Dispatch

When some stations started multicasting digital subchannels there were a number of engineering issues that made the process cumbersome. Today, although there are different methods to launch a diginet — from using network-configured equipment to running second channels through a station’s main master control — most broadcasters say the task is neither tough nor expensive.

It’s fitting that Dispatch Broadcast Group’s settlement of a carriage dispute with Dish Network came when it did, for today marks 20 years since the passage of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act, the measure that created retransmission consent and a second revenue stream that is now critical to local television.