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The Programming Disputes Thread

WNYJ 66 Disappears from Spectrum/Time Warner Cable in NYC

When I tune in Channel 1234 on my Spectrum/Time Warner cable system, I see a slide saying "Programming on this network is no longer available." The same words in Spanish appear below. This is true on both the North Jersey and Manhattan cable line-ups. At first I wondered if WNYJ-TV shut down. But when I tune in WNYJ over the air, real channel 29, PSIP 66, it's still there.

WNYJ-TV is the former WFME-TV, broadcasting from a tower in West Orange NJ and licensed to West Milford NJ. I thought it was a "must carry" station for Northern NJ and NYC. When Family Radio programmed it, it was a must-carry. Family Radio ran into its financial difficulties following leader Harold Camping's false predictions of the end of the world, and sold off all its TV stations and some radio stations to keep afloat. Channel 66 was one of them.

Some organization took over WFME-TV, I suppose under an LMA, since Family Stations still holds the license. At first it ran the MHz network, a variety of English-language shows from public broadcasters around the world. That network continues to run on 66.2. 66.1 began broadcasting CNC World, a Chinese news network broadcasting in English, from Beijing. (Audio from Family Radio runs on Channel 66.6. There are no other subchannels.)

I assume CNC, no doubt an arm of the Chinese government, pays to have Channel 66 run its newscasts for a New York-area audience. Any idea on why Spectrum/Time Warner pulled it from its line up? Or how they could do that to a station whose tower is in West Orange, about 25 miles from Midtown Manhattan?
 
Armaggedon Averted! Gray stations back on Dish

I heard that Gray and Dish weren't reaching an agreement on retrans. Started thinking to myself that I'd better come up with a coat-hanger alternative lest my local Gray outlet KKTV wouldn't be available to Keep Me Safe. To my alarm, during the 4:30pm newscast yesterday it was announced that Dish would pull the plug on KKTV at 5 pm. Anticipating the Pink Screen of Doom instead of Scott Pelley, I continued to monitor the Breaking situation.

But nothing happened.

Quick flips back to KKTV during the evening showed CBS programming. They're still on Dish this morning. I can assume Dish subscribers in Gray markets around the country are breathing a sigh of relief.
 
Update on News-Press Gazette AT&T

http://tvpredictions.com/directv012017.htm

Washington, D.C. (January 20, 2017) - News-Press & Gazette says it has refused DIRECTV's request for a temporary extension in their carriage pact so the satcaster can show this Sunday's NFL conference championship games.

The News-Press & Gazette channels have been off DIRECTV since January 12 when the two companies could not reach a new carriage agreement. AT&T, which owns DIRECTV, has said News-Press & Gazette is seeking excessive carriage fees, a charge denied by the broadcaster.

At its web site, News-Press & Gazette says DIRECTV on Wednesday of this week requested temporary rights to air Sunday's games. The Green Bay Packers play the Atlanta Falcons at 3 p.m. on Fox while the Pittsburgh Steelers play the New England Patriots on CBS at 6:40 p.m. ET.

Viewer anger over the blackout rose last weekend with the airing of the second round of the NFL playoffs. In fact, actor Rob Lowe, a former DIRECTV spokesman, even criticized his former employer on Twitter.

But News-Press says DIRECTV's request for temporary rights to air the two conference championship games is just a diversion tactic.

"We will not be granting temporary retransmission rights in order for their subscribers to have access to the AFC and NFC championship games on Sunday. Rather than spend time drafting requests for temporary grants of retransmission rights and issuing press releases, we hope AT&T and their multi billion dollar team of negotiators and public relations executives would focus on renewing a long-term carriage agreement," News-Press & Gazette says.




News-Press & Gazette adds that it's not optimistic the two companies will reach a long-term deal before Sunday's NFL playoff games, or perhaps even before the Super Bowl which airs on Fox on February 5.

TVPredictions.com has asked AT&T for a response to the News-Press statement and will report back here if we get one.



The stations affected in this dispute are located in such mid-sized markets as Palm Springs, California; Bend, Oregon, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Colorado Springs, Colorado; El Paso, Texas; Santa Barbara, California; Columbia, Missouri and Yuma, Arizona. To see a complete list of the stations that could be affected, click here.
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http://www.multichannel.com/news/sports/patriot-games/410329

Update on the WFSB and Altice issue

Altice USA's request that CBS-affiliate WFSB in Connecticut unblock programming to its customers in the state for the National Football League’s AFC Championship game on Jan. 22, pitting the local favorite New England Patriots vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been stuffed.

WFSB, which broadcasts to a small portion of Altice USA customers in Litchfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut, went dark on Jan. 13 after the parties could not reach a retransmission consent agreement. Altice USA said the bulk of its Connecticut customers can see the game via the New York CBS affiliate (WCBS). The cable operator has also offered customers a free trial of CBS All Access, the over-the-top offering from the broadcaster, to watch the playoffs and other network content online.

The fact that WFSB has not unblocked the channel shouldn’t be surprising. Going dark is usually a station’s only leverage in retrans negotiations and compelling event programming – like NFL playoff games – is usually what gets the parties to reach a compromise.

On its website, WFSB called Altice USA an “outlier,” adding that it has reached retrans agreements with every other distributor with no disruption in service.

“Without fair and equitable treatment, local TV stations will not be able to continue to provide top quality news, sports, entertainment, and other local programming that is most important to you,” WFSB said on its website.

Officials at WFSB parent Meredith Corp. did not immediately return a request for comment.

Altice USA said this is the second time its request to make the channel available for the NFL playoffs has been denied – it made the same plea for the Patriot’s Jan. 14 meeting with the Houston Texans in the AFC divisional playoff. Meredith refused that request even though the two U.S. Senators representing the state – Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy – had asked the channel be made available to Altice customers while talks continued.

“We’ve heard from our Litchfield and New Haven customers and know they want to watch the Patriots game this weekend,” Altice USA said in a statement. “We’re frustrated too and think it’s outrageous that WFSB refuses to put the channel back on for our customers as we continue our negotiations. We have asked WFSB and its owners repeatedly to stop holding our customers hostage. If WFSB cares about its viewers then why won’t they agree to put the game on?”
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News-Press & Gazette: We Have a Deal With DIRECTV

News-Press & Gazette has issued a statement saying it has reached an agreement with DIRECTV to restore its 18 local channels, just in time for today’s NFL conference championship games.

The News-Press & Gazette channels had been off DIRECTV since January 12 when the two companies could not reach a new carriage agreement. AT&T, which owns DIRECTV, had said News-Press & Gazette is seeking excessive carriage fees, a charge denied by the broadcaster.

But the broadcaster last night issued a terse statement at its web site that said: “We have reached an agreement to restore our stations to the DIRECTV system. Thank you for your patience and support as we worked through the negotiation.”

DIRECTV has yet to issue a statement regarding the News-Press & Gazette statement, which does not say if the agreement is a temporary extension or a multi-year deal.
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https://tvanswerman.com/2017/01/22/news-press-gazette-we-have-a-deal-with-directv/
 
From apodo on the 506 Forums, news of a dispute from across the Pond:

Major carriage disputes are pretty rare in the U.K. The last one I can recall was when in 2007 when Sky pulled their basic channels from Virgin Media's cable platform, and it took 18 months for them to return.

Now Discovery are saying they will pull all their channels, which includes Eurosport, from both Sky's satellite service and their online platform NowTV at the end of the month. They have even set up a special website, which I do not think has ever happened here before.

http://www.keepdiscovery.co.uk/
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http://506sports.com/forum/index.php?topic=11929.msg918604#msg918604
 
Univision Warns: Charter Customers May Lose Broadcasts Due To Contract Impasse

Univision’s long-running battle over carriage terms with Charter Communications is about to affect the No. 2 cable company’s customers, the Spanish language broadcaster is preparing to warn subscribers.

They “may lose access to Univision’s networks and stations,” the company says due to an “unfortunate impasse” in their negotiations.

This follows Univision’s suit against Charter filed in July at New York Supreme Court. The broadcaster wanted the cable company to pay carriage rates it negotiated, while Charter wanted to pay the lower rate paid by Time Warner Cable — which it acquired in May.

Charter said at the time that it has “a long-term contract with Univision and we expect them to honor it.”

Univision’s suit said that a 2014 carriage deal with Charter was due to expire on June 30 and contained “a heavily-negotiated provision concerning corporate acquisitions that governs the precise situation here.”

Univision allowed Charter to continue carrying its services through this month while they negotiated. The two sides are still in the discovery phase of the lawsuit. Charter filed a limited motion to dismiss.
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https://deadline.com/2017/01/univision-warns-charter-lose-broadcasts-contract-impasse-1201895967/
 
Super Bowl Blackouts Loom As Retrans Battles Continue

With the Feb. 5 Super Bowl fast approaching, pay-TV subscribers in seven states are at risk of missing one of TV’s biggest events due to local Fox affiliates being blacked out by MVPDs.

According to the American Television Alliance (which is backed by cable and satellite companies among others), Fox affiliates are currently blacked out in:

Spokane, Wash., where Northwest Broadcasting’s KAYU is off Cable One.
Syracuse, N.Y., where Verizon has dropped Bristlecone-owned WSYT from its lineup.
Sioux Falls, S.D., where Independent Communications’ KTTW hasn’t been carried by Mediacom cable since October 2016.
Greenville-Greenwood, Miss., where Northwest’s Fox affiliate, a WABG subchannel, is also blacked out on Cable One.
Tri-Cities Tenn.-Va., where Dish has dropped Bonten Media’s WEMT.
Greenville-New Bern-Washington, N.C., where Bonten’s WFXI is also off Dish.

Affected subscribers could still watch the game over-the-air with the help of an antenna.
Click to expand...

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/ne...battles-continue/162868#.WIvPZB_Q_lQ.facebook
 
When it comes to these FOX blackouts, it hurts more in some markets than others. It hurts most in Greenville-Greenwood as Cable One is the main cable provider in that market.
 
re: Univision vs. Charter
Does this only affect the UNI O&O stations? Or all UNI stations? If the latter is happening, KUNW-CD will be affected in Yakima.
 
What is also unsure, is if the the half O&Os are also affected, who are owned by both Univision and Entravision (the latter is not in any disputes), like WFTT in Tampa Bay.
 
Jonathan7157 said:
What is also unsure, is if the the half O&Os are also affected, who are owned by both Univision and Entravision (the latter is not in any disputes), like WFTT in Tampa Bay.
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WFTT-DT is owned by Univision but in an LMA with Enteravision, which owns and operates WVEA-TV in the same market.
 
DavidEduardo said:


WFTT-DT is owned by Univision but in an LMA with Entravision, which owns and operates WVEA-TV in the same market.
Click to expand...

Does this mean that the stations that have an LMA with Entravision will be taken down on Spectrum while WVEA is safe (Univision is safe in that market, but not UniMas), even if Entravision is not in any disputes? I don't know how disputes work with Entravision.

Also, will this affect those that previously had cable via T.W.C. or Bright House, like me (I've had Bright House, which is now Spectrum)?
 
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