WAIVER INFO FOR WTAP.COM Save Email Print

Posted: 11:20 AM Jan 11, 2007 Last Updated: 11:20 AM Jan 11, 2007

WAIVER INFORMATION Does this description fit you? You have been a long-time DISH customer. Until recently, you had a distant NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX affiliate available to you. But suddenly they all went away. You may have been put in touch with a company called All-American Direct, which is offering you satellite service using your old DISH equipment. And they may be able to restore your ABC, CBS and FOX service…but not your NBC service. And that’s because WTAP won’t give you a “waiver” to receive a distant NBC service. Add this to the list. You live in a “holler” and can’t pick up WTAP with the rabbit ears on top of your TV set? Does any or all of this sound familiar? Here’s what’s happening. For years, DISH has been breaking the law, by selling distant network services to millions of customers who were not entitled to them. The federal courts stepped in during 2006 and penalized DISH for its years of law-breaking, by taking away its right to provide customers with ANY and ALL distant networks. So, what are you to do now? First, if you live somewhere that cable is available, you should investigate going on cable. If you don’t have nearby cable service or you don’t like your cable company, you can contact DirecTV. DirectTV will NOT be able to promise you that you will be able to get a distant NBC affiliate. NO ONE CAN PROMISE YOU THAT. That’s part of what got Dish in trouble. BUT…DirecTV will follow the law and fight for your right to receive a distant NBC affiliate, by cooperating with the signal strength test procedure. What is that? When your local affiliate turns you down for a waiver that you would need to subscribe to a distant NBC affiliate, you are supposed to be able to go back to your satellite company and say: “My local NBC affiliate has turned me down for a waiver. I need a SIGNAL STRENGTH TEST conducted at my home.” YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS TEST! Either the satellite company or WTAP pays for the test, depending on who loses. After making that request of your satellite company, an independent tester will come to your house in the next few weeks, run his portable antenna up to a point above the roofline of your house where a normal outdoor antenna would be mounted, and take a signal reading. If that signal reading shows that you could NOT receive a decent WTAP picture even with that roof-top mounted antenna, then you will receive a waiver to receive a distant NBC affiliate from New York, Los Angeles or another major city. If that signal reading shows that you COULD receive a decent WTAP picture with that roof-top mounted antenna, then you will NOT receive your waiver. Why would WTAP oppose you getting a distant NBC affiliate? If your truly cannot get a decent WTAP signal, we do NOT oppose you getting a waiver. We grant waivers ALL THE TIME! But if the nationwide data base PREDICTS that you ought to be able to receive a decent WTAP signal WITH A PROPLERY-INSTALLED AND PROPERLY MAINTAINED ABOVE-THE-ROOFLINE U-H-F ANTENNA, then it is our legal obligation to deny you access to a distant NBC affiliate. It is then your satellite company’s legal obligation to go along with the signal strength test procedure to determine the truth. DISH and All-American Direct do NOT. DirecTV does. WTAP can do nothing to prevent you from getting a distant ABC, CBS or FOX affiliate. If you are being denied access to any of those networks, it’s because some other station that has those networks, objects to you getting a waiver for that network. You will need to contact those other TV stations. Remember this, WTAP does NOT want to prevent anyone from seeing NBC by satellite if they cannot receive a decent signal from WTAP with an above-the roofline antenna. The data base that predicts what your WTAP signal would be is not perfect. But that’s why the federal government set up the signal strength test procedure. If DISH had followed the laws all along, neither you or we would be in this mess. If you have any further questions about receiving WTAP or a waiver to receive a distant NBC affiliate, please e-mail WTAP at this address: gm@wtap.com. Or you can send a letter to WTAP-TV at One Television Plaza, Parkersburg, WV 26101. Please include your daytime phone number so that we can call if we have any questions. What is a waiver? A waiver is a “permission” for a satellite customer to receive network signals from a distant market. Normally, people living in the Parkersburg-Marietta-St. Marys area, will automatically receive waivers to get ABC, CBS, FOX and UPN from distant cities, such as New York or Los Angeles. That’s because there is no local affiliate for any of those networks located in Wood, Washington or Pleasants counties. The only network that usually is in question is NBC. That is because WTAP is the licensed provider of NBC programming in Wood, Washington and Pleasants counties and is located within that three-county area. Why is there a waiver process in the first place? This was a system created by the FCC and Congress to address several conflicting interests. There were the new satellite companies. There were people living in areas where no cable was available. There were the long-time network affiliates, who have been the backbone for the creation of universal access to TV over the past 50 years and which had billions of dollars invested in providing network and local programming to virtually every home in America. The satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) was designed to help people who did not have cable and could not receive TV stations on an antenna, to do so, while helping to make sure that the local TV stations could continue to stay in business, offering an important service to their communities. But I only want to watch NBC’s prime time shows. Why should WTAP care about that? First of all, if it can be determined that a person has no chance of receiving a watchable signal at their home from WTAP, then WTAP is more than happy to provide that person with a waiver to receive NBC from WNBC in New York, of KNBC in Los Angeles, or wherever. We grant waivers each and every day! The only ones we resist, are the ones for people who live in areas where our database shows they OUGHT to be able to receive WTAP, with the proper antenna. Television stations exist largely on their ability to attract enough viewers so that advertisers can effectively get their messages out to those viewers. WTAP presents local programming (newscasts, etc.); syndicated programs (such as Oprah, Regis and Kelly, Wheel of Fortune, etc.); and NBC’s programming. NBC’s programming is an important part of WTAP’s overall revenue base. Why do I need a waiver? Since WTAP serves Wood, Washington and Pleasants counties, we are basically the “franchise-holder” for NBC in those three counties. If a person lives in an area where he/she OUGHT to be able to receive a legally acceptable signal from WTAP, that person is not entitled to receive a waiver to watch a distant NBC station. I can’t pick up WTAP. Why won’t you grant me a waiver? WTAP receives literally hundreds of requests for waivers each week, from people who have either just moved here, have just moved to a rural area where there is no cable service, or who have decided to stop receiving cable. WTAP and all of the TV stations in the U.S. as well as Dish/Echostar, DirecTV, and other satellite companies, all use a system called Decisionmark for handling these waiver requests. This is the way the system is supposed to work: 1. A person signs up to have satellite service installed at his/her home. The satellite installer SHOULD tell the customer, prior to connecting the service, that the customer MAY or MAY NOT be able to receive NBC from a distant station. That is a decision that the local NBC affiliate (WTAP) will make, based upon Decisionmark’s nationwide database. 2. The satellite installer sends a request for an NBC waiver to the satellite company on behalf of the customer. 3. WTAP receives that waiver request through Decisionmark’s national internet-based system. That system lists out all of the current waiver requests and assigns each one a signal strength reading, representing the “signal strength” of WTAP at that location. 4. That data base shows where every TV transmitter site is, what its power is, what its design is, and then charts that over the map of the area served by that TV station. It takes into account the hills and valleys as much as it can. But it is NOT PERFECT. It uses 5-digit zip codes and 9-digit zip codes to try to determine exactly where the customer’s home is, so it can predict what quality of signal a person would receive at the location. 5. It makes that determination based on the assumption that a person has the following kind of antenna: a properly installed and properly maintained, outdoor, above the roofline UHF antenna. (WTAP, being channel 15, is a UHF station, as opposed to station channel 2 through 13, which are VHF.) 6. Merely not getting a decent picture from WTAP by way of an antenna that sits on top of your TV, or a set of “rabbit ears,” is not to say that you might not receive a decent signal if you had the proper outdoor antenna described above. 7. If the reading shows that you OUGHT to be able to receive NBC from your local NBC affiliate (WTAP), you will not be granted a waiver. If the reading shows that you COULD NOT receive WTAP even with the proper type of antenna, then you WILL be granted a waiver to receive a distant NBC affiliate. I’ve lived in the same house for years. I gave up on getting WTAP a long time ago. So, why won’t you grant me a waiver NOW? In the past year or so, WTAP has spent more than $1 million to upgrade and improve its over-the-air UHF signal. We have gotten phone calls, letters and e-mail from people telling us: “…this is the best picture we’ve ever gotten from WTAP,” or “I never used to be able to get WTAP but now I can.” It’s entirely possible that you might now be able to receive WTAP’s signal (with a properly installed outdoor antenna) even if you never did before. So, do I have to go out and buy a new antenna just to find out if I can pick up WTAP? What happens if I still can’t get WTAP? No, DO NOT go out and buy a new outdoor antenna until a test can be run to make sure it will do you any good. WHAT KIND OF TEST? It’s called a “signal strength test.” A qualified technician comes to your home, runs a portable antenna into the air above your house, and takes readings of the signal strength. WHEN SHOULD I HAVE THIS TEST CONDUCTED? This test should ONLY be conducted after your request for a waiver has been submitted to WTAP and we have denied that request. Be sure to ask your satellite installer to provide you with written proof that he/she has actually submitted your waiver request and that that request has been denied. Not all satellite installers follow the procedures. WHO DO I CONTACT FOR THIS TEST? After you have received proof from your satellite installer that your request for an NBC waiver has been denied by WTAP, you need to WRITE A LETTER to your satellite provider (Dish/Echostar/ DirecTV, etc.). Their offices are located in places like Colorado. Be sure to include your complete address, complete zip code, customer ID number and any other information that they can use to positively identify you. Write to them and ask that a SIGNAL STRENGTH TEST be conducted at the address for which the waiver is being sought. Your satellite company has 30 days FROM THE DAY THEY RECEIVE YOUR LETTER, to get the test conducted or to see that your waiver is granted. YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT TEST. Either your satellite company or WTAP will have to bear the cost for the test, depending on how it comes out. NOTE: WTAP HAS BEEN INFORMED THAT ECHOSTAR/DISH IS NO LONGER MAKING ITSELF SUBJECT TO SIGNAL STRENGTH TESTS. THEY WILL NOT CONDUCT SUCH A TEST TO ASSIST YOU IN GETTING YOUR WAIVER. YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT LIVING HERE IN THE MID-OHIO VALLEY, THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY THAT YOUR INITIAL WAIVER REQUEST WILL BE DENIED. YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT OTHER SATELLITE COMPANIES DO FOLLOW THE “SIGNAL STRENGTH TEST” PROCEDURES AND HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN WINNING “WAIVERS’ FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS. All of my neighbors have waivers to get NBC from other stations. Why won’t you grant me a waiver? Over the years, the laws have changed in terms of who is and who is NOT eligible to receive a waiver, have changed. They changed dramatically when satellite providers went from the large dishes to the small dishes. There are FOUR main reasons why people are granted waivers: 1. The Decisionmark data base used by the satellite companies and WTAP shows that a person living in a particular location WOULD NOT be able to receive a decent signal from WTAP even with a properly-installed and properly-maintained, outdoor, above-the-roofline UHF antenna. That person is usually granted a waiver outright. 2. A person is initially denied a waiver but through a signal strength test, it is determined that the person cannot receive a sufficient signal from WTAP and they are, therefore, granted a waiver. 3. A person’s satellite installer illegally gave them access to a distant NBC affiliate without going through the waiver process. Several large satellite companies have gotten into serious legal trouble for doing this. 4. The local network affiliate (in this case, WTAP for NBC) failed to act upon the initial request for the waiver within 30 days of it being received at the station. In that case, a person is granted a waiver regardless of their signal quality as a way of punishing the TV station for not acting more quickly. This used to happen a lot. But in the past couple of years, it virtually never happens. Why can’t I get WTAP on satellite? That’s because the major satellite providers are working their way from the largest population areas to the smallest, when it comes to wiring up an area to receive its own local stations back into that area. They started with places like New York and Los Angeles and will eventually make it to areas our size. But that could be a year or two away at their current rate. When will WTAP be available on satellite? That’s hard to say. The major satellite providers started with the nation’s largest TV markets (which have the most people) in places like New York and Los Angeles, and are slowly but surely adding all of the others. The Parkersburg-Marietta-St. Marys market is among the nation’s smallest markets, so it could be a couple of years before they get to us. But you should know that Gray Television, WTAP’s parent company, reached an agreement with DirecTV and Dish/Echostar in early 2003, granting them permission to put any of Gray’s TV stations (including WTAP) on satellite whenever they want. The ball is squarely in the court of the satellite providers. Will I still be able to see Regis and Kellie, Wheel of Fortune and Oprah if I get a waiver to watch an NBC affiliate from New York or Los Angeles? That strictly depends on what shows those distant stations elect to show and when they elect to show them. Not every NBC affiliate, for instance, plays Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy. Those shows, and many others are “syndicated shows,” that only one station in each market can buy the rights to air. WTAP is able to buy the most popular shows in the U.S. because we’re the only TV station in this market. What are the chances that a signal strength test will show that I OUGHT to be granted a waiver? That’s impossible to say. There are too many factors to be able to guess.

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