# Congressman Jeb Bradley and Charlie Bass go to bat for WMUR-TV Manchester,NH.



## n1wbd (Mar 24, 2002)

I hope this passes!! Thanks to The Union Leader for the info.

Both Congressman are co-sponsoring legislation that would make available WMUR-TV Channel 9 Manchester, NH (ABC affiliate) available to ALL NH satellite customers.

The North Country Access Act of 2003 would give all residents of any state that only has one network affiliate, satellite access to that signal.

Check out the story. In today's Union Leader.

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=24495

Do you think this legislation has a chance???

Bob Hale
N1WBD


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## tampa8 (Mar 30, 2002)

Might make for some interesting circumstances. I would think there are indeed other states this could effect. Connecticut has only one of each network, but the southwestern part of the state I believe is in the New York City DMA. Not sure if Rhode Island has a DMA in MASS, but they also only have one of some networks. 

Would those in a state with one network, but in another DMA get two network stations then? And what if you are in a white area, of a DMA from another state and your state has one network. Would you then get both those networks, and two distant nets?


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## Brett (Jan 14, 2003)

n1wbd said:


> I hope this passes!! Thanks to The Union Leader for the info.
> 
> Both Congressman are co-sponsoring legislation that would make available WMUR-TV Channel 9 Manchester, NH (ABC affiliate) available to ALL NH satellite customers.
> 
> ...


I think WMUR could someday get statewide New Hampshire carriage.

Its in Hearst Argyle's interest for WMUR to have statewide New Hampshire carriage on satellite also.

The only conflicts are SHVIA, and competing ABC stations: WMTW 8 in Portland market, and WVNY 22 (ABC) in Burlington, VT. These stations claim few of the New Hampshire counties. In Burlington VT, Hearst owns the NBC affiliate. Hearst could change affiliations in Burlington to make WPTZ 5 from NBC to ABC, and then hold the ABC rights for more of the N.H. market without conflicts. The question is would they want to drop NBC for ABC over there in Burlington. That still doesnt cover the area where the Portland station covers.
http://ekb.dbstalk.com/TVMarkets/New Hampshire.htm

Hearst Argyle (owner of WCVB 5- largest non Disney owned ABC station, and WMUR 9) is a huge company with much more leverage (with Disney and with deeper pockets) than WMTW 8 or WVNY 22 which are run by much smaller companies. Its Hearst's interest for WMUR to have full NH carriage.

I'm sure some other stations will look to some similar offering. NBC could buy out PAX 61 in Wilmington, DE, and change it to a Delaware NBC, targeting Delaware (45th largest state, but lacking any exclusive network). In Wilmington, there are radio stations that do this and are considered their own Arbitron market. They target Delaware and Wilmington only with spots and traffic only for that area, even though their signal is so powerful in Philadelphia and Southern NJ. With 61, NBC could move its tower south. The benefit would be NBC could open a sales office in Delaware, and claim Delaware to themselves. WMUR 9 for example is very successful with little competition and can please N.H. businesses, and local politicians (with airtime). Delaware once had an NBC affiliate, but Westinghouse (in the 1950s) demanded NBC nix that station as an affiliate.


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## n1wbd (Mar 24, 2002)

Brett said:


> I think WMUR could someday get statewide New Hampshire carriage.
> 
> Its in Hearst Argyle's interest for WMUR to have statewide New Hampshire carriage on satellite also.
> 
> ...


Well I hope the bill passes. I'm only about 60 miles from Manchester. I want NH news and info. As it stands now I'm in the Burlington/Plattsburgh DMA. If I lived in Danbury which is only 1.5 miles down the I would qualify for the Boston DMA and therefore be able to recieve WMUR if it was offered on Dish but it currently isn't. I really don't care about NY/VT news and info.

As you may know cable does'nt have to play by the same rules as 
satellite. Both towns on either side on me have cable and offer Boston stations as well as WMUR. Whats wrong with this picture? 

Bob
N1WBD
Grafton,NH


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## Guest (Aug 5, 2003)

n1wbd said:


> Check out the story. In today's Union Leader.


I think the Union Leader staff should have checked it out.



> The North Country Access Act of 2003 would give all residents of any state that has only one network affiliate, satellite access to that station's signal. New Hampshire, which federal regulators divide into three separate markets, may be the only state in the nation that the bill affects. WMUR is an ABC affiliate.


From that description, it appears that New Jersey would be similarly affected, since it has just one network affiliate, and as Brett has pointed out, Delaware would become "in play" because it has no network affiliate at present.

But the rationale given in the New Hampshire Legislature's Resolution claiming that residents of a state may need or strongly desire local emergency or even political news, does not seem to justify limiting the relief requested in the proposed federal legislation to states with just one network affiliate. If, say, Wyoming has two network affiliates, but if it has a county somewhere on its vast perimeter that is part of an out-of-state DMA and does not include any Wyoming channels, shouldn't the law mandate the availability of Wyoming network affiliate to their residents also?



> Current federal law requires satellite television companies to offer WMUR only to customers in the state's six southern counties.


Substitute "permits" for "requires"



> In Coos and Carroll counties, satellite viewers get Maine programming.


That will be news to a lot of residents in Northern New Hampshire. At present, neither DirecTV or DISH carry Maine programming.



> In Grafton and Sullivan, they get Vermont stations.


 I believe that Vermont's only TV stations are in the Plattsburgh/Burlington DMA. which is on the opposite border, nearly 100 miles from New Hampshire Does anyone have access to a DMA map to see if Grafton and Sullivan counties are in that DMA? But in any case, they are not available on DirecTV or DISH at present, though a year or two ago, I think the Vermont stations were available on MPEG FTA.



> New Hampshire may be the only state in the nation in which a network affiliate is not considered to be in the local market of the entire state.


 What does this sentence mean? I can't interpret it in any meaningful way.

Bring back Bill Loeb!


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## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

NJ has a UPN station does that count as a network affiliate.?


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## Greg Bimson (May 5, 2003)

> *Originally written by AntAltMike:*
> I believe that Vermont's only TV stations are in the Plattsburgh/Burlington DMA. which is on the opposite border, nearly 100 miles from New Hampshire Does anyone have access to a DMA map to see if Grafton and Sullivan counties are in that DMA? But in any case, they are not available on DirecTV or DISH at present, though a year or two ago, I think the Vermont stations were available on MPEG FTA.


According to the EKB site here, Grafton and Sullivan counties are in the Burlington/Plattsburgh DMA. Dish Network does offer the Burlington/Plattsburgh locals.

Do the state legislators in New Hampshire think so little of their own little project, NHPTV? They have about five stations that cover the state. And, as I recall, both Dish Network and DirecTV are carrying this station for the Boston DMA.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Greg,

The reason that NHPTV (WENH ch 11, Durham NH) is in the "Boston" locals is because the Boston DMA, according to a map I saw a while back, it technically the "Boston-Manchester NH DMA" and stretches to up around Concord (I don't know if Concord itself is contained in the DMA)


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## Greg Bimson (May 5, 2003)

djlong, I understand that WENH is in the Boston-Manchester, DMA. However, there are four other "repeater" stations in New Hampshire, and I believe they are scattered about the state, so that they are in all three DMA's that claim parts of New Hampshire.

I'd just think both DirecTV and Dish Network could, in fact, offer the WENH feed to Portland, when it comes on line, and Burlington, respectively. Exactly how a single feed of Maryland Public Television is in both the DC and Baltimore markets.


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## n1wbd (Mar 24, 2002)

Greg Bimson said:


> djlong, I understand that WENH is in the Boston-Manchester, DMA. However, there are four other "repeater" stations in New Hampshire, and I believe they are scattered about the state, so that they are in all three DMA's that claim parts of New Hampshire.
> 
> I'd just think both DirecTV and Dish Network could, in fact, offer the WENH feed to Portland, when it comes on line, and Burlington, respectively. Exactly how a single feed of Maryland Public Television is in both the DC and Baltimore markets.


You are correct WENH (NHPTV) main transmitter and tower are on Saddleback Mountain in Deerfield,NH with either 4 or 5 "repeater" transmitters/translators across the state. NHPTV provides statewide coverage. WMUR also has 2 "repeater" transmitters as well but does not cover the entire state.

I think NHPTV should also be included in the proposed bill as well as they do provide emergency weather watches/warnings. I live in Grafton,NH (Grafton County) which is in the Burlington/Plattsburgh DMA but I feel I should be able to recieve WMUR as well as NHPTV for news and info pertaining to NH. Here in Grafton we don't have the luxury of cable. Alot of my area towns as well don't have cable. Should us satellite viewers be penalized for living in a different DMA when our local TV signals are relatively close but outside our DMA? In my area here it's not really feasable to install an OTA antenna system as the surround terrain limits reception to maybe 2 or 3 channels and not a very good signal either.

Bob
N1WBD Grafton,NH


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## n1wbd (Mar 24, 2002)

Geronimo said:


> NJ has a UPN station does that count as a network affiliate.?


I don't believe so as UPN as well as WB have limited programming I may be wrong though.

Bob


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## Brett (Jan 14, 2003)

Geronimo said:


> NJ has a UPN station does that count as a network affiliate.?


PBS: NJN, and WNET(licensed to a NJ town, but really a NY PBS).

UPN: WWOR 9 (really a New York affiliate).

Univision: WXTV 41 (for NY), and WUVP 65 (for Philly).
Telefutura: WFUT 68 (covers NY market).
Telemundo: WNJU 47 (for NY) and WWSI 62 (for Philly).

NBC WMGM Wildwood/Atlantic City (covers 3 southern NJ counties only. Not even on satellite services).

Delaware:

PBS: WHYY 12/WDPB 64
Pax: WPPX 61.

When DirecTV launches Salisbury MD locals, they could remap WHYY (the Delaware PBS) for Sussex County, DE instead of carrying WDPB 64.

Most in NJ rely on NY or Philadelphia stations. The Philadelphia stations do cover Trenton, basic NJ issues, and Southern NJ well. New York is a much busier market, while Philly is more slow paced. Maybe some Northern NJ and Central NJ residents should get access to few Philly stations. Conflicts would be less as Disney owns both WABC and WPVI, NBC owns both WNBC and WCAU, Fox owns both WNYW and WTXF and CBS owns both KYW and WCBS.

I also know parts of Central NJ (that are NY centric and closer to NY) get some Philly stations, and the NY stations havent bothered asking cable to black them out. So, the competing station conflicts would be less than other cases.

I know there are greater conflicts with Baltimore and D.C. given that none of the network affiliates are co-owned, and that area in between the cities is an important area of competition in terms of Nielsen ratings.

I do believe the D.C. stations cover Montgomery and Prince Goerge's County well in Maryland.


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## Brett (Jan 14, 2003)

Greg Bimson said:


> Do the state legislators in New Hampshire think so little of their own little project, NHPTV? They have about five stations that cover the state. And, as I recall, both Dish Network and DirecTV are carrying this station for the Boston DMA.


They cant buy airtime on a noncommercial station (or not the 20 sec spots)  They also dont want to buy time on a Burlington or Portland station which only cover few counties. Same with Boston.

WMUR 9 (a network affiliate that already has cable/over the air throughout N.H. and maybe WNDS 50 (Ind.) would be more ideal.


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