So, how old are these "must carry" rules?  Are they more set up for pre-cable TV era?

I assume these rules have more to do with lobbying/bribes than any practical reasons, like distance.

(And yes, I think of campaign contributions as bribes.)

Boy howdy. Several parts of Indiana are so disenfranchised. Gary and the region comes out of Chicago and consider themselves part of the suburban Chi area. Evansville may as well be part of KY, Richmond is part of Dayton  and SEI gets everything from Cincy. State government is run by Indy as there is no news community  on the periphery that provides insight into the center of the state.

They've been updated here and there, but are largely of the era when cable was the newfangled thing (the fear was that the cable company would carry only certain broadcasters, leaving others out of the mix).

The markets are defined and can be changed based on the criteria I mentioned earlier from the law, largely distance (Huntington, Charleston, and Columbus are all virtually equidistant from Athens as the crow flies) and broadcast signal propagation (if you look at the maps in the link Alan provided, you'll find that signals from WV propagate to Athens county better than Columbus).

The market altering definitions that could be interesting in this situation are those of shopping and labor patterns and historical ratings.  I'd have to guess Athens has stronger ties in shopping and labor to Columbus, and would assume the stations there would've rated decently, given how many people (students, profs, etc.) are transplants or have some connection (even if it is the god forsaken university up there) to Columbus.  Or, if you didn't care which market it came from, you may choose Columbus news because the production quality is markedly better (but I probably over-value that aspect).

It's too bad Athens doesn't get WTAP from Parkersburg.  Although I live in WV, I still like a mix of WV and Ohio news.  They do a really nice job of reporting both.  Also, Athens gets a lot of coverage for some reason.  I have the luxury of getting WBNS form Columbus, and WOWK, WCHS, and WSAZ from Charleston and WTAP from Parkersburg.  I rarely watch the news on any station but Parkersburg.  If I lived in Athens, I would rather have WTAP than the other WV stations. 

ANOrris.......I can't think of a dispute recently where it went far enough in litigation that anyone went to the actual work of doing unique/specific survey work to determine whether a county was more likely in or out of a market. Mostly, these decisions for TV markets and moving network affiliates have just wheeled off of the annual Nielsen DMA (Designated Market Area) designations.

That DMA list groups markets nationwide, segmented by whole counties, and ranks them from #1 NYC to #212 or so (Glendive, MT(?)).

Athens County has bounced back and forth between the Chas/Hunt. and Columbus markets for 30 years, though has mainly been in the former. 

If they are using only the Nielsens, which are based on local TV diaries, the statistics could be startlingly thin. The Charleston/Huntington market has 30+ counties. Assuming a ratings diary is going to a thousand homes in the market (very high estimate......likely 600 or less is the reality), this might mean that at most 50 diaries are distributed in Athens County.

Amongst those 50, say, maybe 35 even watch any meaningful local network TV or local news broadcasts. If any of them went to Stewart or Coolville, that subset of people have access the to NBC in Parkersburg (WTAP) and might watch it. So, you might have 30 homes left, for example. These 30 homes, and whether they watch more WCMH or WSAZ are likely all that is making this decision. Statistically insignificant.

(Speaking of WTAP, for bobcat695........their weatherman lives in Athens and drives over every day at 45 mph; he is obsessed with doing stories from over there as a labor saving activity. WTAP has not been on the Athens cable since 1984 or '85.)

WSAZ used to operate in such a way where they literally had a list in their newsroom of every outlying/rural county, with the date someone last reported from there. WSAZ anchor/reporter Carrie Cline literally used to have a day a week where she was forced to do 'something' in Meigs/Athens/Gallia. But this has slipped over the years.

Further, the other two Charleston stations WCHS/WVAH and WOWK won't come to Athens for much short of a quadruple murder. I am actually rather surprised that even amongst the limited Nielsen sample that the Huntington stations would remain primary to Athens County viewers.

Big picture? A phone survey, costing less than $10,000, would likely be enough to prove or disprove the above for litigation purposes and get the system or county the Columbus stations.

Sorry to detour the thread, but why does Kirk Groeneveld drive 45 mph? It's a four-lane highway to PKB with a 60 mph speed limit. Just wondering.

LOL! That explains a lot. What'd be the proper metaphor for Todd Baucher?

Lauren Keeling has about as much on-air personality as a terra cotta flower pot. My biggest beef in terms of the watchability of WTAP News. 

I've always heard if you're between 45 and 60, you're near optimal.

Here's the government's chart:

I remember sitting at a red light in Parkersburg years ago and looked in the rearview mirror only to see old Todd in the car behind me.  Talk about a bad broadcaster on a bad station.  Bringing that up made my day Putnam.  Thanks for the chuckle.

I average 32 MPG in my Passat. I love it.

I average 41 in our Smart Car.  With an 8 gallon tank, I've never spent more than $30 to fill it up.

Not sure I wanna do Muncie to the MAC sites in a smart car. I 'll pay the extra or ride the bike.....sposed to be 50 tomorrow....may need to burnup some road over to Ada and then BG.