Athens County returns to the H-C DMA

[Mr. Jones]

WSAZ:

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The Huntington-Charleston television market gained back a southeast Ohio county after an annual review by Nielsen, the company that oversees ratings in the U.S.

Athens County will once again be part of the Huntington-Charleston Designated Market Area, or DMA, according to Nielsen. From 2005 until this year, Nielsen considered Athens County part of the Columbus market, based on a review that found that more people were tuning in to television stations in Ohio’s capital city instead of the bordering West Virginia TV market.

The DMA switch-up is one of only nine in the country and the only one in this market.

Nielsen says it only makes these changes when the number of viewers between the markets is “statistically significant.” The data for this review is gathered over four ratings periods in the last year.

“We are thrilled that the ratings have once again reflected what we’ve already known: that people in Athens County watch television from the Huntington-Charleston TV stations,” said WSAZ News Director Scott Saxton. “We’re committed to covering local news for all of southeast Ohio and our entire viewing area.”

The change takes effect September 26, 2009, and will be effective for the 2009-10 television year.

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/47204217.html

[AmpedNow]

Imagine all the people on satellite who have got used to the Columbus locals who will no longer be able to get them.

Surr-prise, surr-prise!

This insane shit needs to be done away with. People who want Columbus should still be able to get them. People who want C-H should have been able to get them all along. And people who want distants from NYC or the West Coast should be able to get them as well if they're willing to pay for them.

Ugly commies, all of you.

[Greg Goodfellow]

Yes, we've come full circle. 'Ugly' antennas go up in the '50s, then 2009 comes-guess what-more 'ugly' antennas.

Please remind me who the rep was that wanted ALL TV stations to be available via satellite. Next week, we're starting the retro process, as we've lost three locals, plus WVFX (channel 46, 10, whatever) is off more than it's on now. Wifey is officially on board-at least, that's the message she got during the hypnosis demonstration.

[Hoosier Daddy]

The Athens County population was always loosely aligned with Columbus (as far as the nearest metropolitan area), but I couldn't tell you about who watches what on television there. Athens County is part of that black hole, consisting of Athens, Vinton, Jackson, Pike, Morgan, Perry, and Hocking Counties, that no one really wanted to touch for news coverage. The one thing that always surprised me is that WTAP was never a factor in Athens County, and is not even carried on cable systems there, despite being the closest network TV station (excluding Ohio University's WOUB-TV, of course).

[Big Media]

What's funny is that I never knew Athens County was ever dropped from our DMA. I don't know how I missed that.

[Ace Purple]

This insane shit needs to be done away with. People who want Columbus should still be able to get them. People who want C-H should have been able to get them all along. And people who want distants from NYC or the West Coast should be able to get them as well if they're willing to pay for them.

I strongly concur.

[Jet Black]

At the very least, if your locals do not up-sat, you should qualify for the nearest market. The law that prohibits satellite from providing networks to people theoretically served by terrestrial stations, is a great example of why we need less government.

[Tom Taggart]

WTAP has been off Athens cable since sometime in the early 90's. The few OU folks who have a vague idea where they are think they are someplace suburban to Columbus. The majority of the OU folks departed from our reality a long time ago.

[kentuckymedia]

There was some talk that Southeastern Ohio Broadcasting and Gray Television had been in talks with Nielsen to merge the Parkersburg/Zanesville market. They had even been in talks with Nielsen about folding Wheeling in as well.

I honestly haven't heard much about this since, but it would potentially give them:

WEST VIRGINIA:
Wood County
Pleasants County

OHIO:
Washington County
Noble County
Gurnsey County
Muskingum County
Morgan County

I guess they had even planned for WHIZ to pick up the ABC affiliation and Fox would then go out for bid by Gray.

[Big Media]

Parkersburg I can see. While it is on the very fringe of the coverage pattern for Charleston/Huntington stations, it is possible to receive Charleston/Huntington stations in the P-burg area. Wheeling is out of the question.

If Charleston/Huntington were to merge with another DMA, it would be Beckley/Bluefield. Raleigh and Fayette counties can easily receive Charleston & Huntington stations.

None of this will happen, though. Nielsen can make much more money keeping the DMAs separated.

[bobhaldeman]

U'mmmmm.......dumb question, but if Athens County is back in the Huntington market, how soon does Time Warner have to put the Big 4 affiliates from WV back on the cable? Some of them aren't on there anymore, most notably WOWK I am told by folks who live there. No such problems for the ComCast customers out in the western part of the county at Albany; those folks get essentially the same set of channels as those in Jackson, Oh.

Unsure what the think about market compression. A lot of the worst markets/in-fills in the country are local to us.....Zanesville, Parkersburg, Hagerstown, Harrisonburg, Lima, etc. The Parkersburg station feigns interest in Athens & Morgan Counties, but doesn't have the cable/signal coverage needed to win them into the market. Have seen WOWK doing more Wood County stuff lately for reasons mostly unclear to me. Not sure who has the horses or budget to try to win over counties by conventional means.

[AmpedNow]

If Charleston/Huntington were to merge with another DMA, it would be Beckley/Bluefield. Raleigh and Fayette counties can easily receive Charleston & Huntington stations.

No, they can't. At least not in total.

There's parts of Fayette County that can't even get WOAY ota. Lots of terrain shadows in that part of the state.

Then again, this was back in the old analog days... Digital may be easier to receive with an outdoor antenna.

The Beckley-Bluefield-Oak Hill DMA has to be the craziest thing ever concocted... For one, it's a "long" market. From north to south it is about 70 miles. It is totally realistic to expect people in northern Fayette county to receive WVVA with indoor rabbit ears. Ditto WOAY in Tazwell County, Virginia.

Second, Nielson's DMAs do not factor in terrain. Flat Top Mountain sits right in the middle of the market, shadowing Beckley and Bluefield from each other's TV and FM stations. It is totally realistic for people's super rabbit ears to overcome this natural barrier.

Third, it is a "short" market. Not all of the networks are available ota. Nor are market's TV stations available on DBS.

Needless to say, this has created a nightmare for DBS subscribers in the market, needlessly. None of the TV stations adequately serve the entire market ota, yet they almost never give waivers for distants. The C-H market isn't even an option, either. So, the only options are to either go without network TV (most do), or spend hundreds of dollars they don't have on an outdoor antenna setup.

It is a travesty that local TV stations can create this many headaches for people simply want quality network TV on satellite -- either from inside or outside their own market.

Our last hope is the networks streaming their programming over the internet, which will push ota TV further into irrelevancy.

For my part, I stopped watching local TV. They can limit our choices, but they can't make us watch.