List of American over-the-air television stations
In the United States, over-the-air television (OTA) or terrestrial television is broken into smaller Television Market Areas (TMA), which are a group of counties or parishes covered by a specific group of television stations. The TMAs not only have full control over local broadcasts, but also delineate which channels will be received by Cable, Satellite or IPTV subscribers ("must-carry" rules). These market areas can also be used to define restrictions on rebroadcasting of broadcast television signals, though with exceptions. TMAs are identified by either by city or cities in an area.
A similar term used by Nielsen Media Research is the Designated Market Area (DMA), and they control the trademark on it. DMAs are used by Nielsen Media Research to identify TV stations that best reach an area and attract the most viewers. There are 210 Nielsen DMAs in the United States, not counting territories.
All over-the-air television is available, for free, by antenna.
Television market area by State
- Note: Delaware and New Jersey viewers are served by markets in neighboring states.
Television market area by District and Territories
District of Columbia
Guam
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands