Mediacom / Sinclair Group / FOX Dispute

[RustedWalleye]

I am curious if any of you are involved with the Sinclair Group vs. Mediacom Cable dispute where the FOX Stations in selected markets may no longer be aired as of Decemeber 1st, if Mediacom does not pay Sinclair for the right to have FOX stations on their cable lineup, which also includes basic cable.

I always thought that the "major" networks did not charge to be aired on cable, I could be wrong, but I always thought that was what stations that can be carried by antenna were? Now of course the Sinclair owned FOX stations are encouraging the user to switch to DirecTV to guarantee their channel. I however have not been a fan of DirecTV, the carriers around here with this dispute going on have turned into ignornant bastards, and I have had Mediacom since I moved to the Des Moines area in 2002 and they have been extremely good to me.

All in all I don't believe the price is much different if I matched package for package with what I have through Mediacom and I doubt I'd switch anyways, due to my longevity with Mediacom.

Any of you have stations involved with this? I at one time thought screw the local FOX station, just give me the network feed and I will be happy. However, now it sounds like Sinclair can restrict Mediacom from airing any FOX station in this market if an agreement is not made.

Antenna to me is a waste of time, the FOX signal here is horrible (as well as the other station involved in Cedar Rapids), and I don't know why I should have to pay to hook up an outside antenna in the first place if I don't need it for a major network?

Just a half-assed rant, thanks for listening!

[bkfount]

Re: Mediacom / Sinclair Group / FOX Dispute

is it really only for FOX? In my area, it includes an ABC channel I don't care about. But that's not the point. Mediacom is the one who should pay up on this. Just like dish network, they cite protecting the consumers, but they exploit the companies that own the channels.

And the reason why broadcast channels are charged on cable is because the cable companies charge consumers to have these in their packages. Yes you can get local channels for free just by turning on the antenna, but putting these local channels in packages makes the cable deal more attractive. Basically, mediacom want to get money for something they got for free.

I remember when this **** was going on with dish network and viacom. The channels would scroll text on how to contact dish network, that was until dish network blocked the scrolling text.