Burlington VT question

[BrettR]

Dish added Burlington VT locals awhile ago. Many believed the reason was political.

I read somewhere that VT has a high DBS penetration rate and NAB originally posted VT to be one of the markets where distant network viewership was eroding local television station viewership significantly. However, distants maybe cut off for most VT HH now, but they probably are still satellite subscribers so Burlington LIL may have been a great idea. Did Dish convert alot of C-Band homes there and promise locals?

However, its the 91st or so market.

Its also been carried on a spot that reaches the whole North East and MidAtlantic. I've gotten good readings for the Tps where Burlington was on when they were on 119 and now they are being with Philly locals on 110.

Is there no cable company presence in VT, so Dish has an extremely high penetration there? Anybody consider "moving" to Burlington, VT? Maybe to increase local channel subscription.

I think it would be neat checking out the small market news. I think I'd like to check out Harrisburg/Lancaster then maybe Burlington one day. I have DISH connected and aside from the big markets that I have mostly seen and are just being used as tools so network conglomerates can become bigger, I think I'd like to see a smaller market.

If I take Philly locals then "move" to another DMA, and want another local packages, does Dish charge a sidegrade fee? Will both markets be kept, or will they have to cancel the Philly locals?

At one time Dish offered almost all cities as distants. When I had dish last over 2 years ago, I took E&W and Philadelphia as a distant from an 08008 zip code. However the distants are being limited to only 6 cities now, and 08008 is being considered a Grade B zone.

In parts of PA, cable companies carry both Philly and Lancaster stations. It seems the only DBS solution would be subscribe to DirecTV for Philly, and Dish for Harrisburg/Lancaster. Does this sound correct, or will Dish let one keep both if they originally had Philly and has mailing/billing in Philly. DirecTV requires Total Choice, luckily Dish doesnt require a base package so I think can resubscribe to Dish services for alacarte programming like locals.

Did anybody get a response from Dish why they chose Burlington? There are handful of North East MidAtlantic Markets higher in rank, and even mustcarry stations from New York and Boston that would seem a better fit on that spotbeams.

[JohnH]

Yesterday, they moved Burlington from 119 to 110. Maybe some new activity coming up in the Northeast. :)

[Geronimo]

IF VT was done for political reasons (ie to influence Sen. Leahy who held a key chairmanship and is still ranking minority member of the committee) I doubt they woudl own up to it.

Remember that carriage of locals does not determine eligibility for distant nets. If you are in a white are in VT you can still get distant nets and the Burlington locals.

[jened]

Thanks for that info JohnH. I'm in the Albany, NY area and not holding my breath, but I can at least hope :) If they were trying to influence Leahy (& Jeffords), that's too bad for E* now that they are in the senate minority.

[Maniacal1]

Certainly Sen. Leahy was one of the reasons Vermont was selected for carriage, but at least as important is the satellite penetration of Vermont. Last year, I saw a figure that 42 percent of Vermont households received satellite television, mostly because many of its small towns had no access to cable. Forty-two percent of the 91st market probably equates to as many customers already in place as 6 percent (Connecticut's DBS penetration) of the Hartford market.