Bristol County MA- no longer have WCVB!!

I mentioned in another thread that I emailed the head of the Easton Cable Committee. These town officials need to reach out to Sen. Ed Markey who is on the communications committee to petition the FCC to change Bristol County to the Boston DMA.

It would not matter if you switch to say FIOS. They are doing the same thing because Bristol County is not in the Boston DMA. It is part of Providence DMA. The FCC would have to change this. Get out the "rabbit ears" 

I also made a complaint to the Mass Dept of Telecommunications and Cable, not sure it would help but giving it a try..

https://www.mass.gov/orgs/department-of-telecommunications-and-cable

For decades, I have watched community programming on Channel 5.  Also, News, Weather, and Sports.  The coverage and quality of programming is very good.

For someone to make a decision to tell us to go watch a Rhode Island station instead is beyond acceptable.

Was there any research or customer research done to see how upset many customers would be before making this decision?  None that I know of.

Why not allow customers to select local stations?  If you are truly interested in good customer service that would be offered.

I will be looking to dump comcast at the first good opportunity. 

So, it looks like hope is not lost yet. On the Comcast page explaining this decision, they have shifted to saying that WCVB (and other Hearst-owned Stations) MAY be removed from the lineup come December 22, and that they are currently negotiating with Hearst. A week ago, the page flat out mentioned that the channels were going to be removed and that it was a done deal, so this does seem to be a slight step in the right direction.

I wonder how much pressure from Comcast customers had to do with this, if any...

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/neighboring-local-tv-stations-no-longer-available?fbclid=IwAR2a27QjatUeQpMiBZfbFHy8kQicxRUJvCojnOFAbPFXzD3T2uEkJIoBwMk

I could be wrong but looking at a map as not from there, Bristol Co. seems right outside Providence so it may also be a FCC issue if it the same network. Not saying it is right. 

I was told that WCVB would not be cut of Dec 22nd, negotiations are ongoing so the future may still be in doubt. We will see, be pepared to bombard Comcast with complaints if it gets taken away.

Yea every year this time there is negotions for service with station owners. Even the two local station in Lancaster Pa are saying Direct TV and  Dish may not carry them early Dec. It usually gets worked out. Comcast said here I will lose a Baltimore channel but is not local to me. 

Part money grab and part long time hold over.  😕

Way back when, Bristol county could receive (and still does) OTA broadcasting from boston, providing two different sources for network programming.  When cable TV kicked in, the local cable companies carried both Boston and Providence. That's why we have (had?) access both.  There is no "local" cable company anymore, only regional behemoths.

Bristol County is in the Providence/New Bedford market, not Boston.  Over the next few years, we can probably expect to lose Channels 4, 5, 25, 38, 56, 60, and 68 as they're all network-duplicates of Providence stations, and "extra" to our market.  (WHDH-7 is now independent and WGBH2/WGBX44 is way too big, so those are probably safe)

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@Jackc44 wrote:

I have been told that the Mass. Dept. of Telecommunications is the place we should flood with a ground swell of letters. The DTC website is www.mass.gov/DTC.

It bothers me that Xfinity chose to drop this on us whils everything is in turmoil. They put in an email but not where you could easily see it, on a weekend, just before Thanksgiving. This gives a short week to try to get some action started when all the politicians are very busy.

From what I hear, this was fought over 10 years ago during another channel realignment, apparently, they gave at that time.

Send your letters and emails, but don't stop there. Call all of our representatives in government, US and local.

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I submitted a complaint to the MA DTC and actually received a call today.  I was told that while the DTC can't regulate what is shown where, they were already aware of this and have raised the issue with the FCC.  In addition to Bristol County being "local" to RI, I believe she said it was Berkshire County that was "local" to Schenectady/Albany, and it was not right that these counties would be losing MA news in favor of RI/NY news.  She also suggested reaching out to Sen. Markey's office with our concerns.

It should be noted that public broadcasting stations (like PBS) have a different set of rules than commercial stations, that instead of being based on DMAs, they're based on whether the signal is within 50 miles. Markets can have as many public broadcasting stations as there is demand for, so there will be no concern at losing WGBH or WGBX in the Providence DMA, along with WSBE.

As for commercial stations, typically there is much stronger protection for the netlets (networks not affiliated with NBC, CBS, ABC or FOX) in regard to duplication, mostly because these networks are much more dependent on syndicated programming to fill out their schedules, and are weaker in general. However, WHDH being independent should likely prevent it from being removed as long as it remains considered significantly viewed in Bristol County, MA. They are, however, subject to non-duplication rules regarding any syndicated content they may carry being blacked out to preserve the rights of whatever Providence stations may air it.

This is likely going to continue going forward. Local broadcast stations are very expensive, and a similar deal happened between Comcast and Nexstar last year, which removed duplicate affiliates. Both Comcast and broadcasters support removing these for various reasons. Nexstar had their stations used in a previous dispute by Time Warner Cable for various affiliates. Comcast gets to keep broadcast fees down for what is largely solely carried for local news that can be found online already without customers having to pay for additional stations that mostly will be blacked out, both from network and syndicated programming going forward.

While customers may not be happy, I don't see any way around this being the future for all duplicate market affiliates. Sinclair, Nexstar and Hearst have already provided exclusivity deals. The only situations where this will continue is with state/local officials intervening in my eyes, as well as situations where the market and the neighboring market are both owned by the same company. For example, where I'm originally from in MD, Comcast carries both KDKA out of Pittsburgh and WJZ out of Baltimore, both of which are CBS owned and operated stations.

It is important to understand that since the consumer has very limited choice in programs available, any comments about paying local channel fees is completely irrelevant.

Personally, I could easily eleminate the majority of stations avalable to me and not miss a thing.  I would suspect that would be a common feeling among customers.  Since I am not interested in their content, Comcast could reduce their costs accordingly.  Shame on Comcast for not being more proactive.

Would there be more maintenece for Comcast?  A bit at first, probably little later on.

I want to stress the failure of general policies like DMA.  The assumption that I would have interest in Rhode Island news instead of Massachusetts news, is a joke.

These marketing and geographical policies need to be fixed. 

Simple minded policies do not tend to make effective solutions.

Couldn't agree more.   I want to know what's happening in Massachusetts state government that affects my pocketbook and my quality of life.   

The channel that Xfinity is sticking its customers with as a replacement isn't even a Tier 3 level station.   The news team at WCVB is smart, savvy and professional.   For $200.00 per month I want a Tier 1/Class A Boston, Massachusetts news team!

https://www.boston.com/news/media/2020/12/03/comcast-subscribers-wcvb-bristol-county