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Holy Toledo: Retrans Spat Involving WTOL/WUPW

Can't blame 'em for trying. How low rated is WUPW these days anyhow?
Seems like I had them on all the time when I lived in Toledo.
 
You'd think with WUPW being a Fox station, they need not worry about low ratings. NFL, House, Idol... It's as if their calls are scaring off viewers thinking they're affiliated with the old UPN network!
 
Even after reading the B&C link, I'm having trouble figuring out what the legal case is here. Where a retrans fee is being paid, it's the result of a voluntary agreement between the cable operator and the station -- elect must-carry and you don't get retrans money.

If Buckeye has already agreed to pay the same for WUPW and WTOL, I don't see where they have the right to force that agreement open in midstream to get their rates cut. (one wonders if they noticed WUPW is no longer owned by deep-pocketed LIN, and the cable operator thinks they can out-lawyer the smaller company?)

I'm wondering if maybe what's going on is that Raycom is "bundling" the two stations, requiring the cable operator to buy WUPW's programming at the same rate as WTOL's *as a condition of getting the rights to carry WTOL*. That situation gets beyond my understanding of the law, but I could see a case there.
 
Seems like a dangerous ploy for Raycom, since all the cable company has to do to keep CBS in the lineup is offer to put either Detroit's WWJ or New York's WCBS on the cable (both of them CBS O&Os) to keep the network available in the market.
 
I would think if all Buckeye had to do was replace WTOL with WWJ, they'd simply do it. A lot cheaper than legal fees for taking Raycom to court.

Chances are WTOL's affiliation agreement prohibits CBS from allowing any other affiliate's (or O&O's) signal to be carried on cable in the Toledo market. The value of CBS programming to Raycom (and the willingness of Raycom to make "reverse compensation" payments to the network) declines markedly if Raycom knows CBS is willing to replace them on the cable.

That, and that Buckeye fears a loss of subscriber base if they drop a popular local station. They obviously feel having WTOL on their lineup is important to their bottom line -- otherwise they wouldn't make a big deal over the risk of losing the station. That fear is probably amplified in this specific case, as WWJ is probably one of the weakest, if not *the* weakest, CBS stations.
 
Mark said:
How well do Detroit TV stations penetrate into Toledo with digital TV?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure since I have cable, but Buckeye carries WJBK (Fox) and WXYZ (ABC), from Detroit and WWJ (except for NBC shows), all in SD. They also carry CBET (CBC) from Windsor. They used to carry WKBD (CW) but dropped them when they couldn't come to terms. I don't think anyone misses that station since almost everything on it was also carried locally. CW shows are only carried on cable in Toledo. They also dropped WJBK once, but brought them back later.
 
Toledo Eleven said:
Mark said:
How well do Detroit TV stations penetrate into Toledo with digital TV?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure since I have cable, but Buckeye carries WJBK (Fox) and WXYZ (ABC), from Detroit and WWJ (except for NBC shows), all in SD.
Click to expand...

Cool, did WDIV switch call letters back to WWJ after 34 years? ;)

Anyways, I would assume that any Detroit stations carried in Toledo on cable are subject to Syndex rules, no?
 
I believe the Detroit stations are not Syndexed on Buckeye in Toledo because they probably have significantly viewed status in the Toledo market.
 
Buckeye does NOT carry WWJ/62, even on the Southeast Michigan portion of its system.

That's presumably because the former WGPR was not a general audience station until CBS bought it.

So, they likely wouldn't be able to add it to "replace" or "supplement" a missing WTOL, because WWJ does not have significantly viewed status in the Toledo market. (I don't even have to look at that list to figure that one out. :D)

The Southeast Michigan end of Buckeye CableSystem (presumably covering the areas directly bordering Ohio) does carry WJBK/2 and WKBD/50, which the Ohio systems do not. The Ohio systems do carry WDIV/4 and WXYZ/7, not to mention CBET/9.
 
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