Can PBS stations ever invoke exclusivity rules to keep out-of-market PBS stations off cable/dish?

[rparky54]

I have in mind, for instance, a PBS station that does not want viewers contributing to an out-of-market PBS station, possibly one with a stronger programming lineup. An example might be SCETV not wanting viewers in border areas to watch and contribute to PBSNC or GPTV. Can they do that?

I do know that back in the day, some cable companies would import PBS stations from outside their viewing area, evidently to bulk up their channel lineup. This happened in Huntington WV with WSWP-9 Beckley (then a separate station from WMUL/WPBY-33 with a different schedule) and WOUB-20 from Athens OH, which cannot normally be received in Huntington with a rooftop antenna --- the terrain is just too bogus. I am assuming that carriage of Columbus and/or Cincinnati major-network affiliates was a no-no, the C-H stations have always been prickly about that kind of thing. (But the system in neighboring Barboursville carried WBNS-10 Columbus, go figure.)

The system in Shelbyville KY, though by no means starved for channel offerings (Louisville/Lexington/Cincinnati/Bloomington), also carried PBS from Cincinnati, Bloomington, and Oxford OH (Miami U).

I've got PBS Passport for $60 a year which works if you have a Smart TV or Streaming Device. I set my app to my local PBS station, but I can also temporarily change it to one that has the programming I like and watch the live stream from that station. I can also select programs from PBS stations across the country while I have it set to the one carrying them and add them to my watch list. Those programs will remain in my watch list for viewing until deleted regardless of the station my app is set to.

When I had cable, the only the local station KPBS and it's sub channels were carried by Spectrum in San Diego. There also is KCET and KLCS in LA and KVCR in San Bernardino which has some shows I've put on my list for watching that KPBS doesn't have, and Spectrum didn't carry those stations.

 

[IM42A]

In some cases the PBS Affiliate in question is part of a statewide network like in Oregon, Hawaii, Kentucky, Nebraska, Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, Wyoming are the most notable examples.

I know in Hawaii case the entire state is tied to the Honolulu TV market. In New Jersey their statewide PBS affiliate is split between New York City and Philadelphia. Connecticut's PBS affiliate is split between New York and New Haven.

Note some of these PBS statewide networks are split between TV markets within their states.

You've lost me here WRT New Jersey. Are you saying that NJ is split between two TV markets (NYC and Philadelphia), and that NJPBS is carried on cable and dish in both markets? WRT Connecticut, are you saying that CT is split between NYC and Hartford/New Haven, and that CPTV is carried on cable and dish, similarly to NJPBS? (My most recent Nielsen map shows Windham County as in HNH, however, Truck Ads shows it as being in the Providence market. Needless to say, viewers would get both markets OTA, distances up that way are trifling compared to much of the US.)

All of the states you cited, with the exception of Honolulu, have or are served by more than one TV market.

 

[IM42A]

In Raleigh-Durham NC the PBS station (not called PBS yet) was Channel 4, early in the process. That station eded up being the flagship for the statewide network. There were two VHF network affiliates and as recently as 1970, only one of the Big Three had a full-time affiliate, and of course that was one of the VHF stations.

Charleston SC got VHF stations for the Big Three and for PBS (before there was PBS).

Charleston made out like a bandit, with three low-VHF channel allocations (2/4/5) and channel 7 for SCETV. Some Charleston stations used to be viewed in large parts of South Georgia, well over 100 miles from Charleston, and at one time (early 1960s) they were the preferred stations for Sumter, one county over from Columbia. To this day, even though VHF is no longer a factor, Charleston stations are actually the easiest ones to get in Myrtle Beach with a decent rooftop antenna, followed by Wilmington. The in-market stations (Florence/Myrtle Beach) actually have their sticks inland, and the signal has to make its way across swamps and bayous, which creates problems sometimes. Charleston and Wilmington have pretty much a total coastline and/or water path, depending on where you are situated on Long Bay.

 

[IM42A]

I've got PBS Passport for $60 a year which works if you have a Smart TV or Streaming Device. I set my app to my local PBS station, but I can also temporarily change it to one that has the programming I like and watch the live stream from that station. I can also select programs from PBS stations across the country while I have it set to the one carrying them and add them to my watch list. Those programs will remain in my watch list for viewing until deleted regardless of the station my app is set to.

When I had cable, the only the local station KPBS and it's sub channels were carried by Spectrum in San Diego. There also is KCET and KLCS in LA and KVCR in San Bernardino which has some shows I've put on my list for watching that KPBS doesn't have, and Spectrum didn't carry those stations.

I didn't know there was such a thing. I'd like to be able to get PBS stations from throughout the country. I'll look into that.

Too bad they don't have the same thing for commercial TV. A 24/7 linear experience for every TV station in the United States via streaming online video would be amazing beyond belief.

 

[TheBigA]

You've lost me here WRT New Jersey. Are you saying that NJ is split between two TV markets (NYC and Philadelphia), and that NJPBS is carried on cable and dish in both markets?

From Wikipedia:

NJ PBS is available on all New Jersey cable providers, along with most cable, satellite and IPTV providers in the New York (utilizing WNJN/WNJB) and Philadelphia (utilizing WNJS/WNJT) television markets, into New York State, Delaware, and Pennsylvania (with some limited availability in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Cecil County, Maryland).

There are four stations that basically rebroadcast the same schedule.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

That is (and has always been) also the case for ABC, CBS and NBC.

Somewhere around here I have an old TV Guide for Hawaii from the 1980s which shows the same channel bullets for all the network affiliate programming, on every listing, all day.

Yes in Hawaii the TV Stations office and main transmitter would be in Oahu and the translators would be on the other islands to cover the state.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Yes in Hawaii the TV Stations office and main transmitter would be in Oahu and the translators would be on the other islands to cover the state.

Except that they weren't translators, they were (and are) full-power stations. In the industry, they are called "satellite stations".

KHON-TV/2 Honolulu is 100% duplicated on KHAW-TV11 Hilo and KAII-TV/7 Wailuku. KHNL/13 is 100% duplicated on KSIX-TV and KOGG, respectively. KGMB/9 Honolulu used to be the same before the 2009 channel swap with KFVE/5 (the latter is now KHII-TV and duplicates on KGMB's former satellites KGMD-TV and KGMV), but now covers Hilo and Wailuku with translators and DT3 subchannels.

It only seems confusing to us ... everyone living in Hawaii is used to it after all these decades!

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_Public_Television

Maryland Public Television it is a PBS statewide affiliate based in Baltimore but its signal also reaches parts of the Washington DC area where WETA and WHUT are located. It is another case of a PBS affiliate carried in multiple TV markets.

 

[IM42A]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_Public_Television

Maryland Public Television it is a PBS statewide affiliate based in Baltimore but its signal also reaches parts of the Washington DC area where WETA and WHUT are located. It is another case of a PBS affiliate carried in multiple TV markets.

Technically speaking, MPT also has a station (WGPT Oakland) in the Pittsburgh (yes, Pittsburgh) market, Garrett County. Assuming they could get a signal to the satellite centers for the Pittsburgh market, I have to wonder if they could get carried on Dish and DirecTV.

They also reach portions of the Clarksburg-Weston, Harrisonburg, Harrisburg-Lancaster, and possibly Johnstown-Altoona markets, though not with transmitters resident within those markets.

 

[VoiceofWayne]

Rules regarding duplicate PBS stations are different than for commercial stations. For example, CPTV sold the spectrum for WEDW Bridgeport which is a 100% satellite, but retained the license and changed the city of license to Stamford, which puts it in the NY DMA and forces must carry in both the Hartford and NYC markets... Clever

 

[IM42A]

Rules regarding duplicate PBS stations are different than for commercial stations. For example, CPTV sold the spectrum for WEDW Bridgeport which is a 100% satellite, but retained the license and changed the city of license to Stamford, which puts it in the NY DMA and forces must carry in both the Hartford and NYC markets... Clever

I answered my own question, but to share with the forum, WEDW worked out a channel share with WZME Bridgeport (MeTV), and got into the NYC market that way,