over the weekend. Remapped my video source channels and I have beautiful HD quality CBS again.

Now back to my shows.

[loomdog32]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I'd be perfectly fine with broadcast stations charging cable companies if we let cable companies buy whatever affiliate they want to. If the local Fox affiliate demands money from the cable company, that cable company should be free to go to a neighboring (or, really any) market and buy retransmission rights from that affiliate.

My understanding of the current law* says that if the cable company doesn't carry the local Fox affiliate, they can't air any Fox affiliate.

*Edit: After a bit more research, it might not be a matter of law. It might just be that affiliate agreements forbid an affiliate from selling retransmission rights to cable/satellite providers in a different market. Still, I think that's essentially anti-competitive behavior, and should be forbidden.

Comcast in Fresno had KTVU (SF Fox) on clear QAM for a few months, although 90% of the time (well 90% of the time I tried to watch that channel) there was a BSOD - well, a blue screen with a message that said the cable co was blocking the "programing" at the request of KMPH/KFRE (Fresno Fox/CW, both owned by the same local company)....

Pappas, the company that owns KMPH/KFRE, would not allow rebroadcast of either channel on sat until a fee was paid for rebroadcasting their signal. That lasted for several years...