Here is my take on the matter.
First of all, I live 15 miles from Washington, DC and 25 miles from Baltimore, MD. However, Dish makes available ONLY with the DC locals to me. I am NOT permitted to subscribe to Baltimore locals even though they are very close by.
However, I easily receive ALL of the Washington and Baltimore analog and digital OTA locals with a rooftop antenna. My VIP-622 maps all of the Washington and Baltimore OTA digital channels and subchannels onto my EPG. Local DC main digital channels that Dish provides are also listed. Dish does not provide DC subchannels.
Program descriptions on the EPG for Washington OTA digital channels and subchannels are provided to me as well as the DC locals which I subscribe to. Program descriptions for the Baltimore OTA main digital channels ARE provided to me even though I do not subscribe to them. Program descriptions for the Baltimore OTA digital subchannels ARE not provided to me.
Last month, Dish provided EPG information to me for Baltimore OTA digital subchannels but discontinued this practice after only about a week.
My guess is that Dish was providing EPG information for out of market local digital subchannels to everyone regardless of whether they subscribed to their own local market channels.
Dish must have realized that they were aiding and abetting those who did not want to subscribe to their own locals and and who were using the OTA digital local channel pass-through feaure of their VIP-622 to map ALL digital locals onto the EPG. Dish unwittingly provided EPG information for these nonsubscribers before they caught onto their mistake.
My questions are several. Did anyone who DOES NOT subscribe to ANY of their own local channels from Dish receive any EPG information for any digital subchannels that they receive OTA for free? Do you receive any EPG information for any OTA digital channels and/or subchannels?
I, at least pay for DC locals so Dish throws in the EPG descriptions for OTA Baltimore digital locals to me for free but discontinued the Baltimore subchannel EPG info to me. If I didn't pay for any DC locals would I get any EPG information of any kind for any free OTA digital channels and/or subchannels that the VIP-622 mapped out for me?
Interesting questions.