March Carriage Agreements Notice

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Below is the latest notice of carriage agreements expiring found in the link below.  Once again, I'm posting this strictly as informative.  It is not intended to stimulate discussion or speculation.

March 20, 2012

AT&T's contracts with programmers for the content displayed on our U-verse TV service periodically expire, but are usually re-negotiated or extended with no interruption or change for our U-verse members. Contract(s) for the programming listed below are set to expire as indicated, and AT&T is making every effort to reach a fair agreement to continue carriage. However, if a reasonable agreement cannot be reached with such programmer(s), we will no longer have the rights to carry their programming on U-verse TV. While the programming listed below will continue to be available to U-verse members so long as AT&T has the rights to carry it, if a reasonable agreement cannot be reached with the programmer the programming will no longer be available at that time.

April 23, 2012:

COMPRA (channel 3014) will be removed from our channel line-up in all markets. The local channel WFLX (channel 29 and 1029 in HD) will be removed from the Miami, FL market area.  In addition the local channel WALA (channel 10 and 1010 in HD) will be removed from our channel line-up in the Biloxi, MS market area. 

April 30, 2012:

The impacted national channel is HRTV (channel 672). In addition, TV Polonia Info (channel 3863) is going off the air in the United States and therefore will be removed from the U-verse TV channel line-up in all market areas. In addition, for the Biloxi, MS, market area only, the local channel WALA (channel 10 and 1010 in HD) will be removed from our channel line-up. 

April 2012:

While initially announced as a possible change in March 2012, AT&T and the programmer for the following channels agreed to a temporary extension that is now set to expire in April 2012 and, if a reasonable longer term agreement cannot be reached with the programmer, we may lose the rights to carry the following channels (listed in alphabetical order) on U-verse TV in April 2012:  5StarMAX (channel 840 and 1840 in HD), ActionMAX (channel 836 and 1836 in HD), ActionMAX West (channel 837 and 1837 in HD), ATMAX (channel 846 and 1846 in HD), Cinemax East (channel 832 and 1832 in HD), Cinemax West (channel 833 and 1833 in HD), HBO Comedy (channel 810 and 1810 in HD), HBO Comedy West (channel 811 and 1811 in HD), HBO East (channel 802 and 1802 in HD), HBO Family (channel 806 and 1806 in HD),  HBO Family West (channel 807 and 1807 in HD), HBO Latino (channel 814 and 1814 in HD), HBO Latino West (channel 815 and 1815 in HD), HBO Signature (channel 808 and 1808 in HD), HBO Signature West (channel 809 and 1809 in HD), HBO West (channel 803 and 1803 in HD), HBO Zone (channel 812 and 1812 in HD), HBO Zone West (channel 813 and 1813 in HD), HBO2 (channel 804 and 1804 in HD), HBO2 West (channel 805 and 1805 in HD), HDNet (channel 1105 in HD), HDNet Movies (channel 1106 in HD), HRTV (channel 672), MoreMax (channel 834 and 1834 in HD), MoreMAX West (channel 835 and 1835 in HD), New England Sports Network (NESN) (channels 712/713 and 1712/1713 in HD), OuterMAX (channel 844 and 1844 in HD), Smithsonian Channel (channel 118 and 1118 in HD), Star India Plus (channel 3706), ThrillerMAX (channel 838and 1838 in HD), ThrillerMAX West (channel 839 and 1839 in HD), TVB-V (channel 3664), and WMAX (channel 842 and 1842 in HD).

May 2012:

The impacted national channels (in alphabetical order) are Bandamax (channel 3146), Centroamerica TV (channel 3044), De Pelicula (channel 3128), De Pelicula Clasico (channel 3129), Pasiones (channel 3018), Rai Italia (channel 3802), Ritmoson Latino (3149), ROOT Sports Northwest (channel 1764), ROOT Sports Pittsburgh (channel 1730), ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain (Channel 1760), SET Asia (channel 3704), Teleamazonas Internacional (channel 3041), Telehit (channel 3143), and Television Dominicana (channel 3047).

The impacted local channels are WAND (channel 10 and 1010 in HD) in the Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, IL market areas; and WDRB (channel 41 and 1041in HD) and WMYO (channel 58 and 1058 in HD) in the Louisville, KY market area.

While initially announced possible changes to ION East (channel 195), ION Life (channel 468), and qubo (channel 328 and channel 3061) in February 2012, AT&T and the programmer agreed to a temporary extension that is now set to expire in May 2012. If a reasonable longer term agreement cannot be reached with the programmer, we may lose the rights to carry those channels.

May 31, 2012:

MTV Hits (channel 509) will be moving from U200 to U300.

In addition, on March 1, 2012:

WUNP-KD channel 36 in Raleigh, NC changed from PBS Kids to PBS Encore.

[sbriand]

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texasguy37 wrote:

Below is the latest notice of carriage agreements expiring found in the link below.  Once again, I'm posting this strictly as informative.  It is not intended to stimulate discussion or speculation.

March 20, 2012------------

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Ha!  TG, I love, and respect your input here, but posting stuff like this, no matter how useful it is to the MAJORITY, is still inflammatory enough to a minority to start a whole line of posts that will dead-end at some point as the possible "issues" are resolved.  I like to think of this as the occasional {word filter evasion} stirring post, regardless of your intentions.  Again, please understand that I love and respect your posts, but I'm just commenting on the inevitable fall-out posts that information like this MAY cause.  In the end, in my opinion, PLEASE don't STOP, as the information is great!  To the rest of you:  "The sky is falling!  Mobilize the masses!  Save "our" channel(s)"!

[dwinth]

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sbriand wrote:

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texasguy37 wrote:

Below is the latest notice of carriage agreements expiring found in the link below.  Once again, I'm posting this strictly as informative.  It is not intended to stimulate discussion or speculation.

March 20, 2012------------

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Ha!  TG, I love, and respect your input here, but posting stuff like this, no matter how useful it is to the MAJORITY, is still inflammatory enough to a minority to start a whole line of posts that will dead-end at some point as the possible "issues" are resolved.  I like to think of this as the occasional {word filter evasion} stirring post, regardless of your intentions.  Again, please understand that I love and respect your posts, but I'm just commenting on the inevitable fall-out posts that information like this MAY cause.  In the end, in my opinion, PLEASE don't STOP, as the information is great!  To the rest of you:  "The sky is falling!  Mobilize the masses!  Save "our" channel(s)"!

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I do not see Texasguy37's post of the March Carriage Agreement Notice (or any carriage agreement notice) as intentionally being of an inflammatory nature.

The Carriage Agreement Notices are mandated by Federal Law, and are part of  the public record. If people want to get  hysterical about a Federally mandated notice, that is their problem. The Carriage Agreement Notices do not say what will happen, but instead, say what could happen if new carriage agreements are not signed.

As far as the changes with the local stations in the March notice, none of us know the circumstances behind U-Verse dropping those channels.

Now let the posting begin as people misread the intention of the March Carriage Agreement Notice, and assume automatically that all of the channels mentioned will be gone.

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

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sbriand wrote:

Ha!  TG, I love, and respect your input here, but posting stuff like this, no matter how useful it is to the MAJORITY, is still inflammatory enough to a minority to start a whole line of posts that will dead-end at some point as the possible "issues" are resolved.  I like to think of this as the occasional {word filter evasion} stirring post, regardless of your intentions.  Again, please understand that I love and respect your posts, but I'm just commenting on the inevitable fall-out posts that information like this MAY cause.  In the end, in my opinion, PLEASE don't STOP, as the information is great!  To the rest of you:  "The sky is falling!  Mobilize the masses!  Save "our" channel(s)"!

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I see it as a "darn if  you do, darn if you don't" situation.  If this information is brought to people's attention, the usual suspects will posts the same messages threatening to leave U-verse if the programming is not renewed. If the information is not brought to people's attention and programming is removed, then there will be those who will post  the "how dare U-verse not give us advance notice that this could happen" messages.  

I had decided that if information comes to my attention, I will share it.  I'm not responsible for the immature responses of others.

[oufanindallas]

I agree. This information is public knowledge, if you know where to look.  It's also included with your bill.  Posting it here is another GREAT way of this information out there.  There are carriage agreements that expire all the time and with the exception of Hallmark and the NHL network, they have all be signed without fail.  Scripps network went dark for 3 days, but it too was signed. I would rather see it posted on here than be blind sided.

[sbriand]

Hey, I agree too, but I know enough to read it, go: "Hmmm..." , and carry on until I see a channel go dark.  Unfortunately, there are so many "sky is falling", knee-jerrk reactions to this info, I just kinda cringe when I see this info posted.  What I posted was not intended as criticism, but more of a "oh oh, here comes the latest s**t storm!" of people writing in and saying: "Oh my gosh!  They are gonna drop (fill in the blank) channel!  If AT&T doesn't pick this contract up, I'm leaving for (fill in the second blank)."  That is all.

[gadude25]

The only channels I am concerned with are the HBO and Cinamax channels.  I can not see Uverse letting them go as it will be a a bad move for Uvese and a mass exit to other providers.  The premium channels are the cable services bread and butter and not having HBO would put them at a disadvantage in competing with other cable services.  Has any cable company actually let any of the premium channels go?

[That Don Guy]

I notice that HRTV is listed twice - once "by itself" for April 30, and again as part of the HBO channels for "just" April.

Could that be the real reason all of the HBO channels are listed - they want a single contract for the HBO channels and just have to work out whether or not this will include HRTV?

[rt123]

I don't see HBO and Cinemax going anywhere and U-Verse has good track record of keeping Qubo channel and i wounder if MTV Hits moving out of the U-200 could mean a new channel coming in .

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

I don't recall ever seeing HBO in the negotiations list before.

[bugmenot121]

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rt123 wrote:
I don't see HBO and Cinemax going anywhere and U-Verse has good track record of keeping Qubo channel and i wounder if MTV Hits moving out of the U-200 could mean a new channel coming in .

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Didn't U-200 just get something? I know Fox Business News was a recent addition, but anything since then?