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Dominant Market Audience (Local Television)

Jerseyman4

By Jerseyman4
in Roanoke

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Jerseyman4 Burg

Jerseyman4

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For those who live in the Roanoke TV market, you would think Patrick County would be part of the Roanoke market right? According to an email response, i would like to cut & paste some important notes i got back from Mr. Suaraz, an editor from echostar that explains why it is not:

"I just checked several sources and confirmed that Patrick Country, VA is not

in the Roanoke market. I went back 5 years and for that length of time it

has been in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, NC TV market. Even the

Nielsen wall map sales page has this particular section showing [this.]

Nielsen defines TV markets by county every September based on the TV viewing

and shopping habits of its residents. If the majoroty of the residents on a

"border" county watch once set of locals over another, the entire county is

placed in that TV market. If your e-mail was to tell me that you wish

Patrick County was in the Roanoke market, you need to talk to your neighbors

and convince them to watch the Roanoke locals and shop in the Roanoke area

rather than the Winston-Salem area."

What does not make sense is why cant they give you both Roanoke and Triad stations if the percentage lets say is 50/50 viewership of each market if Patrick County keeps changing dominance of a 51/49 ratio. This argument applys to satillite companies, not cable. If you live in Martinsville and can only get NC stations if you are a satillite subscriber, you would miss out on Virginia weather, lottery results, politics and anything that goes on in the state you live in. How many people in Martinsville would care about what goes on in North Carolina if they dont live in North Carolina? To me, there needs to be reform so there is a choice for customers to choose and/or be given one or more markets where there are market overlaps like Patrick County and many Virginia border counties. Mecklenburg County to the east is a great example of how that is part of the Raleigh/Triangle market but is a good distance away from all other Virginia city markets which i do recall back in the mid 90's that at least one Richmond station (Fox 35) was on the cable lineups. Now if it was satillite, forget it :angry:

If this was a problem in central North Carolina, forget it, ill be writing 10 pages of what i think should be done!

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lammius Burg

lammius

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If you live in Martinsville and can only get NC stations if you are a satillite subscriber, you would miss out on Virginia weather, lottery results, politics and anything that goes on in the state you live in. How many people in Martinsville would care about what goes on in North Carolina if they dont live in North Carolina?

If many Virginians in Patrick County work and shop in Winston-Harlem, I mean Winston-Salem, perhaps they don't care about VA politics, lottery, etc. I know many people in NJ who care more about the NYC mayoral election than the NJ gubernatorial election. Often people's residence isn't where their LIVES are actually lived. I don't think this is such an outrage, especially in an age where internet media is so available and people can quickly receive news from any place in the world they care to hear about.

That being said, when I went to college at JMU in Harrisonburg our news media was a hodgepodge of affiliates from all over the place.

CBS was from Harrisonburg

NBC from Charlottesville

Everything else from DC

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Jerseyman4 Burg

Jerseyman4

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If many Virginians in Patrick County work and shop in Winston-Harlem, I mean Winston-Salem, perhaps they don't care about VA politics, lottery, etc. I know many people in NJ who care more about the NYC mayoral election than the NJ gubernatorial election. Often people's residence isn't where their LIVES are actually lived. I don't think this is such an outrage, especially in an age where internet media is so available and people can quickly receive news from any place in the world they care to hear about.

That being said, when I went to college at JMU in Harrisonburg our news media was a hodgepodge of affiliates from all over the place.

CBS was from Harrisonburg

NBC from Charlottesville

Everything else from DC

People in Martinsville would be likely going to Greensboro for venues, not Winston since US 220 goes directly to Greensboro. I did notice in Harrisonburg of the strange local channel lineup, i was suprised Roanoke did not get picked up over there since DC & Richmond are markets about 100 miles away! Like i said above, there needs to be reform on satillite dish companies of local channel availibility.

Lammius, say if you lived in Mercer County, half of the residents, probably more are inclined to NYC stations than Philadelphia but Nielson lists Mercer County as the Philadelphia market which is fine but ALL MUNICIPALITIES in Mercer County on cable carry both markets but if you are a satillite subscriber, you are only allowed Philadelphia stations and not New York which i believe there needs to be reform that you should not be forced to be watching one market. That is why i am making an outrage on Patrick County that they should be given both.

For the record, mostly half of Middlesex County carrys Philadelphia stations also on cable (Comcast) except North Brunswick, New Brunswick, Milltown, Old Bridge, South River, Sayreville and South Amboy (towns listed carry Cablevision).

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lammius Burg

lammius

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People in Martinsville would be likely going to Greensboro for venues, not Winston since US 220 goes directly to Greensboro. I did notice in Harrisonburg of the strange local channel lineup, i was suprised Roanoke did not get picked up over there since DC & Richmond are markets about 100 miles away! Like i said above, there needs to be reform on satillite dish companies of local channel availibility.

Lammius, say if you lived in Mercer County, half of the residents, probably more are inclined to NYC stations than Philadelphia but Nielson lists Mercer County as the Philadelphia market which is fine but ALL MUNICIPALITIES in Mercer County on cable carry both markets but if you are a satillite subscriber, you are only allowed Philadelphia stations and not New York which i believe there needs to be reform that you should not be forced to be watching one market. That is why i am making an outrage on Patrick County that they should be given both.

For the record, mostly half of Middlesex County carrys Philadelphia stations also on cable (Comcast) except North Brunswick, New Brunswick, Milltown, Old Bridge, South River, Sayreville and South Amboy (towns listed carry Cablevision).

Roanoke isn't much closer to H-burg. Distances from Harrisonburg to:

Roanoke, 111 mi

Richmond, 114 mi

Washington, 130 mi

I think people in the Shenandoah Valley are more likely to have interests in the larger markets than Roanoke. Eventhough the distances are the same Roanoke just doesn't have as large a sphere of influence.

As for NJ (I hope Rus doesn't see us talking about this here), I'm not surprised satellite services lump Mercer into the Phila market. Historically it has been, and eventhough Mercer is part of NYC's CMSA now, more Mercer residents still work in Phila's CMSA than in non-Mercer portions of New York's CMSA (though more people work in NYC than in Phila city). But, of course, NYC is firming its grip on Mercer County.

You know, you can go as far north as Plainsboro and find places that sell "hoagies." I wonder if you can get a glass of "wooter" with them too.

While you're fighting the good fight for Patrick County, have you talked to any of its residents about what they want or how they identify geographically? JRQ hasn't been around lately but he lives there.

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  • 7 months later...
Jerseyman4 Burg

Jerseyman4

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An update to this topic

Congressman Rick Boucher today repealed Patrick County of being in the Triad TV Market for a few years now. Starting today for directTV customers, WDBJ and WSLS will be on the the DirectTV lineup however, Dish Network did not follow suit. More from the article

"Currently, Patrick County residents who own satellite dishes receive local broadcast transmissions from Greensboro, North Carolina even though the broadcast stations in Roanoke provide more localized newscasts for Patrick County. Earlier I submitted legislation which was approved by the Congress to enable Patrick residents to receive local television broadcasts from Virginia,"

"Local Virginia-based broadcasts will be tremendously beneficial to the satellite customers of Patrick County who will receive them. I am pleased that DIRECTV customers in Patrick County now have the capability to receive broadcasts from both the NBC and CBS stations in Roanoke, and I will continue to encourage EchoStar, the corporation which owns DISH Network, to provide the same service to their customers in the near future"

-Boucher in italics

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mclawsdrive Hamlet

mclawsdrive

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Whoever gives Patrick more news more specific to their area should get preference. In that regard I think Roanoke stations are better. But because of the indirect route Patrick county residents must take; US. 58 for 20+ miles to get to Martinsville, then 220 to roanoke. They are actually closer in driving time to both Winston Salem and Greensboro. Thus while Roanoke stations may include more information about Patrick county, many Patrick county residents might be more interested in news occuring in Greensboro/winston salem than in Roanoke.

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suburban george3 Town

suburban george3

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If many Virginians in Patrick County work and shop in Winston-Harlem, I mean Winston-Salem,

I'll assume that was a typo.... :whistling:

Whoever gives Patrick more news more specific to their area should get preference. In that regard I think Roanoke stations are better. But because of the indirect route Patrick county residents must take; US. 58 for 20+ miles to get to Martinsville, then 220 to roanoke. They are actually closer in driving time to both Winston Salem and Greensboro. Thus while Roanoke stations may include more information about Patrick county, many Patrick county residents might be more interested in news occuring in Greensboro/winston salem than in Roanoke.

I can say as a regular viewer of the news out of the Triad area, there is constantly news stories covering several VA counties. They also do a good job of covering the weather in that area. It is true, it is easier for many of these folks to get to Greensboro/W-S than to get to Roanoke.

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