Channel; Affiliate; or Station:  These terms are usually interchangeable, and in this context usually refer to an over-the-air VHF or UHF full-power broadcast station.

Network Channel: A broadcast station that is affiliated with a major broadcast network, EG: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox. Defined in detail 17 USC 119(d)(2).

Independent Station: A station that is NOT affiliated with a major broadcast network, EG ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox. Currently the rules that restrict the delivery of Network Stations via satellite ONLY apply to Network Channels.

DMA: Designated Market Area. Each DMA has specific boundaries usually encompassing a trade area. There are approx 210 DMA's in the US. 

Local Network Channel: The Network Station(s) that serve your local area or DMA.

Distant Network Channel: A Network Station that is outside of your DMA, and is not assigned to the DMA that contains your Physical Location.

***Example: If you live in the Sacramento, CA DMA then an ABC affiliate station in San Francisco or New York would be considered a Distant Network Channel, while an ABC station broadcasting from Sacramento would be considered a Local Network Channel.

Served Area: The areas within a certain DMA, where the designated individual station delivers at least a "Grade B" intensity signal.

Grade B Signal: A certain minimum signal level (with no regard to signal "quality"). Frequently a poor picture, unacceptable to the average person. Designed in the 1950’s to define station number assignments to minimize interference between broadcast stations. Defined in detail in Federal Regulation 47 CFR 73.683 . An incredibly poor standard to use to restrict availability to a home.

SHVA: Satellite Home Viewers Act. The federal statute that allows, but restricts the delivery of Network Stations via satellite to residential homes. 

Local Into Local: When a satellite broadcaster delivers a local Network Channel to homes within that station’s DMA. EG: A home in Los Angeles receiving local Los Angeles Network Affiliate Stations via satellite (instead of via an outside off-air antenna).

Waiver: When a local Network Station gives you written permission to receive a Distant Network Station via satellite.

White Area: An area that does not receive at least a Grade B signal from a network channel affiliate station. .