First time in this chat room - hey everybody. I am from a small (about 100 people) town in Arkansas, and live in the country on a dirt road. Satellite is our only option. I have only lived her for a year and of course have 6 more months on my Dish contract. I am so frustrated with losing my networks, but our only option was Atlanta. I am 3 hours from Memphis one way and 3 hours from Little Rock the other way and their "free antenna" did absolutely nothing. Do I have any alternatives other than going to Direct? I have called them and even they won't guarantee I'll get network channels. There is a local TV station (Jonesboro, AR) that gives us ABC and I think they have blocked any attempt for us to get channels like Memphis or Little Rock. Is there anything else out there for us besides Direct? Also, on the Dish site, they say everyone will lose there DNS except under "special circumstances". I have called and asked what those are, but they can't even tell me. I would think that someone like myself that has no alternative would be in that category. Any feedback would be appreciated.
You have several things going on here. First since neither DBS carries Jonesboro locals (or should I say the "local"), it's a toss-up between the two on that point. Now the Memphis stations are SV to you so if you had KAIT, you would be in a better position to argue for SV (they're available for Memphis so I don't see a technical problem with you getting them). I am not sure if the state-wide PBS counts - are you getting it? If not, it might be a good idea to pay the $1.50 or whatever is charged. You could argue (and I would) that the provision for a waiver of LIL doesn't specify whether or not they are actually available to you. In any event, an ABC station could only block another ABC station. Since there is no NBC, CBS or Fox to block a waiver - why not? Now how you send a waiver to a non-existent affiliate is a question I haven't worked out. If E* was providing a local package, I don't think they would be barred from providing SV simply because a network affiliate were not available. Of course convincing them to provide it is another issue. D* is essentially the same situation except of course, you could still get NY or LA for non-ABC stations. Have you actually tried for an ABC waiver? I would hang tight because by the time your E* contract expires, a legislative solution will probably be a done deal. You will probably have your DMA up and running at which time you can fill in the gaps via DNS and/or SV. You may end up with three different CBSes, NBCs, etc. If you are the adventurous type, you can pursue the SV angle. D* may be extraordinarily cautious but I can't see a problem with getting non-ABC networks from them - and you can try the Memphis SV gambit as well (assuming Memphis is preferable to either coast feeds).