Appealing denied wavers?

[JaserLet]

I live out in the boonies and in an area which does not have locals provided by DirecTV. My local CBS and PBS stations come in fine with my antenna. But FOX, NBC, and ABC are fuzzy even with a huge new outdoor antenna, new cabling, and amplifier. This is mostly due to hills in between me and the transmitter towers. So, I applied for wavers for those three networks. I got my postcard today, I was granted a waver for ABC, but denied for NBC and FOX.

What is the best way to go about appealing a denied waver request? I think I have a pretty good case to argue for an NBC waver. Our local NBC station isn't really even local, it's just a branch office that splices in local advertisments. No local news or anything. According to the FCC website, they're the lowest wattage transmitter in the area and the furthest from me, which probably explains the poor picture quality.

As for the FOX station, from all of the data I can find, it should come in as clear as the CBS station, in theory. Maybe I should talk to the FOX station engineer, perhaps they're broadcasing at a lower power than they are rated for.

[JimSpence]

I would write letters to the station managers explaining your situation. I was able to get my CBS affiliate to relent and finally grant a waiver. But, this was about three years ago and the rules have changed and the stations aren't granting them easily. Maybe invite the station manger to the house and prove that you can't receiver their station.

[Wirelezz]

I feel your pain... been there, done that!

The FOX waiver is the hardest to get. I'm 50 miles west of Denver deep in Rockies and I have absolutely NO OTA reception, and yet I had to fight with D* for 5 weeks over this. What you need to do is contact your local stations directly and ask to speak with the chief engineer and plead your case. What your asking him to do is fax a waiver directly to D*. The chief engineer is usually the one in charge of the waivers, but sometimes it will be the station manager.

The faxed waiver has to be on the station's letterhead, and it needs to be sent to D*'s HD-DNS eligibility division ATT: SHVA. The faxed letter must contain all your identifying info, i.e. your name, account number, your address & phone # etc. The HD-DNS eligibility division fax # is 208-363-6444.

If you want to call D* in regards to this, call 866-678-6664 and tell the CSR you want to be transferred directly to the HD-DNS eligibility division. Those are the folks you want to be dealing with on this.

Remember, when it comes to D* waivers, perseverance pays!

Good luck!

[ttodd1]

Funny I got the Fox one very easy, it's the others that are the pain.

[DougF]

My local CBS station told me that they would come to my house and do a signal strength test. If the signal was not strong enough, the test would be at their expense and I would get the waiver. If the signal was not strong enough, no waiver and I pay for the test.

If you really think your signal is that bad, perhaps you can get them to come out and test?

[Wirelezz]

Re: waivers, here's a couple of links to help you see where you stand:

<Click Here> (http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com/app/AddressForm.aspx) To find out if your eligible for D*'s DNS (Distant Local Stations).

<This Site> (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx) will tell you based on your physical location what stations are receivable with what signal stregth and with what size antenna.

Hope this helps...

[JaserLet]

According to the various websites and maps, I should be getting awesome signals... however, those sites/maps do not take into account the hills between me and the transmitters, or the valley I live in. To get a line of sight to the transmitters would require a several-hundred foot tall tower, which seems like a perfect lightning rod. Right now I'm using a 16 foot pole attached to the side of my house to hold up the largest outdoor antenna I could find.

[minorthr]

I went round and round with an NBC affilate that claims I can receive their signal and I am somehow in their DMA and the Philly DMA, I requested a signal test but D* wont proceed because they now offer Philly locals in HD however since there is no HD DVR that does me no good. It just got to the point where I dont watch NBC anymore.

[shstrang98]

This whole deal with having to get waivers thanks to FCC regulations is absurd.

If a station doesn't come in very well (which having a picture at all, no matter how noisy , is probably plenty for most people who don't care about quality as most clearly do not) that's one thing.

If a station is so bad that the viewers in it's market are wanting out of area affiliates then the locals don't deserve viewers at all.


Example: The ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates in my area are total trash. Their broadcast signal comes in fine but the quality of the material being transmitted is hideous. They look and sound like ****. Stations in bigger markets usually care about the quality of what they're broadcasting and it shows in both video and audio quality.

Perhaps if the stations didn't have the protection of the FCC's moronic laws they would be motivated to improve their quality. But since they don't have to to get viewers why should they?

[JimSpence]

Well, it might be time for you and your neighbors to send complaint letters to the FCC about the quality of their transmissions.

[Hodaka]

It just got to the point where I dont watch NBC anymore.

Heck, I've been doing that since I got DirecTV (7+ years?). NBC gave me such fits, I said screw it and haven't missed it at all..

[Stanley Rohner]

How does NBC give you fits ?

[tnedator]

Heck, I've been doing that since I got DirecTV (7+ years?). NBC gave me such fits, I said screw it and haven't missed it at all..

Seven or more years ago, DirecTV took my ABC away, I think a year or so before SHVA. So, until this year when I started watching Alias on DVD and Greys Anatomy on DVD, I hadn't watched an ABC show (except MNF) in years. I actually have basic cable, and will turn on ABC for MNF sometimes, but other than that, it is too much work, and the signal too crappy.

Now that I have an HD Tivo and OTA signals will be part of the guide, I am trying to get an antenna setup that will allow me to get the ABC station OTA. Not sure yet whether or not I will be successful.

[Hodaka]

How does NBC give you fits ?

first they supposedly sent a waiver.. this was at a time where it was pretty easy to get a waiver. All you had to do is write or call and ask.. I didn't have any problems with any of the other stations..

then when the waiver never arrived, I called back and they then said I wasn't eligible

I appealed and they said they'd send someone out to measure the signal

supposedly someone did, although I have my doubts (it would have been a 4+ hr drive round trip).

I went around and around with them for a while and then a tornado took out my antenna completely and I just pulled it all out and haven't seen NBC since then. They thought they could pressure me into keeping their station for their commercials and it backfired and NBC completely lost my viewing.. I can't say that I feel I've missed anything..