Losing AFN-K!!!!

blues brother · #1 10-25-2007, 03:51 PM

hey golks my cable company (C&M in Mapo-gu Seoul) told me that as of Nov 1 they wont be carrying AFN-K TV. They said its because the USFK has told them they cant carry the signal anymore.

Can somebody in the USFK (Col McDormand (sp???)) tell us in the expat community whats going on? Lot of watch it to keep in touch with home

Mr. Joe · #2 10-25-2007, 06:40 PM

Only an educated guess, but I've heard that AFN never authorized any Korean cable to carry their broadcast officially except on Base or on Post. They broadcast from Namsan and on officially approved satellites. We'll wait for a better answer...

DrWorm · #3 10-25-2007, 07:42 PM

Here is the deal. The shows that we get on AFN are given to AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Televison) Free or at a great discount than they are given to civilian TV stations. Because of that you will never see paid commercials. AFN makes no money. As part of the SOFA agreement with South Korea, AFN Korea will not show certain TV shows. Korean stations should pay a lot of money to get the right to show them.

But here is the thing. The cable companies are making money off of AFN because they pay nothing for it and they show it on their feed. If the Show production companies in the States really ever found out, they could pull all of their shows from AFN.

They never had the rights, like the other poster said. What they where doing was illegal. Also, GEN Bell has nothing to do with AFN Korea. Technically AFN Korea is not even part of USFK. The GEN has no say over programming.

Hope that answered your question.

Oh and I think it's UHF 34 to get the off air signal.

blues brother · #4 10-25-2007, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrWorm

Here is the deal. The shows that we get on AFN are given to AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Televison) Free or at a great discount then they are given to civilian TV stations. Because of that you will never see paid commercials. AFN makes no money. As part of the SOFA agreement with South Korea, AFN Korea will not show certain TV shows. Korean stations pay a lot of money to get th right to show them.

But here is the thing. The cable companies are making money off of AFN because they pay nothing for it and they show it on their feed. If the Show production companies the States really ever found out, they could pull all of their shows from AFN.

They never had the rights, like the other poster said. What they where doing was illegal. Also, GEN Bell has nothing to do with AFN Korea. Technically AFN Korea is not even part of USFK. The GEN has no say over programing.

Hope that answered your question.

Oh and I think it's UHF 34 to get the off air signal.

I knew most of that but after decades doing this, why now?

I also know there is a Lt Col (McDormand???) who is in charge of AFN-K, he was nice enough to send me either a PM or an email (I honestly forgot) explaining why AFN doesnt carry NFL games anymore. It was really nice of him to do that and allow me to explain it on my messageboard (expatkorea)

Also according to the US Embassy, in case of an emergency here they said tune to AFN for info involving any evacs for us mi-gooks here on our own.

Now for the Koreans to open up their markets to int broadcasters, man when I'm in Thailand or Vietnam they get ESPN Int and thats fantastic, best of US sports and the premiership in english, i've watched the super bowl 3 times on Ko Samui in English, try that here

Harpeau · #5 10-25-2007, 08:14 PM

I hear ya! That makes me scratch my head. If it's because of cable package stupidity, I'll drop them like a stone and find a better one. If enough do that, they just might reconsider.

Cheers!

Mr. Joe · #6 10-25-2007, 08:58 PM

Probably the pirating thing will come to roost here in Korea, as it did in the U.S. If the Korean government decides to comply with U.S. programmers and actually start doing things legally, then cable may well lose a lot of foreign programs that are being downlinked now and rebroadcast without payment. Shortwave radio is still broadcasting English from AFN, as well as AFN Radio from Yongsan on 1530 AM and 102.7 FM. The AM station antenna has problems now, and is weak. This is where Expats should listen. The UHF channel 34 is weak and hard to get, as it is meant for Yongsan. I believe with some requests from expats, perhaps to the Embassy, someone might put an improved antenna and some more power on Namsan. I don't see any improvement in cable problems. One company is authorized to operate on Military facilities, and I'm sure they abhorr any competition. No doubt Expats with connections can get a PX Satellite System Receiver and Descrambler under some USFK member's name, and "lllegally" receive AFN and Fox Network and whatever else is available for a price.

blues brother · #7 10-25-2007, 09:55 PM

my bad about the guy who responded to me, why I had McDorman on my brain is beyond me. I found this on expatkorea and it came from here regarding the NFL last year:

Quote:

Quote:
Hey, as the AFN commander it makes no difference to me whether you buy the AAFES package or not...I'm not seeing any piece of that :)

For those of you I haven't met, let me introduce myself. I'm Lt. Col. Mike Lawhorn, and I'm the AFN commander here in Korea. I just took command on 21 July.

First, let me apologize for no one answering you.

I'm actually surprised by that because we've been answering a lot of emails in the recent weeks over just these issues. In the last six weeks, we've had an increase in the number of emails...not in the variety of issues, but just the number. I say this only to show that I KNOW we’re answering emails, but I accept full responsibility for us not answering yours.

Most AFN questions boil down to two issues: how do I get more channels off-post, and why can't I see "X" when it's clearly obvious that everyone else wants "X" just as much as I do?

Hey, if it were up to me, we'd have "Battlestar Galactica" on all the time :)

Okay, there are two basic reasons you're not going to see much NFL football on AFN Prime Pacific, and by "not much" I mean "none except for the Superbowl". You ARE going to see college football on AFN Prime, but not NFL

First, AFN Prime Pacific is our channel for variety programming. That basically means it’s “everything for everybody”. It’s also where we put our most popular programs, and it draws the widest audience.

Second, as you may know, cable signal pirating is an issue here in Korea. We’re actually preparing another round of briefings up here on just this issue and whether or not something can be done about it. AFN Prime is our one channel (and we can only physically do this with one channel) that goes out over the open air waves where someone with an antenna can grab it.

Like maybe a cable company that then puts that signal into their own cable package ??? Just hypothetically speaking of course 

Guess what happens to us when the NFL finds out that we’re putting this signal out where just anyone can grab it and put it into their cable package?

Yeah, you get the picture…That’s another reason the NFL stuff stays on AFN Sports, AFN Extra, or AFN Atlantic. Great if you’re on the Cable system or have your dish/decoder (and your landlord actually lets you put it up), but not if you’re on the Korean cable system or just off base with an antenna.

Hey, probably not the answer you wanted, but I promise I will always get you an answer.

Sincerely,
Mike Lawhorn

is what I highlighted coming true now?

ssnapier · #8 10-26-2007, 07:09 AM

It would be nice if the embassy could find a way to lease satellite equipment to expats similar to the way AAFES leases them to soldiers... I know the odds of that are about as good as Dumbo becoming President, but the idea is a solid one!

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