Direc TV Questions

[Red_Bull_Ed]

I get cable TV so I don't understand how this works with Direc TV. I see now they are offering local channels and distant or neighboring DMA channels in some areas. Here are some examples, how do they decide which areas get what?

In Mercer County, NJ (Philadelphia DMA) they offer all the Philly Channels (makes sense) and "neighboring locals" from NYC 2,4, and 5 on chs. 880,881,882. Yet all Philly and NYC networks are on cable Comcast and Cablevision in Mercer County.

In New Haven, CT (Hartford DMA) they offer all Hartford Channels and "distant locals" from NYC 2,4, and 5 same as above in Mercer. Cable TV there carries NYC and Hartford channels.

Why do they only get those 3 NYC stations and not the rest?

Now when you get into the New York City DMA boarder areas like Ocean, Monmouth (southern, western) Hunderton, Warren (Phillipsburg), southern Middlesex in New Jersey and Fairfield County, CT they don't offer neighboring locals or distant locals from Philadelphia or Hartford. You could even add the Allentown, the Leigh Valley or Poconos into this desscussion. I picked these areas becuase in Fairfield County, CT you get both NYC and Hartford on cable. Ocean County gets Philadelphia and NYC on cable. Monmouth, Hunderton, Warren, southern Middlesex get some Philadelphia channels along with NYC on cable. (You get the idea) Why don't these areas in the NYC DMA get some Philadelphia and / or Hartford channels?

So why do some areas get 2 DMAs like cable TV and other get only 1? I understand in Chambersberg, PA on Direc TV they get all the locals from Washington DC and Harrisburg, PA. Do areas between Baltimore and Washington now get both cities on direc TV, like they do on cable and verizon fios? If they do, why not Ocean, Mercer, ect. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how they do this?

Another Direc TV question I have people tell me if you pay your bill online or have auto-pay you can "move" to other DMAs but not really move. I could live in the NYC DMA and change my address to Cherry Hill, NJ in the Philly DMA and get Philly networks on the dish and get my NYC over-the-air? Or live in Boston and change my address to Maryland and get Baltimore stations? Is that true. If it is, I find it very cool and might go out and get a dish this weekend. Some bloggers clam they "move" all over the county and few times a year.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for the answers in advance.

 

[fortmill]

It is very illegal to "move" in order to recieve OTA channels on satelite from outside your market. Ask Dish Network, who was very permissive in allowing their customers to "move." A judge finally ruled that Dish could offer NO out of market stations anywhere---even in areas which were unable to receive any reception over the air. But the federal law does allow satelite companies to offer adjacent market stations as part of their "locals" service if such channels are "significantly viewed" in that county. Prior to this law going into effect, the FCC provided a list of channels eligible for "significantly viewed" status and the counties they could be offered in. Even so, it is up to the satelite companies to decide whether they will offer these channels or not. Both Dish and Direct opted to offer significantly viewed channels in a few areas, though after the court ruling Dish was foreced to drop theirs. In the counties you mentioned, New Haven for example, 2, 4, and 5 must have been the only channels considered eligible by the FCC. I suggest you not run out and buy a dish this week-end as you will probably do better with adjacent market channels on cable.

 

[ansky212]

You also need to consider the tecnical aspects of satellite TV. Local channels are trasmitted on satellite by what is called a "spotbeam". The spotbeam is basically a satellite that only covers a small geographic area. So in your example, if you lived in Boston you can not necessarily get the Baltimore locals because Boston is probably too far from the Baltimore spotbeam.

 

[Red_Bull_Ed]

OK, that makes sense as far as the Baltimore - Boston example. But would neighboring DMAs such as New York and Philadelphia, Baltimore - DC, Tampa - Orlando, ect. work with this spot beam because they are so close to each other. Example live in West Orange, NJ and get the NYC stations over-the-air while listing a Atlantic City address so you could pick up the Philadelphia networks on the dish. By getting 2 CBS, 2 FOX, 2 ABC, ect. it offers more choices, for local news, sports (NFL - College Football, ect.) Or live in Tampa, FL and list an Orlando address so you can see what that famous mouse is up to on the local news.

 

[icstephen]

I have never understood the double standard either, here on cable I can get nets from Atlanta & Chattanooga (SD & HD), but on Dish or Directv I can only get Atlanta.

 

[Morgan Wick]

The rule should be simple: all stations available with, say, a grade B signal OTA in 66% of the county, plus all stations carried to 80% of cable subscribers, regardless of DMA or special FCC "exception". But bureaucracy has to rear its ugly head...

 

[dave73]

There's a case in Porter & LaPorte Counties of Indiana, where cable has both South Bend & Chicago stations on their list, while DirecTV only offers Chicago stations to Porter & LaPorte County residents. DirecTV is going by DMA for those counties since they're part of the Chicago market, and not South Bend, even though OTA, people can get the full power South Bend stations, plus cable offering the South Bend stations in their lineup.

 

[chuckydoll]

You should have read the DirecTV FAQ

This is from the FAQ on the DirecTV website:

Under federal law, we can provide local channels only within a local television market. For example, we can provide San Francisco stations only in San Francisco and the surrounding areas. Federal law requires us to respect the local TV markets boundaries, which are established by Nielsen Media Research. Distant broadcast network feeds from New York and Los Angeles are available only to customers who cannot receive an over-the-air signal from a local TV station and to customers who get waivers from their local TV stations.

In other words, the locals you get on DirecTV are usually the locals for your DMA, period.

"Neighboring local channels" is also explained in the FAQ:

Neighboring local channels (aka significantly viewed channels) are out-of-market local channels transmitted to other local areas.

This can be good or bad depending on where you live.

The good: New Hampshire gets WMUR-9 from Manchester with their locals statewide. Vermont gets WCAX-3 and VPT from Burlington with their locals statewide.

The bad: Bridgeport CT gets New York locals but not CPTV (via local WEDU-49) or WTNH-8 (from New Haven). Fayetteville NC gets Raleigh-Durham locals but not WECT-6 from Wilmington.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

My question is why am I still a DirecTV subscriber when Dish is less expensive for the channels I want. I could get away with the Dish 100 and save some real money!

Does anyone know what the Dish DVR is like. I enjoy my DirecTivo which is probably the main reason i haven't dumped DirecTV.

Also why isn't there a package from either Dish or DirecTV that doesn't have tons of sports channels that I don't care about?

 

[mleach]

here is another Direct TV question....

Can a station keep another station off the dish?

Lets use the Washington DC market for example. Not only do you have the DC stations but also another NBC affiliate ( Hagerstown ) and ABC ( Winchester ). Both cities are in the DC market.

Can say WRC NBC 4 bar WHAG NBC 25 from being on Direct TV? WHAG is on Dish Network but I heard that they had a tough time getting on there.

 

[icstephen]

The direct-tivo really was the gold standard, the new Directv dvr is on par with Dish's. I have heard mixed reviews on both and that neither is as good as a tivo but they do do what they are supposed to. I have not used the new dvr's and am not using any dbs or cable provider at the moment but had always had Directv and cable, but if I do get re-connected someday I may try Dish for cost reasons. Unless someone opens up the ala carte market (I don't think that will ever happen though...too much politics - same reason you can’t get out of market locals)

 

[ansky212]

I have been using Directv's standard DVR (R15) for the past 14 months with no problems. Only one time did it not record what I wanted. I'm getting the HD DVR (H20) installed next week. I've heard that one had a lot more problems but most of them have been resolved as of late.

 

[chuckydoll]

Lets use the Washington DC market for example. Not only do you have the DC stations but also another NBC affiliate ( Hagerstown ) and ABC ( Winchester ). Both cities are in the DC market.

Can say WRC NBC 4 bar WHAG NBC 25 from being on Direct TV?

No. Local stations must feed their signals to the nearest DirecTV uplink. WHAG-25 does not, so it is not available with the Washington DC locals.

That ABC station you cite is a relay of WHSV-3 from Harrisonburg VA with local news for Winchester. DirecTV does not carry Harrisonburg locals, so WHSV-3 is not available on DirecTV in the Washington DMA even if the station were to be "significantly viewed".

 

[bk77]

Lets use the Washington DC market for example. Not only do you have the DC stations but also another NBC affiliate ( Hagerstown ) and ABC ( Winchester ). Both cities are in the DC market.

Can say WRC NBC 4 bar WHAG NBC 25 from being on Direct TV?

No. Local stations must feed their signals to the nearest DirecTV uplink. WHAG-25 does not, so it is not available with the Washington DC locals.

That ABC station you cite is a relay of WHSV-3 from Harrisonburg VA with local news for Winchester. DirecTV does not carry Harrisonburg locals, so WHSV-3 is not available on DirecTV in the Washington DMA even if the station were to be "significantly viewed".

well actually Winchester, VA's new "TV3 Winchester" is one of WHSV Harrisonburg's digital channels and yes they do come out of Harrisonbur however this is not a "cable only" channel as was reported by some emails awhile back on dcrtv.com. A few months back according to local media reports WHSV did seek and was apporved to make this channel a "must carry" with the FCC even though most if not all the Washington DC channels did try to fight this. By being a "must carry" I would imagine sooner or later this will pop up on Direct TV and/or Dish Network.