Directv/ATT vs Local CBS station... Question

[DD716TED]

Several months ago, our local (Seattle NBC station) was blocked from Direct Tv due to contract dispute.. In my case Sunday Night Football.. at that time Directv posted the name of an APP / WEB site where you could watch the game on a PC and even had it briefly on their DIRECTV APPS page.. then it vanished.. Now Directv and KIRO (CBS Seattle) are at odds over the new Feb 1 contract.. KIRO is telling customers they won't get Super Bowl over Directv if not settled by then.. A Financial ploy with Suoer Bowl the hostage to viewers and putting pressure on KIRO..
I am not taking any chances.. does anyone remember the name of the APP/PC Program that DIRECTV listed that lets you watch local channels..for free but $5 donation is made, deleted commercials..

[haddy1]

The LCC still works after the blackout is resolved. You do receive the sub channels as well. My trip out of the spot beam has been delayed, but I'm thinking that the LCC will work. DTV uses the LCC in some areas where they don't have a local spot beam so the database is constantly updated.

[Carl_n_Susan]

Now that LCC is an interesting idea! Of course AT&T won't give you one unless one or more of your locals have been blacked out. But reality says most of us will have another blackout sometime in the (near) future. I am wondering if I am lucky enough to get a LCC from DTV, what happens when the blackout is resolved? Can I keep it?

The setup instructions seem to imply you have the LCC scan for local channels and the Genie will integrate them into the directory. Can I hop into my RV and move, with my Genie and LCC, to another location (out of my home spot beam), rescan for locals, and now have them available via the Genie. This sure would solve a lot of problems for some of us. Plus it might give us access to the OTA sub-channels (the dot.N ones) that we don't get now?

[haddy1]

If you are in an area that a local is currently blacked out, you can call Directv and ask them to send you a Local channel connector kit (LCC). It will only work on Genie receivers but will integrate all of your local OTA channels into your Genie. The kit comes with an antenna and usb adapter and will work if you can receive OTA signals at your location.

[miltvill]

Most all of the local stations have been purchased by a company or group that owns several channels. They sell the package to TV providers at increased prices and force the TV provider to provide channels that many subscribers do not want to watch. To keep cost down the TV providers will drop a package that may contain a channel you want to watch. I have DISH who dropped my local Fox station in a price dispute with Sunbeam Television Cooperation over retransmission fees. I have an indoor antenna that picks up my local Fox station. I purchased a USB tuner that is designed to work with my Dish equipment and attached my indoor antenna to it. I now get my local Fox station on my Dish DVR just like any other channel.

[Dutch_12078]

FlatBroke wrote:
I’ll add LoCast is a joke. Don’t donate, you get commercials. After the commercial is over you have to go back to the guide and find your Chanel again. Get it to work all the time is a crapshoot

Locast could quite legally charge a user fee to support their service instead of asking for donations. I haven't found the small monthly donation to be excessive for the service I receive though. I even pay another $5/mo to Stremium to add a DVR service for Locast and the other providers they support.

[otrfun]

If Locast doesn't work out for you, you could sign-up for the CBS 7-day free trial. FYI, you will have to provide CC info to sign-up for the free trial. Just have to remember to cancel prior to the end of the trial so you're CC doesn't get charged.

[Gdetrailer]

jorbill2or wrote:
Funny I saw all the local commercials that the local station has on. I have both sat and broadcast and they are almost identical except the broadcast was a better picture . not to say there aren’t some sat ones added. I doubt the sat is contracting the local car dealer and lawyer . Locals are paid buy # of viewing eyes. More eyes more money.

When the commercials are inserted is not always a constant.. Just like local broadcast stations, sat and cable operators have a "sales force" that "sells" commercial time slots.. Time slots may or may not always get bought. But I CAN assure you, it DOES happen..

In the old days much of it was done manually in a editing room, now days most will be done automatically via computer.

I worked for a huge company many yrs ago that owned sat uplink stations all around the US.. In fact, that company when I worked for them OWNED many CBS stations.. Ever here of "Group W", yeah, that was owned by Westinghouse and I worked at Westinghouse.. I used to have to duplicate and send the copies of video material to the nearest uplink facility they owned so they could uplink the video..

Now days, Westinghouse is nothing but a shell of the company I had worked for..

Spent many yrs working with a C band installer, installing and repairing "Big dishes". I actually used a C Band dish up until 2007 when the last program provider stopped handling non commercial customers.

Big dish is still alive for commercial customers, pretty much everything you see on Cable or mini dishes is actually uplinked via C Band, the cable co and mini dish Cos downlink the programs, edit then uplink to their own Ku band sats.. Cable Cos modulate and push out on cable.. Granted with Internet some has shifted to streaming but C band is still in heavy daily use.

[FlatBroke]

I’ll add LoCast is a joke. Don’t donate, you get commercials. After the commercial is over you have to go back to the guide and find your Chanel again. Get it to work all the time is a crapshoot

[jorbill2or]

Funny I saw all the local commercials that the local station has on. I have both sat and broadcast and they are almost identical except the broadcast was a better picture . not to say there aren’t some sat ones added. I doubt the sat is contracting the local car dealer and lawyer . Locals are paid buy # of viewing eyes. More eyes more money.

[Beaker]

You could try Hulu live which did have a 7 day free trial.

[Gdetrailer]

jorbill2or wrote:

bgum wrote:
One would think that the local channels would want DTV and others to carry them as their advertising would reach a large audience therefore be worth more. After all OTA is paid for by advertising.

One would think so but not enough for them. The cable and satellite must pay them to rebroadcast the signal you may be able to get with an antenna. and all the outages are the locals raising prices to the dish and direct that they ( in the end you) refuse to pay. Locast is being sued to stop as they aren’t paying the rebroadcast fees.

Cable and Sat providers insert THEIR OWN commercials over top of the local channels commercials (one or two "spots" per commercial segment), hence the local channels advertising "foot print" is not really expanded and the local channel doesn't see as much or minimal "profit" from cable and sat providers foot print.

OTA broadcasters lobbied and won the right to charge cable and sat providers in the Re transmission Consent in the 1992 Cable act legislation. Up until then ALL cable cos and sat providers that offered ANY locals where under a "MUST CARRY" rule (carry one local channel and you HAD to carry ALL locals in that market). Sat providers at that time often did not "offer" locals at all.

For a good read you can visit FCCs website HERE while that addresses cable, some of also applies to sat providers..

And by the way, cable and sat providers ALSO insert their own commercials on EVERY channel that is not commercial free.. Sometimes you will notice a slight timing issue on the insert where a commercial was too short or too long or timing was off a little and you can see a second or two of the commercial that would have been seen..

[jorbill2or]

bgum wrote:
One would think that the local channels would want DTV and others to carry them as their advertising would reach a large audience therefore be worth more. After all OTA is paid for by advertising.

One would think so but not enough for them. The cable and satellite must pay them to rebroadcast the signal you may be able to get with an antenna. and all the outages are the locals raising prices to the dish and direct that they ( in the end you) refuse to pay. Locast is being sued to stop as they aren’t paying the rebroadcast fees.

[bgum]

One would think that the local channels would want DTV and others to carry them as their advertising would reach a large audience therefore be worth more. After all OTA is paid for by advertising.

[FlatBroke]

I have one of those antennas the you put up in your window, less than $20. Change the input on your TV when any company is having a spat with that particular station. It also has good Ju-Ju. My station came back about a half a day after I installed it. 🙂