must carry question

[KG4KBU]

why isn't WYMT a must carry station ?

 

[Mr Tony]

well 2 reasons

1. they're owned by the same company as WKYT which is in the same DMA (Gray Broadcasting)

Although it identifies as a station in its own right, WYMT is considered a semi-satellite of WKYT. It clears some of WKYT's syndicated programming, and the two stations share a Web site. The two stations occasionally co-brand as "Kentucky Television." In addition to their own locally produced morning, 6 PM and 11 PM newscasts WYMT currently rebroadcasts WKYT's weekday newscasts at Noon (though only the first half hour), 5 PM, 5:30 PM and the weekend 6 PM and 11 PM newscasts.

2. since they're in the same state only one has to be carried.

In order for a station to qualify for must carry the following conditions must be met:

4. The station may NOT be a repeater or substantially duplicate another channel's programming within the same DMA unless they are in different states. This means that if there are two channels in the same DMA that mostly show the same programming at the same time and are both in the same state, ONLY ONE has to be carried under the must carry rules. But if the two stations are in two different states, BOTH have to be carried under the rules if they ask.

http://dishuser.org/mustcarry.php

 

[KG4KBU]

gosh sounds like that law needs revised and btw I would watch wymt news anyday over wkyt
were your mountain television
they also now produce a 4 PM newscast

 

[Mr Tony]

do some stations get carried even thought hey are in the same state? yes.
There are 2 ABC stations in Lincoln/Kearney Nebraska DMA and both are carried
There are 2 ABC stations in the Fargo/Grand Forks ND DMA and both are carried

so there is really no law that needs to be changed. The law says that both DONT have to be carried but they could.

 

[KG4KBU]

all I know is that is where alot of people here get their news from on cable tv and it just sucks not to be able to view it

 

[TNGTony]

The best way to "force" Dish to carry the other station is for the Lexington station to demand that the second station be carried in order to clear the Lexington station for carriage. If this happens there are two possible outcomes: 1) Dish relents and carries both channels and 2) Dish says F_U and drops the Lexington station until the demand is lifted.

See ya
Tony

 

[Mr Tony]

cable has different rules for carrying locals than satellite does.

You live in a larger DMA that has a satellite station (satellite station is a full powered station that rebroadcasts ANOTHER full power station). Where I live (Minneapolis, MN) our DMA is huge. It runs from Iowa border to the Canadian border and there are 3 CBS stations in the market
WCCO-main one in Minneapolis
KCCO-In the middle of the state
KCCW-In the northern part of the state

The only difference with those is commercials. KCCO & KCCW are satellites of WCCO. Cable has the closest one but sat viewers all get WCCO.

 

[mixedday]

The best way to "force" Dish to carry the other station is for the Lexington station to demand that the second station be carried in order to clear the Lexington station for carriage. If this happens there are two possible outcomes: 1) Dish relents and carries both channels and 2) Dish says F_U and drops the Lexington station until the demand is lifted.

See ya
Tony

I'm into studying markets and media, so that's why this intrigues me a bit.

I bet the best way to get on is to a. be owned by a big station group, and b. don't ask for payment for either signal, and just elect retrans to get the second channel carried.

I'm wondering because of the examples listed above (Lincoln and Fargo), where two stations of the same network within same state and DMA ARE carried on sat, why Gannett couldn't get the Flagstaff,AZ based KNAZ carried:
KNAZ-TV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://azdailysun.com/articles/2008/08/08/news/20080808_front_178971.txt

back when KNAZ provided local news and wasn't just a repeater of KPNX.
The station cited inability to get sat carriage as a reason to cancel newscasts and just become a satellite of KNPX.

Perhaps Gannett took the approach where they preferred getting retrans $ for KPNX rather than relaxing that request in favor of using retrans to get the sister station KNAZ carried. The population/# of TV HHs of Coconino County[Flagstaff] Arizona is quite low, however. My guess is Gannett didn't use all means to save to get this station because they really didn't see it economically attractive as just mainstreaming things to KPNX. However, AZ is huge, and Flagstaff is 140 miles from Phoenix, which is quite a distance.

 

[Mr Tony]

they also have to get a GOOD signal to the POP and in the 2 cases I posted above its probably easy to get them to the POP. Heck where I use to live (Duluth, MN) they carry both NBC stations becaused they are licensed to different states (KBJR to Superior, WI and KRII to Chisholm, MN) even though they both run out of the same station in Duluth so getting Dish a feed of both is probably easy

But we here in Minneapolis have a PBS in the Northern part of the DMA (KAWE Bemidji & KAWB Brainerd) that wasnt on DIsh for a long time because they had to get some money to find a way to get a good signal to the POP in Minneapolis (a good 130+ miles away)...but they did

 

[dishrich]

do some stations get carried even thought hey are in the same state? yes.

And there are some that are NOT carried - our DMA has 2 ABC's which are BOTH owned by Sinclair, & only ONE is carried. (Spfld is, the Champaign one is NOT)
I'm actually surprised that Sinclair did NOT get their way & get BOTH of their full-powers carried on either DBS carrier.

they also have to get a GOOD signal to the POP

True & since WICD-Champaign is not that powerful & really only gets into the Champaign region, & considering that E*'s POP is in Decatur, it probably would be difficult to pick it up OTA, which is how it gets all of our stations. (D* is over in Spfld & obviously is even farther away from Champaign)

 

[mixedday]

For many PBS stations and NCE stations, providing a fiber feed becomes a significant financial consideration, though it appears some PBS stations have done it from far (where OTA signal doesn't reach at all and they are based more than 50 miles from the sat company's POP). I've heard estimates of running a fiber being $4k/mo upwards. I think with network affiliates of the big 4, even if secondary stations serving submarkets, they can justify the cost, to continue to serve their submarket audience that now subscribes to satellite. ultimately to justify their billing rates to advertisers. I know Wildwood license WMGM figures its worth that expense.

In the Philadelphia locals package, DirecTV dropped WWSI 62 (TMO) back in 2006 because the station I'm assuming didn't re-file for must-carry. In this must-carry cycle round, the station is missing again, though I'm wondering if its the station not wanting to pay anymore for fibering it to DirecTV because they did the calculations and it wasn't worth it. Over the air signal is weak in Philly proper, so a fiber source would be needed. Unlike WNJU 47, this station doesn't have any local newscasts and pretty much runs Telemundo straight, but I think they sell local ad time.