Roanoke CBS-HD
- Thread starter JRiz
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Not sure, but I think it might be part of the Schurz Communications family. At one time there was a dispute between E* and Schurz. E* usually negotiates with the station group and not the local station. There are others around here that will likely know something for sure.
I'm not sure what the ownership situation is, but from what another member posted the other week, according to management at WDBJ, E* never contacted WDBJ in regards to an agreement to carry WDBJ in HD. Apparently, they had already worked out new carriage agreements with the other locals and did not do the same with WDBJ...management said it would have been illegal for E* to proceed with airing the station until they had a new agreement. That's the last of what I've heard.
If they are part of a station group, they won't be contacted as E* usually only negotiates for all stations in a group at one time. It could be the group contract is not yet up for negotiation or that the station wasn't ready for HD when it was negotiated or something else. Wiki says the station is owned by Schurz. If that's the case, you need to probably contact Schurz .
This was posted a week ago on WDBJ7 site:
High Definition Information for Dish Customers
WDBJ7 is working with Dish Network to enable Dish to transmit WDBJ7's high definition programming. We expect that Dish will begin carrying WDBJ7 in high definition by June 17.
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=10472525
High Definition Information for Dish Customers
WDBJ7 is working with Dish Network to enable Dish to transmit WDBJ7's high definition programming. We expect that Dish will begin carrying WDBJ7 in high definition by June 17.
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=10472525
So I have been told by people that know a lot more than I do about this situation, it has nothing to do with equipment or fiber or anything technical in nature. It simply was an issue of WDBJ not having a signed retransmit agreement with Dish for the HD signal. Apparently when a carriage agreement was signed originally there were no provisions included for HD when/if that happened. I guess Dish covered that base with WSLS, WFXR and WSET. This is all strictly a matter of an agreement being reached and signed by both parties. I also heard WDBJ made efforts to contact Dish about getting this taken care of before they launched the rest of our local HD channels and the people at Dish did not return phone calls to WDBJ. If anyone is upset about the delay, don't blame WDBJ. Dish dropped the ball.
Once again you need to contact Schurz to explain the delay. Their HD locals in Springfield, MO, and other places like Quincy, South Bend, and Anchorage were not up either. E* doesn't negotiate with individual stations when they are part of a group like Schurz. That's why all the Freedom Comm and Fisher Comm station are off or will be going off E*.
I passed along info gathered from statements made by WDBJ's engineer and GM. Mentioned nothing about corporate BS on Schurz end. Sounds like an agreement has been worked out though, so that's really all i care about.
Bottom line....whether WDBJ7 was holding out for a better agreement or Dish was remiss in the paperwork, the addition of the HD service puts Dish customers in the Roanoke DMA ahead of Direct. This is the same circumstance that happened when SD locals were launched. Direct was #2 then and is #2 now. If the software problem had been identified earlier, the question that started this thread would already be history.
Roanoke locals were suppose to be up in March but problems with one of the transponders delayed them.
Yeh I know since I posted on the transponder 5 problem, but how does this tie in with this thread? Even if the T5 problem hadn't occurred, the Schurz HD locals wouldn't have been up on E*. Schurz has stations in Anchorage, South Bend, Wichita, Springfield, MO, and Augusta, GA, in addition to Roanoke, and none of them are currently available on E*.
WDBJ7 is a flagship station for Schurz and the most watched station in Roanoke. WDBJ7 management is very progressive and they definitely wouldn't want to alienate their viewers.
Rumors have it that WDBJ7 has strong political support in Washington. Whether or not this might explain the market availability, hard to say.
Glad to see the updates on this issue. I've been wondering about when WDBJ HD would become available. Now I'm pinning my hopes on June 17. Always a dangerous thing with Dish...
WDBJ is not Schurz's flagship. That'd be WSBT South Bend.
I'm excited, because that means I can peel another name off of the retrans consent noticeboard.
Currently, the board has Freedom, Baton Rouge Advocate, Barrington Broadcasting/KTVO, Dispatch, Schurz, Gazette (KCRG), Quincy Newspapers, Weigel, Drewry, Newport-High Plains, and Granite-Malara.
I'm excited, because that means I can peel another name off of the retrans consent noticeboard.
Currently, the board has Freedom, Baton Rouge Advocate, Barrington Broadcasting/KTVO, Dispatch, Schurz, Gazette (KCRG), Quincy Newspapers, Weigel, Drewry, Newport-High Plains, and Granite-Malara.
