Am I an "Unserved Subscriber"? [Tegna Question]

[WinterWinds]

I live in an rural area in which I am unable to receive any OTA Broadcast Signals.

My local NBC Station is owned by Tegna and currently unavailable to me via Dish Network.

I have no access to the NBC Network at all.

Am I reading the FCC rules correctly? Am I an "Unserved Subscriber" and would Dish Network be willing to add an NBC Affiliate from a neighboring market?

Accessing out-of-market stations by 'unserved' subscribers​

If your satellite TV company is not offering local-into-local service, or is not offering a particular network TV broadcast station as part of its local-into-local service in your market, and you cannot receive a good signal over-the-air from the local network station, you are an “unserved” subscriber. In this case, you can ask your satellite TV company if it can provide you with an out-of-market station affiliated with the same network.

Source: Receiving Television Broadcast Stations From Satellite TV Companies



Thank you all for any insight you can provide.




PS: New member, long time lurker. Love the website!

 

[cpdretired]

Looks like Souix City or Des Moines would be one of the city's that isn't blacked. I doubt if they would give you Omaha.

 

[WinterWinds]

Looks like Souix City or Des Moines would be one of the city's that isn't blacked. I doubt if they would give you Omaha.

I've reached out to them and the CSR told me that they were not technically capable of providing me out of market locals.

With that being said, I just would like to have an NBC affiliate for their network programming.
I miss SNL.

 

[edisonprime]

I've reached out to them and the CSR told me that they were not technically capable of providing me out of market locals.

With that being said, I just would like to have an NBC affiliate for their network programming.
I miss SNL.

Well “move” then.

 

[WinterWinds]

Well “move” then.

I'd like to keep my current locals. I was hoping that they'd just be able to substitute an out-of-market NBC affiliate while they're resolving the carriage dispute with Tegna.

Looks like I will just have to do without NBC while they're settling this.

 

[sktrus]

I wonder if there is some legal issue where they can’t let you have even East or West Coast affiliate during dispute. At least until they settle this. Is your internet too slow or limited? You could stream the show from nbc’s web site.

 

[Jim5506]

I wonder if there is some legal issue where they can’t let you have even East or West Coast affiliate during dispute. At least until they settle this. Is your internet too slow or limited? You could stream the show from nbc’s web site.

A mongo legal issue. Dish got into lots of trouble by not properly policing its distant networks program about 10 years ago, so the FCC (or maybe it was a legal judgement from an NAB lawsuit) prohibited them from ANY and all distant (not your local DMA) broadcasting until the last congressional say allowed Dish back in partially (distants for RV's) if they provided locals for ALL DMA's.

 

[rip77]

Unfortunately I don't know of any ways to get them to do this, unless you claim you moved, then get your locals switched. But then, all your locals are changed, which you said you don't want.

Unfortunately, you might be waiting for a bit with this dispute.

 

[SamCdbs]

People involved in retransmission disputes are not “unserved”. The whole point of retransmission (which should be repealed, discussion for another day) is that the local station has a monopoly ownership of you as a customer.

If they could just toss up the next town over’s, or New York’s, local stations, there wouldn’t be LIL in the first place.

 

[ChadT41]

People involved in retransmission disputes are not “unserved”. The whole point of retransmission (which should be repealed, discussion for another day) is that the local station has a monopoly ownership of you as a customer.

If they could just toss up the next town over’s, or New York’s, local stations, there wouldn’t be LIL in the first place.

Does that apply 100% when the customer cannot receive OtA(understanding the FCC states that 99.9% of the continental US can receive OTA with the right “reasonable” equipment. Remember, government and reasonableness may not be the same as private citizen and reasonableness.

 

[WinterWinds]

Does that apply 100% when the customer cannot receive OtA(understanding the FCC states that 99.9% of the continental US can receive OTA with the right “reasonable” equipment. Remember, government and reasonableness may not be the same as private citizen and reasonableness.

I'd reckon I'd need an antenna larger than my house to pick up the stations

 

[ChadT41]

Did you check out TVFool.com or AntennaWeb.org to see what they say based on your coords?

 

[JosephB]

Does that apply 100% when the customer cannot receive OtA(understanding the FCC states that 99.9% of the continental US can receive OTA with the right “reasonable” equipment. Remember, government and reasonableness may not be the same as private citizen and reasonableness.

Yes, your ability to put up an antenna large enough to pick up the stations over the air have nothing to do with it. If you live in the designated DMA, that station is the only one you can receive legally

 

[ChadT41]

Yes, your ability to put up an antenna large enough to pick up the stations over the air have nothing to do with it. If you live in the designated DMA, that station is the only one you can receive legally

I’d beg to disagree based on this very specific section. Can you post anything disputing it?

Accessing out-of-market stations by 'unserved' subscribers​

If your satellite TV company is not offering local-into-local service, or is not offering a particular network TV broadcast station as part of its local-into-local service in your market, and you cannot receive a good signal over-the-air from the local network station, you are an “unserved” subscriber. In this case, you can ask your satellite TV company if it can provide you with an out-of-market station affiliated with the same network.

The question is:

Is Dish not offering this local as part of LiL while disputes are underway. There is no more contractual obligation between the two parties UNLESS one is signed as part of the negotiating terms. Same goes for the confidentiality clauses and NDA.

 

[NYDutch]

Yes, your ability to put up an antenna large enough to pick up the stations over the air have nothing to do with it. If you live in the designated DMA, that station is the only one you can receive legally

Wrong... I am legally able to receive any station that my antenna is capable of "seeing". DMA's only apply to satellite reception from the standpoint of what locals the sat provider can legally supply. There are no legal limitations on OTA reception for personal use.

 

[JosephB]

I’d beg to disagree based on this very specific section. Can you post anything disputing it?

Accessing out-of-market stations by 'unserved' subscribers​

If your satellite TV company is not offering local-into-local service, or is not offering a particular network TV broadcast station as part of its local-into-local service in your market, and you cannot receive a good signal over-the-air from the local network station, you are an “unserved” subscriber. In this case, you can ask your satellite TV company if it can provide you with an out-of-market station affiliated with the same network.

The question is:

Is Dish not offering this local as part of LiL while disputes are underway. There is no more contractual obligation between the two parties UNLESS one is signed as part of the negotiating terms. Same goes for the confidentiality clauses and NDA.

It's not a contractual issue, it's a legal one. It's illegal for them to import a station for a network that exists in your market. The clause you are quoting refers to markets that don't have every network. Some small markets only have two or three network affiliates. Take a tiny market like Alpena, MI which only has CBS, NBC, ABC, no Fox. This clause allows Dish to import a Fox affiliate from a neighboring market, which they otherwise would not be able to do

 

[JosephB]

Wrong... I am legally able to receive any station that my antenna is capable of "seeing". DMA's only apply to satellite reception from the standpoint of what locals the sat provider can legally supply. There are no legal limitations on OTA reception for personal use.

I was only referring to the legality of what the satellite provider is allowed to distribute to you, I was not trying to claim that it's illegal for you to receive another city's stations with an antenna. That should've been obvious

 

[NYDutch]

I was only referring to the legality of what the satellite provider is allowed to distribute to you, I was not trying to claim that it's illegal for you to receive another city's stations with an antenna. That should've been obvious

It certainly wasn't clear in your post. "If you live in the designated DMA, that station is the only one you can receive legally" appears to place the legal status on the subscriber, not the provider. If you had said, "...that station is the only one you can receive from your satellite provider.", it would have been much clearer that the antenna reference didn't apply to the DMA issue.

 

[ChadT41]

It's not a contractual issue, it's a legal one. It's illegal for them to import a station for a network that exists in your market. The clause you are quoting refers to markets that don't have every network. Some small markets only have two or three network affiliates. Take a tiny market like Alpena, MI which only has CBS, NBC, ABC, no Fox. This clause allows Dish to import a Fox affiliate from a neighboring market, which they otherwise would not be able to do

That’s not what it says. The difference is very clear. It doesn’t say “not available in your DMA”. It says that the provider is “Not Offering”, in which case Dish is not offering. So I ask again, do you have anything that supports your position, because currently the FCC’s own statement does not. Not intent. Can you provide anything of reference that supports what you’re saying?

 

[JosephB]

I don't know how else to put it, Dish cannot import a distant network station if that network station exists in your local market. If they could, they'd just find some po-dunk station owner in North Dakota and triple his income by using his signals for every subscriber in the country and not pay another penny to Sinclair, Tegna, or any of the networks. The situations in which Dish can legally provide distant local service is so exceptionally tiny it basically does not exist