Sinclair Shenanigans

[ohdxer]

It is my understanding that this weekend a lot of cable tv companies nationwide won't be able to carry Sinclair owned television stations if the local cable tv companies can't come to an financial agreement with Sinclair.

It is also my understand that Sinclair is demanding a lot of cash for cable tv companies to carry their stations on cable tv.

I read an article in the Columbus Dispatch earlier this month that the former Aldelphia Cable Systems in Ohio now owned by Time Warner Cable currently is having a tiff with Sinclair regarding WSYX (ABC) and WTTE (FOX) from Columbus, WKEF (ABC) and WRGT (FOX) from Dayton, and WCHS (ABC) and WVAH (FOX) from Charleston.

Does anyone know if the disagreement between Sinclair and the cable companies only involve analog channels, digital channels, or both?

I don't know what the FCC rules are for cable tv companies regarding carrying out of market network affiliates. But this is my point of view.

If I owned a cable tv system in Ohio, I wouldn't carry the ABC or Fox affilate from Sinclair. I would get a long term agreement (5 to 10 years) from another ABC or FOX affiliated station in Ohio.

ABC affiliate WEWS from Cleveland, WCPO from Cincinnati, WTVG from Toledo, FOX affiliate WJW from Cleveland, WXIX from Cincinnati, and WUPW from Toledo comes to mind.

Even if Sinclair later came to their senses after their stations were dropped by the cable tv companies, and Sinclair lost the ratings and ad revenues for their stations, I still wouldn't carry their stations even if Sinclair begged to carry their stations for free on a cable tv system.

What are the current status with Sinclair and your local cable tv company in your area?

What are your thoughts concerning Sinclair's shenanigans with your local cable tv system?

 

[icstephen]

That’s what I would do if I had a cable company, I don't know all the rules but wouldn’t the must carry rule kill punishing the station operator if they wanted to be added back to the cable system? I'm sure that’s what Sinclair is banking on, but what I would do if they made me carry them is put other nets on and then put the Sinclair stations on the digital tier in the 900's. I don't have cable anymore but the local cable operator here has locals from both Atlanta & Chattanooga.

 

[ssnake]

There was a case similar to this that came before the FCC. WXIA, NBC in Atlanta, demanded compensation from the Monroe, Ga., cable system for retransmission consent. The cable system balked and got retransmission consent from the Macon, Ga., NBC affiliate WMGT. Monroe, Ga., is about 50 miles outside of Atlanta, but it was still considered to be within the market. Apparently WXIA and NBC threatened to sue WMGT for breaching a contract, so WMGT tried to rescind retransmission consent, but the FCC wouldn't let them. I think they were still liable for damages to WXIA though.

The bottom line is that affiliates have contractual exclusivity with their networks for their market areas, and if an out of market station grants retransmission consent, that would be a breach of contract.

 

[anoldguy]

I beleive in Rochester, N. Y. Time-Warner is carrying the anolog signal of Sinclair's WUHF-FOX but not the H. D. on the digital tier.

 

[dhett]

I know everyone loves to beat up on Sinclair, and heaven knows they deserve most of the brickbats, but this issue isn't just Sinclair. In Northern Arizona, Gannett and Meredith got into a similar tiff with CableOne about a year ago. Meredith and CableOne worked out a temporary arrangement that kept KPHO in the lineup while they worked out a final agreement, but for a time at the beginning of this year, CableOne was not carrying either KPNX or KNAZ. They eventually worked it out, and CableOne is carrying the NBC affiliates again.

As for carrying locals on a digital tier in a 900-something channel assignment, I don't believe that's allowed under must-carry rules. Under must-carry, local full-service stations must be carried on cable companies' most basic level of service, IIRC. I don't know if they're allowed to give a less-than-favorable channel assignment, but I'm not sure it would be in their best interest anyway. Nobody needs burnt bridges.

 

[bpatrick]

I live in an area which receives stations from both Raleigh/Durham
and Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, but we're part of the
Raleigh/Durham DMA. Our cable system, Charter Communications,
doesn't carry WXII (NBC) or WXLV (ABC and a Sinclair-owned station),
but only because there's no history of significant viewership of either
in this area; it does, OTOH, carry WFMY (CBS) and WGHP (Fox) from
the Triad, since both are received clearly OTA and have been watched
for years (since 1949 in WFMY's case, since 1963 in WGHP's). We do,
of course, get all Triangle stations.

Where my dad lives, in the Greensboro/WS/HP DMA, Time Warner Cable
carries both WXLV and WTVD (the ABC o&o in Raleigh/Durham); ABC is
the only network with two stations on that system, and no one--not
even the stations' managers--seems to mind.

 

[MarcB]

Speaking of beefs between station owners and cable companies

I wanna know what's the beef between COX Cable and LIN-TV? There's some beef between them because COX doesn't carry the HD signals of WTNH (ABC) and WCTX (MNT) in Connecticut or the HD signals of WPRI (CBS) and WNAC (FOX/NAC) in Rhode Island. In Connecticut COX is only 19 towns, but in Rhode Island almost the entire state is COX.

 

[Markxxx]

The TV stations are looking for ways to recoop the cost of operating two transmitters. So it makes sense to allow the analog feed for free and charge for the HDTV feed. Especially since most customers have no idea what HDTV is or DTV is or the fact digital cable isn't the same as carring a DTV station over the air.

It certainly won't be long before stations are going to be able to broadcast HDTV and an DTV station on their bandwidth over the air. It doesn't take an Einstien to figure out that way the TV station can scramble the HDTV and send the DTV signal for free. The FCC only mandates ONE Of the digital channels must be free.

The FCC says the TV stations have a right to be carried on their OTA channel number if requested and possible. (It might not be possible for channel 69 to do that if the cable TV only has 35 channels. Some are still small)