Cable systems carrying three stations of the same network

[the golden boy]

I was in Forrest City, AR over the weekend and the cable system there carries three ABC stations: KATV Little Rock (90 miles west), KAIT Jonesboro (60 miles north) and WPTY Memphis (40 miles east). They also appear next to each other on the dial. In addition, the NBC, CBS and PBS stations from Little Rock and Memphis are carried, too. Carrying two stations affiliated with the same network isn't really uncommon, but three?

 

[anotherguyTN]

This would have been in the early 70's but I vaguely remember the cable system in Dyersburg, TN carrying KAIT along with WHBQ 13, which was ABC at the time, and WBBJ ABC 7 in Jackson, TN. Later KAIT was dropped.

One factor that probably contributed to 3 ABC stations on the Forrest City cable system, and also Dyersburg at one time, is that ABC has affiliates in Jackson and Jonesboro, but CBS and NBC has only had affiliates in Memphis and Little Rock for Forrest City, and Memphis and the Paducah, KY/Cape Girardeau, MO area for Dyersburg, and the Paducah/Cape stations have dropped from Dyersburg's cable system in recent years.

 

[alg2468]

The cable TV system in Laconia NH carries 3 ABC affiliates: WMUR in Manchester, NH, WMTW in Poland Spring, ME, and WCVB in Boston, MA.

 

[ajc_trw]

Verizon in Dover Delaware seems to like giving the folks a choice in network affiliates.

2 ABC - WMAR-TV 2 Baltimore
3 CBS - KYW-TV 3 Philadelphia
4 CBS - WBOC-TV 16 Salisbury, MD
5 FOX - WBOC-TV 21 Salisbury, MD
6 ABC - WPVI-TV 6 Philadelphia
7 ABC - WMDT-TV 47 Salisbury, MD
10 NBC - WCAU-TV 10 Philadelphia
11 NBC - WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore
13 FOX - WTXF-TV 29 Philadelphia

So 3 ABCs & two from the others.

 

[emailfailed]

Many years ago in Santa Barbara the cable system, Cox, used to carry the Central Coast affiliates and Los Angeles O-and-O's. I think it was around 1992 they began "dropping" the L.A. channels.

Down south certain cable systems in and around San Diego used to carry both the local affiliates and L.A. channels.

Very much the same situation in Palm Springs.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Digital cable customers on Comcast here in Springfield, IL get 3 primary channels for PBS--excluding subchannels:

12.1-WILL Urbana (Univ. of IL) (cable 12)
14.1-WSEC Jacksonville/Springfield (cable 8--digital only)
51.1-WEIU Charleston (Eastern Illinois Univ.) (cable 189--digital only)

As you can tell, those that still have basic cable only get 1 PBS: WILL. It was designated as the primary PBS by Comcast for the Champaign/Decatur/Springfield market over 2 years ago, which led WSEC to be relegated to digital cable and to HOWLS of protest from Springfield cable customers.

 

[bpatrick]

As I've mentioned before, when I was at the University of
Georgia in the '70s we had three ABC (WJBF, WXIA, WLOS)
and three CBS (WAGA, WSPA, WRDW) stations on our cable.
As cable networks began to increase, starting with HBO, the
cable system began dropping the outside-Atlanta stations in
the late '70s.

I think there was some talk about returning WSPA to the cable
lineup after WAGA went to Fox, but WGCL is the CBS affiliate for
Athens (WNEG was as well until UGA bought it).

 

[tripinva]

In Bushkill, PA, the cable company provides three CBS and three NBC:

CBS: 2 WYOU, 3 KYW, 19 WCBS
NBC: 8 WBRE, 10 WCAU, 25 WNBC

Despite this, WOLF is the only Fox on the system. All other networks are carried twice. No WABC, no WPSG, no WPHL (was replaced with WQMY some years ago). PBS is from WLVT and WVIA. WFMZ is also carried, as is ION via WQPX.

- Trip

 

[Gridlock Joe]

Back in the mid 80s, I lived in Mount Pleasant, TX. We got three ABC affiliates (KTBS, KLTV, WFAA), three CBS affiliates (KSLA, KLMG, KDFW), and two NBC affiliates (KTAL, KXAS), plus PBS from Dallas (KERA).

Now, in standard definition, they still get the same three ABC stations, two CBS stations (KYTX, KSLA), two NBC stations (KTAL, KXAS), Fox from Shreveport (KMSS), plus PBS from Dallas (KERA). In HD, only the Shreveport stations are carried (KTBS, KSLA, KTAL, KMSS, KLTS).

 

[azumanga]

Digital cable customers on Comcast here in Springfield, IL get 3 primary channels for PBS--excluding subchannels...

Up until last year, Charter subscribers in Bay City and Midland got thee PBSs:

WDCQ Bad Axe
WCMU Mt. Pleasant
WFUM Flint

This changed when CMU acquired WFUM, switching it to WCMZ, a satellite of WCMU. Zap2it indicates that Charter has both WCMU and WCMZ, though its prescence is moot, as they are both the same channel.

Comcast viewers in Flint also get three PBSs -- WDCQ, WCMZ and WKAR from East Lansing.

 

[trapper12]

As I've mentioned before, when I was at the University of
Georgia in the '70s we had three ABC (WJBF, WXIA, WLOS)
and three CBS (WAGA, WSPA, WRDW) stations on our cable.
As cable networks began to increase, starting with HBO, the
cable system began dropping the outside-Atlanta stations in
the late '70s.

I think there was some talk about returning WSPA to the cable
lineup after WAGA went to Fox, but WGCL is the CBS affiliate for
Athens (WNEG was as well until UGA bought it).

I knew WLOS had some zip to it but did not know it went that far. WLOS was a super station before there were super stations.

 

[justpassingthough]

When I was growing up in South Orange County, CA in the late 1980s, our cable system at the time, Dimension Cable (now Cox) carried the ABC affiliates from LA, San Diego and Santa Barbara, if I remember correctly. It wasn't until the early 90s when they dropped the SD and SB affiliates. I remember specifically watching "Jeopardy" from San Diego earlier in the evening, and then impressing my parents with the knowledge later when the same show aired on KABC.

We had moved from the Midwest where we didn't have cable, and were "forced" to get cable when we noticed that the "mountains" (really just foothills) blocked the signals from LA and San Diego, which were both 60 miles away.

 

[Mainedude2007]

The cable TV system in Laconia NH carries 3 ABC affiliates: WMUR in Manchester, NH, WMTW in Poland Spring, ME, and WCVB in Boston, MA.

Most of the cable cos in New Hampshire have the 3 ABC affiliates (and 3 PBS stations) and carry 2 of NBC and CBS (Portland and Boston), Northern regions of the state carry Portland, Manchester and Burlington ABC's while cherry picking what market the other affiliates are from.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

Back in the 80's, Beckley (WV) Telecable had this multiple affiliate lineup:

NBC: WSAZ/3, WVVA/6 and WSLS/10
ABC: WOAY/4 and WOWK/13
CBS: WDBJ/7 and WCHS/8

Sunday afternoon during football season was great since, in most cases, the two Roanoke stations typically had different feeds than those from Charleston/Huntington/Bluefield.

 

[KML0224]

Back in 1989, then-Continental Cablevision of Saco and Old Orchard Beach, ME carried the "big 3" from Portland/Poland Spring and Boston, FOX Portland, channel 38 of Boston and channel 56 from Cambridge/Boston. Presently with Comcast here in New Britain, CT, we only get the Hartford/New Haven locals and WGBY-TV (PBS) channel 57 of Springfield, MA in SD.

@ ajc_trw: I'm certain that Dover is the southern edge of the Philadelphia/Wilmington DMA. Also, has that FOX subchannel from Salisbury, MD been on the air long?

 

[bpatrick]

As I've mentioned before, when I was at the University of
Georgia in the '70s we had three ABC (WJBF, WXIA, WLOS)
and three CBS (WAGA, WSPA, WRDW) stations on our cable.
As cable networks began to increase, starting with HBO, the
cable system began dropping the outside-Atlanta stations in
the late '70s.

I think there was some talk about returning WSPA to the cable
lineup after WAGA went to Fox, but WGCL is the CBS affiliate for
Athens (WNEG was as well until UGA bought it).

I knew WLOS had some zip to it but did not know it went that far. WLOS was a super station before there were super stations.

With its transmitter on Beaucatcher Mountain, WLOS put a signal into six states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Virginia, and Georgia; it was the de facto ABC affiliate for Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City before WKPT signed on in 1969, and many viewers in Knoxville watched it instead of WTVK/26, ABC at the time. Even without cable in Athens, you could usually pick up a snowy but viewable picture, even though there was a station on Ch. 13 much closer: Macon's WMAZ.

 

[mescutia]

Most of the cable cos in New Hampshire have the 3 ABC affiliates (and 3 PBS stations) and carry 2 of NBC and CBS (Portland and Boston), Northern regions of the state carry Portland, Manchester and Burlington ABC's while cherry picking what market the other affiliates are from.

I don't know about the northern and central parts of the state, but I've never known of a cable system in the Manchester-Nashua-Salem region that carries the Portland stations. We just have two ABC stations (WMUR and WCVB) and one each of CBS, NBC, FOX, and the CW (all from Boston).

We also get at least two PBS affiliates, WGBH and NHPTV, and some systems (my town included) also get WGBX.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Adelphia in NW Ohio used to carry NBC from Toledo, Fort Wayne, and Lima.

 

[FreddyE1977]

When I lived in southern Michigan in the late 1980's my cable system offered 3 NBC
stations (WTVG from Toledo, WDIV from Detroit, and WILX from Jackson, MI). Also
4 CBS stations (WTOL from Toledo, WJBK from Detroit, WWMT, Kalamazoo and WLNX, Lansing),
2 ABC stations (WXYZ, Detroit and WOTV, Battle Creek), 2 PBS stations (WTVS, Detroit and
WKAR, East Lansing) and 3 FOX stations (WKBD, Detroit, WUPW, Toledo, and WXMI, Grand Rapids)
Syndex rules started killing all of those off around 1990 or so.

 

[Markxxx]

Does anyone know if cable systems tend to carry full power satellite stations? For instance, WIRT channel 13 Hibbing is a full power satellite of WDIO Duluth.