Satellite Waivers....fact and fiction

The Desert Sun seems to be going out of its way to publish letters from unhappy viewers who say they can't get a "waiver" so they can watch out-of-town network affiliates.

I don't know where the fiction originated that somehow people were entitled to "waivers" which literally means a stations "waives" its legal right to provide network service to a viewer. We have processed requests for thousands of waivers from people who were glibly told by satellite companies and unscrupulous independent contractors who sell and install satellite dishes that they could get out of town stations easily simply by asking for a "waiver."

Federal law states that the only satellite subscribers legally entitled to receive distant network service are the ones who are in so-called "white areas." This is an area where the subscriber can't receive an over-the-air signal with an outdoor antenna. There is only one "white area" in the Coachella Valley. That's the La Quinta cove area which is behind the Santa Rosa mountains. Subscribers in that area AUTOMATICALLY get distant network service. The satellite company uses very powerful computer models to determine who can't get a signal and they are seldom wrong.

I have to laugh when somebody tells me that "got a waiver from the Fox affiliate" so why can't they get one from our ABC affiliate? We operate both stations and we process waiver requests for both networks. Needless to say, the lie doesn't work.

The local CBS affiliate is a low power TV station with a very weak signal. In their case viewers all over the Valley are legally entitled to receive CBS from an out-of-town station because they really CAN'T get an over the air signal. No waiver is required.

Fortunately, all this discussion is becoming moot. Dish Network and DirecTV now offer local stations to their subscribers. Virtually all local satellite subscribers now have the option of receiving the local affiliates. Those people who have been legitimately receiving distant signals are given the choice of keeping their distant service or switching to the local stations. Once that happens the subscriber will not be able to go back to the distant station.

We still get waiver requests, no doubt from people who somehow have been led to believe they can get both local and distant stations. We deny them because the law doesn't allow it.

Got other questions? Post them here and I'll answer them.

Bob

Treasure Your First Amendment

The recent Independence Day holiday reminds me of how important our First Amendment rights are to us. We all take for granted our right to say whatever we think without fear of retribution. The founding fathers saw first hand what happened to people who spoke against the government: imprisonment, loss of property, harassment. It's amazing that the principal of free speech, the very first of the 10 amendments which make up the Bill of Rights of our Constitution, applies just as much today as it did in the 1700's. Yet we face a never-ending assault on the First Amendment by well-meaning and sometimes not-so-well-meaning people who want to legislate the way we think. How many of you know what the 10 amendments are that make up the original Bill of Rights? Now's the time to get familiar. Remember, we we don't know what our rights are, we can't preserve them. Many people fought and died to secure those rights for us over the years. We should honor their memories.

Welcome to my Blog

We're always trying to find ways to improve our web site, KESQ.COM. People are curious about the TV and Radio Broadcasting business, so I will try to provide some insight and perhaps post a musing or two on this blog.

FYI I have been in the business for a long time. How long? When I started there were two TV stations in my home town and no FM radios. AM radio was king of the air waves. Television was black and white. Top 40 was the radio format of the day, and Lawrence Welk was till on TV. We also had some real gems like a Saturday evening Polka show. The musicians painted out some of their front teeth. I can't figure out why, but it's stuck in my mind decades later. My local TV station delayed network programs by projecting the picture on a TV screen and filming the show in black and white. Then they developed the film and played it back later. Yes, when I started only the big market stations had something called "video tape!"

My how the business has changed, and so have I. Along the way I became a disc jockey, a TV news reporter, anchor, television network producer, news director, and finally a General manager. I thought about leaving the business once and went back to school to learn to be a computer programmer. That wasn't much fun so I stayed in broadcasting. Little did I know that someday all that computer training would apply to my chosen career: broadcasting. You see we are about one year away from becoming an all-digital medium. Almost everything we do now invovles a computer. Now I don't claim to know how to program computers any more but I do understand how digital things work. That is a necessary career survival skill in the 21st Century.

Well, that's enough for now. I recall a radio commercial I heard once in my home town. It was done by a local lady who ran a grocery store and did her own commercials. She used to say at the end of the spot "Keep listening. I may sing next time."

Bob Allen