Significantly viewed signals permitted to be carried or Significantly Viewed list (SV) is a

federal law Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join in a federation, delegating their individual sovereignty and many ...

permitting

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...

s as determined by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

(FCC), to be carried by cable and other MVPD providers outside of an assigned Nielsen

designated market area A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

(DMA). The legislation was passed to help protect viewers living in areas near market boundaries from losing local television stations that have significant viewership from outside of their market. Additionally, the law also allows for carriage of local foreign stations in markets along international borders.

History

In 2005, the FCC completed a federal study on the media markets in the United States. Using the data, the FCC created a list of counties in each state where out-of-market television stations are significantly viewed by residents who are using antennas. Whether or not they are cable or satellite subscribers were not deemed important in their study. The study also looked at the history of viewership of the original Community Access Television ( CATV) installations throughout the country, the predecessor of

Cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

. Today's cable television content is more focused on premium channel

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising ...

ming than the original purpose of picking up

local programming The terms local programme, local programming, local content or local television refers to a television program made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or television ...

from television stations in a specific area. Due to the advancement of

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previo ...

in the

2010s File:2010s collage v21.png, From top left, clockwise: Anti-government protests called the Arab Spring arose in 2010–2011, and as a result, many governments were overthrown, including when Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed; Crimea is an ...

, cable providers such as

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

and

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

(now

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of color ...

) begun removing out-of-market television stations from basic cable lineups. This was done by cable providers to preserve bandwidth usage, but also to eliminate redundant

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

s, and to fulfill federal mandates to keep in-DMA local affiliates. Some cable providers, with out-of-market and redundant affiliate stations in the past, moved the out-of-market stations to digital cable channels 100 and above and in the majority of cases, were not transmitted in

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

to allow in-market affiliates the prestige of carrying the programming as intended by their networks rather than the 4:3 cut seen on standard definition feeds. Many cable providers nationwide did not implement this, since they removed distant stations entirely from the cable lineup. This led to some controversy in some parts of the country. The comments against the removals have mainly occurred in significantly viewed counties that are bordering nearby television markets.

Significantly viewed channel preservation and CATV

Two examples of the SV channel preservation on digital cable and at the same time, CATV favoring a non-designated DMA is

Belvidere, New Jersey Belvidere is a town in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the town's population was 2,681,Delaware River. Phillipsburg, Milford, Frenchtown, and Lambertville, all downstream on the Delaware River, sometimes lean towards this as well. Belvidere used to lean towards the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

market solely on television reception since it was not able to receive

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

area stations. However, since it is located in Warren County, it is officially part of the New York City television market. When cable providers advanced with premium programming and later digital cable service, the Philadelphia stations disappeared from basic cable tiers but

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations divisio ...

WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...

, and WTXF-TV were later moved to the digital cable tier.

Redundant affiliates

An example of redundant affiliates serving the same area is

Harrisonburg, Virginia Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is also the county seat of the surrounding Rockingham County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. At the 2 ...

. The Harrisonburg DMA consists of two Virginia counties and one West Virginia

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. Harrisonburg is a fringe area because it is from Washington, D.C.;

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

(whose DMA had formerly included Harrisonburg); and

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...

; and approximately away from

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen ...

(a separate media market that was also once part of the Richmond DMA). Comcast's Harrisonburg system carries two ABC affiliates (in-market affiliate

WHSV-TV WHSV-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside two low-power stations: Class A dual Fox/ CBS affiliate WSVF-CD (channel 43) and dual NBC/ CW ...

and Richmond station WRIC-TV), four NBC affiliates ( WVIR out of Charlottesville,

WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A Telemundo outlet WZDC-CD (channel 4 ...

out of Washington, D.C., WSLS out of Roanoke, and WWBT out of Richmond), two CBS affiliates (

WUSA WUSA or wusa may refer to: * Women's United Soccer Association (defunct), the world's first women's professional association football league, based in the United States * ''WUSA'' (film), a 1970 drama film * WUSA (TV), a television station (chann ...

out of Washington, D.C. and WTVR out of Richmond), and two

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

affiliates (WHSV's second digital subchannel and

WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA s ...

out of Washington, D.C.). The Harrisonburg market has only one station for PBS (in-market member station WVPT); the market's other network affiliates are WHSV's

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

-affiliated third digital subchannel and a CW-affiliated subchannel of WVIR. Prior to 2006, many of these stations were on the same basic cable tier but were dropped to preserve bandwidth and eliminate the redundancy of multiple affiliates. All of the stations that were not mentioned in the basic cable tier have since been moved over to digital cable. A further example of this is in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and accordin ...

, which is from a major market (

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

). Most of Detroit's signals penetrate into the Toledo market and traditionally have been carried on

Buckeye Broadband Buckeye Broadband (formerly known as the Buckeye CableSystem from August 1996 until May 2016, and as The CableSystem prior to August 1996) is a cable and telecommunications company located in Toledo, Ohio, owned by Block Communications (which al ...

. This is similar in situation to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

(which is close to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.) and

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central ...

(which is within range of

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

's television stations). A significantly viewed, redundant affiliate may be invaluable to a cable television company in a carriage dispute if it has the same network but different local owners.

Controversy

An example of controversy over residents losing a long-time out-of-market affiliate station occurred in

Lumberton, North Carolina Lumberton is a city in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States. As of 2020, its population was 19,025. It is the seat of Robeson County's government. Located in southern North Carolina's Inner Banks region, Lumberton is located on the ...

. For decades, the city has been reliant for NBC coverage from WECT out of

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

. Lumberton has been in and out of different DMAs between the Raleigh, Wilmington, and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

–

Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina, Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as Grand Strand, "The Grand Strand" i ...

markets. It is currently in the Florence–Myrtle Beach market since the late 1990s. Parts of the market over-the-air or on cable received a different NBC affiliate, whether it was WIS (

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the ci ...

), WECT (Wilmington),

WCNC WCNC may refer to: * WCNC-TV WCNC-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc. WCNC-TV's studios are located in the Wood Ridge Center office compl ...

(

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

), or WCBD ( Charleston, South Carolina). The Florence–Myrtle Beach market received its own NBC affiliate in August 2008, when

Raycom Media Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owned and/or provided services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Commun ...

built and signed on

WMBF WMBF-TV (channel 32) is a television station licensed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee regions of South Carolina. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains st ...

. On the day WMBF launched, cable providers were required to drop sister stations WECT and WIS from cable systems in the market. Lumberton residents who subscribed to Time Warner Cable protested the move and pushed to get WECT back on the cable channel lineup; by coincidence, WMBF, WECT, and WIS were all owned by Raycom, thus the removal would in effect promote WMBF within the home market over its out-of-market sister stations. This was also in addition to the fact that WMBF's over-the-air signal does not even reach the North Carolina side of the Florence–Myrtle Beach market. On December 1, 2008, WECT returned to Time Warner Cable's Lumberton service area on a digital cable tier.Time Warner Cable Guide for Lumberton, NC
/ref>

References

External links

FCC list of significantly viewed stations

FCC Media Bureau links to significantly viewed list
{{North American DTV Television in the United States United States communications regulation Broadcast law