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Small Local Stations Made Marketwide by Satellite?

O

OldAkronite

The PBS thread reminded me of a discovery I made a while back.

It appears small local independent station WMFD/68 Mansfield OH has gained full-market coverage in the Cleveland market via DirecTV. I didn't hear anything about this when it happened a few months ago, but it's rather prominently on their web page:

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.wmfd.com/directv/>http://www.wmfd.com/directv/</a>

WMFD serves the Mansfield/Ashland/Mid-Ohio area. It gets some must carry cable coverage as a full-power station as far north as Wooster, just southwest of Akron, but it makes no effort to service (and indeed, can't reach with its over-air signal) Cleveland, Akron or Canton.

How many other small suburban or outer market stations without marketwide coverage over air are in this boat - being delivered marketwide due to a DirecTV feed?

I can think of two off the top of my head:

* KFTY/Santa Rosa CA, an independent in the far northern reaches of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the DirecTV San Francisco lineup
* WZMY/Derry NH, the original independent "My TV" (former WNDS), which makes it into the DirecTV Boston lineup

Any others?

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
Equity Broadcasting's former PAX affiliate (Now RTN)13 WPXS Mount Vernon, IL has must carry in the St. Louis, despite having no OTA signal anywhere on the MO side without their TX station at 51 KUMO-LP. It is carried by both DirectTV & Dish in addition to Charter Cable.

> The PBS thread reminded me of a discovery I made a while
> back.
>
> It appears small local independent station WMFD/68 Mansfield
> OH has gained full-market coverage in the Cleveland market
> via DirecTV. I didn't hear anything about this when it
> happened a few months ago, but it's rather prominently on
> their web page:
>
> http://www.wmfd.com/directv/
>
> WMFD serves the Mansfield/Ashland/Mid-Ohio area. It gets
> some must carry cable coverage as a full-power station as
> far north as Wooster, just southwest of Akron, but it makes
> no effort to service (and indeed, can't reach with its
> over-air signal) Cleveland, Akron or Canton.
>
> How many other small suburban or outer market stations
> without marketwide coverage over air are in this boat -
> being delivered marketwide due to a DirecTV feed?
>
> I can think of two off the top of my head:
>
> * KFTY/Santa Rosa CA, an independent in the far northern
> reaches of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the DirecTV San
> Francisco lineup
> * WZMY/Derry NH, the original independent "My TV" (former
> WNDS), which makes it into the DirecTV Boston lineup
>
> Any others?
>
> -OA
>
 
> Any others?

Two come to mind...KHIZ (Channel 64) in Barstow/Victorville (in northern San Bernardino county, part of the Los Angeles DMA), and to a certain-extent (because it's only available on digital OTA), KVMD (Channel 23) in Twentynine Palms (used to be a Palm Springs-market religious station, but is just an informercial dumping ground, plus it operates its own mini-network called LTN, as well as local college sports).<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by ShawnHill on 03/09/06 10:36 PM.</FONT></P>
 
I can think of a few in the New York area:
WLNY from Riverhead, Long Island. They do have some cable coverage in a lot of the market, but there is a SYNDEX feed for that. Those with satellite get the clean feed, where they can watch Oprah, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, etc. which aren't on the SYNDEX feed.

WRNN from Kingston< NY. This station shows mainly infomercials, but has a weekday evening news block.

NJN (New Jersey Network). The statewide NJ PBS station can be seen throughout the market. Oddly, DirecTV uses the WNJS feed from Camden in the New York market instead of WNJN. Not that it matters, since all the stations broadcast the same thing, save for the legal ID.<P ID="signature">______________
<a href=http://www.triborough.org/blog/>Random Observations on Life, the Universe and Television</a></P>
 
> Two come to mind...KHIZ (Channel 64) in Barstow/Victorville
> (in northern San Bernardino county, part of the Los Angeles
> DMA), and to a certain-extent (because it's only available
> on digital OTA), KVMD (Channel 23) in Twentynine Palms (used
> to be a Palm Springs-market religious station, but is just
> an informercial dumping ground, plus it operates its own
> mini-network called LTN, as well as local college sports).

KBEH/63 and KJLA/57, both licensed in Ventura County, are also full Los Angeles market stations on the satellites.

And, as discussed elsewhere, KVCR/24, the PBS station in San Bernardino, can be seen in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties via the satellites as well.
<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> The PBS thread reminded me of a discovery I made a while
> back.
>
> It appears small local independent station WMFD/68 Mansfield
> OH has gained full-market coverage in the Cleveland market
> via DirecTV. I didn't hear anything about this when it
> happened a few months ago, but it's rather prominently on
> their web page:
>
> http://www.wmfd.com/directv/
>
> WMFD serves the Mansfield/Ashland/Mid-Ohio area. It gets
> some must carry cable coverage as a full-power station as
> far north as Wooster, just southwest of Akron, but it makes
> no effort to service (and indeed, can't reach with its
> over-air signal) Cleveland, Akron or Canton.
>
> How many other small suburban or outer market stations
> without marketwide coverage over air are in this boat -
> being delivered marketwide due to a DirecTV feed?
>
> I can think of two off the top of my head:
>
> * KFTY/Santa Rosa CA, an independent in the far northern
> reaches of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the DirecTV San
> Francisco lineup
> * WZMY/Derry NH, the original independent "My TV" (former
> WNDS), which makes it into the DirecTV Boston lineup
>
> Any others?

In the Phoenix market, DirecTV and DISH carry these stations otherwise not available on the major Phoenix-area cable systems:

KTFL 4 Flagstaff - Full-time FamilyNet affiliate. No signal in Phoenix metro
KMOH 6 Kingman (which can also be seen on low-power KEJR-LP 43 in Phoenix)

KAZT-TV 7 in Prescott is also available on DirecTV and DISH, but this station is also on most of the local Phoenix cable systems and has a Phoenix-area "translator" in KAZT-CA 27. Same goes for KFPH-TV 13 (TeleFutura) Flagstaff/KFPH-CA 35 Phoenix.
 
> I can think of a few in the New York area:
> WLNY from Riverhead, Long Island. They do have some cable
> coverage in a lot of the market, but there is a SYNDEX feed
> for that. Those with satellite get the clean feed, where
> they can watch Oprah, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, etc. which
> aren't on the SYNDEX feed.
>
> WRNN from Kingston< NY. This station shows mainly
> infomercials, but has a weekday evening news block.
>
> NJN (New Jersey Network). The statewide NJ PBS station can
> be seen throughout the market. Oddly, DirecTV uses the WNJS
> feed from Camden in the New York market instead of WNJN. Not
> that it matters, since all the stations broadcast the same
> thing, save for the legal ID.
>


add WBIH Prattville , Alabama to the list too, when i was their chief engineer we would get off air notices from directrv<P ID="signature">______________
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.jaydavenport.net>Jay Davenport</a>

"Baby Bear" Producer/board Op for "The Greg Show" on WACV AM 1170

</P>
 
> KBEH/63 and KJLA/57, both licensed in Ventura County, are
> also full Los Angeles market stations on the satellites.

For the record, KJLA-DT 49 is a full-market signal now I believe anyway, as they are broadcasting from Mount Wilson.

- Trip<P ID="signature">______________
Visit my website, www.rabbitears.info! It's eventually going to be your one resource for television info! Digital television, histories, and technical information for the entire USA from one source!</P>
 
> * WZMY/Derry NH, the original independent "My TV" (former
> WNDS), which makes it into the DirecTV Boston lineup
>
WZMY seems to have decent cable penetration through about 3/4 of the Boston market - I don't think it's available in Boston proper, but it is on cable in places that are south and southwest of Boston. And, on all systems north and west (once you get past 128).

Boston is one of those markets where the city itself represents a relatively small percentage of the metro population. Most of the cable systems in the burbs carry it - some SW of Boston oddly carry WZMY AND Providence affiliates.

That surprised me too, though "My TV's" TX is pretty close to the MA/NH border - 15 miles closer to Boston than their COL.
 
>
>
> add WBIH Prattville , Alabama to the list too, when i was
> their chief engineer we would get off air notices from
> directrv
>

Isn't WBIH 29 licensed to Selma, AL?
<P ID="signature">______________
Let us live so that 100 years from now, someone may be proud of us.</P>
 
> KBEH/63 and KJLA/57, both licensed in Ventura County, are
> also full Los Angeles market stations on the satellites.
>
> And, as discussed elsewhere, KVCR/24, the PBS station in San
> Bernardino, can be seen in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties
> via the satellites as well.
>
I forgot about those three!

In the case of KJLA, however, even though they're licensed to Ventura County, their studios and offices are in Los Angeles proper.
 
> In the case of KJLA, however, even though they're licensed
> to Ventura County, their studios and offices are in Los
> Angeles proper.

At least Ventura's short-lived original station, KKOG/16, had its studios and offices in downtown Ventura.

KJLA started out as KSTV, which was a Galavision affiliate when it aigned on, then became a WB outlet for Ventura. How they managed the latter is beyond me, since Tribune-owned KTLA/5 covers that area more than adequately and Ventura County is not a separate television market.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> > In the case of KJLA, however, even though they're licensed
>
> > to Ventura County, their studios and offices are in Los
> > Angeles proper.
>
> At least Ventura's short-lived original station, KKOG/16,
> had its studios and offices in downtown Ventura.
>
> KJLA started out as KSTV, which was a Galavision affiliate
> when it aigned on, then became a WB outlet for Ventura. How
> they managed the latter is beyond me, since Tribune-owned
> KTLA/5 covers that area more than adequately and Ventura
> County is not a separate television market.
>
I remember that previous incarnation of Channel 57 before it became LATV. I was flipping through the channels one day (this was in 1998), and I caught this channel almost by accident. They had an episode of Three's Company (which hasn't been seen on local TV in years since KTTV dropped it), and then a couple nights later, I tuned in and found an old Gary Coleman-Gary Collins made-for-TV flick, "The Kid From Left-Field". Even though I could barely got a decent signal, I would tune in every now and then, especially for the ultra-violent ECW Wrestling weekly show every Saturday night.

Of course, KADY Channel 63 sorta went through the same scenario as KJLA, a long-time independent (at least since the early 80s) that joined UPN (for Ventura and Santa Barbara), and then was sold and became Spanish-language KBEH for Los Angeles.
 
KWBF 42, KYPX 49/20 (ch 49 Camdem, AR but has a LP repeater --ch 20 at Little Rock) is on D* and E* (although KYPX is on sat that requires the Super Dish on E*). Both stations are owned by Equity.
 
> KWBF 42, KYPX 49/20 (ch 49 Camdem, AR but has a LP repeater
> --ch 20 at Little Rock) is on D* and E* (although KYPX is on
> sat that requires the Super Dish on E*). Both stations are
> owned by Equity.
>

...which broadcasts almost all their stations via-satellite on the industrial satellites, as their method of centralised master control. And, as the Lyngsat site indicates, they can be picked up by anyone with the right equipment.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by rugrats1 on 03/11/06 01:10 PM.</FONT></P>
 
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