Spectrum Is Dropping WROC, WBGT In Some WNY Counties
Your monthly payments to Spectrum may be increasing, but your channel variety is decreasing.
Charter Communications is removing Nexstar’s WROC-TV and Vision Communication’s WBGT-CD in certain Western New York counties as a way to reduce costs.
WROC
The affected counties for WROC-TV:
Genesee
Wyoming
Allegany
Steuben
Since Nielson doesn’t consider these counties as included in the Rochester TV market, Spectrum doesn’t have an obligation to continue to carry WROC-TV in those counties. Those counties will continue to be served by their in-market CBS station. Ultimately, this means if you enjoyed watching the local news from WROC-TV that you were paying for in your Spectrum bill, you won’t be able to any more. And no, your bill isn’t decreasing. It’s increasing.
WBGT
As for WBGT-CD, the station is a Class-A station, not a full power station, and thus isn’t subject to “must-carry” rules in the Rochester TV market. This means there’s no obligation for Spectrum to carry WBGT-CD at all, and starting Feb. 5, they won’t be.
Fees, Fees, Fees
The newest fees include a $2.55 increase in the broadcast TV surcharge (you know, the channels that are available for free over the air), a $1.51 increase in HD Box rentals, a $3 increase in Entertainment View and Latino View packages, and a $2 increase in Advanced WiFi charges.
Use an antenna
Stop the madness. If you’re a Spectrum TV customer, they sell you ultra-compressed versions of your local channels available for free over the air. The best way to make sure that you never lose local channels is if you switch to using an antenna for live TV.
