Fight continues to bring KCRA back to South Lake Tahoe Charter lineup

South Lake Tahoe Charter Communications customers have been unable to watch Sacramento NBC affiliate KCRA since June 8, 2018, but area residents along with City and County government are continuing the fight to get them back on the local line-up.

Charter pulled the station because they already carry a local NBC channel, KRNV out of Reno and are not required to carry two. They are only required to carry stations based on a region's Designated Market Area (DMA). South Lake Tahoe is in the Reno DMA, not the Sacramento.

North Lake Tahoe customers on the California side are in the Sacramento DMA, the Nevada side in the Reno DMA, resembling what the South Shore like set up.

Residents were recently surveyed about the dropping of KCRA: 95 percent said receiving KCRA-3 content was important, the same number who desired it to be made available again, and 77 percent indicated they are considering dropping the cable company.

During Tuesday's South Lake Tahoe City Council and El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meetings, there are agenda items to get support of a joint letter addressed to Charter Communication's director of communications. In that letter they are asking Charter to petition the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a Market Modification to bring back the highest-rated Northern California news station.

Local election coverage cannot be found on KRNV, nor can other California related issues.

South Tahoe Now asked Charter Communications Senior Director of Communications for the Northwest Region Bret Picciolo about the DMA for South Lake Tahoe and if they could change it, and why the North Shore is different.

"We carry the designated in-market NBC affiliate in each of these markets according to how the DMAs are defined by the FCC," he said. Picciolo reiterated Charter cannot change DMAs.

The only avenue to change a DMA rests with the FCC, but a decision to add an extra channel rests with Charter.

There is an avenue to take to bring back KCRA to local viewers. The FCC's Market modification rules provide a process for cable operators to request changes to the boundaries of their local television markets to include a community located in a neighboring local television market.

In the meantime, KCRA news can be viewed online or on their app.