That's interesting to know
Thanks,
Jacque.
As I've posted on here in the past, I'm a USC alumnus originally from Beaufort, but live in Atlanta. My wife and I have a second "vacation home" in Beaufort.
Growing up, we picked up TV stations from Charleston and Savannah via our rooftop antenna and a klunky-to-control rotor. We watched mostly Charleston.
We had Charter Cable (now part of Spectrum) from around 2008 until Charter sold their Beaufort franchise to Hargray of Hilton Head (recently rebranded as Sparklight) back in 2012. Charter carried the ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates from both Charleston and Savannah in their lineup. Hargray initially had no Charleston stations in their lineup, but later added one after lots of local requests.
Beaufort County is classified by the FCC and Neilson Market Research as in the Savannah TV market. This means, for all practical purposes, that cable/satellite/streaming providers operating in Beaufort County
have to carry Savannah stations. Charleston is optional (optional only because the stations can be received with a good antenna, otherwise a provider would not be allowed to carry
anything from the Holy City) and expensive - TV stations are permitted to charge cable/satellite/streaming providers a hefty sum to carry the station in their lineup. And now Hargray/Sparklight has completely dropped Charleston from their lineup due to the hefty sums demanded.
All this is background to state that once I could not longer get Charleston TV in Beaufort via cable, it irked me enought to research and get a good antenna setup erected. Today, I can pick up 21 channels (TV stations and their sub-channels) from Charleston (and a comparable amount from Savannah). This is even more from Charleston than the providers servicing Beaufort County are even allowed to negotiate to carry. When I watch sports on the 10 or 11pm newscasts, I want to see info on USC. From Savannah, it'll probably be UGA and Georgia Southern. No thanks.
But researching to understand the best antenna for my house in Beaufort is how I learned about RF channels (the actual broadcast frequency) and PSIP or virtual channels. I've also learned the Federal law forbids HOAs from
categorically prohibiting residents from erecting outside antennas at their residences. I'm no engineer, but I consider myself a reasonably knowledgeable end user.
