NBC, WTHR, CBS - September Contract Negotiation

There are many shows I enjoy via the local NBC channel.  My local NBC states it is going "dark" tonight.  Are there DTV alternatives to obtain an NBC channel rather than switching or purchasing an antenna?

you can switch if you like

but every provider go through this

stations demand more money, there are more blackouts

its becoming the norm

cable/sat providers need to start standing up, let the stations go dark, lose the money, then when they come crawling back, ask them pay to be carried

So if they drop the NBC lineup is my only option (other than switching, which I don't want to do), is to obtain antenna?  Thanks.

yep, until the station decides to come back

an indoor antenna may work

tvfool or antennaweb can give you a report on what you may pick up

Antenna is the only reasonable option. All tv providers go through negotiations, as they don't own the channels, so switching will not protect you against this. TV providers are Federally regulated that they may only provide you the locals for your Designated Market Area (DMA). So channel going "dark" does not allow Directv to provide you NBC from another market.

The antenna does give several advantages. In addition to protecting against negotiations like these, it is a backup should you ever have a technical issue on the Directv box. Since antenna is just by range, not address like satellite which works as a spot-beam, you may pick up locals from a neighboring DMA. And this can pick up any "sub-channels" you might have in your area that Directv doesn't carry in the first place.

So get a antenna which is a good investment for a one-time cost. If local negotiations still cause you to seriously consider other providers, ask yourself why you got pay tv if your primary watching is a free local channel.

This is one of those issues I don't blame on Uverse.  And I hope that a lot of Uverse customers have decided what I've decided, I will no longer watch WTHR.  Any NBC content I feel I NEED to watch, which won't be much, will be on their website.  Since Uverse/DIRECTV is about 26% of the Indy market, and close to the same in Columbus, where this is also happening (Dispatch Broadcast Group owns both), I want to see if losing add revenue due to the loss of a quarter of the markets viewership, especially with local news, winds up being a bigger loss than whatever Uverse/Directv refuses to pay.

It's a cord cutting world, WTHR, don't tick (not the word I originally wanted to use) off your viewers!

When you strip it all back to the basics, U-verse and Spectrum provide nothing more than streaming services that are bundled though no one really watches all those channels. So why not do selective, a la carte, programs rather than subscribing to a bundled service.

You are not the 100th, much less the first, person to ask this, and the answer is the same as it has always been.

If stations are made available a la carte, the individual price per station would go up significantly, because the stations would charge more per subscriber to make up for the fact that there would be far fewer subscribers.  There was a time when ESPN was only available "a la carte," for $10 a month - and (a) that was 30 years ago, so imagine what the monthly charge would be now (it has to pay for the NFL and the College Football championship games somehow), and (b) did not include the extra cost for ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, and so on, which ESPN would probably demand under penalty of Disney keeping the ABC station off of systems where Disney owned the station (including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) - one of Disney's predecessors at ABC did just that once.

The FCC will not allow any providers to give you any local channels not in your DMA which is why the locals have so much power over the providers.

I am outraged not to be able to watch the local channel !!!!  What is the problem ???

need a refund and credit for every day .

Been way too long now and losing WTHR is causing quite a bit of issues in our household.  I am tire of it.  I need to know a date when this will be resolved or will go elsewhere for service.