I know at least a couple of users here on this site have covered this topic before and i'll say it once more, How come 4 towns in Southern Maine: Kittery, Eliot, Berwick and South Berwick have ALL Boston TV Stations on their cable provider Comcast? Why would they offer stations from 2 states down? is there a reason for this? because with their cable provider they get Boston channels like 2,4,5,7,25,38 and 56. NH channels like 9,11,21,50 and 60. Plus Portland channels like 6,8,13,26 and 35. Do they really need that much channels? Why not just drop the Boston stations and just only have the Portland and NH channels in the lineup. I think the main reason is because those 4 towns are right next to the NH border, so they must have something to do with this being the main reason that is. Leave me a comment if you think that's the case or not, Thanks!
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Boston TV Stations In Southern Maine?
- Thread starter sxld079
- Start date
It's all about association. When you get that far south in Maine, people don't go to Portland, they go south. No sales tax and more to do. That's the way it's always been on cable TV. York County is Comcast's only market in Maine. You get Boston and Portland and NH stations, however you don't get the smaller Portland stations, Comcast only carries the Boston affiliates.
It may be "2 states down" but York Country Maine is much like Fairfield County Connecticut, it may be the same state but it associates itself with the next market to the south.
It may be "2 states down" but York Country Maine is much like Fairfield County Connecticut, it may be the same state but it associates itself with the next market to the south.
Mainedude2007 said:
Unless they have sattelite dish, then they'll only get ALL Portland Stations like 6,8,10,13,23,35 and 51. They won't be able to get the Boston and NH stations on their sattelite lineups, unless they have BOTH cable and sattelite TV, then they most likely to recieve ALL stations from Boston, NH and Portland, cause even though those towns are on the edge of the Portland DMA and right next to the Boston DMA, I'll say that those are a LOT of stations if they had both cable and dish, and since comcast has a lot of channels in their lineup, do they block out some programming whenever 2 or 3 stations show the same programming at the same time?
I think it's called Significantly Viewed Status. When I visited Wyomissing, PA in April of 2011, the hotel looked to have the actual lineup for their area (Comcast?). Both Wyomissing and Reading are along the Schuylkill River in Berks County, PA. That's considered a portion of the Philadelphia/Wilmington (DE) market. However, included on the lineup at that point:
WGAL-TV (NBC) channel 8 Lancaster, PA
WITF-TV (PBS) channel 33 Harrisburg, PA
WPMT-TV (FOX) channel 43 York, PA
Here in Connecticut, WPIX-TV (CW) channel 11 of New York City is carried as close as Meriden, CT, which is in northern New Haven County.
As for Fairfield County leaning southward, it's obvious, since they're actually part of the New York City TV market itself. My friend in Stratford used to get the analog signal of WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven with no problems, despite his local ABC station technically being WABC-TV channel 7.
Lastly, I remember the days of the old Continental Cablevision in Saco and Old Orchard Beach. When I visited O.O.B. in September of 1989, channels 4, 5, 7, 38 and 56 from Boston/Cambridge were there, along side channels 6, 8 (Poland Spring), 11 (Durham, NH), 13, 26 (Biddeford) and 51. Of course WPME-TV (MY) channel 35 of Lewiston wasn't on the air yet.
WGAL-TV (NBC) channel 8 Lancaster, PA
WITF-TV (PBS) channel 33 Harrisburg, PA
WPMT-TV (FOX) channel 43 York, PA
Here in Connecticut, WPIX-TV (CW) channel 11 of New York City is carried as close as Meriden, CT, which is in northern New Haven County.
As for Fairfield County leaning southward, it's obvious, since they're actually part of the New York City TV market itself. My friend in Stratford used to get the analog signal of WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 of New Haven with no problems, despite his local ABC station technically being WABC-TV channel 7.
Lastly, I remember the days of the old Continental Cablevision in Saco and Old Orchard Beach. When I visited O.O.B. in September of 1989, channels 4, 5, 7, 38 and 56 from Boston/Cambridge were there, along side channels 6, 8 (Poland Spring), 11 (Durham, NH), 13, 26 (Biddeford) and 51. Of course WPME-TV (MY) channel 35 of Lewiston wasn't on the air yet.
The largest number of these channels are in Standard Definition, not HD. In HD the only ones from Boston are Fox 25 and MyTV 38. There are 2 HD's from NH, WBIN and NHPTV. You can pick up NHPTV Over the Air in York county so it isn't really an import, WBIN is probably free (and worth about that price). I didn't mention WGBH et al. as they will be gone in October (some agreement between WGBH and NHPTV, not Comcast's fault).
Not sure how many standard definition watchers of WBZ, WCVB, WMUR or the rest there on in these towns, but I'd guess the number is low. None of these towns are tourist destinations for the most part. Time Warner has begun removing the Boston channels from some of their service areas in southern Maine, and there has been some discussion about it in the Portsmouth Herald. Time Warner isn't in the Boston or southern NH market, which may be why they went first. No relationships with the Boston TV stations so no upside to importing the stations in. My guess is that the few towns that get these stations in Standard Definition from Comcast are just not big enough to worry about right now. I don't think the Boston channels availability has anything to do with these towns being somehow oriented toward Boston. If the Boston stations demand more money or Comcast needs the bandwidth, you can kiss these stations goodbye.
Not sure how many standard definition watchers of WBZ, WCVB, WMUR or the rest there on in these towns, but I'd guess the number is low. None of these towns are tourist destinations for the most part. Time Warner has begun removing the Boston channels from some of their service areas in southern Maine, and there has been some discussion about it in the Portsmouth Herald. Time Warner isn't in the Boston or southern NH market, which may be why they went first. No relationships with the Boston TV stations so no upside to importing the stations in. My guess is that the few towns that get these stations in Standard Definition from Comcast are just not big enough to worry about right now. I don't think the Boston channels availability has anything to do with these towns being somehow oriented toward Boston. If the Boston stations demand more money or Comcast needs the bandwidth, you can kiss these stations goodbye.
Bristol, Co. Mass. is very similar to Fairfield, CT. It is the only county in eastern MA to be in the Providence DMA, and not the Boston DMA. It has been a widely discussed topic, and lots of people are against it. Comcast does offer both Boston and Providence stations (in HD) as does Verizon FiOS in certain communities in Bristol county, but if you have satellite and are in Bristol county, you will get nothing but Providence stations. Several people think that either; Bristol Co. should be moved to the Boston DMA, or they could come to an agreement to have both Boston and Providence stations ONLY in Bristol Co. That's exactly what Verizon FiOS does. On Comcast, Providence stations are available on several southeastern Mass. communities going beyond Bristol county (in SD only), in much of Plymouth county, and ALL of Cape Cod and the islands. I wonder if maybe they'll do away with them eventually.
I also forgot to mention something here, that also for the people who live in Waterville Valley, NH in which it's part of the Burlington DMA, their sattelite providers carry ALL Burlington Channels like 3,5,22,31,33,44,49 and 57 while their cable provider Skisat did NOT offer any stations from Burlington instead their lineup consited of ALL stations from Boston like 2,4,5,7,25,38,56 and 68, but that was BEFORE January 1st of this year which was when Time Warner's Plymouth service took over cable TV coverage in Waterville Valley, and apparently dropped 6 out of 8 Boston stations from their lineup.
When I lived in York (ME) in the 80's and 90's...I had cable AND a rooftop antenna. I recall cable then, as giving us ALL Boston--except 25,56 & 68. We didn't get 9, 21, 50 or 60 from NH. Just WENH. From Portland, it was everything except 51. 35 wasn't on yet. We also had 26, Biddeford and (french) ch. 9 With my rooftop unit, I could get all those other "regional" stations that the cable didn't provide. In the late 90's I moved to South Berwick, and got whatever cable served Dover & Portsmouth. I don't recall it being anything special either.
sxld079 said:
Yes. I always kept abreast of that stuff. I knew they had ...(perhaps Cablevision?)... the same as what Dover had. I remember saving one of the TV Guides that I used, which was totally marketed for cable viewers. I'd have to seek it out (from a box where it's kept) to reference what we got at the time.
whdh1920 said:
I found a TV Guide. It was the "MediaOne" edition! September 1997.
The guide has a grid for all the regional towns, with the available channels. I believe I was under the "Dover" grid... which offered....
WGBH 2
WBZ 4
WCVB 5
WCSH 6
WHDH 7
WMTW 8
WMUR 9
CKSH 9
WENH 11
WGME 13
WNBU 21
WFXT 25
WMEA 26
WSBK 38
WNDS 50
WGOT 60
WMFP 62
WHSH 66
Plus a wide variety of cable channels.
Some of those channels, especially 60,62,66 I don't recall getting. But I don't recall what level of service I paid for either...so maybe I did them.
I'm trying to remember if Springfield, MA had Media One for a time. I know they had Continental Cablevision back in the day.
So no channels 35 (Lewiston) or 51 (Portland) on the lineup then? Strange! Kittery and Eliot, ME are still a part of the Portland/Poland Spring DMA, the last time I checked.
So no channels 35 (Lewiston) or 51 (Portland) on the lineup then? Strange! Kittery and Eliot, ME are still a part of the Portland/Poland Spring DMA, the last time I checked.
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