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The Programming Disputes Thread

Great in Yakima and the Lower Valley, OK in Ellensburg (with translators), not so much anywhere else. Lot of hills blocking those in the upper Kittitas Valley from local TV (and they are locked into Yakima DMA for satellite), same with those in places like Naches and parts of Selah...
 
Just had to ask, as I've never been in Washington state (furthest west for me is Chicago and Bedford Park, IL). Meanwhile, WCSH-TV (NBC) channel 6 of Portland, ME mentioned a dispute with the Spectrum cable provider in Portland. Spectrum replaced the former Time-Warner Cable in town some time back. The evil Sinclair owns their local CBS station and Hearst owns the ABC station.
 
well, Tenga now has a dispute with Spectrum. that means a dispute is impacting DFW on both satellite providers, U-Verse and Spectrum.

disputes with channels impacted are on a list.


Dish (and it's streaming sister service SlingTV): currently in dispute with Fox, Sinclair Broadcasting Group and HBO

channels removed:
KDFW Fox 4
KDFI 27 aka Fox 4 More
FS1
FS2
Big Ten Network
Fox Soccer Plus
FSN RSNs (DFW's RSN is Fox Sports Southwest)
HBO/Cinemax (all of the HBO and Cinemax channels together).


AT&T U-Verse/DirecTV: U-Verse lost the NFL Network, while all of AT&T platforms are in a ongoing dispute with Sinclair, but Sinclair's dispute maybe in the process of either being resolved or going to a blackout after a extension was reached. also they had a dispute with Anthem Sport and Entertainment over carraige of Pursuit Channel, which lead to it being removed from U-Verse and downgraded to SD only on DirecTV.

channels removed:
NFL Network (U-Verse only)
Pursuit Channel (channel removed on U-verse, downgraded to SD only on DirecTV)

dispute unofficially resolved/short term deal reach, still at risk of removal:
all Disney owned networks in Disney dispute (unofficially resolved), DFW's ABC station is owened by TEGNA, not Disney, so only their national channels were impacted.
Sinclar Broadasting Group (unofficially reached short term deal or unofficially resolved), Tennis Channel was in the dispute and could had impact north Texas tennis fans had it been removed, otherwise, not much impact on this one for DFW AT&T customers.


Spectrum: now facing dispute with TEGNA

channels at risk of removal:
WFAA Channel 8 (DFW's local ABC station, TEGNA owns it.)

bascally, these 3 provider cover the tradition paid TV coverage in North Texas.
 
https://www.wgrz.com/spectrum

Tegna has issued a statement saying that there will be a dispute with Spectrum

Starting at 1:59 a.m. October 1, WGRZ may not be available on Spectrum . That means you could lose access to your favorite NBC programming, including NFL Sunday Night Football and Notre Dame football, entertainment programming such as The Voice, This Is Us, Chicago P.D., and Law & Order: SVU, as well as your local news, weather and sports. Tell Spectrum to keep WGRZ, by calling 1-844-757-2826.

Information about WGRZ on Spectrum
In order for WGRZ to be delivered to your home, we negotiate agreements for the rights to carry our station with video service providers like Spectrum. WGRZ has agreements in place with all of the video providers in our area, including DIRECTV, Comcast and DISH. Over the past several years, we have successfully reached multi-year agreements with some of the largest distributors in the country, including DIRECTV, Comcast, DISH and many more.

Unfortunately, so far, Spectrum has refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with us. If a deal is not reached by 1:59 a.m. October 1, Spectrum subscribers could lose access to WGRZ.

Q: Why is Spectrum refusing to reach an agreement to carry WGRZ?

A: We cannot speak for Spectrum. But here is what our audience should know: WGRZ is committed to reaching fair, market-based agreements with all the video service providers in our area. Our track record proves it. Over the past few years, we reached hundreds of multi-year deals with cable and satellite companies all across the country, including DIRECTV, Comcast, DISH and many others. It has been disappointing that Spectrum, so far, has refused to reach an agreement.
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Wait a minute, you're saying all the Sinclair channels were kicked off DISH and I didn't know this? Including locals like KIMA, KOMO, KATU?
 
If Spectrum is in a dispute with Tegna that will probably affect WATN and WLMT in Memphis in areas of West TN where they are carried now that the deal with Nexstar is complete. But it won't affect directly in Memphis since Comcast has most of the area.

Spectrum has become worse with contract disputes as well but the only problem in my area was the dispute with Tribune last year. WATN and WLMT aren't on Spectrum in the Jackson area so it isn't affecting me. But they are the lesser of the evils and still seem to be in fewer disputes than Dish or DirecTV. I eventually plan to go to a streaming service once I can convince my wife and daughter of it, but I will stay with Spectrum before I go to Dish or AT&T.
 
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In Michigan, the only Tegna station is WZZM (ABC) in Grand Rapids. It would have some effect, but not as much as it could as:
(a) there are very few Spectrum systems that have only WZZM for ABC [the Grand Rapids market also has Nexstar-owned WOTV for ABC (see note)] and
(b) Grand Rapids proper is served by Xfinity

Note: Only the Spectrum systems in Grant, Lakeview, and Newaygo have exclusively WZZM for ABC (Howard City, which is between Newaygo and Lakeview, does have WOTV on cable). However, Spectrum systems in Coldwater and Sturgis have exclusively WOTV for ABC (and have never carried WZZM AFAIK). Also, Spectrum systems in Big Rapids, Ludington, and Reed City (all Traverse City DMA) used to have only WZZM until a few years ago, when in-market ABC WGTU was added to the Spectrum lineups in those areas.
 
It might be worthwhile to mention that the reason for these disputes is because of legislation that required satellite and cable companies to pay broadcasters and content providers a retransmission fee. Those fees have become a greater source of revenue for some of these companies than advertising. Here is a list of the regulations that have led to these programming disputes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retransmission_consent

Someone has to hold the line on increasing content fees. Cable and satellite companies have gone to Congress to ask for additional regulations to control the rising costs, but so far to no avail.
 
https://www.multichannel.com/news/tegna-grants-charter-temporary-extension-as-retrans-talks-continue

as of today its been changed to negotiations between Tegna and Spectrum.

Tegna, which hours ago warned Charter Spectrum customers that they could lose access to programming from their 45 television stations across the country at 10:59 p.m. Pacific Time Mondy, said it has granted the cable operator a temporary extension as talks continue.

tegna-foundation-logo-bcjpg
Tegna said earlier Monday that 45 stations in 37 markets including Seattle, St. Louis, Dallas, Cleveland and Atlanta were in danger of going dark if a retrans deal wasn’t reached. At the time, Tegna said that Charter had “refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with us.”

That attitude changed later in the day. While no specific timeframe for the extension was given, Charter customers apparently won’t have to sweat out a late-night blackout for now.

On its station websites, Tegna said it and Charter “have agreed to a temporary extension
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The Seattle TEGNA cluster would only be affected in Wenatchee and Ellensburg (latter is part time and blacked out most of the day anyways).
 
I will get cable up here this weekend, but I know KOMO and KING are cleared for local news and local programs (i.e. KING's New Day NW, KOMO's Seattle Refined). I don't think syndicated is cleared and obviously not network. And, no HD feed...all 480i SD. I have another friend on campus who has told me about these part-time feeds.
 

Dish has announced that they are in a contract dispute with NBC Sports Chicago.

Another day, another carriage dispute. We’ve written plenty about the recent Sinclair-AT&T/DirecTV and Fox/Dish disputes, but another one has now entered the fray.

The latest carriage dispute is between NBC Sports Chicago and Dish Network, and Dish pulled the RSN from their lineup in the early hours of Tuesday morning. In a press release, Dish claimed that they proposed a short-term extension that NBC Sports Chicago rejected, leading to Dish pulling the network. Dish also broke out more scare tactics and claimed that “NBC Sports is demanding payment on a guaranteed minimum number of subscribers” and that by losing the Cubs to Sinclair’s new channel, the network’s value has been diminished (despite the presence of the White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks on the network).
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https://awfulannouncing.com/local-n...o-as-yet-another-carriage-dispute-begins.html
 
This one has been going on for a month out in Colorado: https://awfulannouncing.com/local-n...home-of-the-nuggets-avalanche-and-rapids.html

This basically is limiting Altitude Sports to Charter Spectrum, which doesn't serve much of the population in Colorado, but is the dominant cable provider in Montana, western Nebraska, and Wyoming. Right now, it is easier to watch the Avalanche, Nuggets, and Rapids in Chicago or Los Angeles than it is in Colorado (Comcast is dominant in Colorado (serving almost all of the Front Range megalopolis from Fort Collins to Pueblo); Charter Spectrum serves most of rural Colorado)
 
Man, Warren Schlichting sure has been busy with these dispute videos. Bulls fans won't be happy come November if it keeps going.
 
https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/nfl-network-thursday-night-football-blackout-dish.html

When Dish pulled down the Fox channels (owned-and-operated Fox broadcast affiliates, FS1, BTN and FS2) on Sept. 26, one of the affected sports properties was Fox’s Thursday Night Football NFL games, but there were some potential workarounds for affected Dish and Sling TV subscribers. The Fox Thursday night games are usually also simulcast on NFL Network, which Dish and Sling both carry, and last week’s game (Eagles-Packers, which took place only hours after those channels were dropped) was viewable there. But now, no one (even those who don’t have Dish or Sling) will be able to watch this Thursday’s Rams-Seahawks game on NFL Network. The Rams tweeted Thursday that NFLN now won’t be showing the game:
Click to expand...

NFL Network will not air a game due to the Fox/Dish dispute.
 


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