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Cable systems that didnt carry popular channels

We had a local cable company do that back in the late '90s/early 2000s. Zampelli Electronics (it's now Zito Media). They did the same thing. Locals weren't available yet so we had DISH, but Zampelli for the locals. Whenever there was a rainstorm, Zampelli lost some of the cable channels that they had. I knew where that "satellite signal lost" screen was from.

Not quite following you here. Do you mean that you subscribed to Dish for non-OTA content, but also had Zampelli for locals, and that Zampelli carried some of the same channels that were on Dish? And that when there was a rainstorm, and you lost channels on Zampelli, they were the same channels that you lost on Dish at the same time? (I'm assuming that if this was the case, Zampelli cherry-picked channels from their Dish feed to distribute to subscribers in tandem with the locals they carried but that were not on Dish yet. I don't suppose they would have carried the full Dish lineup.)
 
Not quite following you here. Do you mean that you subscribed to Dish for non-OTA content, but also had Zampelli for locals, and that Zampelli carried some of the same channels that were on Dish? And that when there was a rainstorm, and you lost channels on Zampelli, they were the same channels that you lost on Dish at the same time? (I'm assuming that if this was the case, Zampelli cherry-picked channels from their Dish feed to distribute to subscribers in tandem with the locals they carried but that were not on Dish yet. I don't suppose they would have carried the full Dish lineup.)
I'm sorry, let me be more specific - I subscribed to Dish for non-OTA content but had Zampelli for locals. Zampelli carried some of the same cable channels that were on Dish. Zampelli's satellites were about 50 miles to the west of me, so if they had a heavy enough rain, those cable channels would go out, with the "Satellite Signal Lost" Dish Network screen popping up on them.
 
I'm sorry, let me be more specific - I subscribed to Dish for non-OTA content but had Zampelli for locals. Zampelli carried some of the same cable channels that were on Dish. Zampelli's satellites were about 50 miles to the west of me, so if they had a heavy enough rain, those cable channels would go out, with the "Satellite Signal Lost" Dish Network screen popping up on them.

I think I've mentioned this either here or another forum, but I distinctly remember the in-room TV at the Quality Inn in Beckley WV in 2019 carrying WWCW-21 Lynchburg VA as its CW outlet, and something coming up on the screen indicating it was Dish Network. It may have been a hotel-targeted system with WWCW as its default CW affiliate for the Beckley-Bluefield-Oak Hill market (not clear why it wouldn't have been WVVA-6.2). WSAZ and WCHS were also available as secondary NBC and ABC affiliates in tandem with WVVA and WOAY, WVNS enjoyed exclusivity for CBS and Fox.
 
I think I've mentioned this either here or another forum, but I distinctly remember the in-room TV at the Quality Inn in Beckley WV in 2019 carrying WWCW-21 Lynchburg VA as its CW outlet, and something coming up on the screen indicating it was Dish Network. It may have been a hotel-targeted system with WWCW as its default CW affiliate for the Beckley-Bluefield-Oak Hill market (not clear why it wouldn't have been WVVA-6.2). WSAZ and WCHS were also available as secondary NBC and ABC affiliates in tandem with WVVA and WOAY, WVNS enjoyed exclusivity for CBS and Fox.

In a related case, DirecTV provided WCWF from Green Bay in the entire Traverse City/Cadillac market for CW programming at least in the 2014-16 timeframe. At the time, TC/C's CW affiliate was a CW+ pass through operated by Spectrum (it's now operated by WWTV/WFQX but is still on cable channel 61 AFAIK).
 
Well, here's another out of market WNBC oddity:

In the early 2000s, Duo County Cable TV Columbia KY, (Adair county Louisville DMA) carried WNBC on it's OTA channel on cable (4).

No in market WAVE, or Lexingtons WLEX, BUT, they had WLKY and WKYT for CBS, WHAS, WBKO and WTVQ for ABC and WDRB and WDKY for FOX.

One summer back then, I was installing new kitchen equipment at Adair County HS, while school was out. I took my lunch in the cafeteria, so I turned on one of the wall mounted TVs while I ate lunch and I remember the "NBC America" ID. This was maybe 2001..

Duo County eventually added WLEX and WAVE for NBC, however at the end of last year, they have discontinued linear cable TV service and exists solely as an internet provider under the name "Duo County Broadband"
Another out-of-market oddity during the late 1980s to the early 1990s was that Glasgow, Kentucky's two cable systems carried WXIA/Atlanta, WBBM/Chicago and some others in addition to the Nashville, Bowling Green and Louisville full slate of affiliates. I recently saw the channel lineups when perusing an online newspaper archive.

Weird!
 
Another out-of-market oddity during the late 1980s to the early 1990s was that Glasgow, Kentucky's two cable systems carried WXIA/Atlanta, WBBM/Chicago and some others in addition to the Nashville, Bowling Green and Louisville full slate of affiliates. I recently saw the channel lineups when perusing an online newspaper archive.

Weird!

I have to think that perhaps this was a kind of "cool factor", to be able to provide big-city affiliates that were available on satellite feeds, basically "because we can".
 
WBBM and WXIA were the original PT24 stations for CBS and NBC. WABC was the ABC affiliate. I wonder if other cable operators in rural WV or Maine offered those instead of a nearby NBC or CBS station due to terrain.
Of course, once Denver came around, many rural cable operators carried at least one station. Sometimes just KRMA, others had nearly the full gamut. Burns OR *STILL* had KMGH and others into the late 2000s.
 
Storer Cable in northern Kentucky refused to add MTV until 1983. But it was late to get channels like TNT too.

Meanwhile, it had about a zillion religious channels, plus the ever-useful "color bars" channel.

Are you sure it was 1983 and not 1993? If it was the former you caught it in time but if it was the latter then….
 


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