Some questions about cable TV

[ftballfan]

1. What area carries the most different Big 4 affiliates on cable?
2. Are there any systems left where three or more affiliates of one network are carried? This used to be commonplace, especially outside of primary cities.
3. What station has the most out-of-market cable carriage today?

My guesses:
1. An area that is near the junction of three separate TV markets with multiple VHF channels apiece
2. Very few, mostiy in areas that would also qualify as #1
3. I'm guessing KWGN, KTLA, or WPIX

 

[KML0224]

Certainly not with Comcast in New Britain or Hartford, CT! We only get WGBY-TV (PBS) channel 57 of Springfield, MA for out-of-market these days.

One system to look at might be Comcast in Brattleboro, VT. Southeastern Vermont, Windham County, considered to be the northwest fringe of the Boston/Worcester DMA. The last I saw, they had:

CBS 3 - Burlington, VT (Burlington/Plattsburgh, NY)
ABC 19 - Adams, MA (Albany/Schenectady, NY)
NBC 31 - White River Junction, VT (Burlington/Plattsburgh, NY)
PBS 57 - Springfield, MA (Springfield/Chicopee, MA)

 

[newsmark]

KERA 13, the PBS station in Dallas would probably make a list of stations with the most out-of-market cable carriage.

There's no PBS station in many surrounding markets, including Sherman-Denison, Wichita Falls, Tyler-Longview, Abilene and San Angelo. (There might be others--those are just what I can come up with off the top of my head.)

KERA is on cable in those markets, although only in a portion of the Tyler-Longview market. (Shreveport and Houston PBS stations are carried in some parts of that market.)

They used to be carried in a few other markets, but eventually cities like Amarillo, Lubbock and Odessa got their own PBS stations.

(Many of the same cities used to receive WFAA/8 from Dallas as well. They only had two local stations, and those were usually affiliated with NBC and CBS, with one or both stations picking up a few shows from ABC. WFAA became their full-time ABC station until a third station started up in the market. Then-independents KTVT/11 and KXTX/39 were widely distributed, too, for a long time.)

 

[crainbebo]

Some of the Denver stations are on the cable lineups in Bishop and Chalfant Valley CA, about 750 mi SW from there. I think KMGH is one, and KDVR is another.

-crainbebo

 

[fybush]

Not sure what source of listings you're using, but Suddenlink in Bishop is all Los Angeles locals, and has been in various incarnations for half a century.

(I used to live about an hour east of Bishop, in an area that has neither cable nor OTA reception.)

 

[ajc_trw]

Just checked with Verizon in Dover, DE and it's still

ABC: Philly, Baltimore & Salisbury
CBS: Philly & Salisbury
FOX: Philly & Salisbury
NBC: Philly & Baltimore
CW: Philly & Salisbury (added second CW since I moved in 2010)

 

[Casey]

Extremely few areas have multiple affiliates of the same network due to the strict regulations making it nearly impossible to do so.

 

[fybush]

Extremely few areas have multiple affiliates of the same network due to the strict regulations making it nearly impossible to do so.

It's nearly impossible to add new multiple affiliations to existing systems, true. But there's still plenty of legacy duplication out there in areas near market borders. Using my home market of Rochester NY as an example, while it's all Rochester stations on cable within Monroe County, you only need to go one county over in any direction to start getting duplicate affiliates from Syracuse or Buffalo on cable - at least in SD. Some of that duplication, if not all of it, will disappear when analog cable dies in a few years; the out-of-market signals aren't (and generally can't be) carried in HD.

 

[K6JHU]

Cable system in Pittsfield MA. has two of everything network-wise. One from Mass/Conn and the other from Albany NY.

 

[AKA]

Comcast in Chico/Oroville, CA carries the Chico/Redding stations and four Sacramento/Stockton locals. So there are two ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS stations on the system:

KRCR (ABC, Redding)
KXTV (ABC, Sacramento)

KHSL (CBS, Chico)
KOVR (CBS, Stockton)

KNVN (NBC, Chico)
KCRA (NBC, Sacramento)

KIXE (PBS, Redding)
KVIE (PBS, Sacramento)

No Sacramento Fox, CW or MyNetworkTV and no KCRA, KXTV or KOVR in HD. KVIE is in HD, though.

 

[crainbebo]

Scott, I see on Titantv.com a listing for Chalfant Valley, CA. Satview Broadband Ltd. KUSA, KCNC and KRMA are in that listing instead of the Los Angeles channels for NBC, CBS and PBS. KTLA L.A. for CW, KRXI and KOLO Reno for Fox and ABC. Zip code you should enter on TitanTV (click on add, click on cable) is 93514.

Another thing I find interesting is that Suddenlink Cable's Round Valley CA service carries Root Sports NW (!) Isn't that area way too far out of Root Sports' coverage area, except for the out-of-market regional sports nets on satellite?

-crainbebo

 

[fybush]

I'd be surprised if there are even 500 households hooked up to that Satview service way out in Chalfant. That's very remote, even by Bishop standards, and clearly whatever they get, they get by satellite (except for Reno, which might be grabbed off the Bishop translator.)

The population in the Bishop area, such as it is, is on the Suddenlink system right in Bishop. Zap2It doesn't even show the Satview system on its 93514 listings, and Satview's own site doesn't acknowledge Chalfant Valley. I wonder if it's even really in operation?

 

[ding12]

Just checked with Verizon in Dover, DE and it's still

ABC: Philly, Baltimore & Salisbury
CBS: Philly & Salisbury
FOX: Philly & Salisbury
NBC: Philly & Baltimore
CW: Philly & Salisbury (added second CW since I moved in 2010)

Verizon Fios provides the Baltimore stations (WMAR and WBAL) and in HD, but Comcast isn't so generous in Kent Co., and only provides Baltimore in the mix in Sussex Co. This was the case, even 10 years ago, before Fios started. At one point of time though, cable might have carried Baltimore TV.

But, for some, when Fios became available, Kent Co. got these new stations from a different city, that is Baltimore.

I used to think that Baltimore TV should be more prevalent in Newark, DE. Atleast the hotels off I-95 should have both Philly and Baltimore TV and wired with cable not satellite, so that depending on where the traveler is going, they have local news and weather for both markets. Elkton, MD cable carries the big 4 from Philly, and Elkton, the principal city in Cecil County, is closer as the crow flies to Philly than Baltimore. However, Elkton doesn't compromise enough TV HH in that county as Cecil is very rural and likely leaning on MD news and thus the Baltimore DMA designation, although Cecil is part of Philly-Wilmington's MSA.

 

[Banjomax]

3 or more

One system to look at might be Comcast in Brattleboro, VT. Southeastern Vermont, Windham County, considered to be the northwest fringe of the Boston/Worcester DMA. The last I saw, they had:

CBS 3 - Burlington, VT (Burlington/Plattsburgh, NY)
ABC 19 - Adams, MA (Albany/Schenectady, NY)
NBC 31 - White River Junction, VT (Burlington/Plattsburgh, NY)
PBS 57 - Springfield, MA (Springfield/Chicopee, MA)

Comcast in Brattleboro has 3 ABC (WCVB, WMUR and WCDC) and PBS (WGBY, VPT and NHPT) stations in their lineup, with 2 NBC (WHDH, WNNE), 2 CBS (WBZ, WCAX) and one Fox (WFXT). For HD they have all 3 PBS offerings, 2 each for ABC (WCVB, WMUR) and CBS (WBZ, WCAX), and only the Boston area stations for NBC and Fox.

Going back 30 years or so (from my sometimes fuzzy memory), what was then Warner Cable in Brattleboro also had 3 ABC (WGGB, WMUR, WCDC) and 3 CBS (WCAX, WFSB, WNEV) with WBZ and WNNE for NBC and WETK, WEKW and WGBH for PBS.