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The Programming Disputes Thread

TheBigA said:
Absolutely, but how much more are those subscribers willing to pay for ESPN? Because ultimately that's what this dispute is about.
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Fortunately, my cable provider has the option of selecting buckets of channels. One of them is the ESPN and Sports package, which has several levels (or did when I last reconfigured). I saved about $18 a month by not having the sports channels.

That saving was, at the time the equivalent of about 20% of the cable portion of my FiOS bundle, so it was a considerable savings.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Fortunately, my cable provider has the option of selecting buckets of channels.
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Not everyone has that choice. These operators know people have other choices besides cable or satellite. If satellite is more expensive because of ESPN, that's a problem. If Disney is bundling their channels, forcing providers to carry all or nothing, that's a problem. So a lot of these disputes ultimately have to do with the monthly price the consumer pays. I know for me the price for the sports package (excluding ESPN) was $5, and now it's $7.
 
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/sinclair-warns-of-station-blackout-with-at-t-outlets

Update a possible Sinclair/AT&T dispute is at play here.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is warning that millions of subscribers to AT&T’s pay-TV services could be blacked out on Sept. 27 unless a new carriage agreement is reached.

Sinclair said its agreement with AT&T was set to expire in August and that it gave AT&T a five-week extension. A blackout would affect 136 TV stations and Sinclair’s Tennis Channel and subscribers to AT&Ts’ DirecTV, U-verse and AT&T TV Now.

AT&T has recently faced blackouts with CBS and with Nexstar Media stations and Sinclair said the way those negotiations played out should concern subscribers.
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https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/disney-and-at-t-reach-new-carriage-agreement

Update AT&T and Disney have a new carriage contract deal.


Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In the past few months AT&T has been involved in carriage disputes with CBS and Nexstar Media Group that have resulted in lengthy blackouts. The company’s CFO said that the blackouts--along with some price increases--contributed to the loss of between 300,000 and 350,000 subscribers in the quarter.

On Friday, another large station owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, said it was operating under a temporary extension with AT&T and that its stations could go dark on Sept. 28.

Disney began warning AT&T subscribers of a potential blackout on Sept. 10.
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meanwhile, after being silent a week after the deadline between AT&T and Disney, the two sides have confirmed the reached a deal in principle, which prevented a blackout of the ESPN suite of channels, Freeform, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD and the Disney O&O ABC stations in markets where Disney owns the ABC stations. so pretty much, the dispute is now unofficially resolved. now AT&T must now focus on Sinclair to prevent another Nextstar or CBS like prolonged blackout.

https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/disney-and-at-t-reach-new-carriage-agreement
 
Dish vs News press & Gazette Co,

Well it is that time again. Dish Network is on an extension to renew its contract for News press gazette co. the dead line is tomorrow. or Palm Springs would loose ABC, CBS, Fox, CW, and Telemundo. Yuma El Centro would loose ABC, Fox,CW Telemundo. Other areas would loose One or more Networks to. Fun, Fun Fun.
 
My local NBC (owned by Sinclair) ran a crawl about the possible upcoming blackout on DirecTV last night. It wouldn't affect me personally as I have Spectrum, but it would affect a lot of people as (a) there are significant portions of the market that have no OTA TV and (b) there are also significant portions of the market that don't have cable service
 
Yikes! That will put a dent into college football this season if this lasts for a long while.
And Sinclair continues to threaten viewers that DIRECTV will dump KIMA-TV + CW9 (channel 20). They are the worst for blackouts.
KNDO IS STILL OFF DIRECTV TO THIS DAY...AND KFFX TOO! That would leave lone ABC as the only commercial broadcast network left on DIRECTV.
 
crainbebo said:
Yikes! That will put a dent into college football this season if this lasts for a long while.
And Sinclair continues to threaten viewers that DIRECTV will dump KIMA-TV + CW9 (channel 20). They are the worst for blackouts.
KNDO IS STILL OFF DIRECTV TO THIS DAY...AND KFFX TOO! That would leave lone ABC as the only commercial broadcast network left on DIRECTV.
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I know KFFX has been off for a while. How long has KNDO been MIA from DirecTV?
 
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/at-t-gives-hill-take-sinclair-impasse

Update on the AT&T/ Sinclair negotiations

As a blackout looms with the current retransmission consent impasse between Sinclair and AT&T--Sinclair is warning DirecTV and U-Verse customers the stations (136 stations in 86 markets) could be off those AT&T-owned MVPDs by Sept. 27--AT&T is framing the impasse for legislators concerned about their constituent/viewers as a still-ongoing negotiation with AT&T, not surprisingly, "on the side of the customer."

AT&T logo
That is according to a letter AT&T sent to members of Congress Thursday (Sept. 26), according to a copy obtained by Multichannel News. AT&T also took the opportunity to put in a pitch for the comprehensive retrans-regime ending bill introduced by Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Steve Scalise (R-La.).
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https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t...jor-broadcasters-antitrust-violations-1243822

Now Locast is accusing Disney, Fox, Comcast and CBS over antitrust violations.

The streamer alleges that ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are engaged in sham copyright litigation and are colluding to deny consumers over-the-air signals they once committed to make freely available.
As alleged in court papers filed on Friday morning, the major broadcasters including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are purposely broadcasting weak over-the-air signals to the public as part of a conspiracy to limit consumer access to popular programming including local news and live sports and force Americans to pay for cable or satellite service.

The claim comes from the owner of Locast, a much-hyped digital app that streams over-the-air television stations. In July, the broadcasters hit Locast with a copyright lawsuit. The legal fight could impact cord-cutting and promises to be a sequel to the Supreme Court's 2014 Aereo decision, which held a streamer of over-the-air stations was illicitly performing copyrighted works.
Of course, the lawsuit over Locast is unique in its own right. Denying any affiliation with Dish and maintaining that it is operating in the red despite a donation from AT&T and some of its users, Locast owner David Goodfriend tells a judge that the company "fits squarely" into a "Congressionally-designated exception to infringement," namely § 111(a)(5) of the Copyright Act, which allows a nonprofit organization to operate a secondary transmission service.

Goodfriend, besides responding to copyright claims, also goes on the counterattack.
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But there is also another issue companies like Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC want to protect their streaming venues in the process.
 
HBO has been going on for at least 1 year.
Apparently Sinclair reached an extension with DIRECTV to keep them on for a temporary amount of time. That doesn't help the fact that they are still under disputes with Northwest Broadcasting and Cowles Publishing, affecting everyone in central WA with no Fox since February and no NBC in 3+ weeks. Absurd. Just absurd.
 


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