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The Programming Disputes Thread

Meanwhile, the dispute continues at Northwest Broadcasting and DirecTV. Over a month, maybe close to a month and a half now, without KFFX.
 
Another carriage dispute with DIRECTV. Lovely. KFFX has been off the past 2-3 months now, still nothing from Brian Brady (NW Broadcasting) or DirecTV. I blame them BOTH at this point. At least I can go from the dish to antenna, click 41-1, and get HD Fox from KCYU-LD.
 
http://www.cablefax.com/distribution/nexstar-sues-directv-over-fees-for-unlaunched-station

Nexstar sues Directv for one of their stations

When Nexstar came forward with its plan to buy Tribune, there were objections from some distributors that claim the broadcaster is a bad actor when it comes to retransmission consent negotiations. But this time around, Nexstar is pointing the finger at the other side of the negotiating table. It has sued DirecTV in a NY federal court, claiming breach of contract. At issue is an “unlaunched station fee” that it says DirecTV agreed to pay for not being required to immediately launch Nexstar station WHAG (aka WDVM). The Hagerstown, MD, station lost its affiliation with NBC on July 1, 2016.

“DirecTV now erroneously claims that its obligation to pay the unlaunched station fee depends on the station retaining its network affiliation. Nothing in the contract supports DirecTV’s wishful thinking,” Nexstar told the court. “Indeed, the contract plainly places the risk on DirecTV that the station might lose its network affiliation during the contract’s term.”

Reached for comment, an AT&T spokesperson said, “While we hope to resolve this with Nexstar, we dispute their claims and plan to respond.” WHAG made retrans waves earlier this year, with Antietam Broadband losing it on Jan 1 (it remains off the provider’s lineup). DISH and Verizon Fios carry the channel, which offers local news for the area. Comcast carries the station in-market, but stopped carrying it out-of-market in March. It sounds like this unlaunched station fee is a bit unusual, with Nexstar ordinarily requiring distributors to retransmit all of it stations. The broadcaster told the court it made this accommodation to DirecTV, with the satellite provider paying the same base license fee, but to an aggregate of 220K subs vs the actual subs.
Click to expand...
 
http://www.cablefax.com/distribution/nexstar-sues-directv-over-fees-for-unlaunched-station

Nexstar sues Directv for one of their stations

When Nexstar came forward with its plan to buy Tribune, there were objections from some distributors that claim the broadcaster is a bad actor when it comes to retransmission consent negotiations. But this time around, Nexstar is pointing the finger at the other side of the negotiating table. It has sued DirecTV in a NY federal court, claiming breach of contract. At issue is an “unlaunched station fee” that it says DirecTV agreed to pay for not being required to immediately launch Nexstar station WHAG (aka WDVM). The Hagerstown, MD, station lost its affiliation with NBC on July 1, 2016.

“DirecTV now erroneously claims that its obligation to pay the unlaunched station fee depends on the station retaining its network affiliation. Nothing in the contract supports DirecTV’s wishful thinking,” Nexstar told the court. “Indeed, the contract plainly places the risk on DirecTV that the station might lose its network affiliation during the contract’s term.”

Reached for comment, an AT&T spokesperson said, “While we hope to resolve this with Nexstar, we dispute their claims and plan to respond.” WHAG made retrans waves earlier this year, with Antietam Broadband losing it on Jan 1 (it remains off the provider’s lineup). DISH and Verizon Fios carry the channel, which offers local news for the area. Comcast carries the station in-market, but stopped carrying it out-of-market in March. It sounds like this unlaunched station fee is a bit unusual, with Nexstar ordinarily requiring distributors to retransmit all of it stations. The broadcaster told the court it made this accommodation to DirecTV, with the satellite provider paying the same base license fee, but to an aggregate of 220K subs vs the actual subs.
Click to expand...
 
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/small-tv-stations-locked-in-retrans-dispute-with-directv

A contract dispute between AT&T and 17 stations in dispute

DirecTV is locked in a retransmission consent dispute with 17 small TV stations in 14 markets across the country that have gone dark to the satellite TV giant after attempts to hammer out a deal have failed.


According to DirecTV, stations owned by Deerfield Media, MPS Media, GoCom Media of Illinois, Howard Stirk Holdings, Roberts Media, Second Generation of Iowa, and Waitt Broadcasting went dark Friday, May 31 to DirecTV, Uverse and DirecTV Now customers’ homes.
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4 months of this Northwest vs. DirecTV nonsense!!! Quit whining and get KFFX back on the air or I will call for a discount on my bill!
 
Another small owned station off Directv. Fox 28 in Cedar Rapids, IA

http://www.northpine.com/blog/2019/06/03/cedar-rapids-fox-affiliate-off-directv/

A retransmission consent dispute has taken FOX 28 (KFXA Cedar Rapids) off DirecTV.

KFXA is licensed to Second Generation of Iowa but operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which bought KFXA’s non-license assets 11 years ago. FOX 28 is operated alongside Sinclair CBS affiliate KGAN/2.

The retransmission consent agreement between the two companies expired May 31. The agreement had been extended after originally expiring March 31.
 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ts-would-be-barred-in-bipartisan-house-effort

Now Congress investigates television blackouts.

The second-ranking House Republican and a key Democrat say they’ll push to end broadcasters’ ability to black out signals during negotiations with cable and satellite service providers.

Republican Whip Steve Scalise and senior Energy and Commerce Committee member Anna Eshoo said Monday they will unveil a bill in the coming weeks. It’s likely to set off a fierce lobbying battle between broadcasters, which would lose negotiating leverage, and cable providers, which stand to benefit.

"Our legislation will allow for greater competition in the marketplace and will empower consumers with more freedom to watch their favorite programming," Scalise of Louisiana, who has focused on the issue since before joining Republican leadership, said in a statement.

“The system today leaves consumers being held hostage to blackouts due to disputes between companies. Our bipartisan approach will eliminate blackouts and stem the rising costs," said Eshoo of California. The number of blackouts has doubled in the last five years, she said.
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Perfect solution: put a loophole into SyndEx and allow for a partial or full feed of an out-of-market, not-owned-by-the-same-company affiliate of a network (like Fox) if a carriage dispute does not get resolved.
I.E. KFFX would be replaced by KPTV or KCPQ. Sure, the news doesn't relate to central Washington (besides that it's of much better quality, especially Q13), but we'll all get to see the same primetime Fox programming at 8-10PM. They are the next closest Fox stations to Yakima.
 
anotherguy said:
I would be for requiring satellite systems to carry a second affiliate from each of the big 4 networks at all times.
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The FCC shows a decided inclination towards local media. Allowing out of market stations to be carried would hurt the revenue base of local TV stations. I don't think that would ever happen.
 
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/n...mission-consent-complaint-against-gray-at-fcc

Now Telepak Networks has filed a complaint against Gray Television to the FCC

Telepak Networks, Inc. (C Spire Fiber) has filed a retransmission consent complaint against Gray Television at the FCC alleging lack of good faith bargaining, and has asked for a declaratory ruling that when the FCC modifies a market to add communities served by a significantly viewed station, that that station's digital streams are also considered to be in that market for the purposes of retrans negotiations.

Retrans negotiation complaints are filed occasionally at the FCC, often in concert with impasses or blackouts. Many of those are quietly dropped when the parties resolve the issue themselves, so it can be another arrow in the negotiation quiver.

The complaint also comes as Congress is considering whether to get more specific about what should and shouldn't be in that retrans negotiation playbook.
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Another option that I believe should happen would be to make it illegal for cable and satellite systems to cut off channels in a dispute, and make them subject to fines for allowing disputes to get to that point.
 
or another option, have a rule where after the current carraige agreement ends, there is a 30 day automatic "do not remove" clause where the stations can not be remove from a paid TV provider during a carriage dispute for 30 days after the expiration date of the contract, and if the dispute isn't resolved after the 30th day, the day 31 would be the start of a blackout if no deal is reached. and if a deal is reached, the provider must paid the backpay for those 30 extra days of carriage even if the dispuute lasted longer than 30 days and did had a blackout following day 30 of the dispute.

so for example, WFAA/TEGNA has a contract with DirecTV expiring at 11:59 PM on Dec 31, then at midnight on Jan 1, the 30 day "do not remove" clause goes into effect, if a deal isn't reached before Jan 31, then at Midnight on Jan 31, the channel is removed from the lineup until dispute is resolved. but if a deal if reached after the contract expires and the 30 day "do not remove" clause goes into effect, then DirecTV will have to pay for a amount determined by the amount of time it carried the channel while it wasn't under contract.
 
RadioPatrol said:
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/n...mission-consent-complaint-against-gray-at-fcc

Now Telepak Networks has filed a complaint against Gray Television to the FCC
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The problem with the Telepak filing is that the FCC does not define TV markets, Nielsen does.

"The Federal Communications Commission has concluded that Nielsen’s designated market areas (DMAs) remain the best way of defining local TV markets, including citing online video as a way to resolve problems in so-called “orphan” counties served by a station or stations from another state."

The filing says,

Telepak Networks, Inc. (C Spire Fiber) has filed a retransmission consent complaint against Gray Television at the FCC alleging lack of good faith bargaining, and has asked for a declaratory ruling that when the FCC modifies a market to add communities served by a significantly viewed station, that that station's digital streams are also considered to be in that market for the purposes of retrans negotiations.

So the issue is that the FCC would first have to create a new standard for market definition, likely a lengthy and inconclusive process.
 
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/n...h-retrans-complaint-against-nine-broadcasters

Here is AT&T in a contract dispute

On behalf of DirecTV, DirecTV Now or U-Verse, AT&T has filed a complaint against nine TV station owners who it says have collectively "pulled" 20 stations from those services on May 30 and June 10, blackouts it says continued at press time "with no end in sight." AT&T said all the stations have shared services agreements with Sinclair, which it says appears to "manage and control" the stations, but it did not target that broadcaster in the complaint.

Related: Blackouts Are Sign of Troubled Times

The takeaways from the complaint are that the nine stations have ignored individual proposals and refused to negotiate "for several months." The station groups cited are Deerfield Media, GoCom Media of Illinois, Howard Stirk Holdings, Mercury Broadcast Group, MPS Media, Nashville License Holdings, Roberts Media, Second Generation of Iowa and Waitt Broadcasting.
Click to expand...
 


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