FCC To Repack Channels

[Jeffhs]

The repack auction is over, according to TV Technology. I found that the CBS channel in my area on channel 19 (VHF 10) is staying on that channel (which surprised me, as I thought they would have requested a move to a UHF channel), but the station's licensee, Raycom Media, has instead requested an immediate increase in ERP transmitter power. Whether this will improve reception of the station to the east of Cleveland (especially in the "dead zone" east of the Cleveland suburb of Euclid, where the station is received poorly or not at all), however, remains to be seen.

BTW, Cleveland is not the only city to have a TV station on a VHF DTV channel. There are several other cities in other parts of the US as well that have at least one station still on a VHF DTV channel after the transition, and which probably have the same reception problems Cleveland's channel 19 (DTV 10) has had since the digital transition.

Why these areas' TV stations have been assigned VHF DTV channels is far beyond me. It makes no sense, especially in Cleveland, where the CBS station is now on a VHF DTV channel that doesn't reach half the station's coverage area. CBS is America's most-watched TV network, after all (they announce this every chance they get (!)), so it makes no sense for any of its local affiliates not to reach all, as in every square mile, of their cities/areas of license; in fact, the Cleveland station is probably losing advertising revenue left and right because of the huge dead zone east of town.

Channel 19 in Cleveland has lost fully half its viewing audience due to its owner's wrong-headed decision to put its DTV signal on VHF channel 10, instead of moving to another UHF channel, as they should have done in the first place. Other cities may have been able to get away with putting their stations on VHF DTV channels without losing viewers, but this does not work well in northeastern Ohio due to the area's geography and the fact that most of the station's signal on channel 10 goes over Lake Erie, rather than being beamed to the east; another problem is co-channel interference six months of the year with channel 10 in Ontario, Canada, sixty miles directly across Lake Erie.

I thought (in fact, I was sure) Raycom Media would have seen this problem immediately, and moved its Cleveland station to a UHF channel right from the beginning; if they had, this co-channel and reception problems monkey business would never have become an issue. The reason they did not do this may be because Raycom's technical staff did not take Cleveland's proximity to Ontario, Canada into account when they were trying to find a suitable DTV channel. They could have left 19's DTV signal on channel 19 instead of moving it (a technique known as "flash-cutting"), as a TV station in Akron, Ohio did shortly after the DTV transition.

I don't know. Maybe Raycom figures the area east of Cleveland, for whatever reason they may have, is not worth the trouble to put a decent signal into. I would remind these people, if I could, that their station happens to be affiliated with a television network (CBS) which is presently America's most-watched television network, and that they absolutely cannot afford to lose viewers; no commercial TV station can.

Sheeesh. If they (Raycom Media) do not seem to care that their Cleveland station does not reach all of northeastern Ohio since the digital transition, perhaps, IMHO, they should sell it to a media group that does.

While there are ways available to viewers east of town to get around this problem, such as cable, satellite or streaming video, to name but three, the licensee and/or owners of channel 19 absolutely cannot ignore the over-the-air reception difficulties in Cleveland's suburbs and outlying areas east of the city. There are many people who cannot afford cable or satellite, some people cannot, for whatever reason, put up outdoor TV antennas, and the popular Roku player's cable app (in my area the Spectrum app) will not receive an area's local TV channels without the account holder having at least a cable account (the cable need not be physically connected to the TV); this is a function of their billing system, and is necessary so the cable operator can pay for the privilege of having local TV channels available via the application.

[old_tv_nut]

There was a long, tortuous path to the VHF DTV problem, mainly due to the fact that the original coverage equations used by the FCC did not take into account the actual full amount of ambient noise in the spectrum at VHF, which apparently has only increased over the years. As a result, some stations chose VHF where they could because of the predicted wide coverage and the much lower transmitter power bill - the VHF signal does refract further over the horizon than UHF. So, signal levels at VHF are as predicted, but noise levels are higher than predicted. The solution would be for all VHF stations to increase power simultaneously, thereby overcoming atmospheric noise and keeping the co-channel ratios constant - BUT, since many of the stations were built to the predicted required power, such a simultaneous increase is just not practical. Hopefully this will be rectified with ATSC 3.0, both by coding gains and power increases; but with the need to co-exist with ATSC 1.0 for a time, the power increase may need to be phased in.

[DavGoodlin]

Awesome analysis Wayne, I knew something was up when WHTM-27 in Harrisburg chose RF channel 10 and WCAU-10 in Phl switched to RF-34 In fact WCAU reduced power on analog 10 (or went directional) when WHTM fired up the DTV transmitter, until the end of analog.

[NowhereMan 1966]

I see some stations are being reassigned "channel 0." Does this mean they will stop broadcasting and exist as a subchannel of another station?

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

I see some stations are being reassigned "channel 0." Does this mean they will stop broadcasting and exist as a subchannel of another station?

Or possibly cease to exist entirely. But for sure, some deals will be made/money will change hands over subchannel space and perhaps even main channels... could get interesting to see how this all shakes out! The fat lady ain't singing yet!

jr

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Or possibly cease to exist entirely. But for sure, some deals will be made/money will change hands over subchannel space and perhaps even main channels... could get interesting to see how this all shakes out! The fat lady ain't singing yet!

jr

I know in the case of WKBN-TV, Youngstown, OH, they have a new channel assignment of 0. I know the same company who owns them also owns channel 33 in Youngstown as well so I ASSUME WKBN could end up as a subchannel there unless like you said, they are still waiting for their new channel. WKBN is Youngstown CBS affiliate so I really cannot see them going dark completely, then again who knows? I know here in the Ohio Valley, WTRF-TV on 7 is the local CBS station but they carry ABC on a subchannel since WTAE-TV from Pittsburgh is a tough catch, almost impossible here.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Or possibly cease to exist entirely. But for sure, some deals will be made/money will change hands over subchannel space and perhaps even main channels... could get interesting to see how this all shakes out! The fat lady ain't singing yet!

Indeed..... The govt doesnt offer to pay for anything UNLESS THEY HAVE AN AGENDA!!

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

I see some stations are being reassigned "channel 0." Does this mean they will stop broadcasting and exist as a subchannel of another station?

The MyTV affiliate in Cleveland, WUAB-TV channel 43, is not going off the air, but it will become a subchannel of WOIO-TV 19, the CBS affiliate, probably by the end of this year. Channel 43 made a particular point of this when the change was first announced, probably to squelch rumors that the station would go off the air entirely. The whole thing started when channel 43 recently sold its spectrum space and transmitter after the recently-concluded spectrum auction; some people must have jumped to conclusions, thinking the station was leaving the air, never to return.

Channel 43 was Cleveland's first independent station, having initially signed on in 1968. It was followed by WKBF-TV (Kaiser Broadcasting, now Univision affiliate WQHS-TV) on channel 61 soon after, with a third independent station, WBNX-TV in Akron, signing on channel 55 in 1985.

The announcement that channel 43's spectrum had been sold was almost certainly what started the rumors of the station eventually going dark. Whomever started this rumor apparently did not realize the station would remain on the air, only on a subchannel of channel 19. A similar change will be taking place in New York and Chicago, where the NBC affiliates in those cities will share their RF and DTV channels with other local stations. In New York, WNBC-TV will be sharing its spectrum with WNJU-TV; in Chicago, WMAQ-TV will be doing the same, sharing its channel space with Telemundo affiliate WSNS-TV. Whether or not this means the shared stations will be on subchannels of the main one, however, remains to be seen, although it would not surprise me if the stations did move to subchannels.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

The MyTV affiliate in Cleveland, WUAB-TV channel 43, is not going off the air, but it will become a subchannel of WOIO-TV 19, the CBS affiliate, probably by the end of this year. Channel 43 made a particular point of this when the change was first announced, probably to squelch rumors that the station would go off the air entirely. The whole thing started when channel 43 recently sold its spectrum space and transmitter after the recently-concluded spectrum auction; some people must have jumped to conclusions, thinking the station was leaving the air, never to return.

Channel 43 was Cleveland's first independent station, having initially signed on in 1968. It was followed by WKBF-TV (Kaiser Broadcasting, now Univision affiliate WQHS-TV) on channel 61 soon after, with a third independent station, WBNX-TV in Akron, signing on channel 55 in 1985.

The announcement that channel 43's spectrum had been sold was almost certainly what started the rumors of the station eventually going dark. Whomever started this rumor apparently did not realize the station would remain on the air, only on a subchannel of channel 19. A similar change will be taking place in New York and Chicago, where the NBC affiliates in those cities will share their RF and DTV channels with other local stations. In New York, WNBC-TV will be sharing its spectrum with WNJU-TV; in Chicago, WMAQ-TV will be doing the same, sharing its channel space with Telemundo affiliate WSNS-TV. Whether or not this means the shared stations will be on subchannels of the main one, however, remains to be seen, although it would not surprise me if the stations did move to subchannels.

Yeah, know here in the Ohio Valley, WTOV is NBC on 9.1 but carries Fox on 9.2 and MeTV on 9.3 Channel 7, WTRF from Wheeling is CBS on 7.1 but carries something else (they have a lot of crime shows) on 7.2 but still labeled Fox (Fox used to be on 7.2 before switching to 9.2), ABC is on 7.3 and Escape in on 7.4. WTRF carrying ABC is a good idea because Channel 4 out of Pittsburgh is tough to receive west of Pittsburgh even in analogue days. I know Pittsburgh stations have been affected but I live in the bowl called the Ohio Valley, the Ohio River is several blocks form me and both sides of the Appalachians surrounding me are 600 to 700 feet higher up so Pittsburgh TV goes 1000 feet above my head and my 1959 Rembrandt Rabbit ears. In other words, forget about it. Well at least with MeTV, I'm happy. I also like Fox, I like to catch the Simpsons, Family Guy and especially the Orrville.

You mentioned CHannel 19, I remember receiving them form time to time in the Western suburbs of Pittsburgh until Johnstown for WFAT at that same time.

[centralradio]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

I see some stations are being reassigned "channel 0." Does this mean they will stop broadcasting and exist as a subchannel of another station?

Sad to see the small people in the field will end up jobless after this DTV repack.The same goes for these big radio conglomerates as they fall apart.

[NowhereMan 1966]

I know WKBN in Youngstown was assigned a "0" and on the www.pbrtv.com site (Pittsburgh area and surrounding areas for radio and TV), WKBN will be on channel 33's signal since both stations are owned by the same company. I suspected that much.

[TV Engineer]

Originally Posted by kf4rca

All channels above 36 will be required to shift down. While the transmitters are frequency agile to some extent, the antennas are not. Many stations may simply not be able to afford the shift. Is this part of the government's conspiracy to drive OTA broadcasters out of business?

The government is paying for our shift to the new channels.

[Dude111]

Yes because they have an agenda..... They wouldnt pay for that otherwise!!!

Something soon will be apparent!!

[RON WA9RHU]

yes,they want you to pay thru the nose and somewhere else, where is the FCC for the consumers?we already watch 5 minutes of commercials every 3 minutes of program material. the FCC is busy selling off spectrum to phone companies and everybody and their mothers to finance the government staying in the pink, meanwhile I cannot get ATT to repair their idiot cable system that keeps rebooting every day, I have to play repairman and spend 20 minutes sometimes 2 or 3 times a day to watch an overpriced WIRELESS cable system.Streaming is next your really going to pay once OTA is gone.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by RON WA9RHU

yes,they want you to pay thru the nose and somewhere else, where is the FCC for the consumers?we already watch 5 minutes of commercials every 3 minutes of program material. the FCC is busy selling off spectrum to phone companies and everybody and their mothers to finance the government staying in the pink, meanwhile I cannot get ATT to repair their idiot cable system that keeps rebooting every day, I have to play repairman and spend 20 minutes sometimes 2 or 3 times a day to watch an overpriced WIRELESS cable system.Streaming is next your really going to pay once OTA is gone.

Ron, I have Spectrum (Time Warner) cable service and have had few problems; part of this may be due to the fact that I have the company's lowest tier of service, which does not require a cable box (I use a Roku device and receive all my TV over the Internet). I am not familiar with and cannot speak for AT&T, but it seems to me they may be having problems with their system which are beyond your (or anyone else's) control.

AT&T could be using very old, outdated equipment that should have been replaced years or even decades (!) ago; however, this is just speculation on my part. Also, cable systems sometimes run into problems when too many people are watching a given channel, causing that channel to temporarily freeze or disappear altogether (this often happens on popular cable channels such as ESPN, when the network is showing popular content such as playoff games, etc). Cable operators do have an obligation to keep up with the state of the art (for example, the mandatory switch to DTV from analog in June 2009), but many do not perform updates not directly affecting the cable (such as guide updates) because they may feel if they do, they will have no choice but to pass on the cost to subscribers; this means, of course, higher bills.

As for commercials, well, I'm afraid we are stuck with them on every network except PBS. I agree, however, that there are far too many commercials on TV, but what can we do? The commercials keep our favorite programs on the air. Personally, I just ignore the commercials and wait for the program I am watching to resume. I've been doing that for quite a while now, and it's a good thing since, as you mentioned, there are already at least five minutes worth of these things on every program.

I don't see OTA TV disappearing any time soon. There are many people in this country who cannot afford even basic cable, and rely on OTA television. If the FCC does away with OTA, people who use antennas will have no choice but to go without TV or to watch DVDs, VHS video tapes, or streaming services. The streaming services such as Youtube TV, Hulu, et al. do charge a monthly fee and an initial sign-on fee, but these are far lower than cable; further, you do not need a cable box ahead of your TV to use these services, so anyone who watches TV through YTTV or Hulu can eliminate that monthly charge for good, unless of course they want movie channels the likes of HBO, Cinemax, et al.