Philly TV in Central PA

[JerseyShor]

I've seen that much of Central PA, almost out to Harrisburg get Philly broadcast channels on cable.

Is there any reason for this? Isn't there a closer market that would claim this area?

 

[BRNout]

I've seen that much of Central PA, almost out to Harrisburg get Philly broadcast channels on cable.

Is there any reason for this? Isn't there a closer market that would claim this area?

Basically, Lancaster and Berks Counties get most of the Philly broadcast stations and Lebanon County gets a good selection too. In all cases, they are secondary network affiliates to locals from Harrisburg/Lancaster/York. That's due to their relative proximity to the Philadelphia metro area. I believe that WPHL is still shown on cable in Harrisburg and York and that's a holdover from their "regional superstation" status back in the 1970s and 1980s (when Harrisburg didn't have an indie station).

York County cable systems also offer some Baltimore stations, again due to relative proximity.

The Harrisburg/Lancaster/York market was an all-UHF market (aside from WGAL) and that brought signal reception issues. So, cable systems formerly offered lots of local channels in that area - pretty much whatever they could pull in off of an amplified antenna. Over time, some channels were dropped but other stayed. The Philly stations have a cultural draw in parts of central PA - particularly where Philly sports teams are concerned. While they carry Eagles games, the Harrisburg market stations more often carry the Ravens, Steelers and Redskins.

 

[rch66]

Berks is in the Philadelphia DMA, so Philly TV is primary, and they get almost all of the Philly TV maybe except for the noncommercial stations NJN and WYBE I believe, but they get some Jersey stations from further out like WMCN and WWSI, WGTW TBN via must-carry. They also get NBC WGAL 8, Fox 43 (I think still, but maybe no longer), and the PBS station from the Harrisburg market. So they don't get NJN but they get WLVT 39 and the PBS from that market along with 12 for local PBS.

On a side note, WGAL doesn't do Berks news (or its very minimal) even though WGAL has great coverage there (via cable and over the air), and its a populated county worthy of coverage. Allentown/Lehigh's WFMZ ends up being the local station for Berks. The reason being that its not worth it if WGAL can't claim the viewers. So, mainly its on cable in Berks for Berks HH that want to know whats going on to the west of them. Similar to Philly stations that would rather dedicate more news time to Atlantic Co. over Ocean Co. even though Ocean Co. gets Philly TV on cable and is a populated county. It's just on the other side of the DMA boundary.

 

[vibe]

i remember staying in a motel approx 40-45 mi E of Harrisburg and about 70 -75 mi (i'm guessing )W of philly yet. The tV wasn't hooked up to cable or an antenna. Just rabbit ears and a loop or bow tie for UHF but the Philly-Harrisburg, Lancaster, York stations all came in and well. I was so jealous but those Philly stations really make it out to the west depending on topography. The only comparison I could make is when we moved to Rutland MA and could get around 20 stations with rabbit ears and more than 30 stations with a modest VHF antenna and 4 bay bow tie. Under tropo we could get just about a station on every frequency.

The party ends soon....

 

[dustintv]

My grandparents live in Lebanon, and they get these stations:

The Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York:

WGAL-8
WLYH-15
WHP-21
WHTM-27
WITF-33
WPMT-43
WGCB-49

From Philadelphia:

KYW-3(shared with public access)
WPVI-6(shared with C-SPAN2)
WPHL-17
WPSG-57

From Scranton:

WVIA-44

Due to Syndex the only programs show on both KYW and WPVI are the newscasts as they each share the channel with another channel, though I find it odd WPVI is sharing it with C-SPAN2, which which when Action News comes on, C-SPAN2 is off. OTA I've been able to pick up all the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre stations with an old knob-tuner TV they have(or had, I was there for Christmas and I think they finally got rid of it).

But as vibe says, the party does indeed end soon for traditional OTA reception. I don't know if digital OTA reception would work the same or not.

 

[chuckydoll]

... and maybe TV from NYC too

Summer 1983: I was at a motel outside Harrisburg and found WPIX-11, naturally with a Yankees game. WPIX was on cable in Central Penn back then.

The Philly stations have a cultural draw in parts of central PA - particularly where Philly sports teams are concerned. While they carry Eagles games, the Harrisburg market stations more often carry the Ravens, Steelers and Redskins.

NFL loyalty in Central Penn is (in order) Steelers, Eagles, Ravens, everyone else. In fact, Central Penn is designated by the NFL as a "Secondary Market" for the Eagles and Ravens. This has caused major grief for CBS21 when it isn't able to show the Steelers.

 

[harrisburgpatv]

WPIX was on the Harrisburg Comcast lineup until last April - I'm thinking because WLYH is also CW, having two CW stations was considered redundant and that's why it was yanked. It was on Channel 10 on the cable and not replaced with anything, so it left a nice gaping hole in the 2-13 lineup.

There are also two MyTV stations on the cable; WPHL from Philly and WHP-DT 21.2 (My Twenty-One.2). I'm surprised WHP-DT's digital signal hasn't been moved up farther on the dial and WPHL removed..

 

[rch66]

If Lancaster and Lebanon Co. could join up with Philly, York Co. join up with Baltimore, what would be really left of that market would just be Harrisburg (Dauphin County). A huge portion of population or HH really is in Lancaster and York counties, which aren't too far from Philly and Baltimore, respectively and are influenced by them to an extent. Two counties (Franklin and Fulton) are or were in the DC market, because of Hagerstown's proximity.

Perhaps Dauphin, and the remaining counties, could team up with the Johnstown/Altoona market counties, and be the Central PA market leftover thats not near enough Pittsburgh, DC, Baltimore or Philly.

Of course, the station groups in Harrisburg market wouldn't like the idea one bit since it means they are out of business or somehow tied to another market far away that way, and they're too many of them, including WGAL 8 which happens to be owned by Hearst, who owns Baltimore's WBAL 11.