Time-Warner Cable in Moultonboro

[Lucky2Bhere]

Is anyone else in Moultonborough upset that WBZ in Boston was dropped by Time Warner. Our only Boston station is now channel 7. Metrocast cable has all three major Boston stations in it's lake locations. From what I understand Moultonboro's contract with Time-Warner is another 7 or 8 years. Any ideas?

[Mr. Prop-B-Gone]

I work with WBZ, so I sent an email to a friend there. This is the “official response”………

WBZ-TV is sorry that Time Warner Cable is no longer going to make our station available. Your home is located outside the Boston DMA, so we believe that you are receiving the Portland CBS channel, WGME. It is Time Warner Cable's choice as to whether they carry two CBS stations. Please be assured that it is not because WBZ is asking Time Warner Cable to drop us.

Moving on………

A large part of the reason that the Boston stations do not appear on Time Warner but do appear on Metrocast is this.

The country is divided by federal law into “Television Markets”. In this area, the line between the Boston market and the Portland market is the Carroll County line. So Center Harbor is in the Boston Market, Moultonborough is in the Portland Market. (BTW, I may be wrong, but I think once you get into the Plymouth area you get into the Vermont Market. Anyone know about this?)

WMUR got Jed Bradley to pass a bill in Congress that exclusively allowed NH cable and satellite providers to carry WMUR in New Hampshire without regard to the market lines. This exception only applies to WMUR in New Hampshire. Prior to its passage, WMUR was not carried on systems in New Hampshire outside the Boston market.

Cable and satellite providers are required by federal law to respect these market divisions. The TV stations in each market want you to watch their advertising, not another market’s ads. Their ad rates are based on the number of viewers. While a cable provider can carry a network station outside the market, they must remove it if the network station in the market objects. It may be that the CBS station in Portland raised an objection.

And it may be that Time Warner just decided not to carry it.

If you sign up for satellite TV you are restricted to the Portland stations if you live in Moultonborough, but you can only receive the Boston stations, not the Portland stations, if you live in Center Harbor. People who signed up years ago before the federal laws appeared may still receive the Boston stations, but any new subscriptions will be Portland local stations. About the only way around this is to have another home or address in the Boston market, get the satellite equipment and the monthly bill sent there, then install the dish and receivers up here. If you do this, DO NOT PLUG IN THE PHONE LINE! They will read the address from the caller ID and switch you over to Portland! Without the phone line there is no way for them to know where the dish is located. So, sorry, no pay-per-view!

The likely reason that people in Wolfeboro get the Boston Stations is that Metrocast’s signal originates in an area that is in the Boston Market, and the majority of Metrocast’s customers are in the Boston Market. For whatever reason, they are apparently not required to filter those stations out in Wolfeboro. Time Warner’s signal, on the other hand, originates in Conway, NH, which is in the Portland Market, and most, if not all of their customers are in the Portland Market.

Personally, I’d like to see Moultonborough dump Time Warner and go with Metrocast. When I lived in Gilmanton I used Metrocast and found them to be a good company, responsive to their customer’s needs. Maybe someone knows when the contract expires? Is anyone interested in petitioning the selectmen to make a change? Gotta say that most of us are from the Boston Market area and not Portland, so it would make sense to have the Boston stations here.

[phoenix]

thanks for the explanation . We have Direct TV in Moultonboro and only get Maine stations and we would prefer Boston but were told the same thing by Direct TV