Bill Gives Dish Access To Oklahoma Stations

[mike123abc]

What would be ideal is if the law was changed to if the majority of homes in a zip code can get a station over the air with a reasonably sized antenna (like under 10 feet long at a decent elevation like 30 feet), everyone in that zip code should be able to get that station even if it is not in their DMA. This would simplify a lot of market overlaps, and would not be giving away anything that a homeowner would already be able to get with an antenna on the roof.

County sized DMAs are too large a unit in many instances for this.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

If congress overrides the copyright of the network you can indeed get a Tulsa station outside of its DMA. This is the same as if you lived in a white area in a DMA and the satellite provider provided you with a New York station even though you lived in OK. In fact the way the distants law is written the provider can pick any affiliate and provide their signal to any white area without that stations consent, or the consent of the network.

The key here is that the local station does not sign an agreement, its signal is picked up and retransmitted without its consent. It does not have any say so in the retransmission. Congress has in its power to say that any person in OK can get any network signal. The stations are using the public airwaves and any copyrights they have are granted by congress and can be taken away at the whim of congress. The only way for a station to prevent congress from doing it is to stop transmitting on the public airwaves... Or of course lobby congress to get the law changed to its favor (which the NAB has been very successful at).

As noted by ThomasRZ and Greg, your argument fails for several reasons - ownership of copyright material by the Network being the primary issue.

And I see you have taken the NAB line hook, line and sinker, which, as noted from the affiliate agreements, its the network that do not want public choice - although now with retransmission fees coming into play, virtually all stations would fall into protecting their DMA.

And until a year or so ago, the networks had dropped out of the NAB for about 10 years as they felt the NAB had a different agenda than they did - so this was not a NAB issue.

So once again, the NAB myth continues to permeate with no facts in reality.

Also also noted, you can put on secondary signals legally - although the network programming must be pre-empted - just as ESPN blacks out sports.

This is done in markets such as diverse as Palm Springs (which has Palm Springs and Los Angeles) to Salina Kansas (which has Topeka and Wichita) available on cable.

There is nothing stopping a station anywhere from signing a retransmission agreement with any MSO in the Country - however, they can only do it for programming they have legal rights to - and in most cases that is little more than their local news.

And, with retransmission fees, most stations would love to be on more systems - you just won't get network programming (and in many cases some syndicated programming) from them.

 

[mike123abc]

There is nothing stopping a station anywhere from signing a retransmission agreement with any MSO in the Country - however, they can only do it for programming they have legal rights to - and in most cases that is little more than their local news.

That was my point. It takes an law passed by congress/signed by the president to change the copyright on the programming to allow the retransmission. This is how distants work. The local stations do not sign anything, the networks do not sign anything... They do not have a voice in the matter at all. The law authorized under certain conditions (i.e. a white area) a satellite company to retransmit a station of its choosing into the white area. The copyright owners of the programs being retransmitted do not have a say so, the songwriters, the musicians, the list goes on and on of who has rights associated with network programming. The law sweeps all that away and authorizes it.

The first post is about a bill introduced into congress to allow the retransmission of out of market stations to people in OK.

The only thing that stops out of market programming is as you said the networks have licensed the programming to a station to serve a certain area (and the networks have done all the licensing of the programming to be shown on their network). The stations do not have the rights/license/contracts to provide the network programming to out of market locations.

This is all controlled by copyright law. If I start broadcasting episodes of lost from my house, it is copyright laws that I am breaking. Congress writes those laws and they can write exemptions to them, and they can write statutory licenses to the material too (provided of course they become law).

If congress passes a law that says the MSOs in OK are able to retransmit the signals of out of market stations without violating copyright law (i.e. set up a statutory license to the materials), the owners of the copyrighted materials are essentially powerless. Note that the MSOs under the current system pay a fee to compensate the copyright owners to avoid the whole taking of property issue.

 

[Greg Bimson]

If congress passes a law that says the MSOs in OK are able to retransmit the signals of out of market stations without violating copyright law (i.e. set up a statutory license to the materials), the owners of the copyrighted materials are essentially powerless. Note that the MSOs under the current system pay a fee to compensate the copyright owners to avoid the whole taking of property issue.

Okay, but now look at what this proposed law is all about...

Representative Boren wants Oklahomans to have access to Oklahoma stations. Therefore, subscribers in Tulsa and OKC markets would not change anything, as they already have access to Oklahoma stations.

A bill like this would affect Ottawa County (Joplin market) in the northeast, three counties in the southeast (Sequoyah and Le Flore in Fort Smith's market and McCurtain County in the Shreveport market). A bill like this would also help the three counties in the Oklahoma panhandle, which like squarely in the Amarillo market.

This now leaves the Sherman/Ada market with two network affiliates, and only one in Oklahoma, and the Wichita Falls/Lawton market, with the big four networks but only one in Oklahoma. It is unknown if the law will help this market.

This bill will help quite a few Oklahomans, but will not help even close to 70 percent of Oklahomans. And it is more like 90 percent that will not be helped if the law doesn't affect the Sherman/Ada and the Wichita Falls/Lawton markets.

So keep in mind that even if Congress decides to make a statutory license for these channels, just like the statutory license for white area subscribers, the law will not destroy the current system with any daft amount of the takings clause.

 

[retorq]

Same deal here, @100 miles south of Vegas, @200 north of Phoenix, the Phoenix channels NEVER mention the weather up here or anything, the Vegas weather is much closer to our area too . . .

Well, I live in Oklahoma, and I happen to live in the OKC DMA. Which has always been stupid, because I'm 40 miles from Tulsa and 70 or so from OKC. I never used to watch OKC channels, until I got Dish LiL, and honestly, OKC channels don't talk about my area enough. Believe it or not, Tulsa stations have more about my area even though I'm not actually in their DMA.

 

[mike123abc]

I can get the OKC channels over the air when I use my large UHF antenna. I am in Wichita Falls, TX. Too bad OTA has so many issues if you want to have antennas point to different cities. I know I could get a rotator, but I prefer to just keep it locked on the Wichita Falls locals. I can get Dallas, Ada/Ardmore, OKC from here. It would be cool to have an antenna pointed at each DMA, but of course combining all those signals is not easy.

 

[GeorgeLV]

Same deal here, @100 miles south of Vegas, @200 north of Phoenix, the Phoenix channels NEVER mention the weather up here or anything, the Vegas weather is much closer to our area too . . .

Yeah, it going to get real weird in that area when the Hoover Dam bypass bridge is completed. A lot of people are going to work in Vegas every day, yet at night they'll come home to the Arizona time zone and media.

It would make the plenty of sense make the Las Vegas locals available in Mojave County, but it would be an uphill battle with the broadcasters and special interests to make that happen.

 

[dishcomm]

The FCC gave a construction permit.

Local zoning and protests held it up. The FCC does not get involved with local zoning issues - and only when it passes policy (ie the OTAR bill for antenna and 1 meter dishes) does it trump local ordinances.

The basic concept of the United States was States Rights and leaving the Federal Goverment to National Issues.

Bingo..States Rights..Very important here.....

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Bingo..States Rights..Very important here.....

Pretty hard to argue States Rights for a National Network.

Local News Yes - National Network - No.

That's a federal issue.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Same deal here, @100 miles south of Vegas, @200 north of Phoenix, the Phoenix channels NEVER mention the weather up here or anything, the Vegas weather is much closer to our area too . . .

And that would be a prime example of Significantly viewed if it were happening and be able to receive the Las Vegas Stations for news etc. as previously stated is done from markets of Palm Springs to Salinas Kansas - as well as others.

Granted Mohave and Cocconino are pretty large in size of Geographic area - but I would imagine that most of the population lives closer to the Southern End of those Counties, thus tipping the viewership to the Phoenix Market.

However, you can easily see that Apache County was divided with the North going to the Albuquerque DMA and the South going to Phoenix DMA.

Thus it must be that even with that, more from the Northern areas of Mohave and Cocconino must still favor Phoenix - because as the Oklahoma Representative argues, they are in the same state, where Neveda is not.

You are suggesting to allow what the Representative from Oklahoma is trying to repair.

 

[Peter Parker]

Is the rep who's leading this up for re-election this year ??

No member of the US Hous is up ror relection in 2007.

 

[Peter Parker]

I grew up in an area that had no OTA reception for stations in oor state (ecxcept repeaters of out of state stations). Many there stil choose cable over satellite because they want access to news from their state not the next one over.

 

[Smoky]

I grew up in an area that had no OTA reception for stations in oor state (ecxcept repeaters of out of state stations). Many there stil choose cable over satellite because they want access to news from their state not the next one over.

Same here.