La Plata County, in southwestern Colorado, is one of these so-called orphan counties. Their broadcast TV news comes from Albuquerque, New Mexico, more than 200 miles away. Residents of Durango, the county seat, have been complaining about it for years. But "La Plata has been in Albuquerque’s Designated Market Area (DMA) for decades because that’s where Nielsen put it. Nielsen, the private data analytics company, creates DMAs nationwide, which help set advertising rates and determine the nation’s top media markets," Corey Hutchins reports for Columbia Journalism Review.
In 2016 La Plata became the first local government in the country to petition the Federal Communications Commission for a "market modification", which would allow satellite providers to carry programming from Denver. Albuquerque broadcasters balked because they didn't want to lose viewers, and objected to the petition. They told the FCC that proximity is more important than state lines for determining what viewers need in terms of local programming, Hutchins reports.
La Plata residents submitted hundreds of public comments to the FCC supporting the modification. "We are in desperate need of Denver programming in La Plata County," wrote paralegal Jill Fischer. "How are we expected to be educated voters if the only information we receive comes out of New Mexico! We need Colorado news to know what is going on in our state!"
"La Plata is still waiting for the FCC to make its final call. For now, some residents have found awkward workarounds, from lying to their satellite provider about where they live to taking home a digital antennafrom the local public library," Hutchins reports.
from The Rural Blog http://bit.ly/2QALezx Orphan counties complain that their 'local' news comes from other states, say they're in the dark about state goings-on - Entrepreneur Generations
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