With malice towards none I look at it differently. Let’s say I have a gas station in my town that sells me gas for $3/Gal. In my neighboring town there is a gas station that sells the same gas for $2/Gal. Not only that, but I live closer to the gas station in my neighboring town than the one in my town. So I go to the gas station in my neighboring town and I’m told I can’t buy gas there because I live in a town with a differ zip code. That’s exactly what the FCC is doing with must carry broadcast stations. There are actual people whom live closer to a network station in another state than the same network station in their state. Yet because of their zip code, cannot receive that station from their satellite/cable provider because of their zip code.
Back to my earlier example, let’s say I live closer to the gas station in my town than my neighboring town. Why can’t I still purchase gas at the station with the lower price? Which bring us back to DISH. If DISH can provide me with (say Fox) programming at a lower price than the one in my neighboring zip code why can’t I choose to save money and receive it? This would give the power to the consumer.
As much as I think the way the broadcast fees work has to be changed, comparing it to how we buy gas has no bearing. I won't go into all the reasons but one of the first is we go to get the Gas, it doesn't get sent to us. When the item is delivered there are many instances where you can't choose.
So based on that, lets compare the locals to Dominoes pizza delivery. And this is real life. The Dominoes closest to me in Ct is on a University Campus, it delivers to me but costs more than the Dominoes in Town, who will not deliver to me because it isn't their district (DMA) They can't deliver to me because the Campus store has the rights. Propane delivery? I can choose from different companies (Networks) but if I want Brand X I can only get deliveries from the one in Town, the one further away won't deliver in another's district. (DMA)
I have no real problem generally when the affiliates have exclusive rights to a market and the results in free service. I would love to have Distants again and have said for many years they should just come up with a way we have to pay for them and the cost goes towards repaying the locals for lost advertising revenue. It isn't easy so won't happen. That said we aren't discussing this all the time because we can't get a different affiliate. It's because of the blackouts. Something has to change in how they get compensated and how it gets negotiated.
Once you allow the provider to pick and choose who they can carry for affiliates two things happen. I may not get my local news, and the cost to get my local may actually go up because an affiliate in East Hogwash is taking away their ad revenue.