# DIRECTV to add 16 new HD local markets



## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

From http://investor.directv.com/releaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=567980



> EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DIRECTV, the world's largest pay TV provider, will roll out HD local channels in 16 additional markets, beginning this summer. Of the new markets, 15 will receive local channels from DIRECTV for the first time. By the end of 2011, DIRECTV will offer local-channel access to 99 percent of U.S. TV homes, covering 190 markets across the country, including local HD in 174 of those markets. The new HD markets are:
> 
> • Alexandria, La.
> • Jonesboro, Ark.
> ...


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## Baldmaga (Sep 1, 2007)

And Lafayette,La will now be the final market in the state without HD. Just my luck ;(


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## sportsfan24 (Jan 10, 2011)

Don't feel bad where I live I don't have locals in hd, but every little now around me does.


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## scotte992 (Feb 8, 2007)

Finally!


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Baldmaga said:


> And Lafayette,La will now be the final market in the state without HD. Just my luck ;(


Three out of the four Oregon markets don't have DIRECTV HD LIL and aren't in this list. Eugene ranks at #118 while Lafayette, LA is #123.

They're sure not showing the SD markets much kindness.


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## doctor j (Jun 14, 2006)

RAD said:


> From http://investor.directv.com/releaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=567980


I virtually never do this , but I will double post now.
The above info came to me first here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=180503&page=13

I have a long standing disappointment with the 6 year Directv HD LIL rollout that looks as if it might go another year or more.

Thus my response when presented with the "Announcement"



> Unfortunately this list is a step BACKWARDS from last year's announcement for 2011, and still leaves 16 of the Mid-Market DMA's with long standing SD LIL's OUT IN THE (HD) COLD for another YEAR!!
> 
> EUREKA, CA ; MERIDIAN,MS ; RAPID CITY,IA ; and WATERTOWN,NY were on the list for 2011 HD LIL's but appear to be PUT OFF beyond 2011.
> 
> ...


Doctor j


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## hockey_puck (Apr 19, 2009)

Geez, what about Fargo!!! Bigger market than most of those announced.


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## Wisegoat (Aug 17, 2006)

harsh said:


> Three out of the four Oregon markets don't have DIRECTV HD LIL and aren't in this list. Eugene ranks at #118 while Lafayette, LA is #123.
> 
> They're sure not showing the SD markets much kindness.


Looks like another year of rabbit ears. At least I live in an area where OTA is viable. If I lived in the hills, I would be SOL.



doctor j said:


> I virtually never do this , but I will double post now.
> The above info came to me first here:
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=180503&page=13
> ...


I agree. They say 99% of the country will have HD locals. How is that possible when, except for Portland, the ENTIRE state of Oregon has no HD locals? How about the large swaths of the California coast north of Santa Barbara? How hard is it to do the HD Locals, when they are obviously receiving HD locals from the local carriers and converting them to SD to send to us?


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

And Rochester MN off the list again! Booo.


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## maartena (Nov 1, 2010)

Wisegoat said:


> I agree. They say 99% of the country will have HD locals. How is that possible when, except for Portland, the ENTIRE state of Oregon has no HD locals? How about the large swaths of the California coast north of Santa Barbara?


They did not say 99% of the country. They said 99% of U.S TV Homes.

The COMPLETE and TOTAL population of Oregon, including the greater Portland area, is about 1.1 % of the total. (3.5 million in Oregon, 308 million in the U.S).

Portland itself has only about 500k people, but the "Portland Metropolitan Area" has about 2 million (not counting the Vancouver, Washington area which also uses the Portland locals), which would basically be all the people using the Portland locals. I am willing to bet however, that outside the PMA, there are areas that lean on the Portland locals.

At worst, there are 1.5 million viewers in Oregon that do not have HD locals, which would be around 0.4% of the U.S. population.

I'd say that 99% figure is entirely possible.



> How hard is it to do the HD Locals, when they are obviously receiving HD locals from the local carriers and converting them to SD to send to us?


I don't claim to know a lot about satellites, the technique behind it, how the transmission of signals from local stations to the DirecTV upload site are handled, and what kind of financial agreements there are.... but I would suspect it is not as easy as you might think.

It was only 4 months ago that a Washington local affiliate wanted 6 times as much money then their previous agreement, which DirecTV refused to pay. They eventually settled on something, but no one know what of course.

There is a bit more involved. Satellites also need to have available bandwidth, and be capable to "spot" a beam tot that area.


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## SPACEMAKER (Dec 11, 2007)

I hate living in the 1%. You'd think that DMA 115 would be added by now.


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

And people said D* wasn't adding any HD! :lol:


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## zimm7778 (Nov 11, 2007)

I am happy for those who are finally getting HD locals, but I also feel for those who don't.


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

Dish has had Montrose-Grand Junction, CO for several years, yet still no SD or HD on DirecTV.


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## johnner1999 (Aug 30, 2003)

It shows how far behind dish and even cable co. :-(


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

Im just glad to hear they are adding more. In the past I would become upset by people begging for their markets to be completed in these threads. I wont be doing that. I dont have a complete market of locals through D* but I also wont be complaining about it either. I am happy there are now more markets that will have the joy of having at least some locals in their markets this year. Congrats!!


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## je4755 (Dec 11, 2006)

As with basic HD nationwide, it would be interesting to learn the factors entering DirecTV’s decision calculus regarding availability of HD LIL. DMA ranking clearly is not the principal determinant, as several of the newly-specified locations comprehend populations far smaller than Monterey-Salinas (#124) where I reside. Nor can DirecTV’s judgments flow from relative attractiveness of the customer base, as our DMA encompasses multiple affluent communities, instanced by Pebble Beach and Carmel by the Sea. I only can surmise “tango-related” difficulties continue to render HD LIL inaccessible in my area and similarly-situated DMAs. Fortunately, I can enjoy all HD locals, including PBS, via Comcast (but obviously wish I didn’t have to pay two providers).


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## alnielsen (Dec 31, 2006)

Is it possible that the present spot beams for some of these requested unserved DMA's are already fully allocated?


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## BlackHitachi (Jan 1, 2004)

harsh said:


> Three out of the four Oregon markets don't have DIRECTV HD LIL and aren't in this list. Eugene ranks at #118 while Lafayette, LA is #123.
> 
> They're sure not showing the SD markets much kindness.


I agree.. Oh well i still have OTA but sure would have been nice to finally get HD locals on D*!


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## antzona (Sep 23, 2007)

So still no Bakersfield. Around a half a million people, and no locals in HD. Dish has had them for around three years. Brighthouse has had them even longer and I can get them on U-Verse too. The only provider who doesn't offer my locals in HD is Directv. I hate the software on the Dish boxes and Brighthouse is dreadful. I can't get U-Verse in my neighborhood yet, or I would have already changed. I hate Directv with all my heart, except for the user interface on their boxes. I can't believe I haven't changed yet. Michael White made $33,000,000 last year and Directv sucks. Bakersfield was on the list to get locals in HD in early 2009 and then we magically disappeared from the list. It was probably a dispute over money. Well, I guess I have to change now, even if I can't stand the boxes from the other providers.


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## dclarke (Sep 20, 2007)

Ya mean there are people in the US of A that live without HD locals in 2011? how can that be?


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## antzona (Sep 23, 2007)

dclarke said:


> Ya mean there are people in the US of A that live without HD locals in 2011? how can that be?


Only some Directv customers...


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## Gary Toma (Mar 23, 2006)

For those of you who don't follow the TPN Maps (where this chart is included), the attachment details what the overall Local-Into-Local mapping looks like. Sort the excel sheet by column 'D' (Nielsen DMA #) and it will begin to make good sense.


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## TEN89 (Jun 27, 2003)

scotte992 said:


> Finally!


 I guess Elmira, N.Y. for you. If I'm right. why don't you have Buffalo NY locals?


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## hibapress (Apr 12, 2011)

Finally!


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## adkinsjm (Mar 25, 2003)

antzona said:


> Only some Directv customers...


And some Dish Network customers.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

alnielsen said:


> Is it possible that the present spot beams for some of these requested unserved DMA's are already fully allocated?


On the other side, the Parkersburg, WV market is just going to get the Huntington/Charleston locals opened up to them. Unless it has changed, the only "station" in the market is a satellite station of the NBC affiliate out of Huntington. This is a 3 county DMA that quite frankly, should not even exist. So very little bandwidth needed there.


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## trainman (Jan 9, 2008)

Wisegoat said:


> How about the large swaths of the California coast north of Santa Barbara?


Much of that _is_ covered -- the market is Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo, not just Santa Barbara.

North of that is the Monterey-Salinas market, which doesn't get HD locals, but that's not a particularly big swath of the coast. (North of that, and you get into the San Francisco-San Jose market, and north of _that_ is Eureka and then Chico-Redding.)


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## SPACEMAKER (Dec 11, 2007)

gct said:


> For those of you who don't follow the TPN Maps (where this chart is included), the attachment details what the overall Local-Into-Local mapping looks like. Sort the excel sheet by column 'c' (Nielsen DMA #) and it will begin to make good sense.



Having looked at the chart I still don't know what we are supposed to be seeing.


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## Sharkie_Fan (Sep 26, 2006)

je4755 said:


> As with basic HD nationwide, it would be interesting to learn the factors entering DirecTV's decision calculus regarding availability of HD LIL. DMA ranking clearly is not the principal determinant, as several of the newly-specified locations comprehend populations far smaller than Monterey-Salinas (#124) where I reside. Nor can DirecTV's judgments flow from relative attractiveness of the customer base, as our DMA encompasses multiple affluent communities, instanced by Pebble Beach and Carmel by the Sea. I only can surmise "tango-related" difficulties continue to render HD LIL inaccessible in my area and similarly-situated DMAs. Fortunately, I can enjoy all HD locals, including PBS, via Comcast (but obviously wish I didn't have to pay two providers).


I think much of this stems from the negotiations to carry HD. Monterey-Salinas was among the last to get SD Locals on DirecTV. Just a month or so ago, there were threats that some of our SD locals were going to get pulled because they couldn't renegotiate their carriage.

I don't have any inside information, but I've long suspected that the stations in our DMA have previously, and continue to presently, play hardball in negotiations with DirecTV, leaving us to be among the last DMA's added.

That's purely conjecture, of course, but the pieces seem to fit.


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## dhines (Aug 16, 2006)

would yuma, az include el centro, CA? i think they are the same channels, but i am not sure.


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## Gary Toma (Mar 23, 2006)

dhines said:


> would yuma, az include el centro, CA? i think they are the same channels, but i am not sure.


Yes, El Centro and Yuma are part of the same DMA. They are DIRECTV Network #721. See the chart posted in this thread yesterday for all the details - HERE


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## Tubaman-Z (Jul 31, 2007)

je4755 said:


> As with basic HD nationwide, it would be interesting to learn the factors entering DirecTV's decision calculus regarding availability of HD LIL. DMA ranking clearly is not the principal determinant, as several of the newly-specified locations comprehend populations far smaller than Monterey-Salinas (#124) where I reside. Nor can DirecTV's judgments flow from relative attractiveness of the customer base, as our DMA encompasses multiple affluent communities, instanced by Pebble Beach and Carmel by the Sea. I only can surmise "tango-related" difficulties continue to render HD LIL inaccessible in my area and similarly-situated DMAs.


Tango-related is part of it for sure. Also factoring in can be whether they can leverage other, already HD-served areas. As an example, Mankato, MN has HD locals and Rochester, MN does not. But 2/3 of Mankato's HD LiLs are also from Minneapolis/St. Paul. The point being that D* could add 1 HD LiL and claim adding a new DMA.


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## waynebtx (Dec 24, 2006)

BlackHitachi said:


> I agree.. Oh well i still have OTA but sure would have been nice to finally get HD locals on D*!


same here no love for corpus still dma 129:


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## Avder (Feb 6, 2010)

Fargo gets passed over again. I'm really sick of having to use the AM-21 for all my network HD. I havnt been able to put up a rooftop antenna, and the indoor once ive got has to be moved to pick between some of them and if I move the thing it can take a long time to get it adjusted back to the way it needs to be to pick up Fox, which is the majority of my network TV viewing. Its gotten to a point where I dont dare move the thing since its in position now that it gets Fox great, but that means I have to watch NBC in SD, which ticks me off cause I like Hockey.


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## grassfeeder (Jan 25, 2011)

thank goodness I'm in the one market in Oregon that has local HD channels!!


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## scotte992 (Feb 8, 2007)

TEN89 said:


> I guess Elmira, N.Y. for you. If I'm right. why don't you have Buffalo NY locals?


Yes Elmira for me. Im about 3 hours from Buffalo so im assuming thats why


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Avder said:


> Fargo gets passed over again. I'm really sick of having to use the AM-21 for all my network HD. I havnt been able to put up a rooftop antenna, and the indoor once ive got has to be moved to pick between some of them and if I move the thing it can take a long time to get it adjusted back to the way it needs to be to pick up Fox, which is the majority of my network TV viewing. Its gotten to a point where I dont dare move the thing since its in position now that it gets Fox great, but that means I have to watch NBC in SD, which ticks me off cause I like Hockey.


I live in the Lansing, MI DMA(#115) and we are still waiting as well...while we wold all like to have our locals provided via sat in HD, it may never happen. I still use an AM-21 and the tuners in my HR20, truthfully its the best PQ you can get, so as long as I can get them OTA I am pretty happy. You might want to look at it as glass half full instead of half empty. It isnt alot of money to put up a decent antenna, well worth it...


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## Annihilator31 (Nov 21, 2006)

Are you kidding me? Still nothing for the Fargo Market?!!! This is crazy, get with it Direc


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## boilerjt (Jan 12, 2007)

markman07 said:


> And Rochester MN off the list again! Booo.


I wonder how much the Rochester DMA ranking will climb this year because of the 24% population growth in the latest census. Since Dish how has HD locals here and I'm out of contract, I'm thinking about making a change.


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## sbelmont (Aug 5, 2007)

Disappointed year after year with these announcements. They must really think that local HD channels are not important to the customer base. Other carriers went out of their way to provide HD locals here even when they were not all available OTA. We can't even get out OTA channels mapped correctly let alone our this.


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## HDTVFreak07 (Sep 12, 2007)

I thought Watertown, NY is one of the markets to have HD locals be added to DirecTV!!!


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## Avder (Feb 6, 2010)

At this point I dont even care when, I just care *IF* DirecTV is planning to give Fargo its locals in HD someday. I've heard that DISH offers an HD-Locals only package. I may have to look at that as an option.


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## de_runner (Mar 31, 2010)

sbelmont said:


> Disappointed year after year with these announcements. They must really think that local HD channels are not important to the customer base. Other carriers went out of their way to provide HD locals here even when they were not all available OTA. We can't even get out OTA channels mapped correctly let alone our this.


Bakersfield DMA 125 with no locals in HD announced, so what else is new DTV? On top of that the AM21 for OTA signals does not correctly have available channels for FOX in HD (KBFX 58.1). I've contacted Customer Service at DirecTV so many times on this I've lost count.


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## ethanjacejacob (Nov 6, 2008)

doctor j said:


> I virtually never do this , but I will double post now.
> The above info came to me first here:
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=180503&page=13
> ...


Where does Yakima, Tri-cities WA and Pendleton OR stand for upcoming local HD channels?


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## Avder (Feb 6, 2010)

ethanjacejacob said:


> Where does Yakima, Tri-cities WA and Pendleton OR stand for upcoming local HD channels?


If youre not on the list on the DirecTV site, you are welcome to join the "Consistently boned out of HD Locals Club" along with Fargo-Moorhead, Lansing Michigan, and Bakersfield.


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## adkinsjm (Mar 25, 2003)

Those locals on 119 will be one of the last to launch in HD.


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## Avder (Feb 6, 2010)

adkinsjm said:


> Those locals on 119 will be one of the last to launch in HD.


Why is that?


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## Wisegoat (Aug 17, 2006)

Avder said:


> If youre not on the list on the DirecTV site, you are welcome to join the "Consistently boned out of HD Locals Club" along with Fargo-Moorhead, Lansing Michigan, and Bakersfield.


Hi, I am a new member of this club. Moved from Los Angeles DMA to Eugene, Oregon. Back to OTA. Withdrawal not bad yet, but the shakes will come soon...


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

ethanjacejacob said:


> Where does Yakima, Tri-cities WA and Pendleton OR stand for upcoming local HD channels?


In the "maybe next year" line.

Obviously, this year DIRECTV is all about adding HD where even SD isn't.


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## willis3 (Feb 2, 2007)

Ok.. my mother is happy she will be getting locals (Elmira).. but will she have to go HD to get them?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

willis3 said:


> Ok.. my mother is happy she will be getting locals (Elmira).. but will she have to go HD to get them?


Elmira SD subscribers will need and new dish and HD receivers but they probably won't be forced to subscribe to HD.


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## dconfer (Nov 18, 2005)

Its nice that D* is getting more locals online but I wish they would finish out some of us that dont have all the locals in HD when they are avail. I am in the Wilkes Barre/Scranton PA market and we still dont have the CW. Comcast has it so I know its there in HD. I am sure other markets are not finished either.


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## kryptodobe (May 4, 2010)

Any news on Meridian? Was told by a higher up it is scheduled for Oct.


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