Greenville, SC - HDTV - Page 288

There is a class A Ch 36 station in northeast TN. It is analog and that can cause interference.

You're right. I forgot about that one. But their pattern, low power and terrain make it very unlikely they could cause any interference near Morganton. Roanoke would be off the back side of the antenna.

Good afternoon,

Just wanted to follow up and see if you're still having issues.

-George

Within a couple days I will have a new antenna to test out. I purchased a Antenna Direct DB-8. Right now I get channel 3 all the time, other Charlotte stations sporadically. I'll soon know what this will do with my amplifier and pass it on you all of you

Ultimately, this is the "style" of antenna I wish to install - my small apprehension is its VHF-Hi performance - I really want to get WLOS and to a lesser extent WSPA. Different retailers sell this antenna, and the descriptions vary (between retailers) from including the VHF-Hi reference to not including it at all. Descriptive ad wording I have seen is "enhanced" VHF-Hi, which I interpret to mean that while it does not have the same gain as it does for UHF it could be used for VHF-hi based upon your proximity to the towers. I have seen an actual study that compared several of these 4 and 8-bay antennas and this particular study recommended the Channel Master 4228HD for its "enhanced" VHF-hi reception.

Eric

My cable box has not been resetting itself lately.

ESPN/ESPN2 are better. I think there are still cutouts from time to time but they're minimal. It's definitely not a recurring or consistent problem, or more than any other channel.

Last time we had these 'solved' they cropped back up in a week or so so I'll try and check back in over the next few weeks and let you know. Naturally I'll post here or PM the charter account if the problems crop back up.

Thanks for whatever you have been up to behind the scenes.

Of that type of antenna, the CM4228HD usually gets the best reviews and does indeed have some degree of VHF Hi capability. And you may also consider a more compact Clearstream 4 which is great for UHF and also gets VHF. And I know WLOS, along with WBTV and WSOC, cover Morganton news whereas the SC stations do not.

I may have posted this at some point, but its hard to believe that until around 1990 WYFF (and WFBC) had a translator for Morganton. I wish that DMAs had the seemingly minimal influence today that they did then - it used to be that if the masses could get your OTA signal then you (the viewer) were considered a part of the TV audience. These days, coverage stops at the county line if you reside in the adjacent DMA. WLOS has flip flopped over the past 10-15 years in their coverage or references to Burke County. About 2 years ago I mailed (not email) them a letter to argue the point of why they give Cherokee and Clay counties in southwest NC considerable coverage when they - like Burke - are NOT in the GSP-AVL DMA. Cherokee is in Chattanooga's and Clay in Atlanta's. And unlike Cherokee and Clay, WLOS gets a far better OTA signal into Burke. Granted, WLOS has a translator in Brasstown near Murphy, but - as of a few years ago - it got a barely watchable analog signal at my in-laws' some 7 miles away in Warne near Hayesville. To truncate this long story, my letter got Burke added to the corner weather icon and scrolls when there are severe weather watches and warnings as well as the county highlighted during the newscasts' weather segments.

UMattter2Chater,

I just got my chater service installed last week. Prior to the installation, I requested that I have the newest Motorola HD DVR instead of the DCH6416. I still received a HDC6416 that was pretty banged up, but its horribly noisy and runs extremely hot!

I had the 6416 back when I was with Comcast in NJ, and it never ran this hot.

Any word if there really is a better HD DVR set top box for Chater?

I really wanted to believe that every one bad mouthing Chater's customer service was just an exaggeration. However, I have to say, 7 calls to CSR prior to my install really was not a good first impression. I was given an incorrect account number, given a new home telephone number that belonged to another customer, and was given incorrect information about the package that I was given(the wife flipped when we didn't have the OWN channel).

I hope I am not given the run around when I request a new STB.

Most importantly, I am bracing myself for the first bill. I had to pay in advance $100 because the rep said it was Chater's policy to off set the high prorate charges of the first bill.

Hello lostcase,

We are sorry to read the trouble you've been having with that box. We will be more than happy to get you taken care of as well as make sure there are no surprises awaiting when you get your first bill statement. Please send us a PM with the name, address, and/or phone number associated with the account.

Looking forward to resolving your concerns,
Abby
http://www.charter.com/Umatter2Charter

Thanks abby. PM sent.

Yes it is interesting how the county line can effect news coverage. As you know, WYFF once had a translator for Marion and McDowell County but it was sold to WSOC and moved to Burke County. Only WLOS seems to cover McDowell news, although I believe both CLT and GSP stations are carried on cable there. Perhaps WYFF is able to reach Marion without the translator or maybe they thought that area could be reached by CLT signals. And in SC, the Charlotte signals are very strong in Gaffney and Cherokee County, but only WYFF and WSPA provide any news covergage from there. But go next door to Shelby and the coverage is all from Charlotte. And Rutherford seems to be split between WLOS and WBTV. So it does seem to be determined by the county line and the targeted DMA moreso than the reach of the signal, as each station decides their own "area of dominant influence."

And northeast Georgia is part of GSP/AVL market, but OTA allows some viewers to watch Georgia news from Atlanta, although folks down there would like to see the ATL channels reach just a bit further, as they apparently are not carried on cable or satellite. And the "significantly viewed" criteria doesn't really seem to apply anymore.

As created by Nielsen and supported by the FCC, the so called designated market areas (DMA) came into being. When this was done, every county in the United States was defined to be in a particular market. From my understanding, these markets did not have nearly as much importance as they do today (from a regulatory standpoint) until the early 1990's. At that time, the federal government enacted the so called "must-carry" rules as it relates to the retransmission of local broadcasters. What we have now is a situation where each DMA is protected and no broadcasters outside this geographic area are carried over cable or satellite networks within any particular DMA, unless it is approved by the FCC.

I don't know of any other media in this country that is so tightly regulated. The FCC did come out with a list of so called 'significantly viewed' out of market channels a few years ago. This ruling allows cable and satellite companies to rebroadcast the 'significantly viewed' channels to 'out of market' viewers. However, this so called 'significantly viewed' list is limited; and there are no other exceptions. In practice, it seems the cable companies don't even take advantage of many of these opportunities --where they are permitted to do so by the FCC.

From some of the articles I read in the past, Dish Satellite 'supposedly' circumvented these FCC mandates in some markets with their customers a number of years ago. Apparently, when the FCC caught onto this, they took away the ability of Dish to provide any locals whatsoever to their customers. I suppose this was done as punishment. After some time, the rights of Dish to rebroadcast locals in each market were restored by the FCC, with the understanding that they strictly adhere to the FCC mandates.

Personally, I find these DMA rules to be a bit draconian in nature. I wouldn't expect cable and satellite providers to start offering cross country locals. However, when viewers have any ability whatsoever to receive a TV signal via antenna, that network should be offered over cable and satellite networks. There's also the ridiculous issue (in my opinion) of viewers (notably many in outlying areas) that are denied access entirely to what they may (themselves) consider to be their principle market--such as the rural Georgia viewers being denied access to ATL stations because their county is not defined as being part of that DMA.

This is one nice thing about OTA. If we are lucky enough to live in a decent reception area, we can also enjoy out of market locals.

Below is a link that describes the basics of DMA markets:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_market

I'm glad you got WLOS to add Burke Co to the corner weather icon and scrolls when there are severe weather watches/warnings. I've noticed some of my locals will do this for weather segments. However, they generally do not seeem to make any other references to local news events if the county is outside the official borders of the DMA.

Obviously, local broadcasters have a role to play with 'local' news. And this is what most of us expect and want. However, it would seem to be a nice touch if they would sometimes reach beyond county lines of DMAs. Burke is a good example where you would think WLOS could make further efforts. As much influence as the FCC plays, I don't see why they would ever attempt to interfere with these types of efforts. Afterall, we are supposed to have a free press where the news itself is concerned.

There was a big reception issue in rural Alabama recently, during the tornado devastation back in April. Because these counties are classified as part of the Atlanta DMA, viewers were denied emergency weather coverage from Birmingham stations during a life or death situation. And the Atlanta stations do not provide Alabama news or weather. And OTA reception is unreliable from both markets at 80-90 miles, so cable/sat is necessary there. In distant fringe areas such as this, the FCC should allow cable/sat to carry both markets, and it seems such DMA assignments should be re-evaluated and reclassified.

Good point, Tyler. And I agree that the FCC should allow cable/sat to carry both signals in those rural counties. If I lived in one of those Alabama areas, I would voice my concerns to the FCC and my congressman. It might not change anything; but I would still do so on general principle. These county lines with the DMA rules border on the ridiculous at times.

My location in N E Ga is required to watch the Carolina stations. We live, work, vote, pay taxes in Ga but we are not allowed to receive Ga tv via satellite and most cable systems. However, many of us lie about our address to get the Atlanta stations, but that can get tricky if you have a problem... I am lucky enough to get the Atl stations ota. However ch 2's Glenn Burns refuses to alert the 3 counties not in their dma of any bad weather... I shot him an email about omitting us, and his response was "you are not in our viewing area"... I replyed, well I watching you...He thinks any mention of our area could cost him some jail time...I don't like him...
I can call anybody in the world from my car... but not allowed to receive my home state news, weather, and sports.....unless ota.

PS... I contacted the FCC several times... they don't care.

I understand what you mean. However, I commend you for taking the time to contact them. Perhaps, if more people would get involved, changes might follow. We can only hope

I would also have been upset by the e-mail response you received from the employee at ch 2. While the FCC has jurisdiction to enforce these DMA rules, I am not aware of any regulations which restrict weather alerts and other news events in neighboring counties to the DMA. If that day ever comes, then I believe it would be a safe assumption that our freedom of the press is gone.

As for the DMA laws themselves, I would do everything I could to amend these regulations if I were a politician. These laws were written for big business and certainly not in the best interest of many viewers--particularly those in outlying areas, such as yourself.

There have been similar situations (such as yours) in other parts of the country. The one case (that I am aware of) that actually got the attention of the FCC (here in NC) was from viewers in Lumberton, NC several years ago. Their DMA wasn't changed but they got one of their local affiliates back after a lot of protests.

The FCC told me the dma is determind by the Nielsen ratings, that more people choose to watch S C rather than Atl in my county according to Nielsen. Problem is, it's a "fixed" rating... I kept a Nielsen "book" several years ago. You can ONLY select Greenville market stations, no other stations are a choice, so naturally our choice is Carolina... this is a one horse race.
You could check "other", I'm guessing that was "file 13".

If the people in the three county area here in n e Ga had a choice you can bet we would choose our home state stations, as would most people in this situation.

This "issue" of DMA boundaries seems to be nothing that no one can (or WILL) provide a straight answer. You would almost think the government is involved
DonF, your comment about keeping a Neilsen book raised my eyebrows - ie, not being able to select out of market stations as those you were viewing. Interesting that I was recently looking over a DMA map created with DISH Network viewers in mind - the map was not created by DISH - and I noticed some markets where counties had "moved" at some point. This is the map to which I refer: http://dishuser.org/TVMarkets/
If you begin researching individual markets, you'll eventually encounter what looks to be a county which was previously in a different DMA. For example, look under Virginia and select BLUEFIELD - note that Pocahontas county is in the map group, but not highlighted. Now go back and select ROANOKE - you will see Pocahontas is highlighted and the font of the label looks different than the other counties. Another example of this is just south of the aforementioned area. Look at Patrick County, VA on the Greensboro-Winston Salem market map. Its font looks different, like it was "moved" from the Roanoke market. So, counties - in some way - are able to move from market to market. The mystery is how does this happen? Is it really the choice of viewers and how do they make the choice? Or, is it just some political BS likely from the NAB, which is the National Association of Broadcasters? Particularly with satellite when viewers are forced to view their home market, how in the world are they able to trigger a DMA change?

I don't know about Pocahontas County, but I'm reasonably sure Patrick County has been in the Greensboro DMA for a long time, largely due to proximity to WXII (and, in analog, WXLV). But Patrick County does get WDBJ and WSLS (if not also WSET) due to "significantly viewed" status.

That said, counties do get moved now and then. Whatever county Chambersburg, PA was in got moved from the Washington DC DMA to the Harrisburg PA DMA a while back.

- Trip

How do these moves happen, Trip? Any idea? DonF in an earlier post said he had a Neilson survey several years back and there was no option for recording an out of market station. I - myself - have no idea what a Neilson survey looks like - seems I got an offer for one at some point but I was working in radio and that disqualified me.

I really don't know. I always sort of assumed it was in areas where there was significant overlap in coverage areas of multiple network stations and people were able to select out-of-market stations as "significantly viewed." But I could be wrong.

I completely stopped paying attention to Nielsen after they threatened to sue Wikipedia. You'll note that RabbitEars does not use Nielsen's DMAs.

- Trip

Nielsen is crap as far as I am concerned. It seems to be merely a cover for the officials to justify their actions with the current borders of DMA markets.

All Nielsen does (I believe) is rate viewership in a given market... who is # 1 at 6 and 11, and which network shows are pulling the largest numbers...then of course the station with the largest share can charge more for ads and the story goes on... The FCC can pass the buck on this dma thing, because in their "book" the F stands for Federal... and they are not consumer friendly, and don't care...I have contacted both my senators, and house rep but they too are Federal.....Nielsen is just a sales tool for local stations and should have nothing to do with dma...I've been beating this dead horse for several years now....

Kind of like the credit rate agents getting paid more to give AAA ratings?

Don't get me started. I just watched "Too Big To Fail & Inside Job".

It would be VERY interesting to know the number of other complaints the FCC and members of congress have received from other viewers in your area. I could be wrong, but sometimes I get the impression that too many people never bother to voice their concerns because they feel it is a complete waste of time. However, if we all felt that way, there would never be any changes.

Trust me, Don, if I lived in your area, you can bet that I (like you) would have been in touch with my house rep, senators, FCC and others. Your situation with the DMA rules is ridiculous. As you said, you live, work, pay taxes, vote, etc in GA and you should have every right to watch the ATL stations through the cable and satellite networks in your area.