NAB Chief Gordon Smith Chides AT&T And Dish Network For Broadcast Blackouts

[dennispap]

" With multiple carriage battles leaving broadcast TV signals dark for millions of pay-TV customers, Gordon Smith, the ex-Senator who heads the National Association of Broadcasters, is pinning blame on Dish Network and AT&T. "

NAB Chief Gordon Smith Chides AT&T And Dish Network For Broadcast Blackouts – Deadline

 

[Tampa8]

Oh ya? Well

 

[comfortably_numb]

Smith is frustrated, just as all consumers are. But he doesn't address the underlying issue at the root of the disputes: exorbitant retransmission fees. Are there other ways to handle negotiations so that consumers aren't put it in the middle? Yes! It's called enact regulations that force providers and owners to leave stations on-the-air while parties negotiate!

 

[osu1991]

Leave them on the air at current rates for 60 days. If still at an impasse the channels are removed, broadcaster is paid at previous rate and channel stays dark for 1yr until they can try again.

That’ll give them some incentive to get off their tookas and get some deals done.

 

[mwdxer1]

It all comes down to greed. I would love to return to the days of must carry without any fees. These blackouts, the viewer is the only one who loses, as they do not have their channels, and it is not their fault. I suggest all the time to people now, if possible add that OTA antenna. At least you will get some if not all of your locals. Like here Meredith is blacked out with no KPTV FOX or KPDX MY TV. I have them both OTA and with the Amazon Recast I have the 2 week guide.

 

[comfortably_numb]

It all comes down to greed

It simply needs to be regulated. Whether greed is involved or not is a subjective matter.

 

[ncted]

It simply needs to be regulated. Whether greed is involved or not is a subjective matter.

I agree it needs to be regulated, but, in most cases, it is greed the is driving the 10x inflation rate increases the stations are asking for IMHO.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I agree it needs to be regulated, but, in most cases, it is greed the is driving the 10x inflation rate increases the stations are asking for IMHO.

That may be true, but crying "greed" won't get us anywhere; we need some regulations.

 

[ekilgus]

I've said it before but these stations want to charge exorbitant fees to the likes of Direct and Dish for the very same product they give away via antenna. All transmitters like Dish and others do is increase viewership which allows these stations to increase advertising rates.

Regulations should be in place to disallow charging some for something they also give away to others for free. I believe there was a time when all Dish charged for locals was for the cost of providing them.

 

[n0qcu]

I've said it before but these stations want to charge exorbitant fees to the likes of Direct and Dish for the very same product they give away via antenna. All transmitters like Dish and others do is increase viewership which allows these stations to increase advertising rates.

Regulations should be in place to disallow charging some for something they also give away to others for free. I believe there was a time when all Dish charged for locals was for the cost of providing them.

When DISH started selling locals they charged $5 and only they know what it cost them to provide them.

 

[Joe h]

Let the end consumer decide where they want their ‘local’ channel coming from. Also allow variable rates on the locals. If nexstar wants $12 per customer per channel, and some mom and pop from two states over only wants $4, let the consumer decide if the local nexstar cbs is truly worth the premium.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Let the end consumer decide where they want their ‘local’ channel coming from. Also allow variable rates on the locals. If nexstar wants $12 per customer per channel, and some mom and pop from two states over only wants $4, let the consumer decide if the local nexstar cbs is truly worth the premium.

Transparency in rates would be good, but it's speculated that providers can't reveal what the actual costs to the customer are (or should be) due to the contracts-

 

[ChadT41]

Lets see... the guy at the center of all disputes blaming providers... interesting. And if I run his name through google, will he pop up as one of the ones that made the decision in either 1992 or 1996 causing the issue?

 

[Claude Greiner]

It all comes down to greed. I would love to return to the days of must carry without any fees. These blackouts, the viewer is the only one who loses, as they do not have their channels, and it is not their fault. I suggest all the time to people now, if possible add that OTA antenna. At least you will get some if not all of your locals. Like here Meredith is blacked out with no KPTV FOX or KPDX MY TV. I have them both OTA and with the Amazon Recast I have the 2 week guide.

I thought we still had that. If the provider didn’t want to carry the network, the network had to deliver their signal to the provider at their expense.

 

[mwdxer1]

I thought we still had that. If the provider didn’t want to carry the network, the network had to deliver their signal to the provider at their expense.

Sure, but the local stations sell ads. This situation that the viewer have become accustomed to, a friend in the satellite business called it "Double Dipping". They charge for the service, yet they sell ads. Then even though they are selling ads, they still want more. One thing I have noticed with streaming services, so many are free with ads. The programmers will continue to demand unreasonable rates as long as the public continues to pay for it. In a comparison lately between Comcast Cable and Sling. The viewers that sub to Comcast are paying over 3.7 times more per channel, that they are with streaming Sling. Why the difference, because Comcast know they can get the money. Dish is still a pretty good deal and I get a lot programming for a decent price. I do not blame Dish or any service, the programmers want way too much. But it is not all channels. Some Dish never seems to have contract issues with.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Well I would hope that the head of the National Association of Broadcasts would support the broadcasters, or else he wouldn't be doing his job.

 

[TVEngineerArk]

Let's take it easy on the regulation talk. Not many things are made better by the government stepping in to create winners and losers IMO. This is broadcast TV after all and in most cases an antenna will get you back to having access to your local station for a fairly modest one time cost. And there are plenty of other avenues nowadays to enhance your viewing experience by purchasing items such as the aforementioned Recast DVR (full disclosure, I recently purchased one of these and got rid of the locals from Dish and so far I am very pleased with it). I work in the Engineering department of a public TV network and while we don't typically have these types of retransmission disputes, I can assure everyone here that running a TV station is a very expensive proposition just from an operational standpoint let alone the programming costs. Commercial broadcasters have begun to figure retransmission fees into their business models by necessity in many cases. I'm not giving them a pass by any stretch since they have found a backdoor way to charge for the public airwaves but I'm saying that I can see both sides of this argument.

 

[ChadT41]

Let's take it easy on the regulation talk. Not many things are made better by the government stepping in to create winners and losers IMO. This is broadcast TV after all and in most cases an antenna will get you back to having access to your local station for a fairly modest one time cost. And there are plenty of other avenues nowadays to enhance your viewing experience by purchasing items such as the aforementioned Recast DVR (full disclosure, I recently purchased one of these and got rid of the locals from Dish and so far I am very pleased with it). I work in the Engineering department of a public TV network and while we don't typically have these types of retransmission disputes, I can assure everyone here that running a TV station is a very expensive proposition just from an operational standpoint let alone the programming costs. Commercial broadcasters have begun to figure retransmission fees into their business models by necessity in many cases. I'm not giving them a pass by any stretch since they have found a backdoor way to charge for the public airwaves but I'm saying that I can see both sides of this argument.

Think they might be creating more expenses then they should? I mean a news helicopter is expensive.... is it actually a necessity?

 

[comfortably_numb]

Commercial broadcasters have begun to figure retransmission fees into their business models by necessity in many cases

And that is the problem right there. If your business model "depends" on extortion, then it's time to figure out a different business model.

 

[JSheridan]

Let's take it easy on the regulation talk. Not many things are made better by the government stepping in to create winners and losers IMO. This is broadcast TV after all and in most cases an antenna will get you back to having access to your local station for a fairly modest one time cost. And there are plenty of other avenues nowadays to enhance your viewing experience by purchasing items such as the aforementioned Recast DVR (full disclosure, I recently purchased one of these and got rid of the locals from Dish and so far I am very pleased with it). I work in the Engineering department of a public TV network and while we don't typically have these types of retransmission disputes, I can assure everyone here that running a TV station is a very expensive proposition just from an operational standpoint let alone the programming costs. Commercial broadcasters have begun to figure retransmission fees into their business models by necessity in many cases. I'm not giving them a pass by any stretch since they have found a backdoor way to charge for the public airwaves but I'm saying that I can see both sides of this argument.

And yet another attempt at to justify extortion, which there really can be no justification for. It's very sad. Hopefully congress will finally do something and fix this mess.