Towns that should be part of other DMAs

[ding12]

One is Princeton. It's part of Philadelphia DMA, but more people that live in Princeton commute to New York. For a long time, Princeton didn't even get all the Philly TV stations on cable as it was aligned with Patriot Media cable system servicing Middlesex County.

On the other hand, Elkton, MD could be with Philly as it has more commutership up to No. Delaware than Baltimore proper. COL is closer to Philly as well. Over in NJ, So. Ocean county towns are closer to Philly and part of SJ, where NY is 80 miles, and for weather purposes NY stations are often less relevant.

Nielsen doesn't want to support splitting towns/zips from the rest of counties and wants to stick with county definitions as much as possible: overall county viewership likely wins, but I'm curious with technology what's the big hassle of some changes?

Which other cities/towns would make more sense with another DMA?

 

[wrsg915fm]

My county, Tyler County (West Virginia) is about 35 miles north of Parkersburg, which has an NBC affiliate (WTAP), along with its CBS, FOX and My5 offerings. Meanwhile, the DMA we are part of is Wheeling (WV)-Steubenville, Ohio (WTOV is the NBC station), which is much further north. Granted, WTOV is a terrific station, and they do include Tyler County in its news, especially helpful when weather conditions deteriorate. WTAP, even with its latest improvements, provides a much-weaker signal OTA. We've not received it for the past four years due to the digital transition. I doubt that, even if we could get the signal via Dish, that they would cover us nearly as well as WTOV.

 

[fybush]

The canonical example around these parts is Rome, New York. It's long been part of the Syracuse DMA, even though it's nearly an hour's drive from downtown Rome to downtown Syracuse and only 20 minutes or so from Rome to Utica. Rome is even in the same county (Oneida) as Utica, which makes Oneida one of a handful of counties split between DMAs.

The Oneida split made sense once upon a time, when Utica was a one-station town and that one station (WKTV 2) had its tower way on the east end of the market, leaving Rome with better signals from the Syracuse stations. That ship sailed a long time ago as Utica picked up additional signals. In fact, the Utica-market Fox affiliate, WFXV 33, is even licensed to Rome!

As well as the full Syracuse lineup, the cable company in Rome carries WKTV, WFXV and ABC affiliate WUTR, but not Utica's CW and My affiliates (which are on subchannels of WKTV and WUTR). The Utica market still has no CBS or PBS of its own, depending on Syracuse for those, so in practice a move of Rome from one market to the other would probably just result in swapping out the Syracuse CW and My for their Utica equivalents on cable.

 

[editthis]

And the rome cable system ONLY gets the HD signals of the Syracuse stations, if you want to watch a Utica station, standard def only!

 

[upstate29651]

Brunswick, GA should be incorporated into the Savannah TV market, as most stations from Savannah reach Brunswick like a local (TV & class C FM), vs. Jacksonville, where all tv has to come via sat or cable.

G

 

[RadioDaze]

The southside Virginia cities of Danville and Martinsville, both part of the Roanoke-Lynchburg DMA, might be a better fit in the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem DMA. While they don't share the same state, Greensboro is closer to both cities than Roanoke or Lynchburg, and trade and transportation seem to favor the Greensboro area over the two cities to the north, especially for Danville, which is connected via the US 29 freeway (future Interstate 785) to Greensboro.

Also, Fayetteville, NC is not a good fit for the Raleigh-Durham DMA, but doesn't need to join another existing market so much as it needs to be the core city of a new DMA with neighboring Lumberton joining from the Florence-Myrtle Beach DMA, as both already comprise a radio market, share trade/tansportation, and even weather patterns.

 

[dave73]

I still stand firm that LaPorte County Indiana should be part of the South Bend DMA rather than the Chicago DMA. Michigan City & LaPorte are the 2 most populated cities in LaPorte County Indiana, & they're only about 30 miles west of South Bend, while more than 60 miles from Chicago. I believe the only reason they were never part of the South Bend DMA, is because in the early days of TV, UHF didn't go very far signal wise, & probably never reached Michigan City & LaPorte until the 1960's. South Bend stations today are more likely to report stories on LaPorte County than Chicago stations will. Cable does carry South Bend stations in that county, due to significantly viewed status.

 

[KeithE4]

I still stand firm that LaPorte County Indiana should be part of the South Bend DMA rather than the Chicago DMA. Michigan City & LaPorte are the 2 most populated cities in LaPorte County Indiana, & they're only about 30 miles west of South Bend, while more than 60 miles from Chicago. I believe the only reason they were never part of the South Bend DMA, is because in the early days of TV, UHF didn't go very far signal wise, & probably never reached Michigan City & LaPorte until the 1960's. South Bend stations today are more likely to report stories on LaPorte County than Chicago stations will. Cable does carry South Bend stations in that county, due to significantly viewed status.

LaPorte County is in the Central time zone and the 219 area code, is considered by the Federal Government as part of the Chicago CSA (but is its own MSA), and is more economically tied to Chicago and the other two NW Indiana counties than South Bend.

Also, my grandparents lived in the Indiana Dunes area in the '50s and '60s, and were able to get all 3 South Bend stations fairly well, even with their VHF-only antenna pointed across the lake, toward Chicago. That's about 20 miles west of Michigan City. WSBT-TV came in very handy when the Bears were blacked out at home. ;D

 

[kilamanjero]

The southside Virginia cities of Danville and Martinsville, both part of the Roanoke-Lynchburg DMA, might be a better fit in the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem DMA. While they don't share the same state, Greensboro is closer to both cities than Roanoke or Lynchburg, and trade and transportation seem to favor the Greensboro area over the two cities to the north, especially for Danville, which is connected via the US 29 freeway (future Interstate 785) to Greensboro.

Also, Fayetteville, NC is not a good fit for the Raleigh-Durham DMA, but doesn't need to join another existing market so much as it needs to be the core city of a new DMA with neighboring Lumberton joining from the Florence-Myrtle Beach DMA, as both already comprise a radio market, share trade/tansportation, and even weather patterns.

It would make sense in theory for Fayetteville to be on its own. However, 2 of the 3 standalone news operations (WRAL and Disney/ABC O&O WTVD) maintain fully-staffed news bureaus in Fayetteville.

 

[fybush]

Also, my grandparents lived in the Indiana Dunes area in the '50s and '60s, and were able to get all 3 South Bend stations fairly well, even with their VHF-only antenna pointed across the lake, toward Chicago. That's about 20 miles west of Michigan City. WSBT-TV came in very handy when the Bears were blacked out at home. ;D

And if LaPorte County became part of the South Bend DMA, since it contains portions that are within 75 miles of Soldier Field, all of the South Bend DMA would enter Bears blackout territory. That would be exceptionally bad news for WSBT.

 

[KeithE4]

Also, my grandparents lived in the Indiana Dunes area in the '50s and '60s, and were able to get all 3 South Bend stations fairly well, even with their VHF-only antenna pointed across the lake, toward Chicago. That's about 20 miles west of Michigan City. WSBT-TV came in very handy when the Bears were blacked out at home. ;D

And if LaPorte County became part of the South Bend DMA, since it contains portions that are within 75 miles of Soldier Field, all of the South Bend DMA would enter Bears blackout territory. That would be exceptionally bad news for WSBT.

Actually, for all the South Bend stations, since WSJV now carries most of their games and WNDU would show any that they play on Sunday nights. Of course, no Bears game has been blacked out since (I think) the early '80s.