Was over on www.wtnh.com and saw this website http://www.iwantwtnhtv.com/. It says MetroCast Cable will be dropping WTNH, WCTX, and WPRI all LIN TV stations as of October 7, 2007. To me it doesn't look like its the cable companies fault at all as it looks like LIN TV wants to charge a penny to have these channels on the cable line-up. I could be wrong. Anyone got info to add to this. Im surprised no one has posted this yet.
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WTNH 8, My TV 9, WPRI 12 Dropped From Cable Line-Up
- Thread starter radiolives
- Start date
The eastern part of the state which includes; East Lyme, Griswold, Killingly, Montville, New London Old Lyme, Plainfield, Putnam, Sterling and Waterford.
And they don't have FOX 64 on their line-up so thats why they aren't talking about that station in this. Only WTNH, WCTX, and WPRI are in talk. For people who can't see CBS or ABC programs they can put on ABC 6 from RI as that is on their line-up or WFSB Channel 3 for CBS programs.
And they don't have FOX 64 on their line-up so thats why they aren't talking about that station in this. Only WTNH, WCTX, and WPRI are in talk. For people who can't see CBS or ABC programs they can put on ABC 6 from RI as that is on their line-up or WFSB Channel 3 for CBS programs.
Thanks to the cable act of 1996 (?), broadcast stations in-market can ask to be compensated for carriage on cable systems. They do have "must carry" status, but they also have the right to request some sort of compensation in exchange for placement on the system. In many cases, the big owners (i.e. network O&Os) can require cable channels owned by their corporations be carried in exchange for carriage of the local affiliate. For example, Fox did this with their owned and operated stations to get channels such as FX and FNC on cable systems in big markets.
In other words, if a qualified in-market broadcaster requests carriage, they must be put on the system. But they can also withhold rights of carriage too. And, here's the worst part: if a cable system in the Boston DMA were to dump WHDH, they could not just pick up WJAR or WWLP - unless those channels are "significantly viewed" in the cable system's coverage area (usually meaning that they are already on there). The local network affiliate has exclusive rights within their market (with certain exceptions). In past incidents, cable systems have tried to substitute a neighboring markets affiliate and they inevitably ended up pulling the plug under court injunction.
In the end, network broadcasters usually have the cable system over a barrel. But, in this case, you could find yourself permanently losing a secondary affiliate like WPRI over it. As this system has 2 sets of affiliates, this battle could be interesting.
By the way, it is the little shopping and religious nutball channels that scream for "must carry" status - thus bumping better channels off of cable. The popular channels don't need to do this - instead, they use extortion. A lose-lose situation.
This was one of the many bad aspects of that cable act, which was supposed to be good for consumers. In the end, it was only good for broadcasters and cable companies - and really bad for the rest of us. Remember the example of cable TV the next time you want government to come to your rescue. :
In other words, if a qualified in-market broadcaster requests carriage, they must be put on the system. But they can also withhold rights of carriage too. And, here's the worst part: if a cable system in the Boston DMA were to dump WHDH, they could not just pick up WJAR or WWLP - unless those channels are "significantly viewed" in the cable system's coverage area (usually meaning that they are already on there). The local network affiliate has exclusive rights within their market (with certain exceptions). In past incidents, cable systems have tried to substitute a neighboring markets affiliate and they inevitably ended up pulling the plug under court injunction.
In the end, network broadcasters usually have the cable system over a barrel. But, in this case, you could find yourself permanently losing a secondary affiliate like WPRI over it. As this system has 2 sets of affiliates, this battle could be interesting.
By the way, it is the little shopping and religious nutball channels that scream for "must carry" status - thus bumping better channels off of cable. The popular channels don't need to do this - instead, they use extortion. A lose-lose situation.
This was one of the many bad aspects of that cable act, which was supposed to be good for consumers. In the end, it was only good for broadcasters and cable companies - and really bad for the rest of us. Remember the example of cable TV the next time you want government to come to your rescue. :
Ken said:
I know, but the problem is some of the syndicated shows that air on those channels. For example, "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" are on WPRI in Providence, and WTNH in Hartford/New Haven. And if MetroCast drops both of those, then no one with that system will be able to watch those shows.
ssetta said:
Your right. And people won't get to see UCONN Basketball if they don't get WTNH back soon as WTXX doesn't have UCONN Men's Basketball and Football from ESPN Plus anymore which is a shame.
Ken said:
LIN Communications owns all three signals, so it's a package deal. And, let's not solely blame MetroCast for this - LIN is playing hardball too. In the end, I am sure that they'll make a deal and the channels will remain. Too many subscribers will scream if they don't. These sorts of things happen in various parts of the country now and then - the cable system sometimes drops the channels for a few days by, in the end, a deal is made.
I do wonder about WPRI, though. To me, carriage of that station could be in jeopardy. It depends on the deal that is cut with LIN, I suppose. If LIN wants WPRI to stay, then they probably will. All of this has to do with dollars and cents, though.
Well, I mean, I can see them dropping WPRI, because it's an out-of-market station. But WTNH and My9 are in-market. I know that most of the area south of Boston used to get WPRI on cable, but as of now, I think the only part of Massachusetts that really gets it is Bristol Co., which is in the Providence market.
ssetta said:
WPRI can claim significantly viewed status, and it historically served eastern CT because WTNH's OTA signal is not good in much of that area. What makes this interesting is that the issue involves the owner of the in-market and out of market signals. If LIN did not own both WTNH and WPRI, then I'd wager on WPRI being gone. But, it's not necessarily in LIN's best interest to have that happen in this area of the state. So, it will be interesting to see what happens.
BTW (a bit off topic)- WPRI is carried in Bristol County, MA (Fall River/New Bedford), southern Plymouth County (Wareham area), and on most of Cape Cod, MV and Nantucket. It has been dropped in most other parts of MA (although WJAR still has decent coverage in central MA).
Even more unfair was the way in which COX dropped every single Boston channel from every single cable system in Rhode Island. Channels that come in perfectly well OTA - but COX didn't care to air them. To me, Rhode Islanders get the rawest deal of all.
I didn't count 44 on purpose. PBS stations are governed by different rules. You all know what I mean. Besides, that actually bolsters my point that it's easy for COX RI to carry those Boston signals.
Where's TV 38, for example? Or, for that matter, 4, 5 and 7? All of which send a pretty good OTA signal over most of the state? What if you commute to a job in the Boston area (which is really close to places like Woonsocket or Pawtucket)? No Boston area news for you.
Yet if you cross the border from East Providence to Seekonk (in some cases that means crossing the street) and you magically get more than double the OTA channels carried on your cable system. Considering that most of those same channels were formerly carried on cable in at least 2/3 of RI, it doesn't seem fair - now does it?
Where's TV 38, for example? Or, for that matter, 4, 5 and 7? All of which send a pretty good OTA signal over most of the state? What if you commute to a job in the Boston area (which is really close to places like Woonsocket or Pawtucket)? No Boston area news for you.
Yet if you cross the border from East Providence to Seekonk (in some cases that means crossing the street) and you magically get more than double the OTA channels carried on your cable system. Considering that most of those same channels were formerly carried on cable in at least 2/3 of RI, it doesn't seem fair - now does it?
LIN played hard ball with the DTV channels for WPRI and WNAC and it pissed a lot of people off that wanted to get CBS and FOX sports in HD. They finally came to terms, but I'm sure this is the same case in CT.
As for COX dropping the Boston stations I was told that it was due to federal blackout restrictions and that the non-local market station gets blacked out and the local station gets preference when the same programming is up against itself. Turns out COX didn't want to deal with this. You could see TV38 make a return now that it is an independent station. We do get CW56 news at 10p on COX Sports 3.
As for COX dropping the Boston stations I was told that it was due to federal blackout restrictions and that the non-local market station gets blacked out and the local station gets preference when the same programming is up against itself. Turns out COX didn't want to deal with this. You could see TV38 make a return now that it is an independent station. We do get CW56 news at 10p on COX Sports 3.
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