Directv Lying about Local Channels

[chrisrosenb]

I have been a Directv customer for more years than I can remember. I am very aware that the local channels you receive will be from the market you live in.
I live in a small Indiana town that has a very crappy cable system. They currently have 40 channels & the picture quality is awful.

I am an elected official in this town. I get calls all of the time from people complaining about the cable system. The town Board used to have some control over the system, but few years ago the state of Indiana took that local control away.

This town is in the Cincinnati, Ohio market, so the local channels are Cincinnati channels. About 5 miles to the west is a zip code for the Indianapolis market & about 6 miles to the north is a zip for the Dayton, OH market.

When people call complaining about the cable system, I tell them the Town has no control over the cable system. I then tell them that I have Directv & that they should look into getting it. I also explain how the local channel markets work & that they will get Cincinnati local channels. I also explain that there are other options for getting local channels from other markets.

Here is the problem.
In the past few months I have gotten calls from several people that took my advise & ordered Directv. I was told that when they called to order Directv, they ask about getting local channels other than Cincinnati channels. The DTV sales rep tells them that they can choose from any of the three markets at the time of the installation.

They find out after it is installed that they can only get the Cincinnati channels.
I brushed off the first couple of complaints about this as misunderstanding the rep. This has happened to many times, including just a few minutes ago, for this to be just a misunderstanding.

Since DTV continues to out right lie to people in this area about this issue, I will not recommend Directv to anyone again.

 

[raoul5788]

I have been a Directv customer for more years than I can remember. I am very aware that the local channels you receive will be from the market you live in.
I live in a small Indiana town that has a very crappy cable system. They currently have 40 channels & the picture quality is awful.

I am an elected official in this town. I get calls all of the time from people complaining about the cable system. The town Board used to have some control over the system, but few years ago the state of Indiana took that local control away.

This town is in the Cincinnati, Ohio market, so the local channels are Cincinnati channels. About 5 miles to the west is a zip code for the Indianapolis market & about 6 miles to the north is a zip for the Dayton, OH market.

When people call complaining about the cable system, I tell them the Town has no control over the cable system. I then tell them that I have Directv & that they should look into getting it. I also explain how the local channel markets work & that they will get Cincinnati local channels. I also explain that there are other options for getting local channels from other markets.

Here is the problem.
In the past few months I have gotten calls from several people that took my advise & ordered Directv. I was told that when they called to order Directv, they ask about getting local channels other than Cincinnati channels. The DTV sales rep tells them that they can choose from any of the three markets at the time of the installation.

They find out after it is installed that they can only get the Cincinnati channels.
I brushed off the first couple of complaints about this as misunderstanding the rep. This has happened to many times, including just a few minutes ago, for this to be just a misunderstanding.

Since DTV continues to out right lie to people in this area about this issue, I will not recommend Directv to anyone again.

What is likely happening is those people live in a zip code shared by more than one dma. The Directv rep is telling them that there is more than one available and depending on their exact address, they will get a certain one. They are interpreting it as they can get whatever one of the three they want. If they ask about getting channels other than from Cincinnati, they will be told they can only get them from one dma. The other possibility is there are some areas of the country that get neighboring channels, which is just a few from nearby dmas as well as their own area.

 

[Jimbo]

Chris,
Here is a link to what Chip was talking about.

DIRECTV: Local Channels

the sub can put thier zip code into the page and then know what locals they will get.

What zip are you using ?
Try a few different zips and see what comes up, then you'll have a better idea of what and why ...
What city are you in ?
Maybe you can change the title of D is Lying, once you see that they are pre determined and D* is telling you what they are required.
Once you understand how it works you may see that they are not telling people they can get three cities locals.

Jimbo

 

[Kheldar]

This town is in the Cincinnati, Ohio market, so the local channels are Cincinnati channels. About 5 miles to the west is a zip code for the Indianapolis market & about 6 miles to the north is a zip for the Dayton, OH market.

When people call complaining about the cable system, I tell them the Town has no control over the cable system. I then tell them that I have Directv & that they should look into getting it. I also explain how the local channel markets work & that they will get Cincinnati local channels. I also explain that there are other options for getting local channels from other markets.

Out of curiosity, what did you think these "options for getting local channels from other markets" are? Short of some well-known tricks that violate federal laws (and are thoroughly discussed in other threads on this forum), each area gets only one local channel market, unless you pick them up with an antenna.

The one exception to this is the "significantly viewed" channels, which, if a person is eligible to receive them, are already included when they get their local channels, if DirecTV has contracts for them. DirecTV calls them Neighboring Local Channels. According to this page, the Cincinnati market doesn't have any available Neighboring Locals right now.

The zip code is not the only determinant of the local channel market. In some areas, where a zip code crosses county lines, one county is is one market and the other county is in another market. These are referred to as "split zip codes".
This is why DirecTV's Local Channels page occasionally asks for which county you live in.

If "DTV sales rep tells them that they can choose from any of the three markets at the time of the installation", then the sales rep may have misunderstood the rules (or may have been lying). But even if that is the case, DirecTV is legally forbidden from offering local channels from other markets. Do a quick Google search about "Dish Network and distant networks" to check on the ramifications of offering out-of-market networks to ineligible customers.

 

[Jimbo]

Out of curiosity, what did you think these "options for getting local channels from other markets" are? Short of some well-known tricks that violate federal laws (and are thoroughly discussed in other threads on this forum), each area gets only one local channel market, unless you pick them up with an antenna.

The one exception to this is the "significantly viewed" channels, which, if a person is eligible to receive them, are already included when they get their local channels, if DirecTV has contracts for them. DirecTV calls them Neighboring Local Channels. According to this page, the Cincinnati market doesn't have any available Neighboring Locals right now.

The zip code is not the only determinant of the local channel market. In some areas, where a zip code crosses county lines, one county is is one market and the other county is in another market. These are referred to as "split zip codes".
This is why DirecTV's Local Channels page occasionally asks for which county you live in.

If "DTV sales rep tells them that they can choose from any of the three markets at the time of the installation", then the sales rep may have misunderstood the rules (or may have been lying). But even if that is the case, DirecTV is legally forbidden from offering local channels from other markets. Do a quick Google search about "Dish Network and distant networks" to check on the ramifications of offering out-of-market networks to ineligible customers.

I was hoping this is what was happening here, not "Moving" as many have done.

basically, you have a zip code and that normally designates your local market your eligible for.

The OTA set up is always another option depending on what the sub is able to do.

 

[Mr Tony]

where a zip code crosses county lines, one county is is one market and the other county is in another market. These are referred to as "split zip codes".

yep. Sounds like that exactly. My market zip code is in a split market for 3 counties
-one county gives you Minneapolis locals only (11 locals)
-one county gives you Minneapolis + KEYC (the local for the area...Minneapolis is 90 miles away) as Neighboring markets (12 locals)
-one county gives you KEYC and the other Big 3 from Minneapolis. PBS is National feed (5 locals)

 

[Mr Tony]

According to DMA maps, no county in Indiana is part of the Dayton market that I see

 

[Jimbo]

Unfortunately, the OP hasn't posted back since his thread starter .... maybe he went to work and will be back later ?

 

[PMKS]

Iceberg,
Where do you get those DMA maps?

 

[Mr Tony]

Iceberg,
Where do you get those DMA maps?

http://www.dishuser.org/TVMarkets/

 

[dishrich]

Not that I'm arguing w/Ice, but it is possible that some counties in some DMA's could have changed since those maps were created. I know for a fact other DMA's have definitely change some of their counties from one DMA to another within the past year. It also can vary between DISH & DirecTV, because they do NOT always use the same DMA mapping from the same year.

 

[Mr Tony]

TNGTony usually updates those DMA maps when Nielsen sends out the info.

But D* & E* have used different maps in previous years

 

[russ222]

iceburg i think i asked you this once before ,,what satelite and transponders are the twin citys on for directv

 

[Mr Tony]

HD-TP16 from 99W
SD-TP20 from 101W

from what I have heard the SD footprint goes to about Eau Claire

 

[russ222]

ya thats what i thought only get a 63 reading fromm 99 you dont happen to know the madison and milwaukee info do you for hd

 

[raoul5788]

ya thats what i thought only get a 63 reading fromm 99 you dont happen to know the madison and milwaukee info do you for hd

I think this listing is up to date:http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv...7596-directv-transponder-maps-data-6-5-a.html

 

[Mr Tony]

Thats an old list

Here is the newest one I have which is from Spring

 

[raoul5788]

Thanks, I didn't know there was a new one out.