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EchoStar Asks Supreme Court to Let Unlock Local Channels
Consul writes "For a long time, satellite television systems were not allowed to broadcast local television signals outside of that local area. But EchoStar is asking the Supreme Court for that to be changed." This particular
issue drives me insane and I hope the courts throw out the lame laws. I don't
care about local programming, they shouldn't force it on me. The same tactics
with Newspapers would be obviously illegal.
This drives me crazy too...if i were to spend all that money on one of the satelitte tv providers, why should i have to additionaly use rabbit-ears (or even local cable) just to get my local stations? it's insane...
however, equally annoying (to me) is some professional sports teams...i understand that they all have their own broadcasting contracts with their local stations...but something needs to be worked out...for instance if you get DirectTV and an NHL package, you can't get most of the Philadelphia Flyers games, because they are broadcast on ComcastSportNet (Comcast owns the Flyers), and Comcast doesn't release the signal to the satelitte TV providers...i think the same thing hold true for the Mets, Yankees and the other MSG teams up in New York...
we live in an age of information, and yet they continue to make it harder for us to get what we want....
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
Satellite Radio, such as XM, are not allowed to broadcast local FM radio stations either. They have to bill XM radios as "mobile" devices, and this is why they are so expensive and you don't see any XM radio units that are standalone stereo's. Sure it can be taken out of your car and moved indoors....but they don't sell any indoor only units, because then it wouldn't be "mobile".
If this law gets thrown out, I suspect it would apply to radio as well (this would be a good thing)
I don't have the specific history in front of me, but I believe that the regulations came about to prevent a local market from losing advertising revenue to a remote market. That and the whole "Providing service to the local community" requirement that's part of every broadcaster's license.
I'll pick an extreme example - let's say you live in Napa, California. Napa has its own affiliate network stations who depend on local ad revenues. The stations wouldn't have to worry about losing business to stations from Chicago.
But if your satellite provider can't/won't/doesn't carry Napa local stations because there isn't enough of a market, but does provide San Francisco channels - it's kind of local news (weather, etc.), but the Napa stations lose ad revenues to San Francisco. Especially since reception in Napa is spotty because of the mountains, so most people go with Dish. (Purely hypothetical example, and probably not based in reality.)
This is most important for very small markets that are near a major market - small towns that are about 40 miles from a major city, for example.
The other thing that Echo is trying to do is get the FCC to tell them that they don't *have* to carry local programming because they don't have the bandwidth to do so for every market they serve. I see their point, but a lot of people are going to be upset if they can't easily get the farm report from their local channel because the nearest locals they can get from the satellite company is 60 miles away.
I'd like to have the option to watch local programming from other markets (places I've lived in the past, etc.), but I also want to make sure that most local markets are available... a difficult proposition, especially if they really don't have the bandwidth to carry them...
These are only semi-informed opinions, BTW... hopefully someone with more concrete knowledge will chime in.
Slashdot comments... splitting hairs since 1997.
My parents had a C-band dish installed about 15 years ago, and it was so interesting to watch local news from big cities, such as LA, NY, and Chicago. You can still find a lot of network feeds on C-band, although its extremely outdated compared to the newer services. I guess the local affiliates didn't make a fuss about c-band because it was expensive and not widely adopted compared to Cable.
Here's the gist:
:D
Originally, they just gave network stations to anyone who asked for them. Mostly New York/LA feeds. Naturally, the local stations were ticked off about this, as they have exclusive copyright over their network's programming for their area (so they argued). They tried to get it prohibited outright. But a lot of people don't get all the networks. My parents have no CBS channel over the antenna, for example.
So, in the Satellite Home Viewer Act (SHVA) (1996? 97?), Congress granted a limited exception to the exclusive programming copyrights enjoyed by TV networks and their affiliated stations because it recognized that limited numbers of households are unable to receive network signals over the air. The exception is a very narrow compulsory copyright license that direct-to-home satellite video providers may use for retransmitting signals of a defined class of television network stations to "persons who reside in unserved households." If defines "unserved household" as someone who:
"cannot receive, through the use of a conventional outdoor rooftop antenna, an over-the-air signal of grade B intensity (as defined by the Federal Communications Commission) of a primary network station affiliated with that network, and has not, with 90 days before the date on which that household subscribes, either initially or on renewal, to receive secondary transmissions by a satellite carrier of a network station affiliated with that network, subscribed to a cable system that provides the signal of a primary network station affiliated with that network."
So my parents would be able to buy CBS, but nobody else. It did provide for waivers as well, which allows my parents to obtain waivers from, say, the local NBC station, and get New York's NBC over the dish.
In 1999, the SHVA was amended by Congress, resulting in the passage of the Satellite Home Viewing Improvement Act (SHVIA). The SHVIA also amends both the 1988 copyright laws and the Communications Act of 1934. One of the key elements of the SHVIA is that it, for the first time, permits satellite carriers to transmit local television broadcast signals into local markets, also known as "local-into-local." This Act also authorizes satellite carriers to provide distant or national broadcast programming to subscribers. "Local-into-local" means that if a satellite customer lives in an area where the satellite company has decided to provide the service, the customer can receive local TV channels.
In short, the satellite company can decide to carry a local markets channels on their feed and offer those channels to that local market without getting waivers or anything. Obviously, they have to work out carry rights with the local stations involved, but that pretty well covers it.
More recently, cable companies have gotten "must-carry" approved into satellite feeds. The principle here basically says "if you carry any local stations in a market, then you have to carry all local stations in that market" in somewhat more complex terms. There's a few catches, such as they don't have to pay to carry a station if the station invokes their must-carry privilege, and so on, but the upshot is that even pointless locals like religious channels nobody watches can get satellite coverage for their area.
DirecTV responded by launching their spot beam satellite. This lets them broadcast to a single spot on the ground, covering one market. The upshot of this is that it vastly increases their total bandwidth, as they can reuse the same frequencies for locals in a bunch of different spots. St. Louis can only see St. Louis, for example. Actually, the spots are quite large, and St. Louis can probably see Chicago stations too, but the principle is basically that. Thus, by reusing all this bandwidth, they have a very simple way to put locals down all over the country without having to waste half their total bandwidth on 300+ "local" channels.
Echostar hasn't got spot beams. And they are subject to must carry too. So they're getting screwed right now. They're looking for any way out they can find. They're trying to eliminate local restrictions, they're trying to get must carry suspended, they're trying to buy DirecTV to have more bandwidth, anything. Because if they don't, they're going to go out of business. Unless they can get some spot beams up real fast. And they can't, for at least a year.
Which is the state of satellite TV.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
This already happens.
The stations pool their monies together to be able to buy programming.
Some programming they are required to carry, like Seasame Street, Nova, and so on.
But after that, they're able to make local decisions on what programs to purchase and run based on what their contributors say.
This is why one station might carry Red Dwarf, but another one will carry Antiques Road Show.
The fact that you can get all those papers is exactly the point. It is ILLEGAL in the US for them to do that with TV. I live in Kansas. And it is illegal for me to recieve out of market stations on a satalite dish, unless I pay extra to make up for "the economic loss that I'm causing by watching their commercials." The newspaper arguement is a perfect one. If I can get out of area news papers, why can't I get out of area TV stations? It's a stupid law.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I'm a hockey fan, hell more than that I'm a sports fan. There, I said it.. and your probably wondering how this is at all relevant.
Well here in Central Arkansas (SEC country) we have a serious issue with our ABC affiliate. In order to bring more Arkansas Razorback games to us, they have entered into a contract with Jefferson Pilot sports. This contract forces ABC to show a bunch of SEC sports programs in lieu of the regular national programs. This means that we rarely get to see the big matchup football games. We regularly miss out on big college football games, hockey games (at least until basketball season is over), and anything else that is nationally shown on Saturday.
This isn't the only issue, however. Take my parents.. they live in a strange valley RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF LITTLE ROCK. The geography of this neighborhood makes it nearly impossible to actually get the local stations via broadcast. So if my parents want to use a satellite (and they do, being from Colorado they like the sports packages that allow them to see Colorado sports games) they have to do without local programming... and this means missing anything broadcast on these stations... They attempted to get a waiver signed by the local affiliates.. but that didn't work out. So now they are forced into "watching" local stations they can not even receive...
So here we have this DSS technology which would allow us to see the games we want (no SEC specials) clearly... and yet it is regulated away from us. Someone fix this... please.
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I got a TiVo and now I don't have to worry at all when something is on. I work late and would miss all of "prime time", but with a TiVo, I can watch the stuff when I get home at 10 or 11. Or I can wait til Saturday when I have more time.
I watch it when I want and fast forward through all the commercials meaning I can get through and hour of programming in 45 minutes. I can save up episodes of a show and watch them in a row...no more, "Damn, I have to wait til next week to figure out what happens."
Changing the law would not change that, except for Congress members from NY and LA. DirectTV uses spot beams for locals, and Dish will be using spot beams soon. Spot beams aim the signal at a relatively small area. So, instead of sending the Seattle locals to the whole country, for example, they just send them to the Seattle area on a spot beam. That lets them use the same frequencies on another spot beam for the Memphis locals.
Only the LA and NY locals are on wide beams, so that they can provide those to people who are in markets whose locals are not available.
There isn't enough capacity on Dish or DirectTV to send everyone's locals everywhere.
I was a satellite dish salesman from 1994 to 2000.
On either of the little dish companies, Dish Network and DirecTV, or for that matter the BUDs (big, ugly dishes) you can get broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC or FOX) from various cities around the country. Actually you can't get them because your elected officials kowtow to the National Association of Broadcasters. If you work in the saltellite business you hate the NAB with the same passion as people here hate the RIAA and Disney. Something called the Satellite Home Viewers Act prohibits you from having broadcast channels from any city other than the one you live closest to. The thing about the newspapers is an analogy to explain the unfairness and of prohibiting you from watching NBC from any city other than the one you live near.
Do you get fuzzy recepting off the antenna from the local broadcast stations? Tough. If you live inside a line on a map called a "grade B contour" you cannot get the distant networks. The standard is severe. For example, here in Missouri, people who live 75 miles west of St. Louis as the crow flies out in the sticks who get crappy reception with big, expensive rooftop antennas are still prohibited from getting distand locals. Very few people in this country live outside the grade signal. Unless you're in the middle of Montana or someplace like that you are prohibited by law from receiving distant broadcast networks.
The NAB has an unusually powerfull hold on our congress because no politician wants to piss off the TV stations in their district. And since satellite dish owners are a small percentage of the electorate, then our elected scumbags side with the rich and powerfull NAB even though the prohibition on distant broadcast signals is unfair and certainly unconstitutional.
I got very involved writting letters to my congressman and senators and talking to customers about this issue back in '97 and '98 before the last Satellite Home Viewers Act and, at the end of it, became totally disgusted with the politcal process because it is clear that both Republicans and Democrats side with the rich and powerfull against the rights of individuals whenever they can get away with it.
Since getting out of the satellite business I've simply stopped watching TV and that's what I reccomend to you. Read a good book, meet friends at Starbucks for conversation, play the new Jedi Knight game. Screw TV.
Let's see, This Old House is WGBH, Boston, as is, if memory serves, Victory Garden, and perhaps Masterpiece Theater and Mystery. The Woodwright's Shop is WUNC, Chapel Hill, NC. Austin City Limits is (surprise) Austin. Washington Week in Review is WETV or something like that in Washington, D.C., KCET in San Diego, or is it L.A.? (I'm doing these from memory, folks) does at least one good show, but I can't remember which at the moment. Nightly Business Report is from the Florida affiliate and Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser was Maryland Public Television until they went insane a couple of weeks ago and gave Rukeyser the boot. (Apparently he wasn't bringing in enough of the pre-pubescent demographic to suit them. I'm expecting it to go to being just plain Wall Street Week and then just plain weak.)
Check the opening or closing credits on most of the PBS shows and you'll see that they come from specific affiliates or state PBS systems. I thing Houston is to blame for "Barney".
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
For example, certain companies (e.g., Sony, Bose, Pioneer Elite) prohibit mail-order and Internet sales of some of their products. Their contracts with retailers prohibit out-of-market selling, allegedly to "ensure that their products are properly set up and supported," but really to protect the margins of the local boutique retailers who cannot compete with mass market stores.
If you want to buy an Elite receiver, you can travel to New York to buy it from J&R, but you cannot mail order it from J&R. In short, you must travel to where the product is sold. This is obviously not fair to the consumer, but it must be legal because they keep doing it.
In the same way, I suspect the networks can claim the right to control how their product is delivered. They have decided to grant regional monopolies to local broadcasters, and using the same principal as Pioneer, they claim the right to prohibit other stations from broadcasting outside of their assigned areas. If you want to watch New York affiliates, you have to travel to the New York area.
This is speculation on my part. IANAL, and I have no first-hand experience with either industry. But, if this regulation is upheld, I'll bet this is the justification used. It's not right, it's not fair, but it's business as usual.
If you really want distant locals you can do one of the following.
1. If you have a Camper/Trailer send a copy of the current registration to Echostar along with a form you can find on dishnetwork.com, and you can qualify for the TruckDrivers/RV waiver and choose up to 2 distant networks.
2. "Move" You tell Dish that you are moving your service address (the bill will still ben sent to your "billing" address). You can either move outside a contour B into a "white area" or into a Market area where locals are provided.
Keep in mind with the second solution choose from NY, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Atlanta. Other cities will be changing over to spot beams and thus will be unavailable outside of about 200 Miles from their home city. The spot beams will be activating sometime soon (whenever they get their newest satellite, Echostar VII operational)