Boston has no lack of full power stations:
WGBH TV 2 (DT-19) Boston, MA PBS
WBZ TV 4 (DT-30) Boston, MA CBS
WCVB TV 5 (DT-20) Boston, MA ABC
WHDH TV 7 (DT-42 ---moving to 7 after switch) Boston, MA NBC
WMUR TV 9 (DT-59 -- moving to 9 after switch) Manchester, NH ABC
WENH TV 11 (DT-57 -- moving to 11 after switch) Durham, NH PBS-NHPT
WFXT TV 25 (DT-31) Boston, MA FOX
WUNI TV 27 (DT-29) Worcester, MA Univision
WSBK TV 38 (DT-39) Boston, MA Ind.
WGBX TV 44 (DT-43) Boston, MA PBS
WWDP TV 46 (DT-52 -- Moving to 10 after switch?) Norwell, MA (ShopNBC)
WYDN TV 48 (DT-47) Worcerster, MA DayStar
WZMY TV 50 (DT-35 -- may have already switched over to digital only) Derry, NH MyTV
WEKW TV 52 (DT-49) Keene, NH PBS-NHPT
WLVI TV 56 (DT-41) Cambridge, MA CW
WNEU TV 60 (DT-34) Merrimack, NH Telemundo
WMFP TV 62 (DT-18 -- May have already switched to digital only) Lawrence, MA (Shopping/Infomercial)
WUTF TV 66 (DT-23 -- may be moving to 27 after switch) Marlborough, MA TeleFutura
WBPX TV 68 (DT 32) Boston, MA ION
There are plenty of stations here that can take the NBC affiliation and, even with the #4 network, still easily quadruple their ratings overnight.
Remember that NBC removed their affiliation from a metro area station in San Francisco and gave it to a station in San Jose! This is a station that couldn't even provide a signal to the northern metro SF area! So it would not be unheard of for NBC to make a deal with the Manchester NH station! (I know it's owned by the Boston ABC affiliate).
See ya
Tony
See ya
Tony