dhett said:Pat Cook said:I wouldn't be so quick to say that. KCDO 3 (The new America One affiliate) snuck its way onto DirecTV.dhett said:
Info on KCDO - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCDO (Page still refers to as NewsWeb as owner though)
Cheers
Meaning what? Read the link in my last post; that sets forth the criteria for must-carry. Plus, you don't even know that KCDO "snuck" its way onto DirecTV due to must-carry provisions. DirecTV can carry whatever station they wish, so long as they have agreement with that station. But if KCDO's presence on DirecTV is due to must-carry, then it should be on Dish Network, and on the local cable television providers as well. It would also mean that KCDO met one of the criteria the FCC uses.
It's more involved with DirecTV/Dish. If a station is full-powered within DMA, its eligible for either must-carry or retransmission. Retransmission means they want money, extended carriage terms, carriage of another channel or special channel placement (applicable to cable) for the signal.
If must-carry is chosen, the station has to elect must-carry every 3 years and file for it (on time and by certified mail). After that point, the station must deliver a quality signal to DirecTV or Dish Network point of presence, which is usually in the center of the market.
However, there are exceptions. If a commercial station duplicates another station in the market, and is located within the same state, the satellite company can refuse to carry the signal. That's why WWSB 40(ABC) in Sarasota gets screwed and asked viewers for the station to be carried and hasn't been succesful in that. However, WMGM 40 in Atlantic City can pursue must-carry because its licensed in a NJ town, not PA. Some duplicate stations however are carried in other markets, but due to retransmission. For noncommercial stations, the rules are different too. The plus for satellite must-carry is any eligible station can get carried market-wide. And DirecTV and Dish have no reason to filter out counties, and legally can't.
For cable must-carry, a station typically only gets carried within 50 miles (typically where the signal reaches) and within the DMA. So a in "center of the market" station has much better status over an outskirt market station, unless the outskirt station is able to make use of their niche. WTVE 51 in Reading, PA which is owned by WRNN (ownership used to maximizing must-carry) hasn't been able to get must-carry over in Southern NJ on Comcast, the Southern NJ stations Telemundo WWSI, etc. don't have cable coverage in the Lehigh Valley, and many NY/CT stations don't have must-carry in Northern NJ on cable.
However, in a few cases, Comcast has been willing to work with outskirt stations. They agreed to carry KFTY 50 Santa Rosa market wide in the SF DMA on digital only, Ch.199. KFTY had to relinquish their analog space Ch.10 in the Northern Bay. That becomes more of a retransmission. May be risky because while it gains 100% coverage for the station, it becomes more marginal on the lineup where its a channel in a 200 channel lineup, and I wonder if its salable at that point, if the new owner doesn't want that (and wants equal carriage atleast locally) to what SF stations are getting.