Local channel Markets

[nicedeboy26]

Hi, my name is James and I live in Millsboro, Delaware that is located in the Salisbury, Maryland local channel market. You may have seen my recent or previous posts about various company questions. I became a Dishnetwork customer exactly a week before a Florida court ruled that dish network was not allowed to transmit distant local networks. [redacted]

Several years pass and Verizon is now serving my street with Fios Internet and Television services. I had FiosTV installed last week and only opt in for the local channel package that they offer. I find the following:

I receive these channels with the Motorola STB: (Channels are published)
Channel 3 CW WMDT2
5 FOX WBOC SD and HD
6 CBS WBOC SD and HD
7 ABC WMDT SD and HD
8 WGN AMERICA
11 NBC WBAL SD and HD (Baltimore, different market)
12 PBS WDPB (Maryland Statewide)
22 PBS WCPB (Delaware)

I receive these channels via the QAM tuner in my television without a Motorola STB:

Channel 6.1 WPVI-HD, 6.2 WPVI-HD2, 6.3 WPVI-WX (Philadelphia, different market)
11.1 WBAL-DT, 11.2 WBAL-SD (Baltimore channels)
12.1 WHYY PBS, 12.2 Y ARTS, 12.3 Y INFO (Philadelphia)
16.1 WBOC-HD
17.1 WPHL-DT, 17.2 ThisTV (Philadelphia)
29.1 WTXF-DT (Philadelphia)
35.1 Mind, 35.2 GLB MIND (Maryland)
39.1 WLVT-DT (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
47.1 WMDT-HD, 47.2 WMDT-D2
64.1019 WMCHDT-44 (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
64.1023 NYN PBS (New Jersey)
65.1039 PBS 39 (No clue)
66 TV Guide channel that makes no sense
123.103 Weather channel from Philadephia
135.744 Sports PPV channel

A few more Spanish speaking and commercial channels.

With reviewing the above information, are cable companies, like Verizon, exempt from not being allowed to transmit local channel markets into another local channel market? An individual like myself, Verizon is piping channels from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Baltimore, Allentown, and LA.
Plus, most of these channels that I receive without a STB are not published on the Verizon website!

[James Long]

Unfortunately cable and satellite are governed by different rules.

Cable has to have a certain percentage of their capacity reserved for local channels and if that capacity isn't filled they must fill it with local channels. Small cable systems do not need to have every local in the market ... they just need to meet the quota. Larger cable systems generally have more capacity than local channels available. A TV station can get carriage on a cable system by proving that their signal theoretically reaches the system's customers and providing a usable signal to the cable system's head end. (Basically.)

Satellite carriage is market based. Arbitrary lines drawn by the AC Nielson company that divide the country into markets. Lines that do not follow the actual coverage of stations. Satellite must carry or offer carriage to every full power station in the market or carry no station in that market - regardless of the number of stations. Five years ago satellite companies were given permission to carry stations from neighboring markets (Significantly Viewed) but that permission was written into law in the same section where distant stations (generally those from far away offered to people with no local station) were permitted.

As you noted, DISH lost the ability to carry distants - which includes the close distants of "Significantly Viewed" - so they cannot carry any station outside of its own market. This is partially their fault (for violating the distants law) but is also the fault of Congress for not having a level playing field between satellite and cable.

Fios is operating as a cable company ... so they get to carry any channel that they can receive (with permission of the station). A new carriage law has passed that should help DISH regain permission to carry out of market stations. More information is in our Legislative and Regulatory Issues forum.

[phrelin]

Wow! Excellent explanation, James!