# WMUR 9/single station DMAs



## Link (Feb 2, 2004)

Why is it that WMUR-TV 9 in Manchester, NH is considered part of the Boston market but other stations around the country that should or could be part of larger DMAs are not??

For instance WLFI-TV 18 is a CBS affiliate serving 3 counties in Indiana when it could be a part of the Indianapolis DMA. Viewers in those counties have to watch Indianapolis stations for all other networks but CBS. Satellite subs in those counties are kept from getting the Indianapolis local package just because of WLFI not being part of Indianapolis.

Also, WHIZ-TV 18 in Zanesville, OH serves one county as an NBC station yet most watch NBC owned WCMH-TV 4 from Columbus. Viewers in Zanesville still cannot get the Columbus local package just because of one station in Zanesville--all because these single stations are considered one DMA.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Link said:


> Why is it that WMUR-TV 9 in Manchester, NH is considered part of the Boston market but other stations around the country that should or could be part of larger DMAs are not??
> 
> For instance WLFI-TV 18 is a CBS affiliate serving 3 counties in Indiana when it could be a part of the Indianapolis DMA. Viewers in those counties have to watch Indianapolis stations for all other networks but CBS. Satellite subs in those counties are kept from getting the Indianapolis local package just because of WLFI not being part of Indianapolis.
> 
> Also, WHIZ-TV 18 in Zanesville, OH serves one county as an NBC station yet most watch NBC owned WCMH-TV 4 from Columbus. Viewers in Zanesville still cannot get the Columbus local package just because of one station in Zanesville--all because these single stations are considered one DMA.


Only the FCC knows, and they aren't talkin'!:lol:


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## KyL416 (Nov 11, 2005)

tsmacro said:


> Only the FCC knows, and they aren't talkin'!:lol:


Actually, you should blame Nielsen for that.


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## HarbingerGA (Sep 29, 2005)

I never understood why not compromise and say if you're in the economic service market of community A you get all the channels originating from community A via satellite but if you get at least a grade B signal from a station in community B you also can get that station via satellite. 

I think I've seen others discuss this too, but here in northeast Georgia all the counties but 2 are in the Atlanta DMA but the CBS station that positions itself for northeast GA (WNEG) is in one of those 2 counties that are in the Greenville, SC DMA. So Dish customers in Asheville, NC can watch WNEG via satellite if they choose, but me who is 20 miles from the tower is forces to put up rabbit ears to get it. :nono2: (Full disclosure, I'm no longer with Dish but I probably will go back since I've been less impressed with D*.) Even more asinine, the news studios for WNEG are in Athens and they can't receive that station via dish. Heck, thanks to the screwy way that 'significantly viewed' is being interpreted, they still can't get it.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

KyL416 said:


> Actually, you should blame Nielsen for that.


No... The blame is not all with Nielsen. They provide the marketing data. It is ultimately the Station's call as to which market they want to serve in this situation. Blame the single network station and the other network station in the neightboring larger market. They are the ones that decide to split single county markets like this.

WMUR is not in its own market because the owner of WMUR is the owner of the Boston ABC affiliate and they want both stations on the larger market. If WMUR wanted to break off into their own market, next year, at least the NH counties would be in a new market. Chances are ALL the NH counties would be in that market. But, alas, it isn't so because the stations involved do not wish it.

The same goes for the following markets with duplicate affiliates:

Albuquerque and Santa Fe (Repeaters in both markets) , 
Burlington and Hartford VT (NBC), 
Champaign and Springfield IL (ABC and other repeaters), 
Cheyenne and Scotts Bluff (ABC and many repeaters), 
Denver and Glenwood Springs (CBS) 
Grand Rapids and Battle Creek (ABC)
Greenville, SC and Taccoa, GA (CBS)
Idaho Falls, ID and Jackson, WY (NBC)
Jackson, MS and Natchez, MS (Fox)
Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka, AK (NBC, CBS)
La Crosse and Eau Clair, WI (ABC)
Lexington and Hazard, KY (CBS)
Lincoln and Kearney, NE (ABC) Grand Island and Kearney, NE (Fox)
Bismarck and Minot, ND (CBS and NBC and many repeaters)
Philley and Wildwood, NJ (NBC)
Salt Lake City, UT and Elmo, NV (NBC) Rock Springs, WY (CBS)
Spokane, WA and Coeur D'Alene, ID (CBS)
Springfield, MO and Eureka Springs, AR (WB)
Tampa/St. Pete and Sarasota, FL (ABC)
Tyler and Nacogdoches, TX (ABC)
Hagerstown and Washington DC (NBC and at one time WB)
Yakima and Pasco, WA (CBS) Kenewick (ABC) Richland, OR (NBC) Pendalton (Fox)

Some of these are repeaters with "local" news. But most of these are two independently owned stations with affiliations to the same network that wish to remain on the same market.

By the same token, markets like Dothan, AL and Panama City FL which have no common network affiliates between them are split only because that is the way the stations want it.

See ya
Tony


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## Link (Feb 2, 2004)

TNGTony said:


> WMUR is not in its own market because the owner of WMUR is the owner of the Boston ABC affiliate and they want both stations on the larger market. If WMUR wanted to break off into their own market, next year, at least the NH counties would be in a new market. Chances are ALL the NH counties would be in that market. But, alas, it isn't so because the stations involved do not wish it.


WMUR has only been under the same ownership as WCVB in Boston for the last 4 years. Prior to that it was owned by Imes Communications. Even under Imes it was still in with Boston. I know that when Hearst-Argyle tookover, the schedules of WCVB and WMUR are practically identical except for local newscasts. Both stations are available on Directv and Dish Network's local Boston package. On cable in Boston, only WCVB on, but in Manchester both stations are on cable.


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## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

Nielsen bases county assignments on its ratings. 

In County X it will take ratings of whatever people watch, however they watch it. Primarially this means whatever is on the cable.

Then when it sums up the ratings, it will assign counties to DMAs based on what group of stations that County Xians watch the most. Counties move from DMA to DMA all the time, and you often see news departments over-cover counties that are "battlegrounds" between DMAs, in order to get the locals watching, since national ad rates are just based on the population, and nobody cares about the details.

So, if you have a situation where a second small town affiliate is in a big DMA, such as Manchester, it is because, added together, more people watch the Boston stations as a group than that single affiliate. The reverse situtaion is found in Parkersburg, WV, where the single NBC station outdraws either Huntington-Charleston as a group or Columbus as a group, and thus creates a three county DMA with only one station.

The underlaying cause is probably wealth. People in southern New Hampshire's viewing habits were probably formed in the presence of cable delivered Boston TV. People in the rural areas around Parkersburg just put up a bowtie antenna and watched NBC.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Logical theory, Sam. But how do you explain the fact that Manchester has been part of the Boston market since before cable was widelly available? I know that WMUR had and still has a much higher viewership in Manchester and surrounding NH counties than WCVB. Granted for the rest of the channels they watched Boston locals. Echonomically Manchester and Boston are tied together. But it is not vieweship alone.


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## eastern oregon (Dec 6, 2004)

TNGTony said:


> No... The blame is not all with Nielsen. They provide the marketing data. It is ultimately the Station's call as to which market they want to serve in this situation. Blame the single network station and the other network station in the neightboring larger market. They are the ones that decide to split single county markets like this.
> 
> WMUR is not in its own market because the owner of WMUR is the owner of the Boston ABC affiliate and they want both stations on the larger market. If WMUR wanted to break off into their own market, next year, at least the NH counties would be in a new market. Chances are ALL the NH counties would be in that market. But, alas, it isn't so because the stations involved do not wish it.
> 
> ...


The Yakima DMA situation is an unusual one in that Umatilla County(Pendleton) Oregon was specifically mentioned for significantly viewed in the recent SHVERA. At some point those of us in Umatilla County Oregon should be in line for significantly viewed but we did not make the most recent SHVERA list from the FCC. The explanation from the FCC was that comment was not received by the FCC as to what significantly viewed stations occured in Umatilla County Oregon so they were not able to make a determination which stations from Portland Oregon were received on Umatilla county cable. The FCC left it to the Portland stations, Dish network, or Direct TV to identify those stations. In reality, FCC only had to look at the cable stations available in Pendleton, OR to make this call but were unwilling to do so. I'm not sure I understand the politics of this. The Portland stations seem uninterested in aquiring those of us in Umatilla county who use satellite as our connection to TV as viewers despite the fact that they do run news and advertising which is pertinent to those of us in Umatilla county.

Yakima stations are 80 miles away from Umatilla County. Pasco, Richland, Kennewick stations are 60 miles away from the Pendleton area. No station in the Yakima DMA deals with Oregon news or any other local broadcasting from the Oregon side of the border. They do not even sell advertising which impacts those of us in Oregon.

An interesting sidebar is that the Yakima FOX affiliate has no office or broadcast studio in Oregon but only has a high powered repeater here which covers some of Umatilla county in a grade B countour. Their towers in Washington are all low powered towers which go by the name of KCYU and don't qualifiy for must carry. They have snuck into must carry on Dish by using their tower in Umatilla county which goes by the name of KFFX but shows programming from KCYU.

All in all a confusing situation which I have not been able to unravel with respect to significantly viewed.

any suggestions?

cheers,
eastern oregon


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## billpa (Jul 11, 2003)

TNGTony said:


> Logical theory, Sam. But how do you explain the fact that Manchester has been part of the Boston market since before cable was widelly available? I know that WMUR had and still has a much higher viewership in Manchester and surrounding NH counties than WCVB. Granted for the rest of the channels they watched Boston locals. .


I think it's a significantly viewed thing. People in southern NH have always watched the Boston stations because they can pick them up with an antenna and there were not enough southern NH stations to change those viewing patterns.
These days you have a huge chunk of the suburbs of Manchester-Nashua that are populated by people who used to live in Mass...they're going to keep watching the Boston stations, in my opinion.


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## kc1ih (May 22, 2004)

billpa said:


> These days you have a huge chunk of the suburbs of Manchester-Nashua that are populated by people who used to live in Mass...they're going to keep watching the Boston stations, in my opinion.


The best proof of that comes from a friend of mine who'se a poll worker at the elections in Salem, NH. He says that at every election (except the strictly local ones) he gets people complaining that they can't find the Massachusetts candidates on the ballot.


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## billpa (Jul 11, 2003)

kc1ih said:


> The best proof of that comes from a friend of mine who'se a poll worker at the elections in Salem, NH. He says that at every election (except the strictly local ones) he gets people complaining that they can't find the Massachusetts candidates on the ballot.


Sure, they'll take the low taxes, but they wanna keep voting in Woburn! :grin:


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## compubit (Jun 8, 2004)

From Tony's List:

Albuquerque and Santa Fe (Repeaters in both markets) , -> Only 1 market - SF has some translators of the ABQ stations
Burlington and Hartford VT (NBC), -> Both owned by Hearst-Argyle (WNNE is a satellite of WPTZ)
Champaign and Springfield IL (ABC and other repeaters), (WICD is a sat of WICS - except for local news)
Cheyenne and Scotts Bluff (ABC and many repeaters), -> 2 separate owners, although KDUH is a semi-satellite of KOTA (Rapid City) and KDEV is a semi-satellite (sans news of KTWO Casper)
Denver and Glenwood Springs (CBS) -> 2 Separate Owners - KREG is a satellite of KREX Grand Junction
Grand Rapids and Battle Creek (ABC) -> 2 Separate Owners - WOTV/41 is owned by LIN, who owns WOOD/8 in Grand Rapids; WZZM/13 is owned by Gannett
Greenville, SC and Taccoa, GA (CBS) -> Same Owners
Idaho Falls, ID and Jackson, WY (NBC) -> Same Owners KJWY is a satellite of KPVI
Jackson, MS and Natchez, MS (Fox) -> Same Owners
Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka, AK (NBC, CBS) -> No clue on ownership
La Crosse and Eau Clair, WI (ABC) -> Same Owners, Different local news
Lexington and Hazard, KY (CBS) -> Same Owners, Different programming/news
Lincoln and Kearney, NE (ABC) Grand Island and Kearney, NE (Fox) -> ABC different owners (ABC 8 Lincoln "moved" from a satellite KCAN in Albion of KCAU Sioux City, IA); ABC/13 Kearney and the 2 Fox stations are all owned by Pappas
Bismarck and Minot, ND (CBS and NBC and many repeaters) - This is one market with up to 4 stations per network, with local news per station.
Philley and Wildwood, NJ (NBC) - Separate Owners
Salt Lake City, UT and Elmo, NV (NBC) Rock Springs, WY (CBS) ; The NBC/CBS stations are satellites of stations outside of the market
Spokane, WA and Coeur D'Alene, ID (CBS) - KLEW is a semi-satellite of the CBS stations from Yakima
Springfield, MO and Eureka Springs, AR (WB) -> ???
Tampa/St. Pete and Sarasota, FL (ABC) -> Separate Owners
Tyler and Nacogdoches, TX (ABC) -> Same Owner, semi-satellite
Hagerstown and Washington DC (NBC and at one time WB) -> Separate owners
Yakima and Pasco, WA (CBS) Kenewick (ABC) Richland, OR (NBC) Pendalton (Fox)
-> discussed above...


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## TonyM (Aug 14, 2003)

Link
In your original post, you forgot another one in the same boat

Mankato, MN is 4 counties and one TV station (KEYC CBS 12) about 90 miles SW of Minneapolis. On cable, they get all the Minneapolis stations and KAAL (ABC 6 out of Austin, MN which is Grade B) yet on Dish/Direct they can get distants for NBC & FOX.

What Dish should do with these 1 stations DMA’s is put them on 61.5. Then all their locals are on one dish and they can do SV much easier in these areas. Until they add the DMA’s locals, they can’t do SV in that area

From another standpoint, the county I live in can easily pick up KEYC with a decent antenna and ½ the county has it on cable..wish Dish could give us that too


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## homeskillet (Feb 3, 2004)

St. Joseph, Missouri just north of Kansas City has its own DMA and only 1 station. KQTV-2 (ABC) is being dropped by the local cable company in St. Joseph and is telling everybody to watch neighbor KMBC-9 (ABC) Kansas City instead.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

DMAs with one (Full Power) TV station:

Glendive, MT (CBS)
Lafayette, IN (CBS)
Mankato, MN (CBS)
Parkersburg, WV (NBC)
Zanesville, OH (NBC)

DMAs with two (Full Power) stations:

Alpena, MI (PBS/CBS)
Harrisonburg, Va ( ABC/PBS )
Hattiesburg/Laurel, MS (CBS/NBC)
Helena, MT (Pax/NBC - the ABC and CBS are LP repeater channels)
North Platte, NE (NBC/PBS)
Ottumwa, IA (ABC/Fox)
Palm Springs, CA (ABC/NBC - CBS and Fox are LP stations)
St. Joseph, MO (ABC/TBN)
Sherman, TX/Ada, OK (NBC/CBS)
Presque, ME (CBS/PBS)

See ya
Tony


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## Greg Bimson (May 5, 2003)

From Nielsen Media's FAQ:


> The Nielsen Media Research local market definition, also known as a Designated Market Area (DMA), to identify markets where the majority of television viewing activity is to specific broadcast television stations. Because we look at every county to see what over-the-air stations receive the majority of viewing, we assign counties into a DMA based on majority viewing.


So, my guess is that the majority of Muskingum County viewers (the Zanesville DMA) watch their local news more than the Columbus stations. I'd believe, since Boston is a commuter town, that most people in southern New Hampshire have watched the Boston stations for some time.


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## Tower Guy (Jul 27, 2005)

TonyM said:


> Link
> 
> What Dish should do with these 1 stations DMA's is put them on 61.5. Then all their locals are on one dish and they can do SV much easier in these areas. Until they add the DMA's locals, they can't do SV in that area


Yes and no. If the 1 station is an NBC affiliate, no NBC affiliate can be imported unless the single station grants a waiver (yeah sure). However, all other networks can be imported to viewers who live in SV counties. This is according to the ruling that the FCC made in November.


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## rnbmusicfan (Jul 19, 2005)

From Nielsen Media's FAQ:
Quote:
The Nielsen Media Research local market definition, also known as a Designated Market Area (DMA), to identify markets where the majority of television viewing activity is to specific broadcast television stations. Because we look at every county to see what over-the-air stations receive the majority of viewing, we assign counties into a DMA based on majority viewing.



Greg Bimson said:


> From Nielsen Media's FAQ:So, my guess is that the majority of Muskingum County viewers (the Zanesville DMA) watch their local news more than the Columbus stations. I'd believe, since Boston is a commuter town, that most people in southern New Hampshire have watched the Boston stations for some time.


It simply says majority of television viewing activity, NOT majority of local news television viewing activity.



TNGTony said:


> . Echonomically Manchester and Boston are tied together. But it is not vieweship alone.


The 1 station DMAs are anomolies. Out of luck(something predating modern cable TV world), those cities have a single network affiliate around to begin with. They are likely decided by Nielsen by case(actual reality), not by only book(rule). There may be reasoning why Zanesville isn't attached to Columbus; The Boston- Manchester statements seems right. The area is more densely populated in the in between (and less isolated) than Zanesville also.


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## rnbmusicfan (Jul 19, 2005)

homeskillet said:


> St. Joseph, Missouri just north of Kansas City has its own DMA and only 1 station. KQTV-2 (ABC) is being dropped by the local cable company in St. Joseph and is telling everybody to watch neighbor KMBC-9 (ABC) Kansas City instead.


Something similar is happening in Hagerstown. Because WHAG (Nexstar) will ask for cable retransmission, the local cable company is planning to start local news, and encourage viewers to watch NBC from WRC (on CH.4) there. WBAL 11 is also on cable there. WHAG is claiming they'll be on Dish Network next year (doubtful IMO).


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## TonyM (Aug 14, 2003)

Tower Guy said:


> Yes and no. If the 1 station is an NBC affiliate, no NBC affiliate can be imported unless the single station grants a waiver (yeah sure). However, all other networks can be imported to viewers who live in SV counties. This is according to the ruling that the FCC made in November.


what I meant was until Dish or Direct uplinks the single DMA markets, they can't do SV to an area. 
Mankato would get NBC, FOX and probably ABC (if KAAL lets them but both KSTP in Mpls and KAAL are owned by same local company so they might)
CBS from Mpls may not make it....but it is on cable


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

ravi said:


> Something similar is happening in Hagerstown. Because WHAG (Nexstar) will ask for cable retransmission, the local cable company is planning to start local news, and encourage viewers to watch NBC from WRC (on CH.4) there. WBAL 11 is also on cable there. WHAG is claiming they'll be on Dish Network next year (doubtful IMO).


I'm telling you Hagerstown has been a PITA! :lol: Thanks to channel 25 (WHAG) we have been getting tons of calls from there. Apparantly ch 25 has been advertising that they WILL be on Dish as of Jan 1st and telling people to call Dish to get signed up. Of course I have to tell them that well Dish actually doesn't carry that channel right now and i'm not actually sure when or if they will. The fact that in their current ad they are offering a $25 gift card to buy an antenna from Radio Shack so they can continue to receive WHAG after the cable company drops them is definitely not a good sign that Dish intends to have them by Jan 1st i'd say! Of course some people are just absolutely convinced that because channel 25 says they will be on Dish Jan 1st they will be and they sign up anyway despite evidence to the contrary and my warnings. We've signed up quite a few people here from that area, i'm dreading Jan 2nd when WHAG isn't there. You know people are going to call back and complain, even though it was them that told us that ch 25 was going to be on Dish, yet somehow it'll be our fault.


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