DirectTV and local channels wrong for my zip code?

I live on the border of Maine and New Hampshire. I have always wanted to get direct TV, but they list my local channels as Portland Maine. Since I live on the coast of New Hampshire, the local channels that mean anything to me for drive time and weather are actually Boston and Manchester NH. If I put in the zip code of bordering NH town, of which I live 3 miles from, in NH, they get the channels I want, but my zip code gives me the channels I don鈥檛 want. Is there anyway to get Direct TV to give me the local channels for zip code 03878 and not the channels for 03901? I pay over 150 dollars a month for cable and would really like to save the money, but the local channels on direct TV provide me with nothing I am looking for in zip code 03901.DirectTV and local channels wrong for my zip code?
Your local broadcast channels are assigned to you according to something called Designated Market Areas (DMAs). Those market areas are mapped onto the ZIP Code map for simplification of the boundaries. It's it and that's that.



Trying to harangue some lowly DirecTV rep to switch your local channels won't help. No diff for Dish Network; they live by the same rules. You're better off w/ cable, since there's a chance the local franchise might carry both Portland and Boston/Manchester DMA stations.



I was almost in your shoes: I had planned to live in Norton and, by virtue of the mapping, I was supposed to get Providence stations, not Boston stations.