TNGTony said:
As the government affairs guy at work says all the time, "If they wanted it a particular way, they should have said how they want it in plain English."
The SHVREA specifically says says that all the stations from one TV market has to be receivable using one DISH ANTENNA. It says noting about having to be from the same satellite slot nor does it say anything about the dish size.
The SHVREA does also says in plain English that the local channels do not have to be on the same satellite dish as the basic channels. It also says that the HD local channels do not have to be on the same dish as the SD locals or the basic channels.
Slight revisionism going on here. Dish did not give away the second slot dish until the FCC forced the them under the "equal treatment" clause of the SHVIA. The complaint from the minor stations to the FCC was that they were not being treated equally as stated on the SHVIA. The FCC, spineless as they are, ruled that as long as Dish offered a second dish for free with free installation and no further obligation to the subscriber it would consider that equal treatment. If the FCC had a spine, they would have ruled otherwise and forced Dish to put all locals from the same market on the same satellite location.
Correction here...the laws are written and passed by Congress, signed by the President. The FCC is charged with regulating this particular law. The FCC makes no laws. The intertions in this case were those of Congress.
Again, the SHVREA, the law that congress passed and the FCC is charged with regulating, specifically states that the HD and SD locals are two separate things and do not require one dish for both.
See ya
Tony
I think you are splitting hairs over whether Congress made the law and whether the Fcc is in charge or regulating it. My point is that the Fcc and Charlie Ergen got into a pissing match over the way they wanted to Must carry rules to work. Charlie Ergen made sure he put the extra channels , as I have alread discussed, on the side satellite dish to thumb their nose at the Fcc and the law that the congress passed Shiva. They knew most subs would not ask for the side sat dish upgrade which would save Charlie money and undercut the true intention of the must carry laws. This disenfranchised the religious and the mexican subs who wanted to watch those stations.
Sometimes I think some of the people on this board dissect every thread comment to quivel over the smallest of details. The over all meaning is still the same. Charlie Ergen and the Fcc did not get along. Charlie has a long history of taunting the FCC and their interpetations of the laws.
Charlie Ergen started LiL before it was even legal to do so. He gave distant New York and L. A locals to anyone who wanted them back before their was ANY laws from the Congress dealing with Satellite or the FCC who inforced them. He did not want to carry any other networks except the main 4 and to sell the Superstations to everyone for extra money. He never wanted to carry the extra stations like the religious/Mexican/ Wb and Upn from each dma in the country.
Ironic now that the FCC changed the law and said if you can get distant satellite sd signal you can get the same in hd as well, that Charlie is dragging his heels on this. You would think he would want to make that money now with the distant hd signals. But maybe since he isn't charging extra upfront , for the hd locals he doesn't feel the need to do hd distants. I think I see why there are so many new fees now like the hd enabeling fees etc . Got to pay for those hd locals that he is giving subs for "free".
He did what he did to thumb his nose at the Fcc and the Shiva laws that congress passed. Now he has to finally come into compliance with these latest changes in the law and do channel shuffels to bring all the channels onto one dish ; superdish /dish 1000/ dish 500 or a side sat for all of the dma 's channels.
The fact is that we all argued a couple of years back about whether that the one super dish or dish 1000 would be in compliance with the new law or the way the Fcc interpeted it. I said back then that the one super dish spreading the locals over three satellites would be in compliance technically with the law even if that wasn't what the Fcc intended. IF I remember correctly, I was told then by several members of this and other web boards that I was WRONG and that would never work . Everyone said that isn't what the FCC intended. Funny now everyone is saying that it is what the FCC intended all along and now I am wrong to voice the opposite opinion, that was back then everyone elses understanding.
Either way it looks like Dish won't be splitting any locals at all in the near future and they will put them on the Echostar 10 spotbeams . Especially if they have 49 spotbeams on that one satellite. So finally Dish and Charlie will be in full compliance , as I have said before with the the letter and the spirit of the law , that congress passed and the Fcc who interpeted it the way they did. All sd locals will be on one satellite dish , and on the 110 satellite spotbeams on Echostar 10. You will still need a side sat dish or a dish 1000 for the hd locals and all hd programming.
I wonder how all this will look in three years , if they really turn the analog channels off when the digital deadline finally gets here. God only knows what the new laws will say and the way the FCC interpets them. Of course if Dishnetwork changes ownership hands with someone like ATT, this might not all matter anyway.
