NBC 10 Boston in Bristol County, MA

I absolutely agree with you. I am in Easton on the Sharon/Brockton side. We live in MA and should not be shut out of any Boston stations. I think NBC10 Boston needs to be more aggressive in resolving this issue with the FCC considering they are owned by Comcast and they are losing a large viewership in MA thus affecting their revenue. Maybe our politicians (i.e. Ed Markey, who I believe was the on the communications committee in Washington) should get involved with this considering this is an election year.

I did read this article which shows that this issue was discussed in the town of Easton in 2009 at the time when Verizon FIOS was being considered. Obviously, nothing has resulted from this in 11 years. I wrote a letter to the chairman of the Cable committee in Easton to see if they can readdress the issue with the FCC in Bristol County. I will post any response I receive.

This is the reply by the Chairman of the Easton, MA Cable Advisory Committee:

Thank you for your inquiry. I have reached out to both Comcast and Verizon FiOS for an official update on including “NBC 10 Boston” in their television channel lineup for Easton, MA.

The Verizon FiOS Franchise Service Manager has stated that Easton, MA is within the Providence Designated Market Area (DMA) and Easton receives the Providence FiOS channel lineup.

The Comcast Government Affairs Manager has also stated there are no plans at this time to launch NBC 10 Boston in the Providence DMA as they have a non-duplication agreement in place (Boston CBS/ABC channel offerings are grandfathered).

In regards to changing the Designated Market Area (DMA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) analysis and findings in the matter of DMA stated a few years ago that the current Neilson DMA system for determining local television markets will continue and remain unchanged.

I'll share my understanding of these types of channel concerns. Due to the geographical position of the Town of Easton, MA being in Bristol County that makes it part of the FCC's Providence/New Bedford Market (not Boston). With that said there are rules against intruding on other stations in other markets. Can anything be done? Not yet, but perhaps in time if the new "NBC Boston" can show "substantial viewership" then the FCC may allow it to expand. The process can take many years. Please be aware that you can still view the NBC Network programming on both Comcast and Verizon FiOS in the Town of Easton, MA but from the Providence affiliate channel WJAR.

I understand that is not the answer you were looking for, however, the solutions at this time is that you can try to receive one of two digital signals for "NBC 10 Boston" via an over-the-air antenna and digital tuner on channels 15.1 and 15.2. 

I appreciate your patience in regards to obtaining an official Verizon FiOS and Comcast answer (although, not what you wanted to hear) in this matter. The Easton Cable Advisory Committee is still in existence for matters just like this. We appreciate you making us aware of these types of issues.

If you have any further questions then feel free to contact me. If you wish to provide a contact address and phone number then I can pass it along to an official cable representative so you may deal with them directly. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Stuart Schoenfeld

Chairman, Easton Cable Advisory Committee

As mentioned in the response from the Easton cable chairman, in addition to trying to receive NBC 10 Boston over the air, Boston Fox 25 can also be received in HD the same way on 25.1 without any blackouts of Fox programming. Real handy for watching NFL Football where the Boston & Providence stations sometimes have different games.

To add insult to injury, Comcast just announced today that on December 22, they are dropping WCVB (ABC) Channel 5 in Boston in Bristol County. We are stuck with WLNE Channel 6 from Providence. My "rabbit ears" will get a lot of use.

Emailed the Cable Chairman from the Town of Easton to see if he can contact MA Senator Ed Markey who is on the communications committee to ask him to petition the FCC to change Bristol County to the Boston DMA so we won't lose any Boston stations and eliminate Providence channels.