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Update 8pm ET [August 26, 2015]: The blackout ended today following an emergency meeting, as Dish and Sinclair agreed to put the stations back on the air while they continue to negotiate.
"On behalf of more than 5 million consumers nationwide, I am pleased Dish and Sinclair have agreed to end one of the largest blackouts in history and extend their negotiations," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. "The FCC will remain vigilant while the negotiations continue."
Original story:
Dish Network today said its customers are experiencing "the largest blackout in US television history," all because of a money dispute between Dish and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
129 stations in 36 states and Washington, DC, went dark yesterday afternoon, affecting about 5 million Dish customers. Overall, Sinclair owns or operates 153 stations, with 87 of them being "affiliates of the four major broadcast networks—CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox—meaning customers lost access to local and national news programming as well as sports carried by those stations," The Wall Street Journal reported.
Did the growing trend of cord-cutting spur the emergency meeting, or was it the activity happening outside their windows?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @12:26AM
The proles might go outside and riot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @12:58AM
I have first hand knowledge of this. Sinclair like any other media provider has to increase their fees every time the contract comes up. Like most of the business world they confuse lack of increased profits, for loss. they aren't making money unless they meet the projections. New projections are always higher than the last ones. They pushed for a unreasonable increase and dish told them to walk. Every one blames the end user providers. This animosity will never result in better price from companies like dish or comcast. You wan't cheaper tv? Demand levelized fees from media providers.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @01:09AM
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @01:16AM
Why the hell would I wait for a torrent to download, when I can go to any streaming video site and start watching right now?
BitTorrent is obsolete shit. Get with the fucking times.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @01:32AM
Modded down by a cocksucker who wants to suck off Bram Cohen so bad.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @12:39AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @01:45AM
Until those mandatory 10 year sentences start coming down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @01:47AM
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday August 29 2015, @02:05AM
You want cheaper TV? Bittorrent.
Until ISP's merged with content producers throttle bit torrents and good luck getting the FCC or such to step in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @02:44AM
Did we miss the FCC announcement a few months back reclassifying ISPs and opening the door for their new net neutrality rules?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday August 29 2015, @03:18AM
Until ISP's merged with content producers throttle bit torrents and good luck getting the FCC or such to step in.
Actually, the FCC did step in [thedailybeast.com], even when it subsequently was shown that they didn't have the authority.
They do have the authority now. So your assessment may be unnecessarily gloomy.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kurenai.tsubasa on Saturday August 29 2015, @02:53AM
Not only that, but consider rare, hard-to-find films. My go-to example is Hercules and the Amazon Women. I ended up watching it on youtube (except part #2, which was missing) because the torrent was only sporadically seeded. (Currently permaseeding due to rarity.) $85 for a copy at Amazon.com (of all places)! A mediocre made-for-TV movie is not worth $85! Sure, there's Kevin Sorbo as Hercules, but this was before Sam Raimi was in on the franchise. I mean, it's not bad, but it's not spectacular.
Another example is the BBC's production of C. S. Lewis' The Silver Chair (with Tom Baker as Puddleglum). Using Amazon.com again, it's going for $25 (although it looks like you also get their equally dull production of Voyage of the Dawn Treader on that DVD). If you're a big enough fan, maybe it's worth $25. Personally, I thought it was tedious. Nevertheless, also permaseeding due to rarity.
Finally, there are films like Wizards [imdb.com] . I don't think I would have ever given that one a chance at any price. I'm still not certain whether it's genius or crap, but I'm erring on genius. It's not every day you fire up some random fantasy movie and find yourself presented with an evil wizard that uses Nazi propaganda reels to amass his army!
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Saturday August 29 2015, @05:47AM
Wizards
What the... You just saved my sunday evening!
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Saturday August 29 2015, @02:30PM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Saturday August 29 2015, @02:41AM
It's MBA's and the stock market. It's a treadmill for them. If you aren't growing at least as fast as the next guy, you are falling behind, and if you don't catch up, you might as well be out of business. You always have to keep growing, and pumping your stock price, because that is the only thing that matters.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Francis on Saturday August 29 2015, @03:32AM
It's a market failure that exists primarily because we allowed the taxation rates for the right to go too low. Put the income tax rate back at 60% or more and you'll find a lot of this nuttiness stops. People would have to hold their stocks for at least a year in order to avoid a huge tax bill. Which would itself tend to allow for corporations to think at least 3 quarters ahead rather than just the next quarter.