I've read the link to the article that Scott posted. I live in the Greenville, SC DMA and I disagree with Sam_Gordon about if your station pre-empts too much, complain to the network. You can't complain to the network, you have to complain to the local TV stations. I'm a subscriber to DirecTV (used to be subscriber to Dish Network) also I wrote a letter to my local NBC affiliate why they're not carrying the fourth hour of
The Today Show (the hour in which Kathie Lee Gifford hosts), they said it's due to local program obligiations and they don't have the time slot to scheduled it in.
Speaking of the GSP market, stations WYFF (NBC), WSPA (CBS), WLOS (ABC), WHNS (FOX), etc. broadcast local news, but mostly the ABC affiliate WLOS does North Carolina news and less South Carolina news because they're located in Asheville, NC (part of the Greenville, SC DMA). Only four stations in this market does high definition news, WSPA/WYCW, and WLOS/WMYA, and unfortuately, WMYA (MyNetworkTV) and WYCW (CW) aren't available in HD on DirecTV nor Dish Network.
I've heard they said "You can purchase the New York Times in any city or listen to radio stations from other markets online, but why not TV stations from outside your market on satellite?" Wouldn't be nice to watch an out-of-market station like New York City (WCBS, WNBC, WNYW, WABC, etc), Los Angeles (KCBS, KNBC, KABC, KTTV, etc), Chicago (WBBM, WMAQ, WLS, WFLD, etc), Philadelphia (KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WTXF), San Francisco (KTVU, KPIX, KGO, KNTV, etc), or Washington, DC (WRC, WTTG, WJLA, WUSA, etc.) on satellite? Unfortuately the answer is the law saids no, you can't watch out-of-market locals because of an outdated law called SHVERA, but you have no choice to get just your market that you live in on satellite. I disagree with the National Assoication of Broadcasters, but everybody has their own opinions. But I agree with Mike Mountford "The law needs to change with the times." This isn't the 1950s, it's the 2000s (almost the 2010s). I've heard about the subcommittee testmony. I've watch the earlier subcommittee testomonies on the internet where Jim Yager, Charles Eagen, others testify. But I disagree with Yager. I've found out that thousands replied to Mountford's
MyTVRights petition at MyTVRights.com and I've contacted my congressman's local officle and spoke to his secretary to forward my views on the SHVERA law in Washington, DC weeks ago.
Thank you for your time
