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How to get significantly viewed dma stations added

22K views 210 replies 29 participants last post by  oriolesmagic 
#1 ·
According to the fcc database Ashtabula County OH has 3 stations from the Erie DMA listed as Significantly viewed. How would I go about getting them added to my local lineup?
 
#2 ·
According to the Directv Website they should be added automatically. Use the search tool at the link below and see what it indicates.

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/svLocalChannels.jsp?assetId=1200076

The FCC list was updated in January 2013. It may take a while to get it done especially IF your area is on a different spot beam than Erie. I would inquire about your situation via email to Directv. I doubt that you will find a CSR that would be able to tell you what is going on.
 
#4 ·
John R. Metzger said:
Actually the website indicates they will be added automatically with your local channels IF DIRECTV CARRIES THE CHANNEL IN YOUR AREA. My impression is that very few significanly viewed chnnels are actually offered on DirecTV.
DireTV does not offer alot of Significantly Viewed channels but that apears to be changing a little over time. I think in alot of circumances the Significatly Viewed channels could be from a larger DMA that they do offer allowing them to import it into a market mising an affiliate for any reason.

Just to clarify something ealier, a waiver does not have to have an approval from the DMA affiliate. If they dont approve it after30 days the law says its automatically approved.
 
#5 ·
John R. Metzger said:
Actually the website indicates they will be added automatically with your local channels IF DIRECTV CARRIES THE CHANNEL IN YOUR AREA. My impression is that very few significanly viewed chnnels are actually offered on DirecTV.
Just a guess is that with using spot beams for the local channels they might just feel that they don't have the proper amount of signal reaching the neighboring DMA to make it reliable.
 
#6 ·
In Mifflin County, PA if Sinclair pulls WHP-TV 21 (CBS from Harrisburg) perhaps DireTV should talk to the powers that be at WTAJ (CBS from Altoona) which is listed as significantly viewed in Mifflin County. There are a lot of people here who refuse to sign up for either Direct or Dish because of the inablility to get WTAJ which has historically been the most popular channel in the area because they have been carried for years on every cable system and because they provide far more local news than can be gotten from WHP. Just to clarify, this would not work for every county in the Harrisburg - Lancaster DMA but it would work for Mifflin County.
 
#7 ·
RAD;3186100 said:
Just a guess is that with using spot beams for the local channels they might just feel that they don't have the proper amount of signal reaching the neighboring DMA to make it reliable.
Shouldn't be a problem in most areas. They do a horrible job with significantly viewed. I live between Baltimore and Washington and I get Baltimore only. Most DC stations are about 20 miles away but they don't give them to me.
 
#8 ·
tonyd79;3186559 said:
Shouldn't be a problem in most areas. They do a horrible job with significantly viewed. I live between Baltimore and Washington and I get Baltimore only. Most DC stations are about 20 miles away but they don't give them to me.
Sounds like a medium antenna would do you some good.
 
#9 ·
It would be nice to get significantly viwed where I live. We have one significantly viewed channel from Sioux Falls SD and we do get that station on our cable system. We basically kept our cable becuase having the Siox Falls station allows us to keep abreast of severe weather in South Dakota as it moves our way. We are in the MSP DMA but are much closer to Sioux Falls. WE live just into Minnesota on the MN/SD border and are in the MSP DMA
 
#10 ·
joshjr;3186592 said:
Sounds like a medium antenna would do you some good.
I don't get a lot. Ground floor condo. But not the point. The point is that directv does none of the significantly viewed here.
 
#11 ·
RAD said:
Just a guess is that with using spot beams for the local channels they might just feel that they don't have the proper amount of signal reaching the neighboring DMA to make it reliable.
Some of it could be on the local stations or just DirecTV not pushing for it enough. Here in Monroe County, PA we get 90s on all of the transponders used by the Philly and NYC locals and we still don't have any neighboring locals. Heck the significantly viewed NYC stations for our area (WCBS, WNBC and WNYW) are actually on the Conus beam since they just remap the 390s to the local numbers for them.
 
#12 ·
KyL416 said:
Some of it could be on the local stations or just DirecTV not pushing for it enough. Here in Monroe County, PA we get 90s on all of the transponders used by the Philly and NYC locals and we still don't have any neighboring locals. Heck the significantly viewed NYC stations for our area (WCBS, WNBC and WNYW) are actually on the Conus beam since they just remap the 390s to the local numbers for them.
I hate that their two sets of rules for cable versus DTV. RCN has both Philly and NY FOX, CW and MY Network but not DTV. Why I know for a fact that I can get the NY spot beam in Lehigh Valley so why cant we get the duel locals? Stinks
 
#13 ·
tonyd79 said:
I don't get a lot. Ground floor condo. But not the point. The point is that directv does none of the significantly viewed here.
So wierd.. I remember when i was growing up in that Area (Rockville then later Annapolis) local cable stations provided feeds for both cities. I always preferred watching the DC stations... Would drive me nuts to not have them if I still lived there.
 
#14 ·
tonyd79 said:
I don't get a lot. Ground floor condo. But not the point. The point is that directv does none of the significantly viewed here.
The best way to get these added is to contact the station you are wanting and talk with the GM. Let them know that you want to get their station in your DMA and that they should be able to strike a deal with DirecTV to get it added under the significantly viewed rules and that they wont be subject to blackout restrictions. Let me know if you have any questions or need help. I would be willing to make some calls if needed.
 
#16 ·
joshjr;3186877 said:
The best way to get these added is to contact the station you are wanting and talk with the GM. Let them know that you want to get their station in your DMA and that they should be able to strike a deal with DirecTV to get it added under the significantly viewed rules and that they wont be subject to blackout restrictions. Let me know if you have any questions or need help. I would be willing to make some calls if needed.
I'm not that hung up on it. But thanks.
 
#17 ·
#18 ·
#19 ·
damondlt said:
So I guess the question is, If I call Directv would they offer them to me?
DirecTV is not where you need to start. You need to start with the stations that are on that list you want. Call their GM and let them know what their upside is to adding as Significantly Viewed and that you want their channel. If they are interested, they can make it happen with DirecTV. Its much easier for them to make the call to their direct contact and make it happen then it is to get ahold of someone at DirecTV that cares about significantly viewed in your county.

Happy to help and let me know if you have questions.
 
#20 ·
joshjr said:
DirecTV is not where you need to start. You need to start with the stations that are on that list you want. Call their GM and let them know what their upside is to adding as Significantly Viewed and that you want their channel. If they are interested, they can make it happen with DirecTV. Its much easier for them to make the call to their direct contact and make it happen then it is to get ahold of someone at DirecTV that cares about significantly viewed in your county.

Happy to help and let me know if you have questions.
Well I do have a few I would Like that are on the list for my county, Cable carries even more then is even on the list.

So call the GM of the stations?

There are 3 NY stations I would love to have back.

I would Love to have WNBC 4 , WABC 7, Fox 5, Even WPVI 6 from Philly. I loved having them on cable.
 
#21 ·
Just occurred to me I have never seen this question asked (or answered):

do the DMA restrictions also apply to commercial accounts?

I could see a sports bar, for example, wanting to carry games shown on locals in an adjacent DMA, particularly when the DMA they are actually in is in another state than where their locals originate, and the adjacent DMA is in their same state. High school sports state tournaments would be much more likely carried on the adjacent DMA locals than on the out of state locals they get.

Example, if you where in the Kansas City Missouri DMA, but actually lived on the west edge of the DMA, deep in Kansas, your sports bar would want to show Kansas State High School football championships, but they would have to receive locals from Topeka to get those games for their business.

Seems like the business interest would be important here.
 
#22 ·
I'm calling Directv just to see what they say about it.
 
#23 ·
damondlt said:
I'm calling Directv just to see what they say about it.
Well they stated very little info, but did state If I call, I guess the GM of the networks, they could grant me the channels and it would just show up on my receivers at no charge.

So I don't know? Still lost

I would like some help:).
 
#24 ·
gov said:
Just occurred to me I have never seen this question asked (or answered):

do the DMA restrictions also apply to commercial accounts?

I could see a sports bar, for example, wanting to carry games shown on locals in an adjacent DMA, particularly when the DMA they are actually in is in another state than where their locals originate, and the adjacent DMA is in their same state. High school sports state tournaments would be much more likely carried on the adjacent DMA locals than on the out of state locals they get.

Example, if you where in the Kansas City Missouri DMA, but actually lived on the west edge of the DMA, deep in Kansas, your sports bar would want to show Kansas State High School football championships, but they would have to receive locals from Topeka to get those games for their business.

Seems like the business interest would be important here.
To my knowledge they are not treated different unless its a RV or commercial vehicle I believe. Any restaurant or bar should be subject to the same things. They have options for what you are referring to. They could put up an antenna to get the additional channels and get a AM21 to import them into the DVR.

They could also follow up like the rest of of for any significantly viewed stations. To my understanding it is RV's and commercial vehicles that qualify for DNS once ownership is provided. In your example it would be no different from a resident wanting that same content versus a bar that wants that content for its customers.
 
#25 ·
damondlt said:
Well they stated very little info, but did state If I call, I guess the GM of the networks, they could grant me the channels and it would just show up on my receivers at no charge.

So I don't know? Still lost

I would like some help:).
Okay they are partially right. Here is what you do:

1. Call the GM of the affiliate that is considered Significantly Viewed in your county.
2. Explain to them that you want their station in the county you live in and that they are considered significantly viewed. Let them know that the law states their channel will not be blacked out for duplicate programming either and anything else that is a big up side for them. Examples are, his channel is from in state and the same affiliate in your DMA is from out of state. Another example would be by getting his station in your county you would know of bad weather before it hits you and that would be valuable to customers in that county. Another would be you dont have that affiliate in your market because there is no agreement or not affiliate. What ever the upside is sell it to them. Another good example would be if your county is a big county and would get them a lot more viewers.

If they are truly interested in getting added in your market, they will follow up with DirecTV for you. I was successful on 2 of 3 considered significantly viewed in my county and am working on the 3rd as they recently were bought by COX. They are working on it. As for the 4th in my area, I reached out to them earlier this week about submitting the forms to the FCC to become on the list. In this case, they are the only big 4 station in Tulsa not on the list.

I am always here to answer any questions and would also be willing to make some calls. Its all about presentation. Give them a good reason to do it and they will do the rest. If you try to reach a person at DirecTV that would be able to follow up on this you would get nowhere. I am not sure they are overly upbeat about adding additional local out of market stations to any county. When the affiliate wants to do it, its a different story. Let me know if you need help.
 
#26 ·
Hre is an email answer I got from the GM of KELO which is a significantly viewed station in my county

While you are correct that we qualify based on being significantly
viewed, DirecTV does not usually have two stations with the same
affiliation based upon their capacity limits. We will check, but I'm
sure that is the answer.
Thanks for asking!
 
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