Joe,
Good afternoon. First I’d like to salute you for all the time you’re donating as a bell-ringer for the Salvation Army. Next I’d like to thank you for posting my e-mail regarding satellite. I’m now back here on Delmarva and have noticed the large number of comments my e-mail to you generated. With your permission, I’d like to offer some additional details regarding some of the comments. Before doing so I would like to thank your readers for their restraint in not attacking my little girl who defended her daddy with a comment of her own. I truly appreciate the kindness shown to her.
As for what appears to be a few common threads on the comments, here goes: It seems some folks think we don't want to be on satellite and that we’re trying to pull a fast one here. Nothing could be further from the truth. From a pure business standpoint it would make no sense whatsoever for WBOC (and WMDT for that matter) to want to keep our signals off the birds. Every time someone signs up for satellite we lose a viewer unless they also use an antenna. So we very much want the satellite companies to carry our signals. I tell you honestly we've been trying to get the satellite companies to carry our signal for at least five years, which is four years longer than I’ve been employed by WBOC.
Additionally some people have asked for ‘proof’ that the satellite companies refuse to carry the local stations. I don’t know how to ‘prove’ all our efforts including telephone conversations I’ve had regarding the subject since I moved here. I can offer that we hosted U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and members of his staff here at WBOC on Thursday afternoon, September 4th and spoke at length about the satellite companies refusal to uplink our local stations. We asked Senator Cardin to get involved. Further I attended a meeting with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps in Baltimore on Monday, October 27th at WBAL-TV and discussed this subject directly with him. I can also share with your readers a copy of the most recent letter I wrote to the CEO of DirecTV back in August, just before we launched our high definition NewsPlex. I think the letter is pretty clear. I sent it to him via overnight delivery, along a press kit with a DVD of pictures of the newsplex hoping to at least begin a dialogue. I've asked our web folks to post a copy of that letter for your readers. Here’s a link to it:
http://wboc.images.worldnow.com/images/incoming/pdf/directvletter.pdf
By the way, I received no response from Mr. Carey of DirecTV. I sent a similar letter to Dish Network along with a press kit. In any case, the bottom line is that those of us here at WBOC and FOX 21 want you to have the choice of watching us however you choose, free over the air, on cable, on Verizon Fios or on satellite. At this point, the satellite companies just don’t carry us, and are not receptive to talking to us about the possibility of carriage. Until that changes, satellite customers will also need an antenna to see their local stations.
Joe, my personal thanks for the opportunity to clear up the confusion out there.
Merry Christmas
Craig Jahelka
VP/General Manager
WBOC-TV / FOX 21 / Interactive
1729 North Salisbury Blvd.
Salisbury, MD 21801
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
36 comments:
Thanks for the update , still don't understand most of it.
Thank God for my cable!
you are correct, I have been a satellite user for 11 years because cable is not available where I live. DTV has never told me that its the local tvs fault why they don't carry them. Just that they don't period. Its their choice and they say if you can get it on antenna you won't get it on dtv.
When I called Dish Network they said WBOC won't allow there signal to be retransmitted.
uplink WBOC to satellite companies, but at what cost? Is WBOC offering their programming for free? If so, shame on the satellite companies. If not, shame on WBOC... their programming isn't worth paying.
if you never heard back from him, its most likely the wording you chose in your letter, it looks unprofessional. telling them what they need to do, and bolding it, what they are missing out on.
maybe a more humble approach would have worked. explain that your hearing from people that want to get you, and you would like dish to carry your signal.
I applaud Craig for again going out of his way to answer questions from the community. Faced with the same accusations, I know many other businesses that would simply have ignored this blog/forum.
That said, it is still unclear to me as to whether or not WBOC/WMDT is requiring a fee from DirecTV and if so, if this fee is just outlandish.
I'd love to participate in a grass roots campaign to get DirecTV to hear us, but would hate to find out that it's because of a negotiation factor not mentioned.
There has to be money exchanged in this deal, because as Craig confirms, DirecTV stands to increase their profit margins if they carried WBOC/WMDT. Certainly WBOC/WMDT is getting paid for this.
Either way, I reiterate my first paragraph of applauding Craig and his staff for keeping on top of our complaints and hope we can come together to get it resolved once and for all!
This whole deal just doesnt make sense... WBOC has shown that they are pursuing trying to get onto satellite systems and the satellite systems are constantly adding local markets.... so why is there no agreement?
Looks like it all points to money in someway. Either WBOC is asking to much (to help foot the Newsplex bill) or the satellite companies are too cheap to pay (even tho they add other markets constantly)
...just doesnt add up.
By the way, thanks Craig for stepping up and showing the proof we have been asking for.
Hey Joe,
Your station cant even broadcast its signal to everyone in your service area with a decent signal.
Yet satellite comes and wants to carry your signal so that your signal can reach homes in your licensed area which can not even pick up your signal, and instead of welcoming them wit open arms for bringing you more eyeballs watching your stations which in turn equals more ad revenue.
What do you do? Instead of saying yes please carry us, you hold your slimey hand out and want payment for distributing your signal to the residents of your community which you are supposed to be serving.
DirecTV and Dish Network are not being hard headed here, why not take a look in the mirror.
With all due respect to Mr. Jahelka, his letter is high strung, patronizing, and cheesy. As as CEO myself, I would throw his package with marketing materials away without a second thought. I would think contacting Mr. Carey directly would be an incorrect move, the CEO of a company that size really could care less if a hokey station in market #148 wants to be on our system. A more professional letter to him should have immediately started with the size of the potential market in terms of numbers of viewers. WBOC should have done a survey of users of OTA, Cable, Dish Network, and asked how many (%) would switch to DirecTV if they carried WBOC.
Personally, I would have started by contacting Mr. Peter Lund, who is on the board of directors. As the former CEO of CBS, and now an investor in DirecTV. As someone who is semi-retired and probably would be sympathetic to a smalltown CBS station. You could probably call him directly and speak to him within 24 hours... or at least a letter would be read by him most likely instead of thrown into circular file.
If you didn't contact Mr. Lund, then Mr. Michael W. Palkovic would be my 2nd choice to contact. He is Director of Operations, and responsible for day-to-day managing of the company and keeping customers happy.
I certainly hope just one letter isn't all that has been attempted. Don't take no for an answer, should be dozens of phone calls and letters until you're accepted.
Let's be honest here Mr. Jahelka, you're not on DirecTV because you want them to pay for the satellite uplink equipment to get your signal to them. Why would they want to pay ($xxx,000+?) to get 3 to 7 local stations in market 148 on their system? If WBOC were REALLY concerned with getting on DirecTV you would pay for the uplink yourselves. Please don't try to BS us here.
Tips For Receiving Over-the-Air HDTV can be found at:
http://www.wral.com/wral-tv/story/1180264/
What really irks me about WBOC is their absolute refusal to grant a waiver to someone who doesn't have the ability to put up an outside antenna and can't receive their signal with rabbitt ears.
Guess what WBOC. You refused to grant me a waiver and I've learned to live without CBS and your crappy 2 bit station.
Craig, wanna tell me what you and CBS gained out of that?
Okay, I read the letter, and all I can say is… what a load of horse S%&T.
I suggest that WBOC stop leasing the fuel-wasting-helicopter that is used way too much to show non-news stories, fire Captain Silly and with the money they save, PAY for the satellite companies to carry both WBOC and WMDT.
I live very close to both TV transmitters and could never get a very good signal from the analog side of the transmitter. To close maybe?. Asked for a waiver from both stations and was turned down. What they don’t understand is that I would like to watch a clearer picture of CBS and ABC, and, when the local station is broadcasting something of their own – over the network feed – then I am forced to find something else to watch on the satellite. Don’t get me wrong, even if the locals granted the wavier, I would still tune into the locals for the “local content” such as the news. Hmmmm. I wonder what CBS network is broadcasting from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. – might be something I’d like to see instead of a repeat of the much of the news I already saw. I almost forgot, WBOC is “Delmarva’s News Reader”, as if I haven’t heard that enough, oh yes, GET IT NOW.
I wonder when WBOC is going to start shooting their news in 16 X 9 ratio. Maybe they could GET IT NOW. And please get rid of that annoying crap on the sides of the screen when you show 4 X 3 footage. You know… “GET RID OF IT NOW”
By the way, citizens of Wicomico County who do not have the ability to get cable because they don’t have service in your area, we should be paying a lower tax rate in compensation for the $300,000.00 that Wicomico County receives from Crumcast Cable. We should demand that Wicomico County establish a very low cost “WIMAX” wireless internet service to us rural tax payers! Anybody with me?
I was shocked, but not surprised by all the negative comments about WBOC - “Delmarva’s News Reader”!
Thank you for your time. Peace be with you.
Signed: Long time Dish-network subscriber – because I have no other choice.
Thank you Joe! Hey is that you, you know... "Joe the Blogger"
I understand what you are saying but don't know why you (including WMDT) won't sign the waiver to allow Satelite uses to receive CBS and ABC from other markets. I personally have Cable and Directv in my house but would like to be able to use my Tivo to record shows on CBS and ABC. Could you explain this to me? In most cases you're not loosing a customer if they already have Directv.
Thanks
Dear Craig Jahelka:
And still, not a word from you on how COMCAST refuses to wire almost 40% of Wicomico County, forcing us to go to satellite to begin with. How about some pressure on the FCC concerning that?
Was that really your letter? Who wrote that? It reads like a piece of junk mail and sounds very unprofessional.
Its obvious there is some behind the scene deal with comcast going on...just listen to the comercials. I would like an explanation as to why Fox can not be recieved in High Def over the air, yet available on Comcast and Verizon FIOS (which the comercials fail to mention)
T.V., has it helped society or hurt it?
WN Said...
All good comments.We tooo cannot get Common Cast in Wicomico County.And thanks to Wayne sour grapes turn coat Gilchrest for voting for the FCC law for us not to have options to receive NBC,CBS,ABC.Also wait until Comcast service goes down and all those people without digital tv's cannot receive thier local stations at all....ops we don't want them to know that
Mr. Jahelka: Self-aggrandize much? WBOC is definitely not "all that." What, WBOC is God's gift to mankind? Give me a break. Now, please.
And while we're on the subject of letters, I can claim that I've been sending out letters, but that doesn't mean I actually mailed them. I think you're full of yourself, and full of something else, too. Something brown and smelly.
http://kesq3.blogspot.com/2007/06/local-tv-stations-on-directv-and-dish.html
Here you go, DirecTV bought and paid for all the equipment to upload local tv signals from Palm Desert, CA (Market #144), the same size market as Salisbury. HMMMM, makes you wonder how greedy WBOC is and how much $$$$ they asking for from DirecTV, it's not good enough for them to increase their viewership = more ad revenue, no they want to get money our of DirecTV because they know local advertising is a dying business, why do you think Gannett (Daily Times) and Clear Channel have been laying off so many people??
Hey Craig in case you don't know where Palm Springs/Palm Desert, CA is, you take I-10 to I-5 from your old hometown in Bakersfield. You think you could call up Bob Allen and see how they got on DirecTV for FREE!? 18 months ago in fact... if WBOC is so STUNNING why are they behind on the times?
I also had Satelite, then they wanted extra money for ABC,CBS and ABC and I wasn't getting good reception with and an antena with a power booster. I dropped Verizon, got the 3 package deal with Comcast, phone, high speed internet and TV, I'm saving $500 a year.
You just can't please everyone.
Just got a price quote online for a 45mbps circuit from Salisbury to Winchester, VA (the closest Directv uplink facility) $6265 a month. That is enough bandwith to carry WBOC, WMDT, FOX21 in 1080i, along with MPT1/2/3 and CW3 in 720P. That price is with $0 install and 3 year contract at RETAIL price. Anyone want to guess at what Preston Ford's monthly ad bill is?
I posted ABC twice the third should have been NBC
Screw WBOC, I watch WJZ for CBS shows. WBOC also blocks other Baltimore/DC stations that carry the same syndicated programs WBOC carries. THe backlash against WMDT 10 years ago hurt 47 station & I could care less about WBOC and their no service to the community. All of you have cable watch channel 13 for CBS shows. I tune out WBOC. I also watch WTTG in DC for FOX Programming. I don't like when a station tries to control my viewing options. WBOC, WMDT, & COmcast are all greedy.
I think at least 1/2 of you people are full of crap. Like I said in the other Post, more than likely you're former employees.
No offense Craig,but you didnt clarify a solution to my problem and that is this-I just would like to get CBS-it does not have to be WBOC-and Directv has told me that if they get a waiver from YOUR station,I can receive a NY-based CBS station( and I know of other people in Somerset County who were given waivers and get CBS-NY)WBOC refuses to give a waiver so even though CBS-NY is only like 2 bucks a month to add,I cannot get it.Please be honest and just come out and say it-if you cannot provide CBS to us,then you are not about to let us get it from an "outside" station.Am I right?I wonder if appealing to the big guys at CBS would get me "hooked up"????Thankfully I got FOX before 21 was on the air so I get a NY Fox station that carries all my Giants football games!!Not to beat a dead horse,but nobody in my area can get WBOC-in fact I can get channels from Hampton Roads in much clearer....I respect your willingness to speak up,but please do be frank and tell it how it is.Why won't you let us satellite viewers get NY CBS feeds??Networks are just going lose more customers to cable stations if these games keep up.
Look up the "local-into-local" rule for satellite providers. Basically, they cannot offer any local stations in a market unless they can offer all the stations that would want to be on satellite.
Therefore, unless WBOC, WMDT, MPT and the few low power stations in the market ALL agree on terms that the carriers also agree to, none of them can be offered. Everyone involved has to play ball. That's how the FCC set it up.
Lets face it folks, because of where we all choose to live, we get subjected to hokie print media (THE DT), hokier than hokie broadcast televsion (BOC & MDT) and second rate radio stations.
THANK GOD FOR THE INTERNET AND SATELLITE (TV & Radio)
To the joker running 'BOC: You needed a clue and Joe's provided one for you here.
TAKE IT.
After reading that pompous ass letter, if I owned DirecTV I would have thrown that in the trash can. He couldn't have seriously thought that would get anything done.
ATTENTION CRAIG:
Instead of sending YOUR helicopter to NY to pick someone up, how about hiring someone with some professionalism to write a letter for you. That was the biggest joke I've ever seen.
Craig your attitude certainly explains alot of the mentality at your 2 bit TV Station.
Here some interesting research..
salisbury is currently market 144 with 158,940 tv households.
Market 207 is Juneau, AK with 25,250 tv housholds... Guess which makert can get locals on Directv.
source:
http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack/us_hh_by_dma.asp
www.directv.com
Hi folks, Craig Jahelka here. Some of you have suggested the reason the satellite companies aren't carrying local stations is due to our demand for payment. Again, not true. What you are refering to is something called cash-for-carriage. It's common in the industry for satellite and/or cable companies to pay to carry programming. WBOC has had no discussions whatsoever with the satellite companies regarding this. Frankly I'd just like them to uplink us. We can't get them interested in providing local-into-local (carrying local stations) in our market. I can't get Dish Network or DirecTV to speak with us at all, despite repeated and varied attemts. The posted letter was just one example of our efforts. So it is not an issue of any request for payment to us. And now, to clear up some other confusion:
a) Waivers: there is a detailed piece of information regarding this on our website, wboc.com Just go to the 'about us' tab at the top. It explains the entire waiver system in the satellite section and how to get one if you're eligible.
b) CBS does not program the 7-7:30 time period. That time is reserved for local stations.
c) 16X9 field aquisition. WBOC has plans to purchase high defintion field cameras, and to complete our HD rollout to include HD syndication programming playback and HD commercials. This is very expensive and the complete rollout to total HD will take another two years under our current capital plan.
d) WBOC has no control or influence over the service area of any of the many cable companies we deal with.
e) We have no special deal with Comcast. They are only one of more than half-a-dozen cable companies serving Delmarva who carry our signals.
Joe Albero has been more than kind in allowing such a detailed and lengthy discussion on his site. So from now on, if you have ay other questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact me via e-mail at cjahelka@wboc.com or pick up the phone and call me at 410-749-1111. I'll be happy to speak with you personally or respond via e-mail. Again Joe, my thanks.
Warm Regards to all and best wishes for a Merry Christmas!
Craig Jahelka
VP/GM
WBOC-TV/FOX 21
Craig
This is the response I received from DirectTV regarding carrying the local channels, WBOC & WMDT.
"Response (Alfredo P. - 100177886) - 12/05/2008 05:45 PM
Dear Mr. Gilbert,
Thanks for writing.
As you know, we don’t offer local channels in the Salisbury MD area right now, but we’re very glad you took the time to write in and let us know your feelings about getting local channels via satellite. I’ve also forwarded your request to DIRECTV management, so be assured that your voice is being heard.
We would love to provide local channels to you and other customers in the Salisbury MD, too, but our satellite capacity doesn’t allow it today. We’re continuing to expand our capacity, so stick with us. Stay tuned to local news and directv.com/local for more information as it becomes available.
Meanwhile, you may be able to get your local channels for free by installing an off-air antenna. An electronics store can recommend an antenna for you.
Sincerely,
Freddie P.
Employee ID 100177886
DIRECTV Customer Service"
You just can't please everyone.
9:45 PM
You know, 9:45, I'd LOVE to give Comcast $100 a month for those services. I'd smile as I wrote the check. But Comcast refuses to wire 40% of Wicomico County, so we're STUCK with satellite. We're not satellite customers because we want to be.
How come everyone is bashing WBOC and not WMDT? At least the guy from WBOC took the time to write 2 posts and respond via the comments section. However we haven't heard one thing from Kathleen over at WMDT...just wondering what they're doing, if anything, to try and make this happen.
Looks like Craig Jahelka and WBOC has been handed their a$$ to them on the BEST news source around - Salisbury News.
Joe the Blogger, Thank you!
Post a Comment