WCBC

July 11th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

Congressman John K. Delaney (MD-6) announced today that Comcast Cable subscribers in Garrett County will now have access to Maryland-based news programming.

Starting later this month, local news broadcasts from Baltimore will be available on Xfinity On Demand to Garrett County Comcast Cable subscribers. To date, WJZ (CBS) and WMAR (ABC) have agreed to distribute their local news programming, via Xfinity On Demand. Additionally, Comcast has offered to promote the online availability of these newscasts through the broadcasters’ websites and apps to customers in Garrett County. The new service comes after Congressman Delaney, Maryland State Senator George Edwards and other local elected officials, along with community members, met and consulted with Comcast to offer this news programming to Garrett County residents.

Garrett County is designated as part of the Pittsburgh, PA television market by the Nielsen Company and the FCC, therefore did not receive Baltimore programming.

“Maryland residents deserve access to Maryland news, whether they live in Garrett County or on the Eastern Shore,” said Congressman Delaney. “Garrett County residents have excellent newspaper and radio news but for too long television has been a missing piece. On Demand access to Maryland television news is an important first step. I’d like to thank Comcast for working with local stations in Baltimore to deliver Maryland-based news programming to Garrett County residents.  When Senator Edwards and I brought this issue to their attention on behalf of our constituents, they came to the table and partnered with us on a solution.”  

“Comcast is proud to have the technology and capacity in place to enable a creative solution for those Garrett County customers who want to view local Baltimore news programming on their televisions via Xfinity On Demand,” said Christine Whitaker, senior vice president of the Comcast Keystone Region.

“I would like to thank Congressman Delaney for his efforts to get this important first step in place and to the numerous residents of Garrett County who helped with this effort. This is a first step in the process and we need to keep working on this issue to get more access to Maryland Television for all of Garrett County,” said Maryland Senator George Edwards (District 1).