(10-01-2019 03:50 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 01:04 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 12:45 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 08:35 AM)stever20 Wrote:  so here we are 5 days later and Fox is still dark on Disk/Sling.

October is such a huge month for Fox with baseball playoffs, college football games, NFL of course, and of course SmackDown comes to Fox this week. If they don't resolve it soon- it may be a real long term situation....

It will be intersting for sure.

Dish/Sling has drawn a real hard line in the sand about local channels.

yeah..

Of course the real long term line in the sand... Feb 2 when Fox hosts the Super Bowl. And would even say 2 weeks prior- as the NFC championship game takes place(that's a lot of years the #2 viewed event of the entire tv year).

Subscribers will get fed up long before that. NFL fans won't put up with missing every Fox NFL game on Sundays, there are baseball fans who will not put up with missing the World Series, and there must be subscribers who don't follow sports but want to watch some prime time shows on Fox.

Seems like a strange game of chicken that both Dish and DirecTV are playing. Maybe both are trying to reduce overhead in the short term so that their balance sheets look better to possible buyers?

If it was not for the OTA problem for Fox. NFL and Super Bowl games will be available. The only problem is the FS1, FS2, And BTN, and that is regional. I have Dish and and can hook up an OTA easy enough.

(10-02-2019 04:15 AM)sierrajip Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 03:50 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 01:04 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 12:45 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 08:35 AM)stever20 Wrote:  so here we are 5 days later and Fox is still dark on Disk/Sling.

October is such a huge month for Fox with baseball playoffs, college football games, NFL of course, and of course SmackDown comes to Fox this week. If they don't resolve it soon- it may be a real long term situation....

It will be intersting for sure.

Dish/Sling has drawn a real hard line in the sand about local channels.

yeah..

Of course the real long term line in the sand... Feb 2 when Fox hosts the Super Bowl. And would even say 2 weeks prior- as the NFC championship game takes place(that's a lot of years the #2 viewed event of the entire tv year).

Subscribers will get fed up long before that. NFL fans won't put up with missing every Fox NFL game on Sundays, there are baseball fans who will not put up with missing the World Series, and there must be subscribers who don't follow sports but want to watch some prime time shows on Fox.

Seems like a strange game of chicken that both Dish and DirecTV are playing. Maybe both are trying to reduce overhead in the short term so that their balance sheets look better to possible buyers?

If it was not for the OTA problem for Fox. NFL and Super Bowl games will be available. The only problem is the FS1, FS2, And BTN, and that is regional. I have Dish and and can hook up an OTA easy enough.

That is why CBS SN and POP TV are not on Sling. CBS wouldn't let them have the cable nets without the OTA network. Sling does not want anymore OTA networks. With Fox being leaner and Sling never having BTN, Fox news and Fox business, the average Sling user is only missing FS1 and FS2.

(10-01-2019 03:42 PM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 01:04 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 12:45 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(10-01-2019 08:35 AM)stever20 Wrote:  so here we are 5 days later and Fox is still dark on Disk/Sling.

October is such a huge month for Fox with baseball playoffs, college football games, NFL of course, and of course SmackDown comes to Fox this week. If they don't resolve it soon- it may be a real long term situation....

It will be intersting for sure.

Dish/Sling has drawn a real hard line in the sand about local channels.

yeah..

Of course the real long term line in the sand... Feb 2 when Fox hosts the Super Bowl. And would even say 2 weeks prior- as the NFC championship game takes place(that's a lot of years the #2 viewed event of the entire tv year).

The local Fox stations are not much of an issue unless one lives out of range of a digital antenna. I have access to two local Fox stations with my mid-range (35-50 mile) indoor antenna where I live.

In addition, I haven't purchased it, but Sling has an option with AirTV which integrates OTA stations received on an antenna into the Sling channel selection and DVR capabilities. AirTV does represent an added one time expense. Depending on the setup one would want, equipment purchase of either $79.99 reduced by a $25.00 credit to the Sling bill or $119.99 reduced by a $50.00 credit to the Sling bill would be required. There are some other uses for the equipment, but its main purpose is integration with Sling.

https://airtv.net/

The main reason I haven't either jumped on the AirTV option or switched to another provider with local channel access like YouTubeTV is that I rarely go to the OTA channels. I can get most of what I want to watch from them with the network apps and through a CBS All Access subscription. I subscribe to CBS All Access mainly because of the extra content since I have access to two CBS stations OTA. Sling has NBC On Demand and had Fox On Demand for those areas without a deal with their local Fox channel. I still use NBC On Demand and go to the OTA option for the other local channels.

The carriage dispute is a minor inconvenience for me right now with access to NFL Network, Redzone, a plethora of ESPN channels including ESPN3 and ESPN+, SEC Network, SEC+, the ACC Network, ACC Extra, the PAC12 Network, NBC SportsNetwork, Stadium, BEIN, MLB Network, NHL Network, NBA TV, the Tennis Channel, and CBS All Access in addition to OTA access, there are more games than I can reasonably watch even without FS1 and BTN. It is a whole lot more than I had access to as a kid with maybe one or two local channels coupled with an occasional Houston channel on a good day.

Back to Dish-Sling/FS1-FS2-FoxLocal, the channels I am missing right now are FS1, FS2, and BTN. That is primarily FS1 and BTN since those are some of the channels I occasionally watch during football season. I rarely watch anything on FS2.

I have Hulu Live to stream channels, but also set up AirTV for OTA channels (which, as of this past week, now uses the Sling app for channel surfing even if you don't have a Sling subscription). This is mainly so that I have access to WGN and PBS (neither of which are available on Hulu Live in the Chicago market). Assuming that you can get a good OTA signal from your home, the AirTV is a nice setup since it can stream that OTA signal to any TV in your home without directly connecting that TV to an antenna. (For instance, my antenna and AirTV are in an upstairs guest bedroom where it can get the best OTA signal for my house. This allows me to get those OTA channels through the Sling app on my Roku devices in the family room and basements TVs where it would have been difficult/impossible to have direct antenna connections.)

For NFL fans, this is also a way to get access to whatever games are playing in your home market even if you're traveling. Since what you're watching is your own home OTA signal, you can travel anywhere and receive your home channels through your mobile device and there aren't any blackouts. So, as a Bears fan, I can watch the Bears games on my local Fox or CBS station through AirTV (via the Sling app) regardless of where I might be traveling to in the US without any need for Sunday Ticket.

Dish Network is also blacking out the NFL Network to those who live in markets where Fox is blacked out, if no deal is reached by tonight (which is looking unlikely).

(10-03-2019 12:31 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Dish Network is also blacking out the NFL Network to those who live in markets where Fox is blacked out, if no deal is reached by tonight (which is looking unlikely).

Is it Dish doing that or is it the NFL? (My guess is that it's the NFL in order to provide leverage to Fox. It's similar to how Fox and the Big Ten threatened to black out Big Ten games on Fox and FS1 last year when BTN carriage negotiations were coming down to the wire.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz90miA6JaQ

From a cord cutting perspective. If that is what the Fox and BTN wants, more power to them. Make the money while you can..

(10-04-2019 05:22 AM)sierrajip Wrote:  From a cord cutting perspective. If that is what the Fox and BTN wants, more power to them. Make the money while you can..

It is working at least in my case. I gave Dish a week to come to a resolution and am now in the free trial period for YouTube TV as I am not missing playoff baseball and college football on FS1 and BTN. So far, I have been impressed with the interface and DVR functionality of YouTube TV. I plan on heavy testing of YouTube TV this weekend and if Dish and Fox do not come to a resolution by Monday, dropping Dish.

(10-04-2019 08:43 AM)MadisonHawk Wrote:  

(10-04-2019 05:22 AM)sierrajip Wrote:  From a cord cutting perspective. If that is what the Fox and BTN wants, more power to them. Make the money while you can..

It is working at least in my case. I gave Dish a week to come to a resolution and am now in the free trial period for YouTube TV as I am not missing playoff baseball and college football on FS1 and BTN. So far, I have been impressed with the interface and DVR functionality of YouTube TV. I plan on heavy testing of YouTube TV this weekend and if Dish and Fox do not come to a resolution by Monday, dropping Dish.

YouTube tv was a good product, while I had it. I like the DVR options that Dish offers better, and not having Fox or the BTN does not affect me.

Apparently Dish and Fox reached an agreement. According to the http://www.keepfox.com site (Fox's propaganda site for the dispute):

"We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with DISH and Sling, and they are immediately restoring their subscribers’ access to the FOX networks and television stations. We are grateful to our viewers for their patience during this disruption."

I have not seen an announcement elsewhere.

(10-06-2019 06:43 AM)MadisonHawk Wrote:  Apparently Dish and Fox reached an agreement. According to the http://www.keepfox.com site (Fox's propaganda site for the dispute):

"We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with DISH and Sling, and they are immediately restoring their subscribers’ access to the FOX networks and television stations. We are grateful to our viewers for their patience during this disruption."

I have not seen an announcement elsewhere.

It is back on the programming guide, so it is true.

(10-05-2019 04:03 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  

(10-04-2019 08:43 AM)MadisonHawk Wrote:  

(10-04-2019 05:22 AM)sierrajip Wrote:  From a cord cutting perspective. If that is what the Fox and BTN wants, more power to them. Make the money while you can..

It is working at least in my case. I gave Dish a week to come to a resolution and am now in the free trial period for YouTube TV as I am not missing playoff baseball and college football on FS1 and BTN. So far, I have been impressed with the interface and DVR functionality of YouTube TV. I plan on heavy testing of YouTube TV this weekend and if Dish and Fox do not come to a resolution by Monday, dropping Dish.

YouTube tv was a good product, while I had it. I like the DVR options that Dish offers better, and not having Fox or the BTN does not affect me.

Using UTUBE the last couple of weekends for free for HD streaming for games. Impressed with the quality of the product. Actually just as clear as my cable or better in quality.

(10-06-2019 11:53 PM)panite Wrote:  Using UTUBE the last couple of weekends for free for HD streaming for games. Impressed with the quality of the product. Actually just as clear as my cable or better in quality.

I am impressed with YouTube TV also. The picture quality was better than Charter Spectrum when I switched a year ago and on par with Dish. No issues with buffering or inconsistent quality like when I occasionally get when streaming through ESPN or Fox Sports. Also, the DVR Library is really nice with unlimited cloud storage for up to nine months. Finally, the mobile flexibility is seamless compared to Dish and Charter Spectrum.

Someone else has probably already mentioned this elsewhere, but if any of the streaming providers lose access to local channels in the future, the not-for-profit service locast.org might be the answer if you live in one of the DMA's where locast.org transmits the signal. The service is free except for any donations you might want to make. You can use the locast.org app on your Roku and other devices to access the service. Set up is easy requiring an initial setup of an account. Once you have completed the process, locast.org uses your location to determine if you are in one of the serviced DMA's and then provides a channel listing.

I have a digital antenna which receives signals from the area north and south of me, but at least one of the major channels is not available to me due to line of site issues. Locast gets around that.

Here's a link showing the markets currently supported. https://www.locast.org/markets/ In some instances, the area covered is extensive. For example almost all of South Dakota and well over 1/2 of Colorado are in service areas.

(10-07-2019 12:20 PM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  Someone else has probably already mentioned this elsewhere, but if any of the streaming providers lose access to local channels in the future, the not-for-profit service locast.org might be the answer if you live in one of the DMA's where locast.org transmits the signal. The service is free except for any donations you might want to make. You can use the locast.org app on your Roku and other devices to access the service. Set up is easy requiring an initial setup of an account. Once you have completed the process, locast.org uses your location to determine if you are in one of the serviced DMA's and then provides a channel listing.

I have a digital antenna which receives signals from the area north and south of me, but at least one of the major channels is not available to me due to line of site issues. Locast gets around that.

Here's a link showing the markets currently supported. https://www.locast.org/markets/ In some instances, the area covered is extensive. For example almost all of South Dakota and well over 1/2 of Colorado are in service areas.

This sounds like a previous company who’s name I forget that tried this also. As long as location pays the local station it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Otherwise they’ll be sued like the others and disappear.

(10-07-2019 04:21 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(10-07-2019 12:20 PM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  Someone else has probably already mentioned this elsewhere, but if any of the streaming providers lose access to local channels in the future, the not-for-profit service locast.org might be the answer if you live in one of the DMA's where locast.org transmits the signal. The service is free except for any donations you might want to make. You can use the locast.org app on your Roku and other devices to access the service. Set up is easy requiring an initial setup of an account. Once you have completed the process, locast.org uses your location to determine if you are in one of the serviced DMA's and then provides a channel listing.

I have a digital antenna which receives signals from the area north and south of me, but at least one of the major channels is not available to me due to line of site issues. Locast gets around that.

Here's a link showing the markets currently supported. https://www.locast.org/markets/ In some instances, the area covered is extensive. For example almost all of South Dakota and well over 1/2 of Colorado are in service areas.

This sounds like a previous company who’s name I forget that tried this also. As long as location pays the local station it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Otherwise they’ll be sued like the others and disappear.

It looks like there already is a lawsuit. Here's a link to a Consumer Reports article about the issue dated July 31, 2019. https://www.consumerreports.org/tv-servi...adcasters/

According to the article, the difference this time is that locast is a nonprofit. They contend that they are operating under a Congressional exception which allows a nonprofit to rebroadcast as long as the nonprofit receives "no direct or commercial advantage". Below is an extract from locast.org's knowledge base about the question "How does Locast.org comply with copyright?"

Quote:...Any “non-profit organization” could make a “secondary transmission” of a local broadcast signal, provided the non-profit did not receive any “direct or indirect commercial advantage” and either offered the signal for free or for a fee “necessary to defray the actual and reasonable costs” of providing the service. 17 U.S.C. 111(a)(5)...

https://helpcenter.locast.org/portal/kb/...-copyright

Locast.org recently filed a countersuit against the networks. https://fox17online.com/2019/09/27/non-p...x-and-nbc/

It will be interesting follow.