Quote:
Originally Posted by bicker
I think you're correct, but surely that's so incredibly unfair that that law should be changed. Satellite service should be subject to the same Must-Carry laws as terrestrial services, regardless of the technical limitations they endure. As it is, they are abusing the fact that they do not have to comply with Must-Carry and filling their available bandwidth, instead, with more HD channels, an advantage that they're using as a bludgeon in the marketplace. So essentially, their advantage stems directly from their refusal to voluntarily comply with laws intended to get customers access to the most critical television channels for those customers, as defined by the SEC and the FCC. Ridiculously unfair. |
The must carry not law for satellite goes back to the days of them being fledgling companies with one bird each. There wasn't room. Those days are long gone now.
Dish network is listening. Dish network recently added Gainesville locals first in SD to get them going about 3 months ago to
HD, but no subchannels. The local Cox Cable doesn't carry the subs either. Gainesville is in the 160 to 162 market, so that means Dish is working their way through the lower 100 markets.
Interesting according to a month old Nielsen report that came out 2 months after Dish went with
HD locals, Cox Cable had an all time low market share, in the low 60%. 12% was
OTA and the remaining part was mostly Dish, that took customers from both Cox and DirecTV. DirecTV acted as expected, so what? it's a small market, let Dish have it. And Dish too it with slightly lower prices plus locals in
HD. So that is happening already without laws.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Orrymain
You know there are probably two things that need to be done here. First, to complain to our carriers, be it cable or satellite, and say we want the subchannels. Second, we need to talk to the legislature about the 'must carry' law. Were sub channels even a thing when that law was made? Sub channels as I know them are recent, and the must carry law has been around a while, hasn't it? I think it needs a tweak.
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Adding local subs within spot beams will be the next demand. I am sure just like Dish adding Gainesville Locals as soon as they had the extra capacity due to demand, they may be the one that steps up and leaves DirecTV behind on the smaller markets.
Another factor is it wasn't until recently that many new sub channels have emerged now as must see by viewers. In the past subs in small markets were actually mains in big markets. So DirecTV and Dish in somewhere like the Orlando Market carries everything (I am in the Orlando DMA but way closer to Gainesville towers) I get off the Gainesville
OTA subs, just CW and MyN. Even ION is on
OTA as a main in Orlando, along with many Spanish networks on main of digital CA and LP stations.
The only think Orlando doesn't carry are the PBS subs and some of the newer networks like ThisTV, RTN, etc. Now I would love to be able to see them. But I am double out of luck. I can't see UHF from Jacksonville or Orlando, and barely VHF out of Jacksonville. To boot the ION in Jax is up in Brunswick GA. Works for them but not me.
We have an analog CA on the air now that stands a chance of becoming digital with some of those channels. But it's years down the road.
