Recent fires spur efforts to make television news available in Temecula
By: JOHN HUNNEMAN - Staff Writer | ∞
In the aftermath of recent fires that charred thousands of acres on Southwest County's doorstep, local cable and satellite television subscribers have peppered city halls, newspaper blogs and the letters to the editor page with a single question: "Why was there little or no coverage of the fires in this area on television stations here?"
There is no simple answer, but Temecula officials have vowed to start asking questions beginning next week.
Cable and satellite providers in western and central Riverside County are considered part of the huge Los Angeles television market.
For years, transplants to this area, many from San Diego, have squawked that providers of local cable and satellite services did not carry Padres baseball, Chargers football or other programming from south of the nearby county line.
Those complaints left the sports arena last week when the massive wildfires burning in Fallbrook and on Palomar Mountain in San Diego County blew heavy smoke, ash and a good dose of fear upon residents of Southwest County.
San Diego television stations sent reporting crews into the northern regions of their county to cover the fires burning just across the line from Riverside County. Meanwhile, Los Angeles stations dispatched reporters to the far reaches of their coverage area to bring viewers news of blazes burning there.
"People were concerned that with fires burning 10 miles to our south, the news they were getting was about fires in Malibu," said Phyllis Ruse, Temecula's deputy director of community services who has been fielding complaints.
The issue, Ruse said, has become a matter of health and safety, not just the sports teams locals can watch.
On Tuesday night, the City Council is scheduled to discuss what can be done to provide residents here with better emergency information.
"I've been working for the past few days to put together a subcommittee to look into this," said City Councilman Jeff Comerchero. "The charge will be to work on the possibility of getting San Diego stations available here. But the broader question is to find ways to make information more available to people in times of emergency."
Comerchero said he has heard compliments for both city staff who continually updated the city's Web site to provide fire information as well as for The Californian, which did the same on its site.
"However in an emergency, people's prime source for news is still radio and television," he said. "Here, the local radio stations did a poor job and the television stations were focused on Los Angeles. We want to really roll up our sleeves and see what can be done."
It's in your DMA
Designated Market Areas -- established by Nielsen Media Research, a firm better known for its television program rating service -- are geographic designations that determine each television market based on measured viewing patterns.
Nielsen determines those market boundaries based on surveys they conduct on channels the majority of over-the-air viewers in a region, typically a county, watch.
There are 210 DMAs across the country.
According to Nielsen, Southwest County belongs with the Los Angeles DMA.
"Nielsen currently defines the San Diego DMA as all of San Diego County and only San Diego County," said Robert Mercer, director of public relations for El Segundo-based satellite provider DirectTV. "Therefore, we cannot legally provide San Diego stations ... outside of San Diego County."
Satellite providers are governed by The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999, which was updated by Congress in 2004 with the The Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act.
Neither act requires satellite companies to offer local channels, but does give the companies -- the two major providers being DISH Network and DirectTV -- the option of providing the local stations. However, if the company chooses to provide local stations it must provide subscribers with all of the local broadcast stations assigned to the area's DMA.
Locally, that means stations based primarily in Los Angeles.
Mercer said his company is sympathetic to concerns of Southwest County viewers.
"(However) we have no legal options under current federal legislation governing local channels to provide any San Diego stations outside of San Diego County," he said. "Nielsen determines which areas belong to which DMA, which in turn limits where we can provide local channels. Any change in the rules would have to come from Congress, since the underlying laws and require that we use the Nielsen definitions."
Not so fast
The folks at Nielsen would disagree.
Although efforts to reach a spokesman for the firm were unsuccessful, Nielsen has obviously heard this all before and has posted a lengthy statement on the subject on the "Frequently Asked Questions" portion of its Web site.
"On occasion, satellite subscribers have been led to believe that Nielsen Media Research is responsible for determining which stations are available to satellite subscribers under federal legislation," the site states. "However, this is not the case."
DMAs are used solely to measure who is watching what on television within a given area, the company insists.
"DMAs were never intended to be used for the purposes that other companies are now using them," the site states.
The cable side
The rules that apply to satellite companies are generally the same for cable service providers, said Patti Rockenwagner, a spokeswoman for Time-Warner Cable, which services several communities in Southwest County.
Cable companies also use the Nielsen information to determine the stations available to local subscribers.
In Southwest County, that means a large dose of Los Angeles-based stations, although Time Warner also carries the signal from San Diego-based KUSI-Channel 51 to some customers here.
Cable companies, like satellite companies, follow the "must-carry" rule. In the past, that meant little room for cable providers to offer stations outside of the designated DMA.
Comerchero argued that, given technological advances, that's probably not the case anymore.
"We heard from cable channels here for years that they didn't have the space to carry San Diego stations because of 'must-carry' rules," Comerchero said. "It's different now with all the fiber-optics available."
The local alternative
When fires broke out in Southwest Riverside County early last week -- the Roca fire in Aguanga and the Rosa fire in the De Luz area -- the region's only locally based television station, KZSW-TV, began what veteran news broadcaster Bill Loren called "wall-to-wall" coverage of the blazes.
Regular programming was interrupted, reporters were sent into the field to cover the fires and city and fire officials from both Temecula and Murrieta were interviewed on the air.
"For a little tiny station, I thought we did a lot of stuff," Loren said.
"Stuff" cable customers in the city of Riverside, the county of San Bernardino and the communities of Sun City and Menifee were able to view.
But Temecula and Murrieta cable customers were not able to watch the coverage because Time-Warner currently does not provide the Temecula-based station to its customers in those cities.
However, Rockenwagner said Friday a deal had just been inked between the cable company and the television station to make KZSW's daily local newscast available to customers on Time Warner's "video on demand" service.
"We're still working out some equipment challenges," Rockenwagner said. "But the agreement has been signed and we hope to have (the newscast) available by the end of the year."
KZSW is available on the relatively new Verizon FiOS fiber-optic cable network, which is in place in several areas of Southwest County, including Temecula, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore.
Then there's the old fashioned way -- rabbit ears. An old-fashioned antenna on a television picks up the station's over-the-air signal, which comes from a hilltop tower on Clinton Keith Road, just north of Murrieta.
Determined to get it done
Temecula city manager Shawn Nelson said his staff has made efforts in the past to add San Diego stations to the local television mix.
Given the recent fires, and the lack of what potentially could have been life-saving information available to area residents, there is a renewed determination to find a way to get it done.
"We're not asking to get rid of the Los Angeles stations and replace them with the San Diego stations," Nelson said. "What we'd like is to have just a few of the San Diego stations that provide news ... to people here."
Nelson expects the City Council will take a firm stand on the issue.
"We're going to press this as hard as we can," he said. "We're not just going to take 'no' for an answer."
Still, given the all the red tape and government bureaucracy, Nelson admitted it won't be easy.
"There are a lot of federal regulations," he said. "It's complicated."
Contact staff writer John Hunneman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2603, or hunneman@californian.com.
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Missie wrote on Nov 3, 2007 10:39 PM:We are one of the few cable customers who get KUSI out of San Diego here in Temecula, but as far as the coverage of the fires is concerned we lost reception of KUSI as soon as the fires started and didn't get it back until the fire threat was over. the only way we could find out what was happening was by going to the North County Times web site. I cant believe that an area as large as Temecula cant get any news coverage from either San Diego or Los Angeles, it's almost as though they dont care.......
Patrick M wrote on Nov 3, 2007 11:57 PM:Murrieta City Council, I hope you're reading this...
matt wrote on Nov 4, 2007 12:20 AM:well maybe if all these people dont like that they dont get their "san diego charges games" or all their "san diego " news they should move back to san diego!!
brian wrote on Nov 4, 2007 12:22 AM:i agree we do need more local news, but san diego is no more local than los angeles. i moved here from arizona a few years ago but i dont expect them to start carrying phoenix channels here these people should really just move back to san diego if they dont like not having those stations up here or get online and look at news on there
L. wrote on Nov 4, 2007 12:29 AM:Local radio stations continued to play smooth jazz while "Rome" burned. Their FCC license requires that the serve their local community in some way. They did not. I relied on 760 AM KFWB out of San Diego and their coverage of the De Luz fire was accurate and timely. Temecula's Council members are behind the curve once again. Why did they wait for a potential disaster to start to take assertive action? Even the false evacuation rumors in Redhawk were not answered or squelched for over 24 hours.
It's a shame. wrote on Nov 4, 2007 5:21 AM:Temec has to depend on KUSI. That is one lame station. There sure needs to be some local coverage. Lots of people. Maybe some other station will see an opportunity.
Zygo wrote on Nov 4, 2007 6:34 AM:Being from the Los Angeles area I prefer the LA stations...but with that said: The Temecula Valley is a border area with people with attachments to both SD and LA and some to neither. Getting the stations I'm used to doesn't mean my neighbor shouldn't get his. Different rules should be established for distant border areas like the Temecula Valley. I would like to see both LA and SD stations available...even if it means dropping some public access channels, which don't seem to be used anyway. It doesn't help LA or SD TV advertisers to have viewers who will not travel to their area to buy their products or services because their attachments are in the other market area.
Robin wrote on Nov 4, 2007 6:46 AM:Even though Temecula has a local news station, those of us with satellite tv can't watch it without unplugging everything and going the "rabbit ears" route. it used to be we could have another dish installed just to pick up San Diego stations. Twelve years ago when we moved here we didn't think it waw necessary. Now that option is no longer available. Does anybody know why?
I say wrote on Nov 4, 2007 6:53 AM:"you get what you pay for". You are the forgotten stepchildren living out in the desert.
Judy B. wrote on Nov 4, 2007 7:05 AM:I live in the San Jacinto mountains, Riverside county, and I, too am frustrated about the lack of coverage here. The San Diego cable stations carry 2 or 3 L.A. channels, but L.A. cable/dish providers do not carry any San Diego stations. Why? I was very concerned about friends and family in Escondido, Ramona and Rancho Bernardo..but got Malibu. A million people in San Diego were evacuated...but we got Arrowhead news.. Get it together and let's have some coverage.Both radio and T.V. thanks for letting me have a say...Judy
advice for the future wrote on Nov 4, 2007 7:16 AM:There were quite a few radio stations that were talking about the Temecula area a great deal. I dont remember the stations off the top of my head but there were quite a few. Try the lower 90fm channels next time and see what you find. I dont feel that just the Temecula area deserves a local news cast but ALL of South West Riverside County does. Better yet Riverside county needs its own local television station.
TemecTV wrote on Nov 4, 2007 7:26 AM:OK, so who is lying about DMA's - Nielsen's website or DirectTV's talking head? I don't know about the rest of you, but I enjoy the quality programming provided by our satellite, cable and FIOS companies, particularly the "action-packed" Los Angeles Unified School District Board Meetings and the "gripping" Mexican shows featuring used cars across the LA Basin being fondled by cosmetically-enhanced, scantily-clad women (suggestion for higher ratings - put paper bags over their heads). If this is the type of programming that the government and broadcast companies feel is offered in our best interests, and if this is really what some people consider to be a good reason to buy their next automobile, this country really is going in the toilet. Congrats to the NCTimes/Californian for rising above the rest and showing them what it's supposed to be like.
Kim wrote on Nov 4, 2007 7:35 AM:totally agree with Missie ..... it would have been nice to hear a little blurb once in a while from ABC especially since we had our schools closed down for 2 days, cancelled Fall Festivals & to see Fallbrook & Poomacha spread maybe it would have squelched some of the rumors flying thru town. Such as Redhawk was on fire & so was Rainbow Villages. Old Town was taken out by fire - this was being told to me at the grocery store.
Resident wrote on Nov 4, 2007 7:49 AM:Why does a town like Santa Barbara have it's own ABC affiliate KEYT? Their population along with the neighboring town of Goleta is the same as ours here with Murrieta. They too are part of the Los Angeles DMA. I guess it helps when you have residents that have old money.... It would be so beneficial to have a local affiliate here...
Angry Man in Temecula wrote on Nov 4, 2007 8:16 AM:The television coverage of the North County fires in San Diego was dismal if you live in Temecula. It's so typical of the government to invoke some arcane rules to deny San Diego coverage to the Temecula Valley. All of the LA stations were preoccupied with coverage of the movie stars' mansions in Malibu. If you are here in Southwest Riverside County, who cares if Barbara Streisand had to evacuate her mansion in Malibu? This regional TV coverage situation is unacceptable. Lives could be put at risk if people are not given pertinent news that affects their area. During the fires, I resorted to listening to live San Diego radio broadcasts via the internet and checking the local newspaper online blogs and reports.
Viewer wrote on Nov 4, 2007 8:24 AM:1) They shoud look at getting the local KZSW added to Dish Network, Direct TV and local cable. If the city can organize engough people to say they want it, the providers will show it. TV is all about advertising. 2)Channel 2 and 9 in LA is now owned by the same company, they show the same news with the same reporters. Who cares who the Mayor of LA is sleeping with this week,or f Wiltshire Blvd is now oe way unless you live in the city of LA. The LA stations need to cover more than just Compton, and if not break up there areas and take some licences away. Make an Orange County channel for them and put our local channel on here. Once over the air goes away make a channel 3 for us !!!
Murrieta wrote on Nov 4, 2007 8:47 AM:Did anyone ask the City of Murrieta what they think. They should work with Temecula to get something done.
Judi wrote on Nov 4, 2007 9:02 AM:I, too, couldn't get coverage of the Rosa or Rice Canyon fire, which impacted DeLuz. I have Dish network which covered the fires in LA and SB counties, mostly. So, via my Verizon DSL, I was able to stream channel 10 out of San Diego to my imac. However, they didn't do much coverage of the Rosa fire, and I got most of my information from the North County times blog. That worked until 138 Temecula residents' DSL service from Verizon went down for 5 days......I don't own rabbit ears, but did get a nice long distance bill from AT&T from calling the Fire Dept site in San Diego that had up to date info in a long distance area code. Not only does Temecula (and DeLuz) need better Riverside County emergency information sites, AND to have both Dish, Direct TV, and the cable companies offer San Diego local news, BUT we also need better coordination with the DSL providers (in my case, Verizon). It took me 4 hours to try to order Dial BackUP (since I still had landline service, for potential reverse 911 calls), but the Indians in India and the Mexicans in Tecate were at a loss to get me set up quickly (and then it was my responsibility to see if LD charges would apply for local (fee based calls). What a mess, but an opportunity for Riverside county politicians to please its residents, by fixing all of this--quickly--before any homes in Riverside county are lost to fires......ps Whether it is Dish Network or Direct TV, whether it is Verizon DSL or AT&T DSL who gets this resolved--gets my business. I guess I just have to vote with my $$$$$$......
Rob wrote on Nov 4, 2007 10:05 AM:I have lived in Temecula for over 10 years and am one of the thousands of people who have "squawked" about not be able to view any news or sports from the huge city just south of our community, known as San Diego. I'm a local fireman for this area and we get our fire information the same way the public does. During these fires, the guys at station were forced to watch the fires in L.A. even though the huge priority of resources were being diverted to San Diego. What was going on in San Diego and just south of us were anyone's guess since it wasn't televised in our area. We had to field hundreds of calls to our fire stations from the community who were wondering where the fires were, what the fires were doing and if they needed to start planning to evacuate because of a total lack of news and information NOT provided on any of our local channels. I accepted this lack of San Diego information 10 years ago because Temecula was still a fairly small commmunity and had a lot of "growing pains". With a population of almost 100,000 and the technology we have available, for our community to be left in the dark during a crisis like the October wildfires is not only irresponsible but dangerous! Having KUSI available on Time Warner and KZSW available on Verizon FiOS for a small section of our community is a start, but far from a solution.
sandy wrote on Nov 4, 2007 10:22 AM:I too was extremely frustrated and downright frightened by the lack of tv info on the fires in this area. I kept referring to the city of temecula web site and the KZSW web site for updates. But what about people who don't have access to the internet? This is a public safety issue and as such I hope it gets the attention it warrants, not just by local officials, but those at the state and federal levels as well. We have a rare opportunity to be proactive on this.
Bam M. wrote on Nov 4, 2007 10:29 AM:If you want San Diego TV.....move to San Diego. Temecula City Council and other Southwest Cities should work with the L.A. Stations regarding coverage. Just a couple of weeks ago KNBC 4 (Los Angeles) showcased Temecula schools, housing and wine country. Do any of the San Diego Stations ever come up here to that?
chris wrote on Nov 4, 2007 10:41 AM:Thank you to everyone on the staff of NCT. The coverage you provided to us during our recent fires was above and beyond the call of duty!!!
Kerry wrote on Nov 4, 2007 11:10 AM:It is about time that the media expands the coverage for North County. Sometimes it feels that we are the forgotten few except when something is happening at Camp Pendleton. There is so much more to North County San Diego than the military, although they're appreciated. I live in Oceanside but many of our family members live in Temecula or on the border of Temecula and Pala which is 1/4 mile from the Riverside County/San Diego County border. There is no coverage in South Riverside or North San Diego for these areas yet these areas did not suddenly sprout up out of nowhere. Regarding the coverage of the fires particularly, it was extremely frustrating to be told by the media that it was too dangerous to cover that part of the county is absurd and ridiculous not to mention insulting. It's more dangerous to cover Temecula/Fallbrook with actual live converage and correct maps than to send a reporter into Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Santa Fe, Chula Vista, and Jamul???! I don't think so! It seems that the media believes that only people in those areas matter.
Temecula Resident wrote on Nov 4, 2007 11:33 AM:Thank you NCT for your coverage and for bringing this to everyone's attention! There was a gentleman who also wrote a letter on a blog during the fires, to send to the fcc and to our local congressperson. I sent it to them and everyone I know to do so as well. Thank you for having the blogs available for what I consider the best coverage for Temecula during the fires. Your coverage was great! I get the KZSW and I believe they did what they could considering they are a small station, but if you wanted continuous update coverage, it wasn't there, they often repeated one recorded segment over and over. My husband works in SD county and fire affected his job, came across the street from where he works, but we received no real coverage as to how close it came or when roads would be opened to it. If it wasn't for websites, such as NCT blog, we wouldn't have been able to update the employees and let them know not to try to come to work. We moved up from San Diego and prefer the San Diego news over LA, which has no relations to us. I think an offering of both LA & San Diego would benefit everyone - as we know there are people who travel in both directions. Temecula is a commuters town. This issue is something that has needed to be done for a long time, it's sad it takes somenthing this drastic for the city to take action. Temecula is a large city and needs appropriate coverage. Has anyone ever thought about more IE news stations? Sure wish I could do it!
lori wrote on Nov 4, 2007 11:46 AM:The LA news stations should be ashamed of the poor coverage of this area. It was news. It seemed for the majority of the time they didn't even know any fires burned south of Orange County. A whole town was evacuated for goodness sake! Pitiful, pitiful.
Melanie wrote on Nov 4, 2007 11:51 AM:My family lives in Temecula/Murrieta area....during the fires, they called me (living in Escondido) for information on the fires heading their way. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of coverage on San Diego news stations about those fires either. My main source of information about all fires was the internet - San Diego County's website and the Disaster website were most helpful. For a period of time, though, internet service was down.....no info at all was available. Something must change before another disaster of this magnitude occurs!
Local Station wrote on Nov 4, 2007 12:17 PM:We need a local station to cover local news. LA and SD aren't going to cover the Temecula Valley at all. The demographics of Riverside County should dictate a new DMA. We need our own network affiliates! KZSW is out areas independent news station. Temecula/Murrieta should work together to ensure all households have access. I'm in Murrieta and cannot get KZSW with rabbit ears. I work in SD so choose cable who carries KUSI because SD News affects me. I want it all......LA, SD and TV news.
mike wrote on Nov 4, 2007 1:01 PM:so im just wondering did the san diego channels cover the de luz fire at all?? or is everyone on here just crying and whining about something they know nothing about id love to see how much the san diego channels focus on temecula because im guessing they dont
kim wrote on Nov 4, 2007 1:03 PM:i agree with Bam M.! san diego never comes up here we should work with los angeles to bring them over here more maybe we should be thankful we dont have more situations that would warrent us having more coverage over here but again if u want san diego news, move to san diego!
matt wrote on Nov 4, 2007 1:18 PM:by the way, have any of these people who complain about the lack of news coverage bother to research these things before moving here?? if they had then they would know where our news comes from before they moved here and tried to bring san diego with them
Claude wrote on Nov 4, 2007 3:00 PM:It is quite apparent that those from LA want LA channels and those from SD want SD channels. Everyone should shut there cable companies down and go to Dish or Direct TV. I bet the cable companies would start giving us both LA and SD channels then.
local coverage wrote on Nov 4, 2007 3:01 PM:I tackled this issue on two fronts: 1) I filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that there are no local Inland Empire TV stations with the financial resources to provide 24x7 coverage (Riverside County ought to be able to support a major network even if it is based up in the northern portion of the county). I also sent my appreciation to KZSW for their efforts and indicated that I would love to see them get some grants to enhance their local news reporting capabilities. 2) I bought a $10 set of rabbit ears so that I could get KZSW over the air in an emergency. I thought that KZSW did an awesome job considering their size, financial resources, and technical resources available to them and I made sure to let the FCC know this in the letter that I sent them. The city of Temecula did an awesome job of trying to squash the rumors and to disseminate information to citizens in a timely manner. We can't change the past, but we as a community can take actions to try and improve our emergency communication capabilities for future disasters.
How Stupid wrote on Nov 4, 2007 3:06 PM:... Why would SD channels come to Riverside county when the broadcast would not even be seen here. I assure you that if SD channels were on here we would see them come up here more often.
What? wrote on Nov 4, 2007 4:00 PM:SD coverage of the fires was weak at best. You guys in Riverside didn't miss a thing by not having it.
Murrieta Mom wrote on Nov 4, 2007 4:05 PM:Murrieta City Council has and had previously been working on this issue even before the fires.
not LA or SD wrote on Nov 4, 2007 4:40 PM:We are Temecula Valley people. We need our own stations here in this area, as we are a unique area. Palm Springs has there own stations, and rightfully so! We need ours, in fact if our local area was in most any other state this would be the major city! Demand respect, demand our own DMA, demand our own stations!!
Peanut Gallery wrote on Nov 4, 2007 4:42 PM:Those of us with who live in DeLuz, with Satellite T.V. and Internet, and where there is no reverse 911, read about all "of DeLuz being evacuated" while online, yet watched parades of 25 Fire Trucks + Sheriff squad cars go by our house with a friendly wave. We had to assume we were safe. After all, we had given up on "our" LA stations making mention of us. So, like little animals, kept our eyes and nose to the sky, and let instinct prevail. This is how we managed, living one mile away from SD border and the Rice Fire and Rosa Fire. Where equally instinctual undocumented persons live in the trees, and cook burritos over open flames next to thousands of acres of foliage and multi million dollar homes!
Well Quoted: wrote on Nov 4, 2007 4:44 PM: Temecula valley residents need access to San Diego TV stations. Currently there is a FCC restriction that will not allow television providers (Time-Warner, Verizon, Directv, Dish Network) to offer us San Diego local TV stations, I recommend a letter writing campaign to our Congressman, Darryl Issa and to the FCC. If we have enough complaints then maybe we can get the FCC rule changed. This is the message I sent to them via their websites. Dear Congressman Issa and the FCC - I live in Temecula (92591), Riverside County, CA. Our city borders San Diego County. Our DMA television market determines we belong to the "Los Angeles market". During the fire emergency this week we had little to no coverage about the fires in San Diego County that directly impacted us. The Los Angeles stations were simply more occupied with fires in LA, Orange and San Bernardino counties. We really needed to get coverage from San Diego, but could not get any San Diego TV stations due to this FCC law. We still have fires within a few miles from our border. We can see the fires and the smoke, but we cannot get any TV news coverage about them. Our valley is somewhat isolated and does not get "over the air" signals. The FCC does not allow us to receive San Diego broadcasts via any of our TV providers (cable or satellite). A large amount of residents in this valley commute to work into San Diego and have friends and family there. We really do not have any information about news in San Diego unless we use the internet or if we can receive a San Diego radio station signal. In this day and age of modern technology it is amazing that the Government is restricting our choice of "local market" broadcast stations to appease the broadcasters. What can be done to get this law repealed and provide citizens like us with the ability to get useful information via a local TV channels? The experience during the state of emergency this week clearly shows that changes are needed to give us access to relevant emergency information. "
Karl wrote on Nov 4, 2007 4:44 PM:Sure is a lot of whining by folks that moved to your area to save on housing. Try this one on for size, if it wasn't for all you northerners, we that live in Escondido could go south on 15 in the morning without a log jam. While I'm at it, for those of you from Temecula/Murrietta et al that pass on the shoulders and on ramps, I hope you all get the tickets you deserve. For all the inconvenience you put us through traffic wise, I don't feel sorry for you guys at all.
Al wrote on Nov 4, 2007 6:59 PM:My wife was not pleased when I put a Channel Master long-range antenna on the roof of my Temecula home and pointed it SSW at Mt. Soledad. I get San Diego channels 8, 10, 15, 39, 51 and 69. Most come in with a HD signal. She reconsidered her objection to the antenna when, during the fires, we picked up both San Diego and Los Angeles news casts. I have Direct TV and the antenna works seamlessly with my HD receiver. I would recommend this option for anyone in Temecula who wants the choice of news providers.
Robin wrote on Nov 5, 2007 5:51 AM:I am curious as to why there always has to be the commments - if you want San Diego channels, move back to San Diego. That's not the answer. I don't care where my news comes from - as long as I am kept informed and that's the bottom line. Why didn't the San Diego news casters provide feeds to the LA channels and vice versa?
KZSW CEO wrote on Nov 5, 2007 10:56 PM:KZSW is committed to providing great local TV coverage every day and in times of crisis. Our goal is to grow into the dynamic television station this community deserves. All it takes is for everyone to let their TV provider know they want KZSW. These companies listen to their customers. It really is all about what the customer wants, and how many customers want it. BTW, kudos to our staff--they worked INCREDIBLY hard during the fires and did a really great job. kp
JSE wrote on Nov 8, 2007 5:58 PM:Why don't we all stop gripping about what news we don't get and giving snide remarks about moving back to San Diego and figure out a way to solve this problem. Write your Congressman and City leaders. Write to the satelite and cable providers. Write to the FCC. Links to email addresses to all these sites are avaible on their websites. Let's all try to fix the problem instead of complaining about the problem. Remeber the sqeaky wheel always gets oiled.
Good luck wrote on Nov 9, 2007 6:59 AM:Yeah, just try to put an antenna on your roof if you live in an HOA, like 90% of Temecula and Murrieta.
Luis wrote on Nov 12, 2007 11:33 PM:Most people who live in this area work in San Diego people we need coverage on traffic news also HOA cannot prevent you from putting an attenna up even the FCC says that
RN wrote on Nov 17, 2007 12:57 PM:I moved to Temecula from Escondido 2 yrs ago for the dream of owning a home after renting an apt. for 9 yrs. It's sad that we didnt get appropriate coverage for fires brewing 30 miles south of us. I still work in Escondido because that's the only hospital I would work in compared to the tiny so-called hospitals in this area. It's scary to find out that when I left for work one night, I found out that the I-15 S was closed to traffic and I had to drive the backroads near Pala. Little did I know there were fires in Fallbrook and I could've got trapped in the fires and not made it to work?!
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