Hearst Television Inc. blacks out DISH customers in 26 markets

I don't care about either side's spin. What I do care about is the fact that the locals' retransmission rates have gone up 20x faster than the rate of inflation.
Is that the fault of the locals or those willing to pay the locals? ;)

Walt Disney World prices were $63 for a one day ticket 10 years ago. Now it will cost you $124 (for Magic Kingdom). Is Disney being greedy or making smart business decisions (enough people are willing to pay that amount). Isn't that what a "free market" is about... companies sell their product and the market place decides the worth of said product? ;)
 
#1 reason why I no longer have Dish as my tv provider after I moved recently. Not going to continue to pay Dish just to be inconvenienced and aggravated.

At some point Dish has got to realize how tiring these tactics are. It pisses their customers off and scares off potential customers. There really isn't much if any of a price difference between Dish and other providers to justify this.
 
Is that the fault of the locals or those willing to pay the locals? ;)
Considering we haven't had the opportunity to not pay the locals until recently (Flex), or know how much of our money is going toward the locals, and really still don't, no. Not a free market.
 
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#1 reason why I no longer have Dish as my tv provider after I moved recently. Not going to continue to pay Dish just to be inconvenienced and aggravated.

At some point Dish has got to realize how tiring these tactics are. It pisses their customers off and scares off potential customers. There really isn't much if any of a price difference between Dish and other providers to justify this.
No kidding, and that's one reason the content owners have such a tight grip in these negotiations. They know the majority of customers will blame the provider when stations go dark.
 
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At some point Dish has got to realize how tiring these tactics are. It pisses their customers off and scares off potential customers. There really isn't much if any of a price difference between Dish and other providers to justify this.
Hearst rejects DISH offer to extend contract, including retroactive ‘true-up’ for new rates, which would keep local channels up for benefit of consumers while negotiations continue
If this is true then I place blame 100% on Hearst. Basically Dish has said even if it takes 6 months to come to an agreement that they will pay the new rate retroactively back to the point the contract expired
 
A free market would allow Dish to drop a local, and walk away from negotiations completely. Because Dish wants to carry the other 3 channels, they are required to negotiate in good faith with the 4th. Let them have their exclusivity and their monopoly. That is fine. However, get rid of "Carry One, Carry All". These companies are not related so there should be nothing holding an MVPD to negotiate with them.
 
These blackouts are happening too often and on all providers. I see those notices while I'm watching a show that Cox, or ATT, or Dish is about to lose this channel, call your provider and tell them to keep the channel or switch to one of these other providers. Then a month later after this current dispute is resolved they blackout one of the companies they told you to switch to. It's like they just do a find/replace on their form letter and rotate the company names.

Would it be possible for a company like dish to build in an OTA in their next version of the DVR's, and then when installing the dish also install an outdoor antenna and feed both into the box. Then they're not retransmitting anything. Let the locals feed off OTA. Customers are pulling OTA and just paying dish to install the antenna for them so it's properly pointed and in a better location. Shouldn't need a transmission fee if you're not transmitting it.
 
I still believe that if people could see the real cost of these nets and pay for them at their own discretion, rather than being forced to take them as part of a package (Flex excepted), then maybe it would put the pressure back on the nets instead of on Dish. Because as we all pretty much agree, the average customer blames Dish, right or wrong
 
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These blackouts are happening too often and on all providers. I see those notices while I'm watching a show that Cox, or ATT, or Dish is about to lose this channel, call your provider and tell them to keep the channel or switch to one of these other providers. Then a month later after this current dispute is resolved they blackout one of the companies they told you to switch to. It's like they just do a find/replace on their form letter and rotate the company names.

Would it be possible for a company like dish to build in an OTA in their next version of the DVR's, and then when installing the dish also install an outdoor antenna and feed both into the box. Then they're not retransmitting anything. Let the locals feed off OTA. Customers are pulling OTA and just paying dish to install the antenna for them so it's properly pointed and in a better location. Shouldn't need a transmission fee if you're not transmitting it.

Some DISH receivers already have built in tuners, (mine do) others have a plug in unit to accomplish it. The way it works now though DISH they do not use the OTA guide that is part of the signal like a TV does. When the local is in dispute the OTA loses the guide on a DISH receiver, or if DISH does not carry the channel there is no guide. If they did use the OTA info more people would benefit from it.
Problems are many however for some. You may get a signal from some but not all locals, or no signals at all. Someone in the family may not want a TV antenna on the house. Others may not be able to if they live in a condo or rent and do not have suitable spot for one in their private area. From my use of an antenna with my DISH receiver (and with a TIVO) I had to put the antenna in my garage because I am by the shore and it gets very windy often enough that when the antenna sways I lose some channels. In my case that works fine because the garage is higher than the house. The digital conversion has made it harder to get channels. In CT where I also live going to digital ended getting the ABC channel, and only because I can get the NBC signal from Springfield Mass do I get that. In Fl I do get just about every channel there is which is a lot, but a couple of them are sensitive to planes going by and heavy rain and I lose them that never happened before digital.
 
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I have OTA so I'm not affected. However if I didn't I'd be pretty upset with this situation. So my question is....if it's free with OTA why is there any kind of disputes at all?? So Dish wants to and does broadcast their channels and therefore gets their broadcast out to several more people than OTA and therefore more eyes see advertising therefore that means more money for them???!!!! Seems pretty simple to me folks. However it does seem to be like trickle down economics and we all know liberals can't wrap their mind around that either!! Lol!!
 
OK and then what you going to use for the guide to record the shows? Dish need to figure out a way for the people that have OTA to KEEP the guide
You've been around these boards long enough to know that if you get an OTA signal, you get guide data. It's probably not 7 days worth, but it's still enough for scheduling. Dish REFUSES to allow customers to use that data. Oh, that's right, they're "looking out for the customers".

I have OTA so I'm not affected. However if I didn't I'd be pretty upset with this situation. So my question is....if it's free with OTA why is there any kind of disputes at all?? So Dish wants to and does broadcast their channels and therefore gets their broadcast out to several more people than OTA and therefore more eyes see advertising therefore that means more money for them???!!!! Seems pretty simple to me folks. However it does seem to be like trickle down economics and we all know liberals can't wrap their mind around that either!! Lol!!
It's because Dish (all MVPDs) are reselling the product and making money off of it. If MVPDs would have said "locals are free" from the start, I don't think you would have had this issue. Also, while you're correct that Dish & Direct help get more eyes on the signal, you can't deny that having the locals helps Dish also. Again, look at what happened to subscriber numbers when LiL took off. The subscriber base wouldn't be nearly as big with those local signals. So you can't tell me Dish doesn't benefit.

If you want to throw politics into it, I thought conservatives want to allow businesses to make their own deals without oversight. That's all this is... a deal between a broadcaster and Dish.

I do agree with Chad. Dish (or the broadcaster for that matter) should be allowed to walk away from negotiations and not be forced to make a deal.
 
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You've been around these boards long enough to know that if you get an OTA signal, you get guide data. It's probably not 7 days worth, but it's still enough for scheduling. Dish REFUSES to allow customers to use that data. Oh, that's right, they're "looking out for the customers".
And you should know that the guide data is copyrighted and owned by each TV station and the guide data is no longer freely available to DISH to continue to provide.... UNLESS DISH wants to pay extra for that guide data, like they did for the Tribune dispute. If this one is expected to go long then I would expect DISH to do the same here...

However WHAT IF... a lot of people have noticed DISH has been making changes to its guide... now WHAT IF one of these changes allowed people to pull their local guide data from the PSIP of the channels stream and display that instead. Would broadcasters block their PSIP data (or shut it off) when they are in disputes? Interesting to think about it.
 
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I wonder how much longer these types of disputes can go on with OTA channels.
We watch a lot of network programming; even a few years ago disruptions like this caused us a lot of problems (we get 1 of 5 locals with an antenna, so we do value the locals service with Dish).

Enter the world of broadband, DVR's and binge watching.
I don't even bat an eyelash anymore. The locals multicast their news on their websites make their shows available online.
If I can't watch a network show during the dispute, I wait a few weeks and binge watch it online.
Nothing is missed. As far as I'm concerned, theres no leverage for the locals.
 
And you should know that the guide data is copyrighted and owned by each TV station and the guide data is no longer freely available to DISH to continue to provide.... UNLESS DISH wants to pay extra for that guide data, like they did for the Tribune dispute. If this one is expected to go long then I would expect DISH to do the same here...
I'm talking PSIP and you know it, not the data that comes from Rovi, TitanTV, etc.

However WHAT IF... a lot of people have noticed DISH has been making changes to its guide... now WHAT IF one of these changes allowed people to pull their local guide data from the PSIP of the channels stream and display that instead. Would broadcasters block their PSIP data (or shut it off) when they are in disputes? Interesting to think about it.
Come on Scott. PSIP data is being be decoded by every ATSC tuner. If a broadcaster decided to turn off PSIP, it would affect everyone using OTA. They can't selectively turn it off. Dish can decode the PSIP that's being received with the OTA signal (for those with tuners) and display it, but they refuse to. Oh wait, I know, it's because "it would be too expensive to do so " (that one's been mentioned here). Funny, the $98 off brand TV I can purchase at Wal*Mart can decode it, but it's somehow too expensive for Dish to do.
 
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And you should know that the guide data is copyrighted and owned by each TV station and the guide data is no longer freely available to DISH to continue to provide.... UNLESS DISH wants to pay extra for that guide data, like they did for the Tribune dispute. If this one is expected to go long then I would expect DISH to do the same here...

However WHAT IF... a lot of people have noticed DISH has been making changes to its guide... now WHAT IF one of these changes allowed people to pull their local guide data from the PSIP of the channels stream and display that instead. Would broadcasters block their PSIP data (or shut it off) when they are in disputes? Interesting to think about it.
Its only a problem for you recording nuts that need to have everything OTA integrated into your Hopper.
Most people I bet have their OTA right into the back of their TV anyway.
If Dish decided to not carry locals.
I know it would be unanimous that we switch providers.
I'm sure majority of subscribers will be following.
I find it hard to believe a network thats in a dispute would even allow a separation of only selling Guide data.








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