Nielsen's Designated Market Area (DMA) construct has been the foundation of local television economics and regulatory policy since the 1950s. Originally devised to define which counties belonged to which TV markets — based on over-the-air broadcast signal reach and household viewing patterns — it served a functional purpose in the analog broadcast era. But in today’s world of streaming, mobile viewing, personalized advertising, and advanced digital broadcast technology, the DMA has become an increasingly outdated and inadequate tool. Yet it continues to anchor not just advertising sales but also FCC regulatory frameworks, including key concepts like retransmission consent, must-carry obligations, station ownership limits, and the interpretation of “localism” in programming mandates. If the FCC is serious about both modernizing regulation and enforcing greater local relevance in media, then a long-overdue rethink of the DMA system must come first. The country’s 210 DMAs were carved decades ago when media consumption was tethered to a rooftop antenna and a handful of VHF signals. These boundaries were, in effect, regional clusters where Nielsen could reliably measure who was watching what — and advertisers could buy access to the viewers of specific local stations. But fast forward to 2025, and the assumptions that once justified this model have all but collapsed. Metropolitan areas have since sprawled across DMA lines. Suburbs that used to be farmland are now population centers with their own distinct identities and economic interests — ones often ignored by the "local" TV news delivered from a far-off DMA hub city. Conversely, many smaller towns remain trapped in oversized DMAs dominated by an urban core that doesn’t reflect their interests at all. |
