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I wish cable/sat would allow customers to "opt-out" of local channels letting customers get them via OTA if they wish.

I actually prefer to get them via OTA when possible, that way when I'm watching a tornado warning it don't cut out from the rain...
 
I wish cable/sat would allow customers to "opt-out" of local channels letting customers get them via OTA if they wish.

I actually prefer to get them via OTA when possible, that way when I'm watching a tornado warning it don't cut out from the rain...

I wish DirecTV, Cable, Hulu Live, YTTV, and PS Vue would allow customers to opt out of local channels like Dish does.
 
I wish DirecTV, Cable, Hulu Live, YTTV, and PS Vue would allow customers to opt out of local channels like Dish does.

Based on advertisements for the LCC in the Vegas market last year, Directv may well be going the same route. They were showing $10 off for customers who opt out of locals and get the LCC instead. Though even $10 is less than they spend on locals these days - it would be better IMHO if they broke out the cost of locals like my cable company does and let people drop that cost. That would also reduce the increases in 'package' pricing each year since some of that would go into the locals instead.

Never understood why Directv didn't do that years ago, as it would be really instructive for customers to see charges of $1-$2 5 years ago and $12+ today. They might blame Directv a bit less for the price increases if they knew locals were a good chunk of it.
 
The providers should start putting up antennas for everyone.

Then only turn on the locals that don’t come in with the antenna.

If directv gets enough subscribers on an antenna the network stations have less negotiating
That works as long as you can use OTA with the STB DVR for most folks, no DVR not a good option.
 
The providers should start putting up antennas for everyone.

Then only turn on the locals that don’t come in with the antenna.

If directv gets enough subscribers on an antenna the network stations have less negotiating

Except they want to get away from installer work, not create more work for them. If they broke out the cost of the locals on people's bills and they could see how much they'd save they'd have incentive to put up an antenna themselves, or pay someone to do it if they were going to be around for a while. The $15/month I pay for locals on Mediacom would be $360 if I was with Directv and had a two year commitment. That would more than pay for a high end outdoor antenna and for someone to come install it on my roof.

People who can pick up their locals with an indoor antenna are the easy cream to skim, that's who they're going to target the LCC at. If people with more difficult reception want to do it that's fine, but they aren't going to want to be responsible for that - it is quite possible to set up an antenna that works perfectly when it is installed and then stops working once the trees get leaves. Or in certain weather conditions like thermal inversions. They don't want to be responsible for that.

Compared to OTA reception, satellite reception is super simple - just aim the dish and other than rain or trees growing in the way it will work forever. OTA reception has a lot more variables.
 
Except they want to get away from installer work, not create more work for them. If they broke out the cost of the locals on people's bills and they could see how much they'd save they'd have incentive to put up an antenna themselves, or pay someone to do it if they were going to be around for a while. The $15/month I pay for locals on Mediacom would be $360 if I was with Directv and had a two year commitment. That would more than pay for a high end outdoor antenna and for someone to come install it on my roof.

People who can pick up their locals with an indoor antenna are the easy cream to skim, that's who they're going to target the LCC at. If people with more difficult reception want to do it that's fine, but they aren't going to want to be responsible for that - it is quite possible to set up an antenna that works perfectly when it is installed and then stops working once the trees get leaves. Or in certain weather conditions like thermal inversions. They don't want to be responsible for that.

Compared to OTA reception, satellite reception is super simple - just aim the dish and other than rain or trees growing in the way it will work forever. OTA reception has a lot more variables.

The problem is people won’t pay to put up an antenna on their own.
 
The problem is people won’t pay to put up an antenna on their own.

If they were able to save a couple hundred dollars a year I'll bet some would. Though like I said I think Directv is targeting this mostly at the "easy" ones who can pick up their channels with an indoor antenna. That's probably at least half their customers. The ones who are too far away and would need a rooftop antenna, or can't pick them up at all would be too much trouble. But that doesn't matter, they could improve their leverage in negotiations if they knew only half their customers in a given market would be affected during a dispute instead of all of them like today.
 
These disputes should be settled on a market basis only not nationwide.

Companies like Nexstar own a bunch of local stations all over the country and negotiate with providers like Directv as a group. This is no different than Disney negotiating for several ESPN channels, several Disney channels and several ABC channels as a group instead of one by one. We would probably see MORE disputes/outages if Disney negotiated separately for ESPN and ESPN2, and Nexstar negotiated separately for a station in Oklahoma City and a station in Miami Florida.
 
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Companies like Nexstar own a bunch of local stations all over the country and negotiate with providers like Directv as a group. This is no different than Disney negotiating for several ESPN channels, several Disney channels and several ABC channels as a group instead of one by one. We would probably see MORE disputes/outages if Disney negotiated separately for ESPN and ESPN2, and Nexstar negotiated separately for a station in Oklahoma City and a station in Miami Florida.
I've seen some small market newscasts that look like public access, they certainly don't have the budget of a big market, so where is the money going?
 
I've seen some small market newscasts that look like public access, they certainly don't have the budget of a big market, so where is the money going?

Almost all the money goes back to the network. Local stations mainly survive on advertising revenue.
 
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