Columbus Locals on Dish Network

[crepehanger]

I'm getting different stories from three stations on why Dish doesn't carry Columbus locals. Does anybody out there know the real reason? Columbus is the ONLY local DMA in Georgia not carried on Dish. On top of this, there are a lot of DMAs across the nation smaller in market share than Columbus that are carried by Dish.

[Bill]

I know someone who has Dish Network and they receive all the local HD stations, it's using OTA of course, but converts via the Dish box.

[williemon]

Not sure about Dish. I know Directv does not have the locals for here and we are ranked something like 124 on the dma. I figured dish would see us like directv does and say we are a small market.

I get HD locals OTA but I have to use the HD DVR in order for them to convert and come into the tv via the same input as the sat. I also record the locals with the HD DVR where as the SD DVR would not record them. Dish may be the same on this.

As far as why locals are not carried via dish or Directv, I had been told by both when I was looking to purchase sat programming that they would have locals this year. Now that I have directv, I had to work out a deal so I could record my locals, and I was told that columbus GA is not on the list for this year for HD locals. I think that neither dish nor directv will carry our locals untill HD is running full on all stations here, which it is not at the moment. Also, the stations have to submit in advance from my understanding to be carried. I figure they will submit in a month or two to be carried for next year. Just my two cents. May be wrong, but it was fun typing.

[DADRAD99]

I have Dish-HD and get the local HD stations OTA for free with an antenna. I live in Phenix City and get 80-90% signal strength. Why worry about Dish giving us locals? The only problem I have is that the local program info is not shown on my guide so I have to have the TV Guide handy. Also, I have to use manual timers when I want to record something.

[Alan Gordon]

williemon said:

Not sure about Dish. I know Directv does not have the locals for here and we are ranked something like 124 on the dma. I figured dish would see us like directv does and say we are a small market.

Columbus, GA is DMA #127 (down from DMA #125 last year), and while Dish and DirecTV does see Columbus, GA as a smaller market, Dish Network carries my locals (Albany, GA DMA #147), and DirecTV doesn't.

A lot of times the satellite providers look at their customer base (how many subscribers they have that will be eligible for local channels), and if that town has less subscribers, they will often forget about that market. Another thing that is often taken into account is who owns the local stations, and what their relationship is like with them.

williemon said:

I get HD locals OTA but I have to use the HD DVR in order for them to convert and come into the tv via the same input as the sat. I also record the locals with the HD DVR where as the SD DVR would not record them. Dish may be the same on this.

That is correct!!

williemon said:

As far as why locals are not carried via dish or Directv, I had been told by both when I was looking to purchase sat programming that they would have locals this year. Now that I have directv, I had to work out a deal so I could record my locals, and I was told that columbus GA is not on the list for this year for HD locals. I think that neither dish nor directv will carry our locals untill HD is running full on all stations here, which it is not at the moment. Also, the stations have to submit in advance from my understanding to be carried. I figure they will submit in a month or two to be carried for next year. Just my two cents. May be wrong, but it was fun typing.

While both Dish Network and DirecTV are looking for ways to offer more local feeds, DirecTV has decided to focus on HD local channels (and has appeared to give up on SD local channels... though they could add a market or two sometime this year). Dish Network may add some more SD local channel markets since they said it's only financially feasible for them to provide HD locals in the top 50 markets.

DirecTV will not get finished with the top 100 markets this year, but will be adding locals like crazy next year when two more of their satellites go up.

When Dish Network and DirecTV go into a city with local channels, they try and make deals with the top four networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC), as well as PBS, and then focus on smaller channels like UPN and WB. If DirecTV or Dish doesn't want to go after a channel (usually either PBS, WB, UPN, independent, etc...), the station can file to be carried under "Must Carry" rules set forth by the FCC. Often, if the satellite carrier has deals with the top four (or sometimes the top 3 when they're working out the technical details on the 4th), they will go ahead and put up the channels, and fill out the package later...

~Alan