The Programming Disputes Thread

mvcg66b3r · Oct 28, 2015

From Spencer Karter on Facebook:

STATEMENT ON WATERMAN BROADCASTING BLACKOUT

Well folks in Charlottesville and Fort Myers are NOT happy that they're missing their favorite NBC shows because their owner has blackout its DIRECTV subscribers. Thanks to a controversial antiquated law that caused pandemic blackouts and a retransmission consent reform is in a dire need. It's now a new record of 186 blackouts. Please go to http://www.americantelevisionalliance.org for details

https://www.facebook.com/groups/677636052355784/873212672798120/?notif_t=group_activity

mvcg66b3r · Nov 14, 2015

On the AVS Forum, andyross63 posted this from his Comcast Chicago bill:

CHANNEL CHANGE: On January 7, 2016, the following channel changes will occur. CMT will move from Digital Preferred to the Sports Entertainment Package. POP and Spike TV will move from Digital Starter to Digital Preferred. POP will no longer be available with Digital Economy. Spike TV will no longer be available with XFINITY TV 300 Latino or XFINITY TV 450 Latino.

Possible clash between Comcast and Viacom?

KTN Corp · Nov 15, 2015

These retransmission disputes may drive people to cut-the-cord. It's one thing if an independent is being blocked, but when it comes to network affiliates (especially the Big 3), it drives people nuts when they changed channels to watch and see that the show is blacked out due to the dispute. Now they might have to make an evening run to Home Depot to buy Winegard's FlatWave antenna and might as well keep it for those random times that blackouts happen.

The hardest hit were markets with multiple blackouts on various combinations of station owners and cable/satellite providers around the same time. Viewers in those markets may as well keep that FlatWave antenna handy! I bet cord-cutting was much higher than the national average there.

ftballfan · Nov 16, 2015

KTN Corp said:
These retransmission disputes may drive people to cut-the-cord. It's one thing if an independent is being blocked, but when it comes to network affiliates (especially the Big 3), it drives people nuts when they changed channels to watch and see that the show is blacked out due to the dispute. Now they might have to make an evening run to Home Depot to buy Winegard's FlatWave antenna and might as well keep it for those random times that blackouts happen.

The hardest hit were markets with multiple blackouts on various combinations of station owners and cable/satellite providers around the same time. Viewers in those markets may as well keep that FlatWave antenna handy! I bet cord-cutting was much higher than the national average there.

At one point earlier this summer, Traverse City-Cadillac lost all of their Big Four affiliates from Dish Network. Thankfully, DirecTV and Charter (dominant cable provider) haven't lost any of the locals.

mvcg66b3r · Nov 17, 2015

AMC Warns MCTV Viewers of Possible Carriage Blackout

AMC Networks began notifying MCTV customers in Ohio on Sunday night that they might lose access to programming like zombie drama The Walking Dead if it doesn’t reach a carriage deal with the cable operator, a practice MCTV chief Bob Gessner said were nothing but scare tactics to try to force a deal.

AMC’s deal with MCTV doesn’t expire until Dec. 31, and like its other content counterparts, has been notifying viewers that it could lose access to the network if it doesn’t sign a deal with the cable operator by the Dec. 31 deadline.

But MCTV believes the network is trying to make viewers believe they could lose the channel soon instead of in more than a month.

http://www.multichannel.com/news/content/amc-warns-mctv-viewers-possible-carriage-blackout/395364

mvcg66b3r · Nov 17, 2015

Comcast to drop YES Network if contract negotiations fail

Comcast subscribers may lose the YES Network beginning Wednesday as contract negotiations with the network’s majority owner have reached an impasse, Comcast spokesman Bob Grove said.

Notices went out to Comcast franchise holders, including one to municipal officials in Scranton dated Thursday, who subscribe to the network.

Mr. Grove declined to comment beyond what the notice said.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/comcast-to-drop-yes-network-if-contract-negotiations-fail-1.1972157

CTListener · Nov 17, 2015

mvcg66b3r said:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/comcast-to-drop-yes-network-if-contract-negotiations-fail-1.1972157

November is the best time to get into a contract dispute with YES, as YES will have no leverage until March. Few viewers will miss the Nets, the who-cares assortment of college sports (on a network base in the worst college sports market in the country) or the endless reruns of Yankeeography. YES will have to decide whether it can do without Comcast until the Yankees return or wait out the long winter until Comcast could be more willing to bend.

vchimpanzee · Nov 18, 2015

KTN Corp said:
These retransmission disputes may drive people to cut-the-cord. It's one thing if an independent is being blocked, but when it comes to network affiliates (especially the Big 3), it drives people nuts when they changed channels to watch and see that the show is blacked out due to the dispute. Now they might have to make an evening run to Home Depot to buy Winegard's FlatWave antenna and might as well keep it for those random times that blackouts happen.

...

Viewers in those markets may as well keep that FlatWave antenna handy! I bet cord-cutting was much higher than the national average there.

Depending on whether the antenna works. Is this one for outdoors?

Don CT · Nov 18, 2015

Comcast dumps the Yes Network.

Comcast has dropped the YES Network, home of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets, after the two sides couldn't reach a new carriage agreement. According to Comcast, the money 21st Century Fox was asking for the channel was "not acceptable given the network’s minimal viewership." According to Comcast, 90% of the roughly 900,000 Comcast subscribers who receive the YES Network "didn’t watch the equivalent of even one quarter” of the 130 games broadcast last season.

In a statement posted to its website, the YES network said Comcast backed away from negotiations and severed the channel with "no advance notice to its subscribers," urging users to find another cable operator that carriers that channel.
"Comcast's reputation for poor customer satisfaction is well known, but this surprise development represents a new low," claims the channel.

http://www.**********.com/shownews/Comcast-Drops-Yankees-YES-Network-135674

This pisses me off, not that Yes was asking a lot, but that Comcast agreed to pay even more for ESPN. They can't pick and choose what sports networks they want to turn down. And it's not like we will ever see the reduction in cost, Comcast will absorb the lack of fees.

nomadcowatbk · Nov 19, 2015

Don CT said:
http://www.**********.com/shownews/Comcast-Drops-Yankees-YES-Network-135674

This pisses me off, not that Yes was asking a lot, but that Comcast agreed to pay even more for ESPN. They can't pick and choose what sports networks they want to turn down. And it's not like we will ever see the reduction in cost, Comcast will absorb the lack of fees.

they dropped it after baseball season and how many Nets fans are there in PA, NH, or CT?

Don CT · Nov 19, 2015

nomadcowatbk said:
they dropped it after baseball season and how many Nets fans are there in PA, NH, or CT?

I don't think there are many Nets fans at all. The fact that the team sucks doens't help Yes trying to get a pay increase either. They don't have any leverage until baseball season starts.

ftballfan · Nov 22, 2015

CTListener said:
November is the best time to get into a contract dispute with YES, as YES will have no leverage until March. Few viewers will miss the Nets, the who-cares assortment of college sports (on a network base in the worst college sports market in the country) or the endless reruns of Yankeeography. YES will have to decide whether it can do without Comcast until the Yankees return or wait out the long winter until Comcast could be more willing to bend.

Also, Comcast doesn't serve a lot of the core NY market (TWC and Cablevision dominate that area)

ftballfan · Nov 22, 2015

Don CT said:
I don't think there are many Nets fans at all. The fact that the team sucks doens't help Yes trying to get a pay increase either. They don't have any leverage until baseball season starts.

Also, YES has been in a dispute with Dish Network for years and years

mvcg66b3r · Nov 22, 2015

ftballfan said:
Also, YES has been in a dispute with Dish Network for years and years

All of NYC's RSNs have disputes with Dish.

ftballfan · Nov 22, 2015

mvcg66b3r said:
All of NYC's RSNs have disputes with Dish.

Seems like they've all given up ever being on Dish Network. For example, Dish dropped MSG in 2010 and it looks like they've never even tried to get back on there. IMO, it's more likely SportsNet LA gets on Dish Network before any NYC RSN ends up back on there

CTListener · Nov 22, 2015

ftballfan said:
Also, Comcast doesn't serve a lot of the core NY market (TWC and Cablevision dominate that area)

Right, but Comcast and Cox are the two powerhouses in Connecticut, which has a lot of Yankees fans in the central and western parts of the state and a substantial minority in the east. Cox had no problems with YES over the years.

ShawnHill1 · Nov 23, 2015

ftballfan said:
Seems like they've all given up ever being on Dish Network. For example, Dish dropped MSG in 2010 and it looks like they've never even tried to get back on there. IMO, it's more likely SportsNet LA gets on Dish Network before any NYC RSN ends up back on there

YES would probably wind up on Dish when the next programming contact comes up...don't forget now that YES is part of the Fox family of networks.

Don CT · Nov 23, 2015

CTListener said:
Right, but Comcast and Cox are the two powerhouses in Connecticut, which has a lot of Yankees fans in the central and western parts of the state and a substantial minority in the east. Cox had no problems with YES over the years.

Yes is still not on in the Enfield franchise. They said it's too far north to be considered "Yankee Country".

MarcB · Nov 23, 2015

Don CT said:
Yes is still not on in the Enfield franchise. They said it's too far north to be considered "Yankee Country".

Actually it is. According to COX.COM and entering 06082 the zip code for Enfield YES is listed for 31-SD and 1031-HD unlike the Meriden and Manchester systems where it's on 30 and 1030.

mvcg66b3r · Nov 23, 2015

Don CT said:
Yes is still not on in the Enfield franchise. They said it's too far north to be considered "Yankee Country".

Perhaps you were thinking of the Cox system in Holland MA, which carries NESN.
http://media.cox.com/support/print_media/tv/cls/ne_cle/cl_holland.pdf