Must Carry Locals Revisited

[Mr Zero]

Yes, I'm bringing this question up again. I've been trying to find out why DISH doesn't carry a local channel in my area. I was looking at http://www.dishchannelchart.com/ and they have WPXS/KUMO listed at channel 8600. Why can't I get it? DISH says they don't carry it but they have a channel reserved for it?

I tried replying to the thread I created a few months ago about this channel and it said I couldn't reply to the thread because the thread was more than 63 days old...

 

[dragon002]

my guess would be it isnt "must carry"

 

[chaddux]

The chart indicates that the channel is uplinked but has not been made available to any subscribers. This could be due to variety of issues such as signal issues, carriage disagreements, etc.

 

[jakesnake3037]

This is the reason why:

Quote: In 2004, the stations dropped PaxTV programming, and briefly ran Daystar programming before becoming independent.

Meaning no network affiliation and not required to be "must-carry"

 

[Mr Tony]

This is the reason why:

Quote: In 2004, the stations dropped PaxTV programming, and briefly ran Daystar programming before becoming independent.

Meaning no network affiliation and not required to be "must-carry"

What the hell are you talking about?

Affiliation has NOTHING to do with must carry. In Minneapolis we have an Independent on Dish. Lots of areas have Independent channels on Dish.

WPXS was PAX until Equity (the owner) won a lawsuit against PAX allowing them to drop affiliation. They then switched to "Lick TV" having wrestling and boxing on most nights, then switched to Daystar (briefly) and now is the Retro TV Network. Reason they didnt qualify for must carry was an agreement was made between PAX & Dish to only carry the Nat'l feed and not the local stations (some PAX affiliates were added because they had Sports on them). Now that they are an Independent, they do qualify for must carry (and did ask to be carried).

It is uplinked and probably will be available soon.

 

[Mr Tony]

I tried replying to the thread I created a few months ago about this channel and it said I couldn't reply to the thread because the thread was more than 63 days old...

you could have replied to the thread. It was just letting you know that drudging up old threads (unless something that is added is really relevant) isnt needed.

 

[jakesnake3037]

Sorry... ...the information I got from the internet was saying that there was limited programming on that channel and the only time it was on the air was to show paid programming..it didn't mention anything about Lick TV!!

So disregard that last post I made..We all know that the internet isn't as user-friendly as we think!!!

 

[Mr Tony]

No problem…I was just confused on that one.

No the reason it didn't qualify under the last must carry period was because it was PAX. Now the new must carry period has come and gone (1/1/06) and it did qualify.

Jakesnake
Equity (the owner) had 5 or 6 PAX stations that disaffiliated at one time…you'd be amazed at what they had

WPXS-we posted above (now they are the retro TV Network)
WBMM (Montgomery, AL)…PAX to Lick TV to Daystar back to Lick TV back to Daystar
WBIF (Panama City, FL)…PAX to Lick TV to Daystar to UPN
KYPX (Little Rock, AR)….PAX to Lick TV to RTN (Retro TV Network)
KWBS (Springfield, MO)…PAX to Lick TV to non existent (they returned the call letters and got KWFT which is now WB)
Most of the RTN stations were independent stations when Equity bought them (there are about 6 of them)

Whew…I think that's it….for some fun search in the FTA area for "Equity" and you'd be amazed at how many times they changed affiliations. (Add "Iceberg" to the post by to fine tune a little more)

 

[TBarclay]

Just to clarify, stations have the option of asking for "must-carry" status, where they get carried but get no payment --OR-- if they think their programming is popular enough, they can ask for payment, with the possibility that the cable and satellite companies may not agree to their payment and thus they don't get carried. The stations had to decide whether they wanted must carry or not by a certain date. They then can't change until the next negotiation period (which I believe is every 3 years). SO...the station may have to wait until the next negotation period before it's uplinked.

 

[Mr Tony]

WPXS is uplinked and there...they just need to turn it over to subs

 

[Mr Tony]

Here are some threads on the different affiliation changes that Equity has done
dated 7/5/05
1/28/05
9/14/04
9/2/04
10/5/04
10/18/04

 

[Mr Zero]

Thanks for the information, everyone.

I don't like the idea of getting cheated out of a channel, even if it is crappy.