How can I make my voice heard?

bondfool

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
May 7, 2007
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Hi! It's my first post, and I just joined to ask this; How do I let Dish know that I WANT INDIANAPOLIS HD LOCALS! I don't just want to talk to some customer-service peon, either. I want to talk to a senior person. How do I make my voice heard?
 
We're probably looking at 2008, after the next two E* satellites are launched. I suspect things will happen quickly after that.
 
You make your voice heard with your check book. If DTV gets your local HD channels first, and you are no longer under contract, LEAVE and tell them why.
 
When there is room for them they will be added.
... and they reach carriage agreements with the local stations. It's not either/or, it's both. Speaking of that, was the contract talks for HD locals something you discussed with the Dish people ?? I understand they can't give confidential details but more like stuff along the lines of the contract isn't the problem or hold-up. We get conflicting answers all the time. One time it's "there's no room" and the next it's "the stations want too much $$$" (or "Dish wants the channel for too little $$$").
 
This is something we talked about with Charlie and Eric, and its one of the things they are working on now.

In other words they are working to line up their ducks all in a row. :)
 
Best thing to do first is to talk to your local stations and see if they have gotten their paperwork to Dish. But yes every market will be different some will be easier to deal with than others when it comes down to contracts so forth.
 
Ok, I hate to add to the original sentiment, but... I agree, everyone just wants their locals. However, Indianapolis got Dish'd a little worse than others. We were in the turn-up list for last year, and even in testing at some point. Dish publicly stated it would be online before January. Yet, here we are in May with no locals and nothing but BS from Dish CS. Oddly, I don't see them putting out a big press release or making a comment publicly about not doing it. Or even calling the customers that were told at sign up or HD upgrade time that they would be on for them soon. Sorry, stepping down from soap-box that someone else put out...
 
Hi! It's my first post, and I just joined to ask this; How do I let Dish know that I WANT INDIANAPOLIS HD LOCALS! I don't just want to talk to some customer-service peon, either. I want to talk to a senior person. How do I make my voice heard?

I finally get to do this! :welcome
 
Here is what my local TV station has to say about HD and E*...

It is dependent on Dish Network to set this up, they have not contacted us about doing so any time soon. We are up on Directv, over the air and Comcast.
Dave

Dave McKinley
Director Of Engineering
WPTV Television
Florida's Top Rated TV Station
1100 Banyan Blvd
West Palm Beach, FL 33401


so if you really want to know email your local stations.
 
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Indianapolis may be a problem. They were and then they weren't. They took them down and moved on to Pittsburgh. Usually there are substantial negotiation problems which cause this to happen. Where in Indiana are you? Have you tried an antenna to get them OTA?
 
The problem with Indianapolis is easy:

Dish Network does not have a carriage agreement with LIN Broadcasting and Tribune Broadcasting, which own the Indianapolis CBS and FOX respectively.

So, even if Indianapolis is launched, it will only have ABC and NBC for the foreseeable future.

Edit: and I don't know about Dispatch, which owns NBC. If there isn't a contract there, that means only ABC would be available in Indianapolis.
 
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If Dish isn't carrying any of them yet, how do you know there's an agreement in place for some ??

It does make sense though since it appears Dish has moved on away from Indy. Carrying two out of four of the majors just doesn't make sense...
 
It's called extrapolation. Or inference...

Here is the list of "Big Four" network affiliates which aren't available in markets Dish Network is serving with HD feeds, as provided by EKB:

Albuquerque CBS
Raleigh CBS
Raleigh FOX
Sacramento FOX
Salt Lake ABC
San Antonio NBC
San Diego FOX
Seattle FOX

Guess how these can be grouped:
LIN Broadcasting - Albuquerque CBS
Capitol Broadcasting - Raleigh CBS and FOX
Tribune Broadcasting - Sacramento FOX, Seattle FOX
Clear Channel Broadcasting - Salt Lake ABC, San Antonio NBC
Bay City TV - San Diego FOX

Now, for some reason the Clear Channel FOX affiliate in Nashville is available. Otherwise, there appears to be a pattern here.

LIN Broadcasting is still not available on DirecTV. Capitol Broadcasting was an issue for DirecTV for some time. Tribune Broadcasting was an issue for DirecTV for some time. So, by simple extrapolation, based upon the markets listed at the 2006 CES show, this should be the status of the Big Four networks:

Austin - LIN owns NBC, other three have carriage contracts (CBS, FOX, and Belo-owned ABC)
Baltimore - all four should be available (Scripps ABC, Hearst NBC, CBS, and Sinclair FOX)
Buffalo - LIN owns CBS, unknown about contract w/ Granite ABC, Gannett NBC and Sinclair FOX available
Burlington -
Cincinnati - Clear Channel owns CBS, contract w/ Raycom FOX unknown, Scripps ABC and Hearst NBC should be available
Cleveland - contract w/ Raycom CBS unknown, Scripps ABC, Gannett NBC and FOX available
Greenville, SC - Sinclair ABC, Media General CBS, Hearst NBC and Meredith FOX all available
Indianapolis - already mentioned
Jacksonville - Gannett ABC and NBC available, Clear Channel CBS and FOX unavailable
Louisville
Memphis - Raycom NBC and FOX available, Clear Channel ABC unavailable, unknown on NYTimes CBS
Milwaukee - Hearst ABC, FOX available, Weigel CBS and Journal NBC unknown
New Orleans - Belo CBS and Hearst NBC available; Tribune ABC unavailable; Emmis FOX unknown
Norfolk - Belo ABC available; NYTimes CBS unknown; LIN NBC and FOX unavialable
Orlando - Cox ABC, Post Newsweek CBS, Hearst NBC and FOX all available
Providence - Freedom ABC and Media General NBC available; LIN-owned CBS and FOX no contract
Springfield, MO - all are unknown, as no station owner is currently carried.
Tulsa - Allbritton ABC and Scripps NBC available; Clear Channel FOX unavailable, Griffin CBS unknown

So you see why there is such a problem. And this isn't just germain to Dish Network, as DirecTV is having major problems coming to agreements with LIN, NYTimes and Weigel.
 
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