A thread about regional television markets, their stations and how far they can reach or serve.
The L.A. TV market extends 60 miles east to Riverside and San Bernardino, where the only major TV station is a PBS public one: KVCR 24. The FCC designated Riverside county a separate market - for Palm Springs (KESQ-ABC, KPSP-CBS, KCWQ-CW, KDFX-FOX, KPSE-My Net and KMIR-NBC), but Temecula can get San Diego (KGTV-ABC, KFMB-CBS, KSWB-FOX, KNSD-NBC and others) and Blythe can get Yuma AZ (KECY-FOX/My Net, KSWT-CBS and KYMA-NBC) with some Phoenix stations (KNXV-ABC). The L.A. TV market permits some Bakersfield TV (KBAK-CBS) in Lancaster and Victorville, Santa Barbara TV (KEYT-ABC) in Ventura and most Las Vegas TV in Needles (i.e. KSNV-NBC). And 2 superstations-cable: WPCH (was WTBS) Atlanta and WOR 9 (My) New York.
My wife grew up with a pair of same major TV networks in her cable in her childhood in San Mateo in the San Francisco bay area. KNTV 11 (ABC) from San Jose, now NBC for the whole SF bay area took up KGO 7 (ABC)'s market. KPIX 5 (CBS) and KOFY (secondary CBS or now ABC) due to major league baseball coverage, same with KTVU 2 (FOX) from Oakland and KTXL 40 from Stockton. And KRON 4 (NBC, now My Net) vs. KCRA 3 (NBC) from Sacramento. There were 2 UPN stations: KICU 36 San Jose and KBHK 44 Contra Costa between Oakland and Stockton, also had major league sports coverage. And 2 WB stations: briefly KNTV 11 and WGN 9 Chicago or KTLA 5 LA. There's a local CW station in SF Bay area (Wikipedia says it's KBWB 44 Concord). PBS from KCSM 60 San Mateo with KQED 9, and an independent station: KFTY 50 Santa Rosa.
In many TV markets with 2 of the same network, the local ones don't cover their primetime with local access or informercials (on cable), FCC regulations requires the secondary "regional" ones to not show the same programming the local affiliate has. However, in Indio/Coachella, Banning/Beaumont and Hemet/San Jacinto in Riverside county, you receive other areas' TV stations over-air, esp. in perfect atmospheric conditions 60-80 miles away. KESQ (ABC) had a transmitter in Hemet in the 1980s-90s, but I think it's on cable and satellite now - they co-own KPSP (CBS) and KCWQ (CW) - carries KTLA 5 news from L.A., and KECY (FOX/My-former CBS/ABC) put a transmitter in Indio in the 1990s-2000s - now KDFX (Fox).