Baltimore-Washington DC

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lefatman

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Nov 10, 2008
503
30
Selbyville DE
I am sure that this has been discussed and probably answered on here in the past, but here goes.

I live in Central MD and am right on the cusp of the Baltimore/DC FCC terr1tory coverage line. Some zip codes in my county can get Baltimore while i and others get DC. One of the channels in the DC coverage area is WHAG in Hagerstown. It is not available on DTV. I would much rather have the Baltimore locals. The cable company(Comcast) carries both Baltimore and DC. This seems to me to indicate that the FCC has waivers. Do I have any chance of getting the Baltimore stations without paying for a Comcast subscription as a backup ?
 
Not legitimately. You could "move" to an area that offers that channel. There aren't any waivers to get local channels that aren't in your market in a case like this.
 
They can be offered legally IAW the FCC Significantly Viewed List, but I never could get Dish to offer them...probably because they don't have to and it would be a nightmare setting these up for all their customers. It's probably best just to go with an antenna.

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/significantviewedstations031913.pdf

For example, if the OP were in Carroll County MD then D* COULD provide him with the following channels (page 182):

Carroll
WMAR-TV, 2, Baltimore, MD
WBAL-TV, 11, Baltimore, MD
WJZ-TV, 13, Baltimore, MD
+WNUV, 54, Baltimore, MD
WRC-TV, 4, Washington, DC
WTTG, 5, Washington, DC
WJLA-TV, 7, Washington, DC (formerly WMAL)
WUSA, 9, Washington, DC (formerly WTOP)
WDCA, 20, Washington, DC

Not legitimately. You could "move" to an area that offers that channel. There aren't any waivers to get local channels that aren't in your market in a case like this.
 
No significantly viewed channels from that area.
 
cable has different rules than satellite as to what they can give you for locals

the only station in the Washington DMA that you can get extra is Maryland PBS
 
Antenna + AM21 = solved. Depending on your exact location and antenna, maybe you'd get the Hagerstown channel, too!
 
But cable still embraces it
Directv does it in extreme conditions
Dish still can't unless its to fill in a missing network in an area
 
I recommend the antenna solution as well. We live in central MD but our shop is in lower York county, PA and we've done a ton of antennas for folks who live in PA but want the Baltimore locals because that's where they work. It would probably pay for itself in a year compared to the cost of the cable backup.
 
Unfortunately, antenna is not an option for me as I live in a condo in a retirement community and indoor antennas are useless at my location.
 
Unfortunately, antenna is not an option for me as I live in a condo in a retirement community and indoor antennas are useless at my location.
"Move" to Baltimore County and you will get the Baltimore locals.
 
Do you have a patio? What is your zip code? A small outdoor antenna could likely work. I have a relatively small antenna but I get constant signal on most UHF stations at 60 miles, all UHF at 30 miles and the 1 VHF at 60 miles comes in all the time, except on very humid days during the afternoon. My antenna is not even 10' off the ground.
 
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