DirecTV and Telemundo

[TOTC]

I live just outside Washington, DC, and I know that we have a Telemundo affiliate here (channel 64). Is there a reason why that station has not been assigned a local slot on our DirecTV system? I don't want to be short a station when it comes to the Olympics!

Does anyone else have this problem?

[ElJefe]

I live just outside Washington, DC, and I know that we have a Telemundo affiliate here (channel 64). Is there a reason why that station has not been assigned a local slot on our DirecTV system? I don't want to be short a station when it comes to the Olympics!

Does anyone else have this problem?
WZDC isn't on DirecTV because they're a low-powered station and DirecTV doesn't have an obligation to carry them. If they were a full-powered station, then DirecTV would have an obligation to carry them if they requested it, since they carry all the other stations in the DC market.

In D/FW, the Telemundo affiliate (KXTX) is a full-powered station and is carried by DirecTV.

[(TxT)]

I have DirecTV but live in right otside Atlanta which doesn't have a Telemundo affiliate (we have Univision). For the longest time DircTV didn't cary local WB, UPN, and PBS afilliates in any market in the US. Then all of a sudden I think they struck a deal with those stations and carried it. The same for Telemundo, DirecTV only carried Galavision and Univision but recently on the reciever in my room I got about 20 new Spanish language stations including East and West Telemundo stations. The problem is that it only showed up on the new reciver in my room but none of the other older revievers around the house, also it isn't showing Telemundo but it is showing the local NBC afilliate (NBC owns Telemundo). This is a confusing situation but will probably be fixed soon. I suggest clling DirecTV and asking them.

[ElJefe]

WZDC isn't on DirecTV because they're a low-powered station and DirecTV doesn't have an obligation to carry them. If they were a full-powered station, then DirecTV would have an obligation to carry them if they requested it, since they carry all the other stations in the DC market.

In D/FW, the Telemundo affiliate (KXTX) is a full-powered station and is carried by DirecTV.
That being said, DirecTV does carry a few low-powered local stations. For example, WBQC is a low-powered station in the Cincinnati area. However, DirecTV likely carries them because they're the UPN affiliate in Cincinnati. But under the law, neither they, nor DISH Network, have an obligation to carry that station, and in fact, DISH doesn't carry them, leaving their subscribers in Cincy without a local UPN affiliate.

[ElJefe]

Then all of a sudden I think they struck a deal with those stations and carried it.
It's partly that and partly federal law. DirecTV and DISH started carrying all the local channels from those markets to stay competitive with cable companies, who were running "they don't carry all the local stations" advertising. Plus, a federal law was passed stating that if a satellite provider carries one station from a given market (like Atlanta), then they must carry all the full-powered stations from that market.

Otherwise, I'm pretty sure that there would be a lot of smaller stations in various market that wouldn't get carried.

[TOTC]

How can we pressure DirecTV to carry Telemundo?

[da_cfo]

How can we pressure DirecTV to carry Telemundo?

You can get Telemundo's EAST and WEST national feeds by switching from DirecTV to DirecTV Para Todos.

[AndyMead]

You can get Telemundo's EAST and WEST national feeds by switching from DirecTV to DirecTV Para Todos.

Which is what I've done. The only channels of note that I can think of that I've lost are BBCAmerica, ESPN Classic Sports, and CNBC which will show some Olympic content.