Dale, thanks. It helps. CW chose to stay on 50 in DC and 54 in Baltimore, both of which work. It's 20 in DC and 24 in Baltimore, or rather their DTT virtual channels, the UPN stations, that do not seem to work. (Analog works fine, both of them.) So they're getting rid of the correct transmitters, IMO. Someone else commented on this, don't remember where, that you can only receive UPN 20 DTT if you're within 2 miles of their tower. May have been an exaggeration, but the point was clear. Tom Barry wrote: [USDTV compared with cable] > But let's not equate local broadcasters competing with the > idea of the content cartels owning the national networks > competing. The second group has the power to more easily > negotiate with cable, the first increasingly does not. Yes, you have a point. I should not lump the two in one. As long as the national cap exists, though, those content creators are going to have to depend on the affiliated stations. And as long as Congress continues to be confused about the meaning of the 39 percent national cap, that cap ain't likely to go away. Besides which, cable customers would soon crucify the cable company if it drops any of the OTA stations. It's happened more than once. So OTA broadcasters should have nothing to worry about. Trust the viewing audience (including cable subscribers) and trust the content. BUT ... You do bring up another interesting point. If we get rid of the national cap, the major networks can directly control, or even own outright if they want, their nationwide OTA network. Right? And as you say, these guys have nothing to fear, because cable depends on them a lot. So why isn't this a far better formula to save OTA TV than vague notions about "competitive infrastructure" and an undefined OTA service? Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.