said by The Q:Some probable answers below on why they don't carry the HD Philly broadcast stations in the New York DMA (rightly or wrongly, Toms River and all of Ocean and Monmouth counties are assigned to the NYC TV market).
1. Because they don't have to (they are not required to)
2. It would take up additional HD bandwidth (at least 5 more HD channels for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW)
3. Most all of the big 4 network programming is duplicated on the HD network affiliates from NYC stations, exceptions being some region specific sports matchups and local news programming.
Not saying I agree with why, just saying...
You're probably right, but are the NYC stations "must carry" anymore? I thought when the nets started charging cablecos for carriage, the must carry regulation went out the window.
The bandwidth issue is legit, obviously, though I wonder how much is left after the recent reclamation.
The non-duplicate programming, of course, includes sports - specifically the Eagles, as well as WPVI's newscast which is very, very widely viewed in Ocean County. I know some areas of the country (MD/VA/DC) carry just the HD stations that carry the Redskins/Ravens across two DMAs since the fan bases cross DMA lines. Why that can't be accomplished here is odd.
FiOS, for example, carries both sets of locals (PHL and NYC) in HD in multiple markets.
