# Just discovered NEW Alternate Locals on my TiVo!!!



## bbristow (Jan 15, 2003)

Just flipping through channels awhile ago, I discovered a new station ID on a station that had not been there a day or so ago. When checking further, I see that I now have two alternate local channels. In my case, in addition to the Raleigh/Durham CBS affiliate WRAL, I now have WFMY from the Greensboro market! I also have the High Point FOX affiliate whereas I only had the Raleigh WRAZ before. Does anyone else have alternate locals yet? Do you think it's only a test that will be taken away if you don't pay more later?


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## morgantown (Mar 29, 2005)

Cool. They have been mentioned since the FCC ruling a while back. I do not recall anyone actually getting the "alternate market," or whatever they are called, channels though.

Edit: Yea, significantly viewed sounds better.


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## ESPalmer (Jan 16, 2002)

I think they are called Significanlty Viewed Channels


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## grein002 (Nov 1, 2002)

bbristow said:


> Just flipping through channels awhile ago, I discovered a new station ID on a station that had not been there a day or so ago. When checking further, I see that I now have two alternate local channels. In my case, in addition to the Raleigh/Durham CBS affiliate WRAL, I now have WFMY from the Greensboro market! I also have the High Point FOX affiliate whereas I only had the Raleigh WRAZ before. Does anyone else have alternate locals yet? Do you think it's only a test that will be taken away if you don't pay more later?


Hmmm, I am also in RTP, but don't see these channels -- what channel numbers are they??

-Scott


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## Books (Sep 21, 2001)

We got a new Fox channel on 8 here, but no CBS. What channel is it on? Oops, just checked again and see that the CBS station is channel 2. I never even look that low!


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## bbristow (Jan 15, 2003)

Yes, they are on the actual channel numbers as over the air: Channel 2 for WFMY in Greensboro (CBS); and Channel 8 (from High Point, also in GSO area...a FOX station). Don't see any others as yet, so no other NBC or ABC from GSO market.


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## bbristow (Jan 15, 2003)

The "alternative" Channel 2 (CBS) will come in handy when Raleigh's Channel 5 pulls one of their "preemptions" for "earth shattering news updates." Greensboro's 2 often plays back afternoon soaps at later times when sports events preempt network stuff unlike Raleigh's 5, which hardly EVER does. I have so often wished the latter station would give me a waiver so I could get WCBS in New York and never have to worry again about what WRAL deems important enough to interrupt network. CBS is bad enough in itself!!!!


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## irregularjoe (Mar 6, 2005)

I feel your pain bbristow.
I wish I could get a waiver from all the networks so that I could get NY flagship stations.
The local heyseed news journalists out here don't do much for me. 
I know that their logic is that they'll lose the advertizing return if I don't watch the locals. But I don't watch them anyway. And if I did I'd zip right through the ads.
 Joe


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## jaydro (Oct 19, 2003)

WOW, thanks for pointing that out bbristow! Back when they announced this I checked on their website and they led me to believe that I would not be getting distant locals--I thought I'd have to live in a more market-ambiguous area. I haven't watched 2 and 8 in almost 20 years now, and local cable dropped those channels long before that, I think (and Raleigh Cablevision favored 7 and 9 to the east).

Edit: Yes, I am receiving 2 and 8 now.


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## Lee L (Oct 1, 2003)

Where exactly in Central NC are you? It may make a difference if you are around Chapel hill or west rather than in Raleigh.


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## srs5694 (Oct 14, 2001)

Does anybody know if any such extra channels are planned for the Providence, RI DMA? (They added the Providence PBS station, WSBE-36, a few weeks ago, but I don't believe that's related to what's being discussed here.) We've got no dedicated WB station, although the Providence UPN station, WLWC-28, carries most WB programming, often later than it's carried on "real" WB affiliates. The local Cox cable carries the Boston WB station, so I'm wondering if DirecTV will do the same.


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## Indiana627 (Jan 24, 2003)

If you go the significantly viewed lookup tool on Directv's site and put in Raleigh, it looks like you're getting quite a few channels from neighboring DMAs.


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## Lee L (Oct 1, 2003)

Wow, they are really breaking it down by county here, even zips withing the. I live in a zip that is in 2 counties and they are actually giving me more than what I am entiled to according to their website.

I was wathcign golf live so I had to use the guide. I noticed we have the Greensboro Fox and CBS, but that is it. According to teh DirecTv Tool, if I live in the next county. (less than a mile straight line) I should get the CBS, but that is it. I am not supposed to get anything in my county.


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## jaydro (Oct 19, 2003)

BTW, if anyone else has noticed that WRAL Raleigh has CBS programming on a slight (like 3 seconds or so) delay compared to WFMY Greensboro--it's not a DirecTV thing. It's actually OTA, too.


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## barracuda3443 (Feb 15, 2004)

I'm in Danville Va, but no dice for us. Being originally from the Triad, I'd love to get those networks, especially FOX becuase the Lynnchburg FOX affiliate here shows Redskins games, FOX 8 shows the Panthers. Maybe someday...


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## Mr. Furious (Feb 6, 2004)

jaydro said:


> BTW, if anyone else has noticed that WRAL Raleigh has CBS programming on a slight (like 3 seconds or so) delay compared to WFMY Greensboro--it's not a DirecTV thing. It's actually OTA, too.


I bet it's related to their censorship policy.

A little while back, I noticed that they censored the word "pissed" (as in "pissed off") twice during an episode of _NCIS_. I called the station to ask whether it was a CBS decision or a WRAL decision. The guy I talked to was very nice, and said that it was a WRAL decision, and they did it because they were afraid of the FCC. He added that what might go over in other areas won't go over here, so the station censors things that the network lets go.

I think I'm going to change all of my CBS season passes to the Greensboro affiliate, since they apparently don't do it.


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## jaydro (Oct 19, 2003)

Wow. I think all my CBS SPs just switched from 5 to 2. I always thought they were a cooler station, anyway--occasionally showing movies or even "The Andy Griffith Show" with no ads, and I noticed they now have a "North Carolina" show on early Sunday mornings that's a compilation of scenic video that seems to beg for Charles Kuralt narration. With no ads.


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## dnelms (May 25, 2002)

Well I live outside of Raleigh, get the local channels. But my county (Johnston) is not even listed to recieve any channels. I get 4, 5, 11, 17, 22, 28, 40, and 50. I'm not getting channel 2 or 8 here. What is weird, I have been getting the call letters and numbers for out of state channels (but no pictures). Been very random. Got NEw Orleans call letters for a while, then a station out of New York.


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## jaydro (Oct 19, 2003)

Just another thought--those of you getting 8 in addition to 50 now might want to check out whether 50 is delaying Fox programming compared to 8. I know WRAL (5) runs 50, so.... I don't have any Fox SPs, since they manage to cancel every show they air that I like.


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## srs5694 (Oct 14, 2001)

barracuda3443 said:


> I'm in Danville Va, but no dice for us. Being originally from the Triad, I'd love to get those networks, especially FOX becuase the Lynnchburg FOX affiliate here shows Redskins games, FOX 8 shows the Panthers. Maybe someday...


Over on one of the Usenet newsgroups, somebody claimed that DirecTV is just starting the rollout of "significantly viewed stations," and that this won't be complete until the summer of 2006 or even later. FWIW, here's an FCC document that lists these stations, broken down by county:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-187A2.pdf

Note that the presence of a station on this list for your county does not necessarily mean that you will eventually get it. My understanding is that it means that DirecTV has the _option_ of providing it to you. They might choose not to do so for various reasons. My understanding is foggy, though.


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## Dmon4u (Jul 15, 2000)

I wonder how that's related to DMA ?

Only one County within mine has stations that are different than what D* provides now.


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## srs5694 (Oct 14, 2001)

If I understand correctly, the DMA is a marketing construct. Every station is within a DMA, and a DMA is defined as the area that watches most of its TV from a given set of stations. For instance, the Providence Rhode Island DMA includes stations such as WLNE-6, WJAR-10, etc., which are broadcast from Providence (or near to it). Those counties that watch _primarily_ these stations are part of the Providence DMA. All of this clumps together groups of stations, and in ways that don't necessarily reflect reality. In communities in-between Boston and Providence, for instance, one house with an over-the-air (OTA) antenna might pull in Boston stations whereas another one might pull in Providence stations, and a third might have a rotor setup and watch 50% Boston and 50% Providence.

The "significantly viewed" list is essentially a fine-tuning of DMAs; it shows _individual stations_ that get "significant" viewership outside of their DMAs. For instance, it shows that WBZ-4, WLVI-56, and other stations from the Boston DMA are viewed in parts of the Providence DMA. This adds back some of the gray that's forced to black or white by the DMA view of things.

I'm unclear on all the details, but cable operators have long been able to deliver "significantly viewed" stations from outside their DMAs. For instance, in my area (Woonsocket, RI), Cox Cable delivers WLVI-56 and a handful of other Boston stations, even though I'm within the Providence DMA. Until recently, satellite operators were not permitted to do this; but recent changes in the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) now make the rules for satellite more like those for cable, so DirecTV has the option of providing "significantly viewed" stations.

To add to the confusion, the rules for public TV (primarily PBS) stations are entirely different from those for commercial stations. These rules have never been closely tied to DMAs -- or at least, they're not nearly as DMA-restrictive as are the rules for commercial stations. Here in the Providence DMA, for instance, we get a PBS station from Connecticut (outside of the Providence DMA) via DirecTV. Cox Cable delivers two Boston PBS stations in this area.


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## barracuda3443 (Feb 15, 2004)

srs5694 said:


> Over on one of the Usenet newsgroups, somebody claimed that DirecTV is just starting the rollout of "significantly viewed stations," and that this won't be complete until the summer of 2006 or even later. FWIW, here's an FCC document that lists these stations, broken down by county:
> 
> http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-187A2.pdf
> 
> Note that the presence of a station on this list for your county does not necessarily mean that you will eventually get it. My understanding is that it means that DirecTV has the _option_ of providing it to you. They might choose not to do so for various reasons. My understanding is foggy, though.


Thanks! Maybe we'll see it here sometime this year. Being that both cable systems in this county carry BOTH Roanoke & Greensboro networks, I don't know why D* wouldn't.


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## Lee L (Oct 1, 2003)

barracuda3443 said:


> Thanks! Maybe we'll see it here sometime this year. Being that both cable systems in this county carry BOTH Roanoke & Greensboro networks, I don't know why D* wouldn't.


That is exactly what D* and E* want to do. Be able to mirror what cable TV can do int eh same area.


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## jmahone (Aug 1, 2002)

So what ever happened to the rollout of significantly viewed local channels, which I understood is the FCC's jargon for local channels outside the normally defined locals area that are viewed by a significant number of households inside the local area. I think this basically means that adjacent local areas would be able to see each other's locals, or at least, the most popularly viewed locals. 

For example, I live equidistant between Baltimore and DC, yet we have been placed in the Baltimore locals area. I would like to receive both Baltimore and DC locals, have offered the extra $5 for that programming, and of course, DTV was not allowed by the FCC to complete this deal for me.

So, whatever happened to the promise of rolling out significantly viewed local channels?


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