Tribune Broadcasting Company Blacks Out DISH Customers in 33 Markets;

[singhnx01]

I got the Sling TV offer via email. I registered and try watching it. It will not give you live Fox channel. Some one from Colorado even called me asking if Sling Tv will be helpful while they are negotiating with Tribune. I will also be getting free HD antenna but no OTA module. I will be getting $5 credit for 3 months. I just got 1 out 3 already and waiting for other 2.

 

[Jw2016]

Are you implying that peaking a dish antenna and new LNBF makes the picture quality better? If it were analog, yes, but with digital, it is all or nothing, so a signal of 25-30% quality that barely gets a lock, but does indeed get a lock and has no macroblocking, will "look" the same as one with a 90% quality.
As for OTA looking better, I find it varies on the channel. Some of my locals look better on satellite. Depends on how many subchannels they have crammed in.

Yep, the CBS O&O up here was at the time the only station in town that did not have any subchannels. Viewers thought they gave their entire bandwidth for their signal, but they actually held a few MB's back as null packets. Then CBS started Decades and all O&O's had to carry it. They gave it the reserve bandwidth and it looked pretty good, then the whiners came out of the woodwork complaining about the HD picture quality. The main signal still looks great passing that 1080i CBS Network, even sports still look great. Markets with an iON station know they have a boatload of subchannels and it shows on their main HD stream. With stat mux equipment better these days having a subchannel or two can happen without too much sacrificing of HD programming.

 

[n0qcu]

I am getting tired of people saying their OTA station doesn't have any sub channels, THE 01 IS A SUB CHANNEL.

 

[sam_gordon]

Maybe in a textbook world, but reality does not follow suit. Let's take cord cutting, for example. Subs are down across the board in the Pay TV industry. So, if things work as you say, with less demand, why a prices going up? Corpotations...the "revenue generators" (or perhaps revenue extractors would be more honest) set the prices. But, you are correct. Yes, people can make a choice. But more often than not in this world, they don't...they pay up.

Because companies (Dish included) are trying to keep the same income they had. If you sell 100 widgets for $10, if you only sell 50, you need to charge $20. However, if you sell 200, you can reduce the cost to $5. Obviously, if it costs you $7/widget, you can't sell them at $5.

As for your last sentence, if most people are paying, where is the motivation to lower costs?

 

[Bobby]

I am getting tired of people saying their OTA station doesn't have any sub channels, THE 01 IS A SUB CHANNEL.

That is not correct. The 01 is the main OTA channel. The 02, 03 , 04, etc, are the sub-channels. The 00 channel is the Dish satellite feed.

 

[Hall]

I am getting tired of people saying their OTA station doesn't have any sub channels, THE 01 IS A SUB CHANNEL.

I think I know how you're twisting that definition but everyone else understands the -01 to be the main channel and any others to be sub-channels.

Is the -01 still a sub-channel if it's the ONLY channel a station broadcasts ?

 

[Hall]

That is not correct. The 01 is the main OTA channel. The 02, 03 , 04, etc, are the sub-channels. The 00 channel is the Dish satellite feed.

If he is confusing the -00 satellite channel with a -01 OTA channel, there's no need to debate this....

 

[Bobby]

If he is confusing the -00 satellite channel with a -01 OTA channel, there's no need to debate this....

I know that, I'm simply pointing out reality to its fullest...

 

[pamajestic]

I got the sling offer but after following the instructions, it failed to work. "Authorization Error Occurred (8-270)" Contacted Dish and they said to contact Sling, which I did, and Sling said Dish didn't activate it properly so I gave up. Then I get a call from Dish saying that they want to send me a new Sling adapter for free, that just came out yesterday, that will allow me to watch my local channels until the blackout is over. Has anyone heard about this? I have my doubts. If it's actually an antenna they are sending, then it will do no good because I can't get OTA at my location.

Same thing here. I am going back and forth with Sling support to uninstall and reinstall the player apps. Three times I have emailed them saying it is related to account authorization. I am about to give up.

 

[jbrelish]

Interesting article....
http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/new...ith-tv-provider-over-fees-this-time-it-s-dish

I understand its common to bash Dish but this shows Tribune aren't saints either. I know this is 3rd time Tribune threatened or blacked out WNEP here in NE Pa. in last 4 years(Direct TV,Service Electric Cable, Dish).

Got the RCA antenna Hooked up to 612 receiver. Had to scan channels twice. Now have 17 OTA locals. I am not close to towers and getting around 70 signal through trees.

 

[kenskibum]

Same thing here. I am going back and forth with Sling support to uninstall and reinstall the player apps. Three times I have emailed them saying it is related to account authorization. I am about to give up.

I found out we are only authorized for Fox on demand even though they said we would have access to the core Sling package. For me if I choose Fox on demand it works, but choose anything else and it says not authorized.

 

[LASooner]

Can Tribune Media And Dish Network Afford A Lengthy Blackout?
Dish Network and Tribune Media may be in trouble if they can’t quickly resolve the contract impasse that, beginning yesterday, left millions of satellite subscribers unable to watch WGN America as well as Tribune stations in 33 markets.
http://deadline.com/2016/06/tribune...ramming-blackout-contract-impasse-1201771916/

Well if our house is any indication, Tribune is in more trouble. I didn't even know about this until I was going through the guide and noticed KTLA was gone, my wife looks at me and asked "Do we have any timers on KTLA?" after a quick check.. Nope.

Hope it comes back before Manh(A)ttan comes back on WGN America, but honestly it won't kill me if that doesn't happen.

 

[JSheridan]

Well if our house is any indication, Tribune is in more trouble. I didn't even know about this until I was going through the guide and noticed KTLA was gone, my wife looks at me and asked "Do we have any timers on KTLA?" after a quick check.. Nope.

Hope it comes back before Manh(A)ttan comes back on WGN America, but honestly it won't kill me if that doesn't happen.

Manhattan isn't coming back. It wasn't renewed. If they did renew I don't know where they could have gone with it.

 

[LASooner]

Well there ya go

 

[jegrant]

I got the free Sling trial but it does not seem to work very well. Watching Fox and FXX shows On Demand works fine, although quality is lacking. Many live channels are consistently unavailable across all devices at various times of day, particularly Fox and Turner owned networks. The only live channels that seem to work more often are the Scripps networks, although I have had them stop and go to a black error screen while I was watching them. I wonder if all the Dish customers getting free Sling access is overloading the Sling servers?

 

[fkafl]

Earlier in this thread, I reported that I had received the free indoor antenna, but there was no OTA module. (The Dish customer service agent had checked with his superiors and told me that I would be getting an OTA module). Today, I walked out my front door, and to my surprise, sitting on the front steps was a Dish OTA module for my HWS receiver! I was debating whether or not to call Dish and ask for the OTA module, but Dish made good on their offer to me! (The antenna was shipped from Indiana, and the OTA module was shipped from Colorado. I received the OTA module 2 days after receiving the antenna).

Thanks a lot Dish for the free antenna and OTA module!

Good to know. I got the antenna today but of course there's no input on the hopper3. Hopefully i get the module tomorrow.

 

[Hall]

I wonder if all the Dish customers getting free Sling access is overloading the Sling servers?

Viewers receive their programming directly from the providers. It's not tunneled through Sling. Sling only provides the authorization mechanism.



Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

 

[reddice]

I got the free Sling trial but it does not seem to work very well. Watching Fox and FXX shows On Demand works fine, although quality is lacking. Many live channels are consistently unavailable across all devices at various times of day, particularly Fox and Turner owned networks. The only live channels that seem to work more often are the Scripps networks, although I have had them stop and go to a black error screen while I was watching them. I wonder if all the Dish customers getting free Sling access is overloading the Sling servers?

I am also using the Sling trail and it is terrible. I am also using PSVue which works much better.

 

[jegrant]

Viewers receive their programming directly from the providers. It's not tunneled through Sling. Sling only provides the authorization mechanism.



Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

Why do so many people claim to get better picture quality and less buffering when they use native channel apps like WatchESPN then?

And, if all Sling's video does come from third parties, why do they offer app access to so few "TV Everywhere" apps? Seems like, if Sling is relying on, say, FOX, to provide a stream, they wouldn't care if you logged into a FOX app to watch.

Also, is there is a source for this? I have heard rumors that Sling does exactly what you suggest, but I've never seen any official articles about it.

It would certainly explain why I get a very weird error code on Viceland, and why most of the live channels that work seem to be Scripps Networks (although, not all of those work, and the ones that do cut in and out).

 

[Dished Off]

I understand its common to bash Dish but this shows Tribune aren't saints either. I know this is 3rd time Tribune threatened or blacked out WNEP here in NE Pa. in last 4 years(Direct TV,Service Electric Cable, Dish).

Got the RCA antenna Hooked up to 612 receiver. Had to scan channels twice. Now have 17 OTA locals. I am not close to towers and getting around 70 signal through trees.

I agree with this. Tribune is a lousy and excessive greedy company. They are trying to force Dish into an agreement of a price increase of 2.4x the $1million and a half or so in cash that they are currently paying them on an almost MONTHLY basis.

In addition to that three of the superstations, WPIX, KWGN, and KTLA are all being billed to me at $2 each. I can cancel them but Dish Network has chosen to make it their policy that anyone who cancels superstations will NEVER BE ALLOWED to add them back again. Dish Network has added this idiotic BRIDGE OF NO RETURN policy on their own and without outside influence and with no explanation to the customer as to WHY???

WNEP (dish provided version) remains blacked out and the same with all of the OTA Guide data for WNEP (the self provided OTA version). I am not buying the statements that the station OWNs the guide data any more than the station group OWNs all of the content that represents them on TIVO, Tv Guide, or TitanTV. The information is fair use. In fact Dish Network contracts with a company called Gracenote Entertainment Data & Technology which is the name of the third party company that DISH has contracted with to provide us the guide data. There is NO reason the WNEP OTA Guide data is being blacked out, and there is still no explanation from Dish Network as to why it is being blacked out in addition to the request of Tribune which only has a limited scope over the non-ota version of its channel that is supplied directly by Dish Network.