By FRANK PHILLIPS
frankphi@hotmail.com
Indianapolis Colts fans hope their team makes it to the Superbowl. If they have cable-TV in Brazil, they also hope they will be able to see the Superbowl, which will be on ABC television.
While WRTV, the ABC affiliate in Indianapolis, remains off Charter Cablevision in Brazil, people continue to call The Brazil Times, expressing frustration.
Since the report in Wednesday’s newspaper was written, The Brazil Times has learned that recently Dish Network added Indianapolis TV stations WTHR (NBC) and WRTV to its local channel package. The WTHR is on Channel 6209 and WRTV is on Channel 6208.
Dish Network is available from various businesses in the Wabash Valley.
Jackie Edington, Manager of Radio Shack at Forest Park Plaza in Brazil, sent the newspaper an e-mail correcting Wednesday’s report, saying Dish subscribers in Clay, Greene, Lawrence, Parke and Vermillion counties will receive WRTV.
However, The Brazil Times has learned the Indianapolis stations may not automatically appear on receivers in existing Dish subscribers’ homes. A call to Dish’s technical support may be necessary to obtain the Indianapolis local stations.
Dish’s local channels package costs $4.99 per month and includes WTHI (CBS), WTWO (NBC), WFXW (Fox), WUSI (PBS) and WVUT (PBS) as well as WTHR and WRTV.
As of 8 a.m. Thursday, WRTV was still off Charter Cablevision. In its place was a message stating: “WRTV has notified Charter Communications by letter that they will no longer authorize Charter Communications to carry its signal after Dec. 31, 2005. Charter and WRTV have been in negotiations over the right to carry our programming network on our channel lineup. So far, an agreement has not been reached. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have any questions, feel free to call our customer care center at 1-888-getcharter.”
While the NFL playoff games will be carried on CBS and Fox, fans will still want to see the Superbowl on ABC. Colts fans hope to watch their team become champions.
“But, we have to get through two tough teams first,” a Colts spokesman told The Brazil Times on Wednesday.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Charter Communications not carrying WRTV ...
... and the Indianapolis Colts are headed into the playoffs!
By FRANK PHILLIPS
frankphi@hotmail.com
The Brazil Times
Watching TV over the weekend wasn't as easy as ABC. Especially if you were trying to watch ABC on the Brazil cable-TV system Saturday night.
To the amazement of Charter Communications subscribers, at midnight New Year's Eve, just as the big ball began to drop in New York City, Brazil cable subscribers saw WRTV 6, Indianapolis, go dark – literally.
At 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1 Channel 6 went off the air in Brazil, thus denying local cable viewers the opportunity to watch ABC programming, including sports. Because there is no ABC affiliate in Terre Haute, viewers have to rely on either a very good antenna to pick up WRTV off the air or subscribe to the Dish satellite service to pick up the ABC affiliates in New York or Chicago.
Because of legal agreements, Dish does not offer viewers in Brazil the Indianapolis ABC affiliate. Meanwhile, Colts fans are holding their collective breaths, hoping that the Colts' playoff games won't be broadcast on ABC, if the contract wrangling between Charter and WRTV isn't settled before the Colts' next game on Jan. 14 or 15, depending on who wins next week's games.
Visits to TV networks' and the Colts' Web sites yielded no information as to which network would carry the Colts post season game on the 14th of 15th. A telephone call to the Colts was not returned Tuesday afternoon.
Both Charter Communications and WRTV are blaming the other guy.
Brian Posnanski, a Charter Communications spokesman, told The Brazil Times, “WRTV delivered an ultimatum” to Charter. “They decided to not allow us to broadcast their signal. They broke off negotiations.”
While the contracts between TV stations and cable-TV companies are confidential, Posnanski said WRTV's demands were 99 percent out of sync with other TV station contracts with Charter. Brazil has negotiated 67 similar agreements with Indiana and Illinois TV stations in the past year, he said.
A call to WRTV resulted in the switchboard operator playing a telephone message addressed to viewers of Charter Communications cable-TV. That message said Charter refused to renew its contract with WRTV. The station has reached agreement with most cable systems, the message said.
Meanwhile both WRTV and Charter say their companies are working to restore service.
If ABC does carry the Colts' post-season games, the big winner might be Dish network, which offers local stations plus ABC and other networks.
By FRANK PHILLIPS
frankphi@hotmail.com
The Brazil Times
Watching TV over the weekend wasn't as easy as ABC. Especially if you were trying to watch ABC on the Brazil cable-TV system Saturday night.
To the amazement of Charter Communications subscribers, at midnight New Year's Eve, just as the big ball began to drop in New York City, Brazil cable subscribers saw WRTV 6, Indianapolis, go dark – literally.
At 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1 Channel 6 went off the air in Brazil, thus denying local cable viewers the opportunity to watch ABC programming, including sports. Because there is no ABC affiliate in Terre Haute, viewers have to rely on either a very good antenna to pick up WRTV off the air or subscribe to the Dish satellite service to pick up the ABC affiliates in New York or Chicago.
Because of legal agreements, Dish does not offer viewers in Brazil the Indianapolis ABC affiliate. Meanwhile, Colts fans are holding their collective breaths, hoping that the Colts' playoff games won't be broadcast on ABC, if the contract wrangling between Charter and WRTV isn't settled before the Colts' next game on Jan. 14 or 15, depending on who wins next week's games.
Visits to TV networks' and the Colts' Web sites yielded no information as to which network would carry the Colts post season game on the 14th of 15th. A telephone call to the Colts was not returned Tuesday afternoon.
Both Charter Communications and WRTV are blaming the other guy.
Brian Posnanski, a Charter Communications spokesman, told The Brazil Times, “WRTV delivered an ultimatum” to Charter. “They decided to not allow us to broadcast their signal. They broke off negotiations.”
While the contracts between TV stations and cable-TV companies are confidential, Posnanski said WRTV's demands were 99 percent out of sync with other TV station contracts with Charter. Brazil has negotiated 67 similar agreements with Indiana and Illinois TV stations in the past year, he said.
A call to WRTV resulted in the switchboard operator playing a telephone message addressed to viewers of Charter Communications cable-TV. That message said Charter refused to renew its contract with WRTV. The station has reached agreement with most cable systems, the message said.
Meanwhile both WRTV and Charter say their companies are working to restore service.
If ABC does carry the Colts' post-season games, the big winner might be Dish network, which offers local stations plus ABC and other networks.
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