Is it illegal to watch an out of market TV station ???

[Mr Tony]

KRBK is on the old school big dish so anyone with a 6 foot or larger dish and a free to air receiver can pick it up

 

[Mr Tony]

affiliates don't get any extra ratings from out of market viewers, and the local affiliate loses viewers when someone watches an out of market affiliate, this is why Fox has a policy against out of market Fox affiliates in cable systems even if they have significantly viewed status, KNPN forced WDAF of cable in St. Joseph MO although it can still be picked up with a good antenna, KCJO and KNPG forced KCTV and KSHB off cable there also but can still be picked with a good antenna, KQTV and KMBC has coexisted on cable for decades though

what is interesting is in Mankato they have duplicate FOX stations. KEYC-DT2 never forced KMSP (Minneapolis) off cable...but I know they do syndex prime time.
KEYC's owner (United Comm) a year ago petitioned the FCC to force cable (Charter and Consolidated) to remove WCCO (CBS) and KMSP (FOX) Minneapolis and KAAL (ABC) Austin, MN. The only reason they are going after KAAL is because of a couple syndicated shows that are carried on both KAAL and KEYC (they cant force KSTP MInneapolis off as Mankato has no ABC or NBC affiliate)

 

[Hot Hits]

I think I said that in my first sentence. However I don't have a RIGHT to watch San Francisco TV in LA.

To have a RIGHT to do something, it needs to be spelled out somewhere.

I had a right to watch
all the locals in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles & Seattle when I had IVI TV in 2011. I paid $5 a month plus $1 extra for a DVR. It brought me 5 ME TVs (Chicago had two) 4 Fox's, 4 CBS, NBC, & ABC's. The Federal Government didn't agree, shut IVI down. Worked better and took less bandwidth than any of today's internet offerings

 

[hamster]

Who's problem are you talking about? KUSA is owned by TEGNA and could easily be on NewsOn. That's a corporate thing. It has nothing to do with some employee who wants you to watch his station instead of an out of town competitor.

If I was this guy I would gather my co-workers and demand corporate to explain why KUSA is not on NewsON if being on there is important.. Of course KUSA is not the only Tegna station not on there as WGRZ, WVEC and WXIA isn't on there either. It is a corporate thing.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

KRBK is on the old school big dish so anyone with a 6 foot or larger dish and a free to air receiver can pick it up

but who would bother?

 

[mohawk82]

but who would bother?

There are several thousand of us that love searching for channels in the clear on satellites.

 

[Kelly A]

I got into an argument with an employee at Denver's KUSA over this. I say if I live in Denver I have the right to watch KOAA ( also NBC ) from Colorado Springs/Pueblo in Denver if I want too. He says that KUSA pays good money to be with NBC and I don't have the right to watch KOAA not even their newscasts on NewsON and the same goes with other NBC stations across the country.

He must have been from the KUSA sales department. Answer is: No, it's not illegal to watch out-of-market signals.

 

[MarcB]

When we used to have COX Cable and before COX required all their customers to have boxes ABC 40 from Springfield, Mass would occasionally pop up on our line up on either Channel 40.1 or Channel 77.1 - it was unusual because ABC 40 is not carried on the COX Meriden system. It is only carried on the COX Enfield system. I sometimes would watch Rachael Ray at 9AM on ABC 40 if I wasn't going to be home at 10AM to watch it on local WTNH. All the syndicated programming would air intact, but the ABC programming they would cover up with local WTNH. Occasionally there would be a glitch when they switched back over and ABC 40 would be airing with Audio only and no Video. I don't know if they have that problem on the Enfield system where ABC 40 is actually a part of the line up.

Back in the day they used to carry both WNBC and WPIX with no blackouts. I believe this is because the cable system is based in New Haven County and New Haven county though part of the Hartford/New Haven Market is considered a secondary area of the NYC market. They dropped WNBC after they were told that they couldn't have CT-N (The Connecticut Government Channel) as a Digital Channel. It was on Digital Channel 347. It replaced WNBC on Channel 13. (And is now on Channel 2). They dropped WPIX around 2012 when Tribune (WPIX's owner) went into dispute with a cable company called Cablevision (now Altice I think). Apparently COX was using Cablevision to pick up WPIX. When WPIX went down because of the dispute COX put up a slide that said WPIX is experiencing technical difficulties. We are working hard to restore Channel 11. Then as the dispute dragged on COX put up a new slide that said "As of such and such date COX Cable has decided to no longer carry WPIX. Most New York METS Games and CW Shows can be seen on WCCT-TV COX Channel 11".

COX also carried WSBK Channel 38 from Boston back in the day. And they showed it black-out free. A friend of the family was a salesman at an electronics store in Southington (We lived in Bristol at the time) and he showed us WSBK without the blackouts on COX Cable. (In Bristol we had TCI Cable. Originally the blacked out programming on WSBK was covered up with The Travel Channel, but later TCI changed it to Infomercials).

 

[AMFMRadFan]

...or Baltimore and DC, Buffalo-Rochester, Pittsburgh and Wheeling, heck even Denver and Colorado Springs since 60 miles seperates.

This is a guy from KUSA who believes that KUSA is the best station on earth, he probably thinks their anchors can walk on water whatever. Nobody has ever told him that KUSA sucks until me.

There's also the DMAs of Panama City, FL & Mobile, AL/Pensacola, FL. Destin/Ft. Walton Beach sits on the border line of the 2 DMAs. Therefore, you're able to pick up the stations in both markets.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

. Tegna Owned WFAA is going wall to wall to wall with Hurricane Harvey, Raycoms KLTV, ABC's KTRK, and Nexstars KXAN are going wall to wall for Hurricane coverage and its available at this time. And obviously using your TV apps to get out of market stations specifically in Texas is a big deal now given how the Hurricane is covered.

 

[bmasters1981]

I think you're right. Look how streaming has changed local radio. If I live in LA and I don't like the music mix on the local station, I simply stream one from another market. It might be within the same ownership (iHeart or CBS), but their apps allow for that. It hurts them for local audience, but they can make some money from online. Sure, the costs are higher, but if people can do something, they will do it. Now that people can stream TV programming and local stations, the owners are making deals with video streaming services. Thee concept of local, in video like radio, could be a thing of the past.

I actually did that with WCBS-880 in NYC-- when I was part of that radio survey that measured what my family listens to, I listened to that, KCBS in S.F., and KNX in L.A., among others (those via Radio.com), and the survey allowed it. I did that because 106.3 WORD (the local talk station in Greenville) has always been, IMO, one of the worst stations I have ever listened to, and its news product doesn't help.

 

[1069_KIFR]

I think I said that in my first sentence. However I don't have a RIGHT to watch San Francisco TV in LA.

To have a RIGHT to do something, it needs to be spelled out somewhere.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do, will be held against you, in a court of law.
You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you, at no charge."

 

[bmasters1981]

As a viewer, I say "Who gives a flying fig?" That's the station's problem, not mine. If they can't provide decent local programming, I'll watch elsewhere.

To put it in plain English: If your newscast sucks, it's on you, not me. I don't owe you squat! I'll find one that's better, in-market or outside. Make your product better, and I might come back. But I don't care one bit about your carriage fees or your advertisers, nor do I have to. NMFP.

The very same reasons why, through apps on my phone, I see KABC Eyewitness News out of L.A. (or WLS EWN of Chicago, WPVI Action News of Philly, etc.) more than I've ever seen my local stations lately-- because my local stations' news products are not all that, and those of L.A., Chicago and Philly are all that, and a bag of chips!

 

[Corky Marlowe]

"First they came for the people who watched out of market TV stations, and I did not speak out, because I did not watch out of market TV stations."

 

[semoochie]

I think I said that in my first sentence. However I don't have a RIGHT to watch San Francisco TV in LA.

To have a RIGHT to do something, it needs to be spelled out somewhere.

I responded to this once before but something just occurred to me: By the same token, you don't have a RIGHT to watch San Francisco TV from San Francisco or for that matter, buy anything at your local supermarket because there is no requirement that these things even exist!

 

[schmave]

A few years ago, a website called FilmOn streamed many Big 3 (or Big 4, if you prefer) affiliates from quite a few markets, including Chicago, Dallas, New York and Los Angeles among others. Among their offerings was the local version of WGN just as it is seen in the Chicago area. I watched it quite often to get the programming they did not simulcast on the national feed ... but eventually, somebody, possibly the FCC, threw a holy conniption and all of those streams were taken down. As I write, some four years later, that's still the case.
Whether that was to protect exclusivity in other DMAs (a big reason WGN used to have the syndex-proof superstation) or the streams themselves were illegal, I don't know. Probably both, honestly.
Do I think the FCC has overreacted in recent years when it comes to carriage of out-of-market stations? Absolutely, especially if you're directly in between cities such as somewhere like Monroe County, Michigan, which is in the Detroit DMA yet butts up against Toledo and therefore doesn't even get the full complement of stations from both cities on cable (and people right on the state line, which is the northern border of Toledo, get only Detroit channels on satellite). Or somewhere like Logan County, Ohio, where cable viewers used to get all stations or close to it from Dayton and Columbus - two cities to which it's pretty much equidistant - but now gets almost nothing from Columbus and everything from Dayton because it is in the latter DMA.
I could go on and on. There is all too little common sense in cases like that.

 

[TheBigA]

but eventually, somebody, possibly the FCC, threw a holy conniption and all of those streams were taken down.

More likely it was the various rights holders to the content who objected to their channels being viewed, and they weren't compensated. TTBOMK the FCC doesn't get involved with streaming apps. But streaming content is a big source of revenue for channels who are seeing ad revenue shrinking.

 

[PirateJohnny]

Don't tell your friend about a hilltop neighborhood in Bowling Green, KY. Homeowners in that neighborhood with rotators on their antennas can watch stations from Nashville, TN, Louisville, KY, Paducah, KY, and Evansville, IN.

 

[ansky212]

It is ridiculous to think that it is "illegal" to watch anything that you can pick up with an antenna. If something is "illegal" it means a law is being broken. I would love to see where the law is written that you cannot view an out of market TV station. What might be "illegal" is if a cable company carried an out of market TV station which would violate FCC rules.

 

[TheBigA]

I would love to see where the law is written that you cannot view an out of market TV station.

Right...the rules and laws aren't aimed at viewers but at the companies who supply the video.

AFAIK there is no TV police.