Local Channel Regulations

[spacenerd]

Can anyone tell me what what regulation controls where we get our locals. FCC or some other agency?
I live in Wapakoneta, Ohio and was told by Dish we could only get our locals from Dayton,Ohio 65 miles away. Lima is just 15 miles away and has NBC,CBS,ABC, Fox and WBGU (public TV).

 

[dweber]

Your local channels are determined by your DMA (Designated Market Area)

What are Designated Market Areas (DMA)?

A designated market area (DMA), also referred to as a media market, is a region of the United States that is used to define television and radio markets. There are 210 DMAs covering the whole United States and are usually defined based on metropolitan areas, with suburbs often being combined within. DMAs are determined by the Nielsen Company and impact the cost of advertising in a specific area. The more viewers in a particular DMA, the more an advertisement will cost. This is why a television ad in New York City costs more than an ad in Montgomery, Alabama. When evaluating your marketing mix it is important to understand the DMAs you are targeting and weigh the potential opportunities and costs.


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[Jim5506]

You should be able to get the Lima stations with an OTA antenna and add them to your Dish either with the built-in OTA tuner or with an add-on OTA tuner to your Dish Network receiver.

 

[spacenerd]

Thanks for the info. I did some more research and here is what I found. WHIO CBS out of Dayton (which Dish is in a dispute and no longer carries) filed suit in 2018 so that Auglaize county ( were I live) would be included in their DMA.

You should be able to get the Lima stations with an OTA antenna and add them to your Dish either with the built-in OTA tuner or with an add-on OTA tuner to your Dish Network receiver.

Your local channels are determined by your DMA (Designated Market Area)

What are Designated Market Areas (DMA)?

A designated market area (DMA), also referred to as a media market, is a region of the United States that is used to define television and radio markets. There are 210 DMAs covering the whole United States and are usually defined based on metropolitan areas, with suburbs often being combined within. DMAs are determined by the Nielsen Company and impact the cost of advertising in a specific area. The more viewers in a particular DMA, the more an advertisement will cost. This is why a television ad in New York City costs more than an ad in Montgomery, Alabama. When evaluating your marketing mix it is important to understand the DMAs you are targeting and weigh the potential opportunities and costs.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[spacenerd]

Thanks for the info. I did some more research and here is what I found. WHIO CBS out of Dayton (which Dish is in a dispute and no longer carries) filed suit in 2018 so that Auglaize county ( were I live) would be included in their DMA.

You should be able to get the Lima stations with an OTA antenna and add them to your Dish either with the built-in OTA tuner or with an add-on OTA tuner to your Dish Network receiver.

I do have a OTA antenna and tuner and get Lima Stations. But I also watched Dayton stations in particular for sports. Now no WHIO (CBS) and no WDTN (NBC). Very frustrated with Dish with no end in site.

 

[pattykay]

Thanks for the info. I did some more research and here is what I found. WHIO CBS out of Dayton (which Dish is in a dispute and no longer carries) filed suit in 2018 so that Auglaize county ( were I live) would be included in their DMA.

Just a little bit of trivia:

If Dish were using the FCC's Significantly Viewed List to offer out-of-market locals, Auglaize County would qualify for channels from both Dayton and Lima. significantviewedstations030819.pdf
Here is the list for Auglaize:

WDTN, 2, Dayton, OH (formerly WLWD)
WHIO-TV, 7, Dayton, OH
+WRGT-TV, 45, Dayton, OH
WLIO, 35, Lima, OH (formerly WIMA)
+WTLW, 44, Lima, OH
+WFFT-TV, 55, Fort Wayne, IN

(Ignore the + sign before the call letters. That simply indicates channels that have been added to the list since the original list was created.)

Also, so that satellite providers do not constantly have to flip-flop the locals they offer in counties at the outer fringe of the DMA's as the boundaries change, satellite providers are allowed to choose which DMA map they want to use, from the previous five years. So, if one of those maps shows Auglaize County in the Lima DMA, Dish could switch to using that map, in order to legally provide Lima locals there. (Switching which map they use would affect markets across the entire country, though, so that may be a long shot.)

 

[spacenerd]

Just a little bit of trivia:

If Dish were using the FCC's Significantly Viewed List to offer out-of-market locals, Auglaize County would qualify for channels from both Dayton and Lima. significantviewedstations030819.pdf
Here is the list for Auglaize:

WDTN, 2, Dayton, OH (formerly WLWD)
WHIO-TV, 7, Dayton, OH
+WRGT-TV, 45, Dayton, OH
WLIO, 35, Lima, OH (formerly WIMA)
+WTLW, 44, Lima, OH
+WFFT-TV, 55, Fort Wayne, IN

(Ignore the + sign before the call letters. That simply indicates channels that have been added to the list since the original list was created.)

Also, so that satellite providers do not constantly have to flip-flop the locals they offer in counties at the outer fringe of the DMA's as the boundaries change, satellite providers are allowed to choose which DMA map they want to use, from the previous five years. So, if one of those maps shows Auglaize County in the Lima DMA, Dish could switch to using that map, in order to legally provide Lima locals there. (Switching which map they use would affect markets across the entire country, though, so that may be a long shot.)

We did have locals thru Lima 4-5 years ago then when Dish updated our Hopper we were switched from Lima to Dayton.