Watched the nbc25 news last evening. They had all the "feel-good" stories about folks celebrating Thanksgiving. Everyone they interviewed was in Martinsburg.

Don't we have any Hagerstown/WashCo residents they can do "feel-good" stories about?

Lou did the weather.
He didn't read all the temps.
Wonder if he reads this forum?

Come 1/1/06, I won't be missing nbc25...

The cable companies which have agreed to Nextar's demands for the .30 to carry NBC25 probably don't have viable NBC alternatives. As long as Antietam and Adelphia have other NBC affiliates to offer their customers (and both do) WHAG is in a relatively week bargaining position.

The other challenge they face is being a small market essentially within a big market. News is expensive and no single community in the coverage area could support it; not Hagerstown, or Frederick, or Cumberland, or Winchester, or Chambersburg. As a result they are working to be a regional news provider to attract advertising revenue from those locales.

Challenging for even the big boys and girls in Baltimore and Washington.

If they stop providing news from any of those communities, viewers from those areas, followed by the adverstisers will dissappear. Unfortunately because their reporters are generally green, getting any coverage of substance on local issues is nearly impossible. So you are left with alot of "cops" which is easy to cover.

The loss of access to views in Washington and Frederick Counties will likely cripple the operation in the short term. While the satellite approach could work long term. The penetration in those two areas from viewers willing to pay extra to get 25 cannot offset the losses.

Look for NBC25 to beg its way back on those systems before the end of 2006.

I'd like to see them mix it up a bit... do some "feel bad" stories. There are enough people in Hagerstown who look like they are feeling bad about something; if NBC25 interviewed them, at least we'd find out what they're feeling bad about.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lou did read these forums. I noticed he skimmed over just some of the posted temps the other night too. It was actually an improvement. Nothing dramatic, mind you, but I was glad that he didn't waste his time (and mine) reading everything that was on the maps.

Why is everyone picking on Lou Scally? At least he is entertaining. The other weather guys fall flat, perhaps they take themselves too seriously. At least Lou does not pretend to know the reasons for sunny days caused by dawn.

Is there any way to get an updated cliffs notes version of what's going on today about this? I can't say I'm an avid NBC25 watcher when I'm home, but I will miss the local sports coverage on "The 5th Quarter" show. I usually watch ABC7 because I think it provides better local NEWS than even NBC25, but it does not offer the local sports coverage as NBC25 does.

I've been too occupied with my workload in my final semester that I've rarely had time to browse the forums.

NBC25 wants the cable companies to cough up a fee to them for each subscriber or else lose broadcasting rights. It's like $.25 or something per subscriber. Antietam and Adelphia said forget it and come 1/1/06, you'll need an antenna or Dish Network to see NBC25.

Antietam Cable and NBC25 both have their respective sides of the story posted prominently on their websites.

As far as I know, this is how the situation stands today. For awhile, NBC was pimpin' Dish Network so hard, they were using scrolling advertisements across the bottom of the screen during regular programming.

Looks like Im gonna have to dig up an old UHF loop to get my daily Erica Taylor fix. Its a shame Bob Born-guesser quit doing his weekly right wing nut rants.

Is that all NBC25 means to you, eye-candy???

What about their in-depth investigative reporting, what about their well thought out editorial comments, what about.... eh, nevermind...

I find the "ask an expert" spots annoying. If I wanted to know more real estate or funeral planning or pet problems, I'd hit the internet. I know the idea of it means well, but still...

The internet is still new to the majority of NBC25 viewers.

I will miss Erica Taylor and the blonde that did the 5:00 news this summer.

Erica is the proverbial news-reading pro from Dover - nicely modulated, musical voice; rarely trips over her own tongue; doesnt bobble-head; winsome smile and catalog model good looks...I envy the traffic guy every evening when she chimes "Good evening Alexander". Destined, like Molly Henneberg, to move on to big market success elsewhere in the broadcast ether.

The rest of the HAG25 production talent [excepting the inimitable Lou] tally to a naught but a nightly blooper reel. My all-time fav was the weather intern who hyperventilated so badly it took your breath away.

The "Ask the Expert" segment is an infomercial masquerading as useful, hard info. No better than a product-placement ad IMO.

Go to any small town in America that has a local tv station and you will find that NBC25 stacks up well against them. If you expect a big city station performance out of 25 then you are dreaming. It doesn't happen in any small market. The only difference between Lou Scally and the bald guy that does the weather on 13 down in Baltimore is that Lou has more hair. Local news coverage is about the same except the have more major crime to cover. Their morning show visits convience stores and coffee shops for color stuff. I also recall that 13 has hired some of 25's people. 25 also covers news in other areas because the cable companies carry the signal in those other places.

That all having been said I think that 25 should provide their programing to the cable companies for free because they get a larger market as a result. The cable companies are just signal boosters as far as I am concerned. They get free rights to hook up to the city light poles and city cable customers get to pay the city $4.12 monthly for that privaledge.

A POX ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont really understand why people are getting so upsit about 25 being taken off the air.....look at what thay report.

You tell me why a report about a guy in town here cleaning off his side walk during the snow storm is new's when we all have to do it anyway?????? i mean come on....are thay running out of things to report????

I seen on 25 the other night about a house that was built way back in the 30's in wv why is that new's????

Like the lighting of the christmas tree in city park....here is new's (THAY DO IT EVERY YEAR) everyone knows it it's not like thay just said.....Hey you know what the city is doing there lighting of a tree in city park for the first time i think we need to let people know so thay can go lol........

the bottom line is cnn is a better source for the new's.

And people that want to switch to dishnetwork go right ahead i had dishnetwork at one time and let me tell you...thay will end up paying more for dishnetwork in the long run....i say if that take 25 off the air then so be it. i for one refuse to pay for it......

Up next: a closer look at a local collection of glass peanut butter jars. You're sure to be astonished!

They never asked for a closer look at my belly button lint collection.

But you do seem to watch it a lot.

I'll be right over!

I knew there had to be a fellow lint appreciator out there.

Or belly button appreciator...



It's better than ear wax at least!

From NBC25:

Wonder if the kids can do a better job?

This reminded me of something a client said recently.

He went to the Snow White Grill for breakfast, came into our office shortly after and says, "I'll you what... if you think you've got problems, go to the Snow White Grill for breakfast one morning and you'll feel much better about yourself."

The buffet here dishes up a similar sense of self-satisfaction ;}

Biased reporting? Or just self-serving?

At least the Herald-Mail has openly admitted that they're owned by the same company that owns Antietam Cable TV. But considering that, it looks bad when they lead off on the web page, and it wouldn't surpise me if it didn't appear on the front page with an oversized headline...

"Former Antietam Cable customers in Washington County who switched to Dish Network to watch NBC25 might be in for a disappointment. Neither the station nor its parent company, Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc., have any agreements in place with Dish Network to provide such coverage, Dish Network spokesman Mark Cicero said Tuesday. Read the full story in Wednesday's Herald-Mail newspapers."

Sure, I do suppose this is important local news, but given the Herald-Mail's admitted conflict of interest, it appears they're trying to blow it out of proportion because they have sour grapes at their owners' having been forced to pay some undisclosed extra amount for the right to continue to carry NBC25's broadcasts. I won't argue with all of the criticism others have laid at NBC 25's feet... They're definitely a typical small-town station. But I can't help but notice that the Herald-Mail has an conflict of interest so it's hard to take their reporting seriously.

could be a conflict of interest B. but i take it as an out an out lie by NBC25 that they would be carried by Dish. In such a small town with one newspaper and one tv station, this is news.

It's interesting that an 11th hour settlement was executed between ACTV and NexStar.

We also have to take into consideration you're prior comments and opinions of ACTV.

As far as i'm concerned, NBC25 doesn't even exist anymore, and that has to do with my experiences with them. Personally i would have loved to see them lose over half their viewership.

As far as I'm concerned the whole thing makes everyone involved, including the Herald-Mail, look foolish. I won't defend any of them.

Yoss are you a H-M stooge, then? Or do you just choose to randomly attack me for recognizing a fact that many others have commented on - namely, that Antietam Cable's customer servce and billing policies suck. Oh I know - you're still sore about the moron they have running their web forums. In any event, you really need to get a life, bud.

IMO this was never "news". They were bound to work something out in the end, and it only got the attention that it did because the two parties to the conflict control the local media and abused their powers to make a big deal out of nothing.

NBC 25 definitely looks worse at this point, for just plain lying to their customers about an arrangment with Dish Network that never was. But shame on both companies for making more of this than they ought have.

whatever b.

i was just commenting on our individual frames of reference. You had a bad experience with ACTV, i had a bad experience with NBC25.

I didn't mean to personally attack you. And i'm sorry if you took it that way.

I've always had good experiences with ACTV and the Herald-Mail. And a bad experience with NBC25 -- it's all my personal frame of reference.

I don't fault the way you feel, you're justified in how you feel. And the moron at 25's web site caused more problems for me than you know.

I agree with B on this one. ALL PARTIES come away from this looking like a$$hats!
NBC25 especially since it now appears that they just flat out lied. I was personally looking forward to their demise

As I have said more than once A POX ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES.

So what is the current state of affairs? NBC25 said this week that they do have and agreement with Dish.

Are they staying on Antietam or not?

This isn't about NBC25, but it is related to the topic. I seem to have gotten myself in the middle between DishTV and Maryland Public TV. I got rid of Antiedam because of their billing practices and got DishTV. No problems, technical or otherwise, except I found that they do not provide Maryland Public TV. I happen to like that channel and was dismayed that I no longer could get it.

So, of course, I bitched.

They told me that MPT did not participate in a procedure to have their channel included on their roster. I forwarded that email to MPT and their engineer fired back that Dish told them that they could not be accepted for technical reasons.

Now, here I sit, without my favorite channel, wondering if I want to stir up trouble.

I am not allowed to have an outside TV antenna, but I sure would like to get out of this miserable situation.

Do you have an empty/unused room or attic area where you could put an antenna? It'll work almost as good as outside... Use coax instead of the twin wire stuff and maybe a booster if the signal is weak.

This isn't related to the NBC25 and Antietam dispute, but Duane Lammers that is mentioned in the article was involved in the "negotiations" between the two.

TV Station Won't Air Show Featuring Jesus

That's it. I'm punching Ian Hall in the face!

thank u heather..

I didn't really take it personally.

I had no idea it was that bad. FWIW, I hope that tool at NBC 25 lost his job over it, and I'm sorry to hear you got any grief over it. It obviously wasn't deserved.

Back to Dish TV vs MPT, Round 2.

I got an email from the Director of Engineering at MPT stating his case. So I forwarded it to Dish TV. I thought I didn't want to start a conflict, but this could be interesting. Heh, heh, heh.

I've had DishTV for a few years with almost no technical problems. Only in the worst rain or snow storms did I expierience any breaking up of the signal, and that was only for a few moments.

However, I find it unjustifiable that they don't carry the local public tv channel. There is so much crap on that network. Since I am an occasional insomniac, I discovered their porno channels two years ago. Since I am an adult and had never seen an x rate movie before, I watched. It was so stupid; nothing much in the way pf plots in those movies. Anyway, I got my service cleaned up, because I certainly don't want to have to pay for that garbage. Although, I guess I do, just by subscribing.

But if they can carry that stuff, they can at least give us MPT.

I suppose I should do my research, find the name of the president, and accost him (or her?).

This is starting to be fun.

Yes. And I'll punch Ian Hall in the nose for you.

Seems Local channel WHAG25 is already on Dishnet TV.


Channel 8086 on Dish Sat 119 W Echostar 7

But there is no mention of it anywhere that I can find.

I saw it myself on a friends Sat TV.