# Puerto Rico Local Channel WAPA in Dispute with Dish!



## neljtorres (Jul 15, 2004)

Guys I was watching TV last night and saw a commercial of WAPA regarding their contract dispute and WAPA is saying that they are going to leave Dish. Their asking customers to call Dish to ask for keeping the channel. The message is after January 18, 2008 they will be leaving Dish. But today the channel is still on!

Call Dish 1800333Dish


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

I guess E* does not want to carry WAPA even in Puerto Rico, which leads me to believe E* wants WAPA America out of the deal. Bad decision for Echostar, since they will lose customers on both the US and Puerto Rico. What is it that Charlie does not understand about WAPA's style of programming (as well as for WAPA America)? Is he fearing that he may have to offer a seventh superstation, but only for Dish Latino subscribers? They were the last of the sattlelite providers in the island to carry WAPA.


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## neljtorres (Jul 15, 2004)

Wapa has the best shows down here! I called today and the CSR told me that they are still negotiating. And WAPA wants more maney and WAPA America on too.


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## satexplorer (Feb 6, 2007)

More $ to pay it's commerical airtime. Charlie is a wiseguy. Leave WAPA in the dust!


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

WAPA is owned by a company called LIN TV. I think they are based in Boston, but I could be wrong and it's really not important right now.

LIN is in a carriage dispute with a small, suburban cable company regarding the rights to LIN's Austin, TX NBC affiliate, KXAN. It seems like LIN's negotiators are bulldogs at the bargaining table.

So far, KXAN has been pulled and the cable operator struck a deal with an NBC affiliate in Temple. Recently, LIN hit the airwaves offering the Suddenlink subs a $50 gift card to switch to E*.

To (tangentially) get back to topic: If little old Suddenlink isn't going to cave to LIN's terms, certainly big-bad-Charlie won't.


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

bartendress:

LIN sold WAPA and WAPA America to InterMedia Partners last year. The only thing LIN has to do with WAPA America is where their hub is located (Chicopee, Massachusetts), and it's the best location in the USA (in terms of signal strenght from the raw feed, price for operations, and distribution of the channel with all the WAPA America inserts and logo). Just to clear this out of the millionth time lol.

For what I know (based on someone that works for WAPA America who does the local promos), it's not about a modest increase in monthly cost per subscriber in Puerto Rico (it's still cheaper than what Telemundo's WKAQ TV2 and Univision's WLII TV11 charge E* and DirecTV Puerto Rico per subscriber), it's the fact that E* does not want to carry WAPA America for unknown reasons. He also told me that the dispute could take a while to resolve, and they are aware if E* decides to launch a channel for Dish Latino subscribers in the US that uses programming from WAPA and WIPR (which currently air exclusively on WAPA America), they will take proper legal action, and Charlie does not want to get into a major legal action with the largest independent TV station in the US and their territories.


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

satexplorer said:


> More $ to pay it's commerical airtime. Charlie is a wiseguy. Leave WAPA in the dust!


Let me make something clear to you. WAPA does have a right to choose between "Must Carry" or "Retransmission consent for a nominal cost per subscriber a month" because they are a full power station, reguardless of the programming they have on. WAPA also has the right if they want to link their channel to their "Superstation" feed named WAPA America for the use outside of Puerto Rico (more specific to the United States of America, and its territories, and gain some subscribers on cable and sattlelite systems in Latin America). Just because they are an independent station that provides most of the locally produced shows by any commercial TV station in the island (or anywhere in the US) does not mean they don't have a right to negotiate their carriage deals as they see fit in order to help them pay for the costs of uplinking their channel(s), and for other costs they have because of their programming costs (paying salaries, and buying syndication rights for "SYNDEX" programming to air in the island does cost money).

Want to see WAPA in the dust? Not happening, especially when WKAQ is on the brink of becoming a Telemundo affilliate like the others, and WLII has very limited local programming. WAPA is the "near-perfect" example of what a full time "Spanish programming Superstation" should operate.

I can guarantee you guys and gals one thing. CineLatino's carriage deal is due very soon, and Intermedia Partners also owns half of the channels, plus all the power to make new distribution deals. I can see Charlie trying to play hardball, but this time it can really backfire on him. No Spanish movie channel, no WAPA America and No WAPA in Puerto Rico means major possible losses per subscriber that will take their money to D* and cable! Adding WAPA America would make things a lot easier for him, plus adding some of the thousands of subscribers E* lost when WAPA America was added to DirecTV Mas.


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## Raymie (Mar 31, 2007)

You're on the News Monitor! I ran a weekend update with this information on.


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

I'll keep an eye on what's going on, but they won't tell me more about the dispute until it is either resolved or dead. This is a first for any station in the island to deal with. Cable companies and D* have come to terms with WAPA in order to avoid situations like this one.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

I beleive that "Myst Carry" does not apply to Puerto Rico since they are not one of the 210 TV Markets and Must Carry is written to apply to the designated TV markets by Nielsen. 

See ya
Tony


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

I just realized that, Tony. Nielsen does not do TV ratings in Puerto Rico (TV ratings in the island are done by a research company named "MediaFAX"), but if they ever do, Puerto Rico would rate as DMA #19 (#2 as a Latino DMA behind Los Angeles) under their ranking system, based on market size and revenue generated, and it would be the first market in the nation where NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and The CW would not have a top four station (Market is dominated by Univision's WLII, Telemundo's WKAQ, and independent station WAPA).

I guess all stations have to use the "retransmission consent" rule, which is not a perfect rule in my honest opinion. I can only guarantee that if both parties can't reach a deal, the FCC should take a review of the Must Carry, and retransmisison consent rules, and find a way in which both can be applied to U.S. territories, which is something that should had been done long time ago.


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

neljtorres said:


> Wapa has the best shows down here! I called today and the CSR told me that there are still negotiating. And WAPA wants more maney and WAPA America on too.


If you meant to say locally produced programming, you're right on target. Let's not forget that WAPA is beefing up with programming that should be airing on the other two commercial stations, because of the SYNDEX rules (who do you think some of the novelas that air on Telemundo and Univision in the US are airing on WAPA? How did "Laura" ended on WAPA lol). InterMedia Partners made it very clear when they said there would some tweaking on the programming on WAPA and WAPA America (more known "Syndex" and improving local product that also air on WAPA America).

And for those wondering, WAPA America would be blocked in Puerto Rico, because there's no need for duplication of programming from WAPA and WIPR.


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## neljtorres (Jul 15, 2004)

Today on SuperXclusivo La Comay announced that Wapa and Dish reach an agreement. But that WAPAAmerica was not included in the deal.


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## josem3 (Jan 6, 2005)

On 2007, Dish didn't add any Latino channel just V-me which it is a public channel(pbs) for spanish language. They removed TV-Chile and Telemundo PR because Dish doesn't like to pay little extra pennies for those channels but the next month Dish will raise the programming package but $3.00 and latino by $2.00.
Today, DirectV carry more spanish channels than any cables or satellite provider plus more HD channels.
The horizon for Dish doesn't look bright unless they start to add channels.


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

shadowman413 said:


> bartendress:
> 
> LIN sold WAPA and WAPA America to InterMedia Partners last year... ...


I stand corrected... Thanks.

265 posts... 1 inaccuracy. Not bad.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

José,

Telemundo Puerto Rico is no longer available to anyone anywhere outside Puerto Rico. The owners pulled the plug on the satellite service.

See ya
Tony


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

neljtorres said:


> Today on SuperXclusivo La Comay announced that Wapa and Dish reach an agreement. But that WAPAAmerica was not included in the deal.


I guess E* wants the remaining Puerto Rican subscribers of "Dish Latino" packages to go somewhere else to get programming from the island. Someone must not be advicing Charlie and his team right, or E* has some other plans, and if they're thinking about launching a channel with programming outside of WAPA and WIPR (and now WKAQ), they're not going to find a lot of choices.

WAPA America will be offered to Dish Latino subscribers sooner or later. Just remember that Cinelatino's carriage deals are no longer done by MVS Communicaciones in the USA, since InterMedia Partners own 50% of the channel, plus their distribution rights in the USA, so let's see how Charlie can handle a "Lifetime" drama with one of the most watched channels of Dish Latino, just because they don't like a channel that is "bundled" with it.

I am wondering if Telemundo and/or Univision have something to do with E*'s lack of will to pay the per-subscriber-fee WAPA America wants (and I still say it's a cheap date compared to Galavision. You can ask anyone working for a major cable operator reguarding my last statement.)

InterMedia must be saying "Karma....." "We will have WAPA America on Dish Latino. We want our channel available everywhere Galavision, Telemundo, Univision, Telefutura and Azteca America is available. We will become a Latino cable/sattlelite television giant that offers channels with programming people want to watch, but the major Spanish networks won't dare to put in their lineups"

*inserts eeeeevvviillll laugh lol* !Devil_lol :uglyhamme


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

TNGTony said:


> José,
> 
> Telemundo Puerto Rico is no longer available to anyone anywhere outside Puerto Rico. The owners pulled the plug on the satellite service.
> 
> ...


They did for one simple reason. The channel was horrible! Lacking local programming, airing music videos at times they could had use to air classic episodes of "El Show De Las 12", and primetime shows that are no longer in production, because they got the boot for more "canned" programming (many of those producers work now at WAPA), no advertising, and a crappy show named "No Te Duermas" were going to ruin the channel from the start.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

I haven't lived on the island for over 30 years (when I go to visit every few years now, TV is the last thing I am looking to watch) but even as a kid there I remember just how much better WAPA was than channel 2. I was in the audience several times for the noon show at WAPA. I loved it. I don't remember name of the laugh-in type show on Friday and/or Saturday nights in that time frame, but I loved it! WKAQ had nothing like it! As an adult now I realize just how cheesy the shows really were. But they were local, with local flavor, jokes and sensabilities. They spoke the same language as the viewers (not just Spanish, but Puerto Rican!). Telemundo always seemed so distant. It wasn't until I grew up a little and realized that Telemundo was distant because the majority of the programs were produced outside the island for different audiences!

Looking at the WAPA America schedule, there is nothing there that would really compell me to watch the channel more than a little just to get some flavor. But then again, I dropped Dish Latino several months ago because I wasn't watching the channels. Telemundo PR never had anything I wanted to watch. I mean NEVER. 

See ya
Tony


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

There are some jewels to watch on WAPA America. Their noon show is very good. It has comedy, music, political criticism, etc... Their newscast beats their competitors, "SuperXclusivo", and several cultural and educative programming from WIPR ("Asi Canta Puerto Rico" is a must watch if you're into "décimas" and "jíbaro" music).

I do get my dose of nostalgia by watching at times "Barrio 4 Calles", and "Carmelo y Punto", as well as watching "Super Estrellas De La Lucha Libre" on weekends (highes AD selling spots on weekends, and where you take a peek at new promos, and tested their new logo).


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

FYI, "Asi Canta Puerto Rico" can be seen on Dish on HITN channel 9401 and 843.

See ya
Tony


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## shadowman413 (Jan 29, 2006)

I forgot about the HITN deal with WIPR. thanks Tony!


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