Does anyone understand what this part of Significantly Viewed in the new law means?

[wkomorow]

I understand A. But what on earth does B (up to two if authorized to carry less then three) mean. Does it limit viewers to 2 significantly viewed stations?

Walter


``SEC. 341. CARRIAGE OF TELEVISION SIGNALS TO CERTAIN SUBSCRIBERS.

``(a)(1) In General.--A cable operator or satellite carrier may elect to retransmit, to subscribers in an eligible county--

``(A) any television broadcast stations that are located in the State in which the county is located and that any cable operator or satellite carrier was retransmitting to subscribers in the county on January 1, 2004; or


``(B) up to 2 television broadcast stations located in the State in which the county is located, if the number of television broadcast stations that the cable operator or satellite carrier is authorized to carry under paragraph (1) is less than 3.


``(2) Deemed Significantly Viewed.--Any station described in subsection (a) is deemed to be significantly viewed in the eligible county within the meaning of section 76.54 of the Commission's regulations (47 C.F.R. 76.54).

``(3) Definition of Eligible County.--For purposes of this section, the term ``eligible county'' means any 1 of 4 counties that--

``(A) are in a single State;

``(B) on January 1, 2004, were each in designated market ares in which the majority of counties were located in another State or States; and

``(C) as a group had a combined total of 41,340 television households according to the U.S. Television Household Estimates by Nielsen Media Research for 2003-2004.

``(4) Limitation.--Carriage of a station under this section shall be at the option of the cable operator or satellite carrier.''.

``(b) Certain Markets.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a satellite carrier may not carry the signal of a television station into an adjacent local market that is comprised of only a portion of a county, other than to unserved households located in that county.''.

[James Long]

Unless you are in that specific county, I wouldn't worry,

JL

[jimisham]

That sure confuses me. I live in Southwestern Michigan. Our DMA is South Bend, Indiana. Comcast carries the South Bend stations as well as 4 stations from Chicago.
No Michigan stations at all, except for one out of the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo area, an adjacent DMA, which is blacked out except for local newscasts.

[Geronimo]

I live in Fairfax County, VA. ll I want is one of the MPT stations. DirecTV already sells it to customers in the DC DMA. DISH does not. I doubt I will get it. But I remain hopeful.

Yes I have called and written but i keep being told that it is up tpo the FCC. When I mention that the FCC allows DTV to carry it here I get silence.

[toomuchtv]

Will E* contact customers who have become eligible to receive other nets?

[BobMurdoch]

OK, I'm confused.....

I live in NJ where only a few PBS stations are based inthe state (there may be a univision affiliate or something as well, but none of the big broadcast networks..... UPN is in Secaucus, but I don't consider UPN a real network (after they cancel Enterprise I can safely delete it from my favorites channel list).

SE Monmouth County has both NY and Philly stations on cable, so I'm guessing this is what they will give us access to on the satellite front......

[Greg Bimson]

Geronimo, this one isn't up to the FCC. There is a different issue here.

Dish Network currently carries 4 non-commercial educational (NCE) channels in the DC DMA. They are WETA, the Northern VA PBS station; WHUT, the DC PBS station; WNVC, the MHz networks NCE station; and WNVT, the MHz2 network, also an NCE station.

Dish Network doesn't have to carry another NCE channel that duplicates the programming of one of the other four NCE channels they already carry. And since MPT is in the DC DMA (Frederick, MD), even with must-carry, Dish Network does not have to carry it. It is a lark that DirecTV does carry it.

[Geronimo]

I never said it was up to the FCC. I said that I received that reply from DISH but did not find it credible in light of DTV's carriage.

MPT has quitea bit of programming distinct from the other PBS stations and is indeed "significantly viewed" in the DMA----from bothe the Frederick (inside the DMA) and Annapolis stations (the one you can actually receive OTA here)

I would like tos ee it but do not expect to.

[TNGTony]

OK, I'm confused.....

I live in NJ where only a few PBS stations are based inthe state (there may be a univision affiliate or something as well, but none of the big broadcast networks......

WMGM TV 40 Wildwood, NJ is an NBC affiliate. It is in the Philadelphia TV Market.

See ya
Tony

[Guesst925XTU]

OK, I'm confused.....

I live in NJ where only a few PBS stations are based in the state


What about all these?


WMGM-Wildwood, NJ is NBC
WWOR-Secaucus, NJ is UPN
W25AW-Trenton, NJ is America One
WGTW-Burlington, NJ is TBN
WPXO-LP-East Orange, NJ is PAX
WXTV-Paterson, NJ is UNI
WNJU-Linden, NJ is TEL
WWSI-Atlantic City, NJ is FUT
WFUT-Newark, NJ is FUT
W60CX-Atlantic City, NJ is TBN
WUVP-Vineland, NJ is UNI

[Jacob S]

Just wait until Verizon has most of its customers with all those local stations (along with many other phone companies) and the powerline companies as well in the next 5 or 10 years. By that time space may not be as big of an issue. Just look at what has been accomplished during the past three years on getting locals and now talks of HD locals launched.

[James Long]

Will E* contact customers who have become eligible to receive other nets?Most likely.

The first step is for the FCC to determine which "significantly viewed" channels are eligible to be viewed in which communities outside their own DMA. They MUST do this within 60 days of enactment, and MUST make the list and any later modifications public (and on their website).

Then it is up to E* to decide if they will carry the eligible channels in elegible communities. They do not have to carry them at all. But if they decide to carry them, they MUST give 60 days notice before turning on the channels.

It will be a while before they are available to subs, and they may just appear after all the notifications are complete - no further subscription needed. (Noting that one of the factors making you elegible will be subscribing to your own locals.)

JL

[Jacob S]

If it is going to cost Dish/Direct more money to carry these channels then they may not do this in the smaller markets, maybe just the larger ones, especially since they are wanting the space for HD.

[SR0655]

If it is going to cost Dish/Direct more money to carry these channels then they may not do this in the smaller markets, maybe just the larger ones, especially since they are wanting the space for HD.
It's reasonable to assume that:

1. The DBS providers will add few (if any) stations specifically for this purpose. (They'll include stations from nearby markets that they otherwise carry.)

2. In most cases, a station that fits the above criterion already is retransmitted via a spot beam that reaches the out-of-DMA area in which it's "significantly viewed." In other words, no additional bandwidth will be exhausted.

[James Long]

If it is going to cost Dish/Direct more money to carry these channels then they may not do this in the smaller markets, maybe just the larger ones, especially since they are wanting the space for HD.It won't (other than administrative costs). Smaller markets are the places where there is the greatest need, desire, and eligibility for "Significantly Viewed" stations from other DMAs. If the station is up there for its own DMA, it can easily be made available for the neighboring communities.

DirecTV (D*) will have more trouble than Dish Network (E* for EchoStar) since some of their spots don't cover the entire DMAs where LILs are offered. But E*'s current spotbeams are more generous.

JL

[SR0655]

[Originally Posted by justalurker]

Smaller markets are the places where there is the greatest need, desire, and eligibility for "Significantly Viewed" stations from other DMAs.
That's quite true, particularly regarding need and desire.

Another common example of eligibility is a rural area that's approximately an equal distance from two or more major cities.

In the state of New Jersey, each county is part of either the New York City DMA or the Philadelphia DMA. My county (Ocean) belongs to the former, but much of the county is closer to (or an equal distance from) the latter. Most of the major Philadelphia television stations have been available via cable for years and years, and most non-satellite customers throughout the county (who are entirely unfamiliar with the concept of a "DMA") draw absolutely no distinction between them and the New York City stations. (All of them are thought of as the "local" stations.)

Therefore, it comes as quite a surprise and disappointment to these individuals when they learn that DirecTV and Dish Network are legally prohibited from providing the Philadelphia stations to Ocean County subscribers. For many (especially those who follow Philadelphia sports and/or news), this is a deal-breaker (and a MAJOR unfair advantage for Comcast). The new legislation promises to level the playing field, and I anticipate a sizable impact in areas such as mine.

Of course, my family "moved" to a town in the Catskill Mountains region (a white area in New York City DMA) earlier this year. If we're able to retain our Los Angeles distants, that's where we'll be staying. (We're originally from the New York City area, so local Philadelphia programming is of little interest to us.) If/when we lose our Los Angeles distants, we'll "move" back to our actual address. (If nothing else, the availability of Philadelphia stations would serve as a means of circumventing local pre-emptions.)

DirecTV (D*) will have more trouble than Dish Network (E* for EchoStar) since some of their spots don't cover the entire DMAs where LILs are offered. But E*'s current spotbeams are more generous.
I'm not sure that I follow. Do you mean that some of DirecTV's spot beams fail to cover the entire DMAs in which stations from neighboring DMAs are "significantly viewed"? If so, that shouldn't be an issue. For this purpose, the boundaries will be far more specific than that. (While not identical, the criteria should be roughly as strict as those applied to cable systems).

In other words, the fact that residents of my area (which is part of the New York City DMA) will qualify to receive Philadelphia locals doesn't mean that everyone in the New York City DMA will qualify.

Perhaps you meant something else.

[James Long]

DirecTV (D*) will have more trouble than Dish Network (E* for EchoStar) since some of their spots don't cover the entire DMAs where LILs are offered. But E*'s current spotbeams are more generous.I'm not sure that I follow. Do you mean that some of DirecTV's spot beams fail to cover the entire DMAs in which stations from neighboring DMAs are "significantly viewed"?Some of DirecTV's spot beams fail to cover the entire DMA where the channels can already be offered under current law as local-in-local. Expecting their spots to reach outside of those DMA to the new communities allowed under Significantly Viewed may be asking too much. And likewise for the spots completely covering their own DMA. D* has chosen to make smaller spotbeams and reuse frequencies more times than E* (a result of D* having less transponder space to work with).

I hope E*'s design of E10 allows for large enough spot beams to allow for significantly viewed channels to operate EVERYWHERE that the FCC says they can be viewed.

JL

[wkomorow]

Significantly viewed serves three basic purposes:

A. It provides a complete network lineup to smaller DMAs

B. It allows communities that are closer to comunties broadcasting in another DMA to get those close stations for news and local sports

C. It allows communities served only or primarily by out of state stations to get in-state news

Now my question. Did any one notice that significantly viewed is being applied to counties instead of communities? If a channel is significantly viewed in any part of the county is significantly viewed for the entire county. I am wrong that this is a significant change? For communities in large counties, this could be significant. For example, the Springfield PBS and NBC stations are significantly viewed in southern and central Berkshire cable but not available in northern Berkshire county cable. Are there other areas in the country where there are different significantly viewed stations in different parts of the same country?

[SR0655]

[Originally Posted byjustalurker]

Some of DirecTV's spot beams fail to cover the entire DMA where the channels can already be offered under current law as local-in-local.Yikes, I wasn't aware of that. Do you know of any specific examples? I would assume that they must be markets that were added after the implementation of spot beaming. (Otherwise, some subscribers would have lost their locals during the changeover.)

[James Long]

Did any one notice that significantly viewed is being applied to counties instead of communities?
SEC. 340. SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED SIGNALS PERMITTED TO BE CARRIED..
(a) SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED STATIONS.—In addition to the broadcast signals that subscribers may receive under section 338 and 339, a satellite carrier is also authorized to retransmit to a subscriber located in a community the signal of any station located outside the local market in which such subscriber is located, to the extent such signal—
(1) has, before the date of enactment of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004, been determined by the Federal Communications Commission to be a signal a cable operator may carry as significantly viewed in such community, except to the extent that such signal is prevented from being carried by a cable system in such community under the Commission's network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rules; or
(2) is, after such date of enactment, determined by the Commission to be significantly viewed in such community in accordance with the same standards and procedures concerning shares of viewing hours and audience surveys as are applicable under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Commission to determining with respect to a cable system whether signals are significantly viewed in a community.

[snip limitations]

(c) PUBLICATION AND MODIFICATIONS OF LISTS; REGULATIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall—
(A) within 60 days after the date of enactment of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004—
(i) publish a list of the stations that are eligible for retransmission under subsection (a) (1) and the communities in which such stations are eligible for such retransmission; and
(ii) commence a rulemaking proceeding to implement this section by publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking;
Nothing there says counties, everything says communities.

JL

[wkomorow]

SEC. 340. SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED SIGNALS PERMITTED TO BE CARRIED..
(a) SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED STATIONS.—In addition to the broadcast signals that subscribers may receive under section 338 and 339, a satellite carrier is also authorized to retransmit to a subscriber located in a community the signal of any station located outside the local market in which such subscriber is located, to the extent such signal—
(1) has, before the date of enactment of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004, been determined by the Federal Communications Commission to be a signal a cable operator may carry as significantly viewed in such community, except to the extent that such signal is prevented from being carried by a cable system in such community under the Commission's network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rules; or
(2) is, after such date of enactment, determined by the Commission to be significantly viewed in such community in accordance with the same standards and procedures concerning shares of viewing hours and audience surveys as are applicable under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Commission to determining with respect to a cable system whether signals are significantly viewed in a community.

[snip limitations]

(c) PUBLICATION AND MODIFICATIONS OF LISTS; REGULATIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall—
(A) within 60 days after the date of enactment of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004—
(i) publish a list of the stations that are eligible for retransmission under subsection (a) (1) and the communities in which such stations are eligible for such retransmission; and
(ii) commence a rulemaking proceeding to implement this section by publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking;
Nothing there says counties, everything says communities.

JL



Under definitions:

``(3) COMMUNITY.--The term `community' means--

``(A) a county or a cable community, as determined under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Commission applicable to determining with respect to a cable system whether signals are significantly viewed; or

``(B) a satellite community, as determined under such rules, regulations, and authorizations (or revisions thereof) as the Commission may prescribe in implementing the requirements of this section.

[Fritter]

My "significantly viewed" channels that are shown on nearby cable include only 3 networks from Little Rock (NBC, CBS, ABC).

This leads me to a couple of questions, first if I am given the chance to subscribe to significantly viewed channels on D*, would they only offer those 3 networks? Secondly, the LR locals are on a spot beam. I can only get a signal strength of 70 on that beam. Can they increase the coverage of their beams and would they sell me locals if I can only get a 70 for strength?

Thanks

[jimisham]

My "significantly viewed" channels that are shown on nearby cable include only 3 networks from Little Rock (NBC, CBS, ABC).

This leads me to a couple of questions, first if I am given the chance to subscribe to significantly viewed channels on D*, would they only offer those 3 networks? Secondly, the LR locals are on a spot beam. I can only get a signal strength of 70 on that beam. Can they increase the coverage of their beams and would they sell me locals if I can only get a 70 for strength?

Thanks
I'm wondering the same thing about your first question.
I'm in the South Bend, IN DMA. Comcast now carries, and has, since cable was installed over 20 years ago, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS from Chicago. Until several months ago, we also had OTA WGN on channel 9. They replaced the off the air signal with the satellite version and moved it to a higher channel.

[James Long]

Under definitions:
``(3) COMMUNITY.--The term `community' means--
``(A) a county or a cable community, as determined under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Commission applicable to determining with respect to a cable system whether signals are significantly viewed; or
``(B) a satellite community, as determined under such rules, regulations, and authorizations (or revisions thereof) as the Commission may prescribe in implementing the requirements of this section.I found that later in the morning as well. Note that it isn't just county-by-county, but by cable communuity. Some cable communities are bigger that others, but they are not all full counties.

JL

[James Long]

I'm in the South Bend, IN DMA. Comcast now carries, and has, since cable was installed over 20 years ago, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS from Chicago. Until several months ago, we also had OTA WGN on channel 9. They replaced the off the air signal with the satellite version and moved it to a higher channel.In South Bend itself Comcast does not carry the Chicago feeds. I assume that Berrien County gets them because of the Illinois residents with second residences along the lake shore. (How many Illinois plates in your neighborhood. :D )

One piece of good news: If you live within the Grade B coverage of the Chicago stations you will get them without blackouts (if satellite offers them).

LaPorte County Indiana viewers are in the Chicago DMA and don't currently get South Bend stations (even though cable must carry them). Currently they will need SuperDish if SB Significantly Viewed are added.

My first experience with cable in Michigan was in Sturgis and we could receive ALL the channels from Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, South Bend, and Lansing areas on our local service (plus WKBD 50 Detroit and WGN 9 Chicago). New laws made that impossible to offer. People in the southern counties of the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo DMA should also be able to get SB DMA channels (on a SuperDish).

Some cities east of SB offer both SB and Fort Wayne on cable. That won't happen on E* since SB is 105 and FW is 121 (unless the significant channels are mirrored on both satellites - which is possible.

JL

[jimisham]

In South Bend itself Comcast does not carry the Chicago feeds. I assume that Berrien County gets them because of the Illinois residents with second residences along the lake shore. (How many Illinois plates in your neighborhood. :D )

One piece of good news: If you live within the Grade B coverage of the Chicago stations you will get them without blackouts (if satellite offers them).

LaPorte County Indiana viewers are in the Chicago DMA and don't currently get South Bend stations (even though cable must carry them). Currently they will need SuperDish if SB Significantly Viewed are added.

My first experience with cable in Michigan was in Sturgis and we could receive ALL the channels from Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, South Bend, and Lansing areas on our local service (plus WKBD 50 Detroit and WGN 9 Chicago). New laws made that impossible to offer. People in the southern counties of the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo DMA should also be able to get SB DMA channels (on a SuperDish).

Some cities east of SB offer both SB and Fort Wayne on cable. That won't happen on E* since SB is 105 and FW is 121 (unless the significant channels are mirrored on both satellites - which is possible.

JL
Are you in South Bend? Sounds like you have Dish.
Yes, we have a lot of Chicago people here during the summer. I just checked the FCC web site and looked at the contour maps for the network stations, PBS and WGN. They're all putting a grade B in here. Even WFLD on channel 32. Here's hoping. I've got 100 from their spot beam on Directv.
I'm sure there are a lot of people in Laporte County who live a lot closer to the South Bend towers than they do to the Chicago stations.

[wcswett]

People in the southern counties of the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo DMA should also be able to get SB DMA channels (on a SuperDish).

This points out a real problem for DISH Network as many folks may have their DMA on DISH 500 but be eligible for significantly viewed channels on 105, 121 or heaven forbid, BOTH!

My DMA locals are on 110 and 61.5. My cable co. lists WRCB Chattanooga (on 105), WNEG Toccoa (on 119), and WUNE (Research Triangle Pa, NC - not uplinked) as available to cable subscribers. If WUNE eventually goes up on 121 then I'd have to have 119, 110, 61.5, 105 and 121 just to cover eligible locals that my cable company offers. Ok, I've got all those antennas, but I doubt anyone else in my "community" does. :)

--- WCS

[James Long]

Are you in South Bend? Sounds like you have Dish.Yes, and I try not to talk about D* too often since it isn't my forte. But since we are in SHVIRA discussion D* should also be discussed.

As long as the spots cover the locations a D* two or three LNB dish should be able to pick up locals and the new significantly viewed channels. D* subs in Fort Wayne need a 72.5 second dish for their locals, and any FW channels that are Signficantly Viewed in portions of the SB market would also require the extra dish.

In our area it looks like D* will do ok and be able to offer significantly viewed channels where they will be eligible. The benefit of being on one dish. E* is expected to catch up at the end of 2005 with the launch of E10 moving many markets from 105 and 121 to 110. But as noted before, it will be a few months until Significantly Viewed becomes active anywhere. So we wait.

BTW: I'm east of South Bend in the next county. I can get some Fort Wayne Digital channels OTA, but I'm not close enough to be a significant viewer. We both may end up getting Kalamazoo stations out of this deal - which wouldn't be bad. You are more likely than me since your "locals" are all out of state.

JL

[jimisham]

BTW: I'm east of South Bend in the next county. I can get some Fort Wayne Digital channels OTA, but I'm not close enough to be a significant viewer. We both may end up getting Kalamazoo stations out of this deal - which wouldn't be bad. You are more likely than me since your "locals" are all out of state.

JL
I've wondered about the possibility of that also. Checking the contour maps for channels 3, 8 and 41 show that none of them have a grade B signal here.. Almost to Benton Harbor. In the northern part of the county they could be considered 'significantly viewed' as opposed to Chicago.
Here Chicago definitely is.
I'll be happy with either market as long as I get a decent signal from them. South Bend, on Directv, besides the over compression, has bad, bad ghosting on two or three of the stations and WNIT has a 'flashing' that occurs every two or three seconds. When I run it in slow motion it's blocking that I'm seeing. I'm wondering if GR/Kazoo is any better. They're on the same transponder as South Bend. That's why I'm hoping we'll get Chicago. They're probably, for the most part, fed by fiber optic to Directv I would think.

[gor88]

Jim,

Have you contacted the station engineers at the stations affected by interference? In many cases, the station's website should give contact information. If not, send to the manager or the comments line. If that fails, call the station and ask for the engineer.

In my experience with talking with station engineers, they are generally cooperative and want you to have a good quality signal to watch. I have contacted the FOX, WB and UPN engineer in Jackson to clear up some interference on each channel, which he has. I have also contacted the FOX/ABC engineer in Tupelo-Columbus to clear up some interference on my mother's locals. In both cases, they did eventually fix the problem.

If any station does not want to bother correcting the interference, I would contact the network headquarters and let them know that you'll stop watching whatever shows you watch on their network because the engineer doesn't want to fix interference problems. It is not in the station's nor the network's best interest to lose audience due to a correctable problem.

Just my $0.02. However, you might get results.

[jimisham]

Jim,

Have you contacted the station engineers at the stations affected by interference? In many cases, the station's website should give contact information. If not, send to the manager or the comments line. If that fails, call the station and ask for the engineer.

In my experience with talking with station engineers, they are generally cooperative and want you to have a good quality signal to watch. I have contacted the FOX, WB and UPN engineer in Jackson to clear up some interference on each channel, which he has. I have also contacted the FOX/ABC engineer in Tupelo-Columbus to clear up some interference on my mother's locals. In both cases, they did eventually fix the problem.

If any station does not want to bother correcting the interference, I would contact the network headquarters and let them know that you'll stop watching whatever shows you watch on their network because the engineer doesn't want to fix interference problems. It is not in the station's nor the network's best interest to lose audience due to a correctable problem.

Just my $0.02. However, you might get results.
I sent a e-mail to the chief engineer of the PBS station, but received no reply. I thought I might send another one with a copy to the general manager. I've video taped this station and it's problems and thought about making two copies and going right to the station to show them.
The NBC affiliate has no e-mail address for the chief engineer. Their signal isn't too bad anyway. The Fox station did not reply either. The ABC and WB stations are both LP and owned by Weigel Broadcasting out of Chicago. I'd be surprised if they have an on site engineer. I haven't been able to come up with an e-mail address for their engineering dept.
The only chief engineer that has bothered to reply is the CBS station and that's where the LRF is located so their signal is pretty good. My last e-mail to him about the problems, he forwarded the e-mail to Directv.
He told me that when South Bend first went on the dish they had a pretty good picture. I think they were on a CONUS trasponder at first. Apparently the problems started when they were moved to a spot beam.
I guess I'm going to wait and see if we can get Chicago.
If we don't I'll start hounding them again, start making some more video tapes and make a trip to South Bend.

[James Long]

He told me that when South Bend first went on the dish they had a pretty good picture. I think they were on a CONUS trasponder at first. Apparently the problems started when they were moved to a spot beam.I doubt if they were ever CONUS. D* has too many channels up to do conus locals. What probably happened was that the initial channels (16, 22, 28, 34) were uplinked and when D* added 25 and 57 they changed the compression to fit them all in. (BTW: SB's 46 is carried as a PI nationally, UPNMichiana is not carried by D*. E* carries all eight channels mentioned as locals.)

BTW: It could have been adding other channels to that transponder as well.

JL

[Greg Bimson]

lurker, DirecTV did have South Bend on a CONUS transponder at 119 for a while. I remember it changing around the time football season started.

[James Long]

lurker, DirecTV did have South Bend on a CONUS transponder at 119 for a while. I remember it changing around the time football season started.Interesting. What a waste of space.

JL

[Greg Bimson]

I think it may have had to do with readjusting the satellite a bit. DirecTV may have been concerned that the spot-beam wasn't hitting the entire market. Not only did this happen for South Bend, it also happened for Tulsa and Wichita. As of the beginning of September, all of these channels were back on spot-beams. At that time, there was only one channel on CONUS at 119: the ABC affiliate from Chico/Redding. There wasn't any space on the Chico/Reno spot-beam to add the station.

[jimisham]

I think it may have had to do with readjusting the satellite a bit. DirecTV may have been concerned that the spot-beam wasn't hitting the entire market. Not only did this happen for South Bend, it also happened for Tulsa and Wichita. As of the beginning of September, all of these channels were back on spot-beams. At that time, there was only one channel on CONUS at 119: the ABC affiliate from Chico/Redding. There wasn't any space on the Chico/Reno spot-beam to add the station.
And this appears to be about the time that the picture quality from South Bend went to pot. I got locals on Sept. 10th and had problems right from the beginning..
The chief engineer at Channel 22, where the LRF is located,
told me that at first picture quality was good and all of a sudden the problems started showing up.
He says he's complained to Directv but since he and I are the only ones complaining about it, they won't do anything.