the CW and others in springfield, MA market

[nutjb18]

Hi,
I am going to set up a new system over my brothers house and was wondering how anyone around Springfield, MA area manages to get the CW in that area. I know that there isn't an antenna option as its part of the CW plus (+100 market) and isn't broadcast ota as its cable only. I was wondering if one can apply for a waiver for channel 385? He live's in Brimfield, MA, one town too far to receive the Boston networks which stinks for him. Out of curiosity, if there is anyone from this area, what do you do. An antenna probably isnt an option as it was tried before to no avail. On wikipedia, under the WBQT(fake call letters as its cable only) page it says that directv carried it or at least it did previously but apparently it doesnt anymore? I've read conflicting posts about the CW on 385. Some say its carried in networks where a CW isn't available, but others say you still need the waiver. I've heard of cableonly stations rejecting waivers despite there is noway of getting the network from any other source than cable. The cw in springfield is owned by comcast so this would probably be the case. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[smaug07]

I live in western Worcester County, just northeast of Brimfield, but here we receive the Boston DMA locals on DirecTV. I do recall D* carrying a WB feed on channel 14 in the Springfield-Holyoke market just a few years ago, and I think it was out of the Baltimore area. Since WB left the air and the CW replaced it, I think D* does not offer the feed as part of its local service. I would try to get the national CW feed offered by D* as I think you would qualify. However, if not, have you considered using the local cable for the locals feed and bypassing D* for locals? I think Charter Communications is the local cable company for Brimfield, and if I recall, they offer significantly more locals than DirecTV does for the Springfield area. D* only offers channels 22,40 and 57 from Springfield, the infamous WSHM, CBS 3 from Springfield, and channel 61 from Hartford, whereas Charter offers these stations, plus channels 24 and 30 from Hartford, channel 59 from New Haven, and at least one Boston affiliate, in addition to the local CW feed. I know it costs a bit more for the cable local package, but it may be worth it considering the advantages of more stations and the availability of the CW. Just a suggestion, but if I was in the Springfield DMA I would probably take the cable local package instead of the D* local package, but continue with D* for everything else.