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The Programming Disputes Thread

It's March 21st, and KCYU and KFFX are STILL off Charter!! Almost 2 months now! When will they ever reach an agreement? Charter dumped Northwest Broadcasting's stations with 10 minutes' notice on 2/2/18 and continues to spread the same message about Northwest's 'outrageous increases'...give me a break. Turn our Fox back on (and Yuma/Eureka NBC while you're at it)...or I will call Charter and demand a decrease on my bill. $180 freakin' dollars going to Charter every month without one of the Big 4 networks.
I'm more than ready to kick Charter to the curb and go down to antenna. I'll keep the internet, but not the TV. You'll never see a programming dispute on a converter box + rabbit ears!

Re: unclehonkey - Yakima/Tri-Cities morning news is basically just like KEYC's. They hash the same stories from the night before, over and over. You get the weather, then the same national stories from the night before, and once in a while there's a lifestyle segment with a reporter out at a winery, or the sportsman's show, or some other event in Tri-Cities or Yakima. I've only watched local AM news on my TV about 15 times since I moved here four years ago. The quality of even morning news in Seattle is eons better than over here on the 'dry' side.
 
Why didn't Yakima, Kennewick-Richland-Pasco and Medford file complaints too? We lost KCYU, Tri-Cities lost KFFX and Medford lost KMVU. This is UNACCEPTABLE without ANY REFUND FROM SPECTRUM! We are going on two freakin' months without Fox as they continue to spread the message of a '75% increase' and 'call Northwest and tell them how you feel.'
If Charter had a heart, they would pull KCYU in the dispute but put in either KCPQ Seattle or KPTV Portland in the interim period as they are the next closest Fox stations that are NOT owned by Northwest Broadcasting. but of course SyndEx trumps the decision, and there's no option for Fox on Charter.
My Charter bill this month is almost $180.00!
 
crainbebo said:
Why didn't Yakima, Kennewick-Richland-Pasco and Medford file complaints too? We lost KCYU, Tri-Cities lost KFFX and Medford lost KMVU. This is UNACCEPTABLE without ANY REFUND FROM SPECTRUM! We are going on two freakin' months without Fox as they continue to spread the message of a '75% increase' and 'call Northwest and tell them how you feel.'
If Charter had a heart, they would pull KCYU in the dispute but put in either KCPQ Seattle or KPTV Portland in the interim period as they are the next closest Fox stations that are NOT owned by Northwest Broadcasting. but of course SyndEx trumps the decision, and there's no option for Fox on Charter.
My Charter bill this month is almost $180.00!
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If cable companies were allowed to import out of town affiliates, that would end (or significantly decrease) these carriage disputes
 
April 4th and still no Fox/Telemundo. Might just cut the cord and go antenna after this last Spectrum bill.
 
RadioPatrol said:
https://www.jconline.com/story/news...y-stations-lafayettes-cable-lineup/407606002/

Comcast kills the last Indy stations from lineup for channels owned by Star City Broadcasting.
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ftballfan said:
The grandfather clause must have run out
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unclehonkey said:
Theyre back....for now

https://www.jconline.com/story/news...is-network-stations-back-least-now/410575002/

Comcast chalks up return of WTHR and WRTV, two Indy network affiliates scrubbed last week, to a technical glitch, but won’t say how long they'll last
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apparently they are staying...but will move to new channel numbers in June
https://www.jconline.com/story/news...p-indys-wthr-wrtv-lafayette-lineup/534227002/

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Back in March, when Comcast tried to take WTHR and WRTV – the last steps in a gradual purge of Indianapolis broadcast networks available on the cable company’s Lafayette lineup – off the air, engineers ran into technical trouble that forced them to resume the feeds out of Indy.

But the day-and-a-half of blank screens for WTHR, an NBC affiliate, and WRTV, an ABC affiliate, was enough to give Comcast pause. The calls the office on Creasy Lane fielded were substantial – and angry – said Mike Wilson, public relations director for Comcast in Indiana.

“It gave us an opportunity to listen to the public,” Wilson said Friday. “We got a real measure of how strong that connection is between Indy and Lafayette, especially when it comes to news.”

As a result, Wilson said Friday that Comcast is changing course.

WRTV and WTHR will remain in Lafayette’s lineup, even though the local designated market area for those network affiliates now belongs to a handful of upstart stations owned by Star City Broadcasting of Lafayette.

On June 19, WRTV will shift from Comcast’s Channel 6 to Channel 1189, and WTHR will move up the dial from Comcast’s Channel 12 to Channel 1192.

“We believe the decision balances the needs of WBPI and the customers who want Indy broadcasting,” Wilson said. “The channel separation (between low and high channel numbers) is the courteous thing to do for the local broadcaster. It’s their market, technically.”

The news took Star City Broadcasting by surprise Friday. Mike Reed, a co-owner of Star City Broadcasting, had no comment Friday morning, asking for time to review Comcast’s decision.

General managers with WRTV and WTHR did not immediately respond to calls for comment Friday.

“I hate that they feel compelled to move the numbers,” said Tim Costello, a Comcast customer in West Lafayette who watches WTHR for news and severe weather coverage. “On the other hand, it’s better than not to have them at all.”

Here’s the background.

Comcast phone lines were blasted on March 7, when the cable company pulled the plug on WTHR and WRTV, Indianapolis’ NBC and ABC affiliates that had been in the Lafayette channel lineup since the 1970s.

That followed Comcast’s decisions in late 2017 and early 2018 to eliminate Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN, CBS affiliate WTTV and the CW (and former CBS) affiliate WISH.

Dumping the stations during that time completed a purge of Indianapolis-based networks from the Lafayette lineup and leaving the Lafayette’s designated market area, known as a DMA, to WLFI – a CBS affiliate for decades – and a set of stations started by Star City Broadcasting.

Star City Broadcasting took its NBC and Fox signals on air on Nov. 1, 2016, and followed with ABC on Aug. 1, 2017. Lafayette previously had no local presence for those three networks, instead getting broadcasts from Indianapolis on Comcast or the cable companies that had come before it.

On Comcast, WPBI is on channels 15 (ABC), 16 (Fox) and 17 (NBC).

At the time, Wilson said Comcast’s decision boiled down to the emerging local ownership in the market and the company’s decision not to provide two affiliates of the same networks in its lineup. He said Star City Broadcasting’s WBPI stations provided “all of the NBC and ABC network programming previously available on the Indianapolis stations, as well as local news and other local programming specifically targeted to the Lafayette area.”

The blowback from customers was strong, particularly from those accustomed to personalities and established news programming in Indianapolis.

Star City has a news operation that feeds its three stations from the same Lafayette newsroom, with broadcasts emanating from a studio hub in Arkansas. Star City management has been working to establish the stations as a part of the local community, whether in news coverage, advertising or charity work, that Indianapolis station would never bother to do.

Ron Dant, a Comcast customer in Lafayette said he finds the WPBI lacking, compared to what he’s used to out of WTHR.

“And all the (Indianapolis) stations that are gone, really,” Dant said. “I consider those stations local.”

Wilson said few, if any, Comcast customers dropped service because of it. (“I’d say most people were telling us they were disappointed more than they were saying, ‘Cancel my service,’” Wilson said.)

But one of Comcast’s emerging competitors in Greater Lafayette, the fiber-optic provider Metronet, has a full complement of Indianapolis stations on its lineup.

On March 8, a day after WTHR and WRTV went dark, they came back on. At the time, Wilson chalked up the confusion to technical difficulties and that Comcast had “rolled everything back until we can assess the situation.”

WTHR and WRTV have been on the air on Comcast’s Lafayette lineup since then. Not so, though, for WXIN, WTTV or WISH, the other Indianapolis stations scrubbed previously.

Wilson said WXIN, WTTV and WISH would not return to the Comcast lineup in Lafayette.

Wilson said customers would not see a change in what they are billed now that WTHR and WRTV will be kept.
 
April 23rd and I still can't get Fox or Telemundo. I've complained to Northwest Broadcasting about Charter's tactics, I'm sure Brian Brady acknowledged my email but he did not reply. Northwest should sue Spectrum for their abuse and bullying, force Spectrum to give us a refund on our bill, AND force them to pipe in an out-of-market Fox station like KCPQ in the meantime! 'We are taking your stations off in 10 minutes' after they weren't satisfied with a new retransmission contract. That's bullying by megashots at Spectrum. At this rate it will be 2019 before we get our Fox back on Spectrum!!
 
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/wapa-puerto-rico-off-directv

WAPA Puerto Rico in a contract dispute with Directv

According to the station, the channel went off at midnight May 4 after a renewal could not be struck.

"In the midst of a rebuilding effort after Hurricane Maria, with a constant flow of critical news and information, it’s more important than ever that viewers have access to WAPA’s more than 40 hours a week of live local news produced by the #1 news team on the island," the station said.

WAPA's owners, Hemishpere Media Group, say the Spanish-language station is the ratings leader by a mile, but that DirecTV is paying more for "lightly-viewerd networks" than it is asking. It singles out Turner networks by name as among those getting more. AT&T and DirectTV are currently trying to convince the government they won't favor those Turner nets if they are allowed to merge with Turner parent Time Warner.

"We are hopeful DIRECTV will recognize the value of WAPA’s networks and the importance of continuing to deliver the best programming to Puerto Ricans on the island," Hemisphere said.
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CBS And Charter Set New Carriage Deal

The next business day after seeing its shares zoom 9% on record quarterly earnings, CBS continues to check boxes, announcing a new multi-year carriage deal with Charter Communications, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Elements in the agreement include retransmission consent for CBS-owned television stations, including CBS-owned affiliates of the CW, plus distribution for Showtime, Smithsonian Channel and CBS Sports Network.

The agreement also includes TV Everywhere and video-on-demand availability of programming from CBS and Showtime to Spectrum subscribers in Charter markets across the country. Charter will also now have rights to live, authenticated streaming on CBS.com, the CBS app and Charter’s authenticated platform, enabling customers to stream CBS programming live online and across multiple devices.
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https://deadline.com/2018/05/cbs-charter-new-carriage-deal-1202383848/
 
Now can Northwest and Charter set a new carriage deal and get my Fox back on the air? It's now been 4 months!
 
mvcg66b3r said:
But they only did it with some channels, mainly CMT.
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And that dispute involving CMT & Comcast is still going on today. I just found out about it. Now, the CMT Music Channel, CMT’s music video channel, is still receivable in the “Digital Starter” tier. It just means Comcast customers won’t be able to see the CMT Awards & the various other programming on mainline CMT. Anyway, that is all.

https://www.fiercecable.com/cable/comcast-kicks-viacom-s-spike-and-cmt-out-lower-cost-programming-tier
 
SagamoreHill stations off Dish as of last night

5292 WLTZ (38 HD Local) COLUMBUS, GA
5251 KZTV (10 HD Local) CORPUS CHRISTI, TX
5255 KDLH (11 HD Local) DULUTH, MN
5267 WISE (34 HD Local) FORT WAYNE, IN
6672 WNBJ (6 Local) removed from 110° 25s14 (NW Tennessee) (SD Jackson, TN market Hidden)
5153 KFJX (14 HD Local) PITTSBURG, KS
5250 WNCF (32 HD Local) MONTGOMERY, AL
5263 KXLT (47 HD Local) ROCHESTER, MN
6742 WRDE (31 Local) removed from 61.5° 31s3 (NJ/PA/MD/DE) (SD MPEG4 Salisbury, MD market Hidden)
5183 KVCT (19 HD Local) VICTORIA, TX
6782 WVNC (2 Local) removed from 119° 1sA15 (Hartford) (SD Watertown, NY market Hidden)

FOX14 Joplin, MO script
http://www.fox14tv.com/story/382401...reement-with-dish-network-ends-today-at-600pm
 
Just a reminder...
It's been 110 days since we lost KCYU/Fox 41 on Spectrum. And still no friggin' progress on either Spectrum or Northwest's part. I guess no one cares anymore and we should have switched to satellite or antenna. I will be demanding a credit for the 4 months I've lost of FOX.
And in Yuma, NBC and CBS are still missing; along with the Spectrum subscribers in Crescent City who have no NBC/CBS either. An email to Brian Brady went nowhere, I guess I'll email him again and ask what's going on.
 
This sounds more and more like a situation where both Charter and Northwest are equally guilty of dragging this situation out, and customers should be complaining to both sides, or changing to other services if they have that option. (Other than I'd stay away from Dish.)

I've never seen Charter be this bad on any other contract disputes. Usually they've settled before the deadline or not too long after on anything in my area.
 
Well, goodbye Spectrum TV service. When I call this week to pay my bill, I will have them shut off my television and we are going to just antenna. I'm keeping the internet and phone of course (even if they increase the prices because I don't have the triple play...), but Spectrum can shove it up their rears. 115 days without Fox!!!
That means goodbye cable channels, whatever. They show the same reality shows and movies over and over with mass amounts of commercials. I'll miss a few of the mainstays, and the Flix/Movieplex channels, but I didn't care about 40 or 50 of those cable channels. We've got the major networks, MeTV, Comet TV and Charge! to keep us occupied. Not to mention DVDs, Redbox rentals and the occasional VHS tapes. It will save us some $$$ (our apartment doesn't allow satellite dishes).
 


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