Rep. Sean Duffy introduces bill to allow Wisconsinites in 'orphan' counties to access

[nomadcowatbk]

http://www.noodls.com/view/AE0BC4A5CCBF31FDE4D6AD9A99B98394914526DF?9094xxx1442010666

 

[KeithE4]

Two words: Sunday Ticket.
Five more: Sports bar with Sunday Ticket.

 

[frankberry]

One more word ...... Radio.
Does anyone really believe that Congress could pass this without adding tons of totally unrelated baggage, causing the bill to fail?

 

[mvcg66b3r]

WSAW petitions for satellite carriage in orphan counties

From Northpine.com:

Gray Television's WSAW/7 (Wausau) is asking the FCC to order satellite providers to extend its CBS and FOX channels into two northern Wisconsin counties that are part of the Duluth-Superior market.

The 379-page petition for special relief (part 1, part 2) indicates WSAW has already asked DirecTV and DISH Network to add its signal to customers in Ashland and Iron counties, but the providers have declined carriage based on concerns that the spotbeam carrying the Wausau-market stations is not strong enough in portions of the two counties.

WSAW is now asking the FCC to make a satellite market modification, as allowed by the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) Act of 2014. The provision allows stations' satellite markets to be expanded to include "orphan counties," which are counties that are part of out-of-state TV markets. However, it remains to be seen if WSAW's argument will be successful in this case since Duluth-Superior NBC/CBS affiliate KBJR-TV is licensed to Superior, Wisconsin, and already carries a significant amount of Wisconsin news, sports, and weather programming, as do the market's ABC and FOX affiliates.

 

[TheBigA]

Does anyone really believe that Congress could pass this without adding tons of totally unrelated baggage, causing the bill to fail?

Congress can't pass a budget, much less a personal pet "bridge to nowhere" bill.

 

[Mr Tony]

Whats funny is most cable systems in those 2 counties don't carry WSAW/WSAW-DT3 (WZAW-LD) either. There may be one small cable company carrying them and that is due to the system having a headend closer to Wausau but that is more the exception than the norm.

 

[ftballfan]

Whats funny is most cable systems in those 2 counties don't carry WSAW/WSAW-DT3 (WZAW-LD) either. There may be one small cable company carrying them and that is due to the system having a headend closer to Wausau but that is more the exception than the norm.

Heck, WSAW's sister stations (WLUC/WLUC-DT2) have more carriage in those two counties than WSAW. When it comes to the Pack, WLUC-DT2 is also a member of the Packer TV network (after a controversial switch from the Lions network in 2012 as a result of WLUK being kicked off Charter's UP systems). Prior to 2012, the Lions and Packers both had their entire schedules cleared in the UP (Lions via WWTV, WGKI/WFQX, WMQF, and then WLUC-DT2 and the Packers via WLUC, WJMN, and WLUK).

 

[Mr Tony]

So I scanned through the documents and they mentioned having some coverage in Ashland County. But it has to due with the headend (Packerland) being in the Wausau DMA and having 2 small towns be in the Duluth DMA. This was an example in the thread "cable systems that carry stations from one DMA but are in another"

Iron County I could see switching to Wausau DMA but then you have Gogebic County, MI which is also the Duluth DMA be one county east so they really dont split up DMA"s like that. As fballfan noted Marquette locals are carried more in Iron County WI than Wausau stations.

They (Gray) sent info to both satellite companies and got back responses of its not technically feasible and Gray doesnt like that answer. Looking at DIsh's spotbeam map for the transponder that carries Wausau it does not cover all of Ashland County with a good enough signal
http://satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?search=dnall&sub=true&sort=&order=&beamMap=CIEL2_SB15.jpg

The green means good...Yellow means you would need a larger dish (or deal with substandard signal where the signal would go out more often.) Sure they could possibly put it on the same spotbeam as Minneapolis (which DOES cover Ashland County just fine) but Dish doesnt like to uplink stations to more than one transponder unless they HAVE to. They would rather have one uplink and then remap it to multiple numbers.

Directv doesnt have their spotbeam info that readily available but Duluth and Wausau are on different spotbeams (Directv does use tighter spotbeams than DIsh does)

 

[Mr Tony]

FCC approved it...from northpine

For the first time in the Upper Midwest, and possibly the first time nationally, the FCC has granted a market modification expanding a station's satellite coverage area. Distribution of the CBS and FOX channels from Gray TV's WSAW/7 (Wausau) will be extended north into Ashland and Iron Counties after the FCC granted a market modification under the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) Act of 2014. Gray argued that the counties, which are within the Duluth-Superior market, are "orphan counties" because the majority of the TV signals in the market are from Minnesota. The decision shows that counties can be declared "orphans" even if one of their markets' major network affiliates (in this case, KBJR-TV Superior) is licensed in the same state. Two Duluth stations unsuccessfully argued against Gray's proposal, citing their own coverage of news, weather, and sports in the area. (Full disclosure: your reporter is employed at one of those stations, WDIO). Under the FCC decision, DISH Network will be required to offer WSAW throughout Ashland and Iron Counties; DirecTV will be required to offer the station in all of Iron County but only in the southern part of Ashland County after showing that its Wausau spotbeam could not adequately reach northern Ashland County