A TV station on channel 37?

[dhett]

Surprising, since I'd thought that channel 37 was reserved everywhere, but apparently, EBC Southwest Florida is requesting it for a digital companion channel to WSLF-LP 35 Port St. Lucie FL, to serve the Palm Beach area.

I don't know whether the FCC will reject the application, or grant it, since I don't think a channel 37 in souther Florida would interfere with any radio telescope sites, which are usually located on mountains.

If granted, it would be the only TV station on channel 37 in the nation. Now that's clear channel television!

CDBS link to application:
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/...t=25&appn=101151868&formid=346&fac_num=168615

 

[KeithE4]

I can't see any way this app will even be considered. Section 73.603(c) of the FCC regs states that Channel 37 (608-614 MHz) is for the exclusive use of the Radio Astronomy service, something their application doesn't even acknowledge. Section 74.702(a)(2) says the same thing.

Sounds like they didn't do their homework.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

I don't know whether the FCC will reject the application, or grant it, since I don't think a channel 37 in souther Florida would interfere with any radio telescope sites, which are usually located on mountains.

If granted, it would be the only TV station on channel 37 in the nation. Now that's clear channel television!

It would still cause interference, no matter how far away it might be from a radio telescope site, for the same reason that "clear channel" frequencies are (were) spaced so far apart.

And not only the nation, but its my understanding that there are no channel-37s licensed in the entire world.

 

[rockcaptain]

And not only the nation, but its my understanding that there are no channel-37s licensed in the entire world.

According to Wikipedia, channel 37 is used outside of North America. An excerpt:

Outside North America, channel 37 is active: in the Philippines (UNTV Channel 37); in the UK (many transmitters used by the Five network actually broadcast on channel 37); and in France and Ireland, among other countries. However, frequency allocation for TV channels is different in these countries, and channel 37 is not the same frequency as it is in the Americas (ITU region II).

So according to that, there are other channel 37s...however they aren't on the same frequency.

 

[azumanga]

According to Wikipedia, channel 37 is used outside of North America. An excerpt:

Outside North America, channel 37 is active: in the Philippines (UNTV Channel 37)...

So according to that, there are other channel 37s...however they aren't on the same frequency.

Though the Philippines uses NTSC-M, on the same frequencies used for the US. Apparently, the Pilipino broadcasting authorities have no regulation regarding channel 37.

 

[dhett]

Re: A TV station on channel 37 - DISMISSED

Not surprisingly, the FCC has already dismissed the application. Whether the FCC or the applicant initiated the dismissal is unknown, but score a big DUH for Equity Broadcasting on this one!

 

[bpatrick]

It's true that you'll find Channel 37 in Europe;
the BBC broadcasts on 37 in some localities.
But remember, the UK and (I suppose) most
of the Continent are on the PAL system.
If an NTSC-based station on 37 ever signs on,
I promise to die of shock.

BTW, there is at least one place where you
can find Channel 1. Japan numbers its channels
1-12. But I'm not sure Japan is on NTSC.

 

[azumanga]

Japan numbers its channels
1-12. But I'm not sure Japan is on NTSC.

Yes, Japan is NTSC color, but its VHF band (1 to 12) is on the same frequencies used for FM radio in the rest of the world. Japan's UHF is the same as the US, but one channel off (for instance, our channel 14 is Japan's channel 13).

 

[compubit]

IIRC, the channel designated as "37" in other systems (not NTSC-M), is not the same frequency range as North American 37... (Just like cable 37 isn't the same as OTA 37).

Which reminds me of a scam I ran across - I was in Arizona, and saw a couple of "Donate to help save children" boxes at convenience stores - it said to watch the such and such show on KTTV, Channel 37. First of all KTTV is channel 11 in Los Angeles (not on Phoenix and Tucson cable, since the local Fox stations would have a fit...), and secondly, there is no broadcast channel 37... The clerks seemed very disinterested with my concern...

Jim

 

[bpatrick]

IIRC, the channel designated as "37" in other systems (not NTSC-M), is not the same frequency range as North American 37... (Just like cable 37 isn't the same as OTA 37).

Which reminds me of a scam I ran across - I was in Arizona, and saw a couple of "Donate to help save children" boxes at convenience stores - it said to watch the such and such show on KTTV, Channel 37. First of all KTTV is channel 11 in Los Angeles (not on Phoenix and Tucson cable, since the local Fox stations would have a fit...), and secondly, there is no broadcast channel 37... The clerks seemed very disinterested with my concern...

Jim

True to the first part, which is why I made sure to mention that
the UK is on PAL.

If KTTV is not on cable in Arizona, I can't venture a guess about the
"KTTV Channel 37" business. But I do know that people get cable and
OTA channels confused; case in point: I have a cousin in Goldsboro, NC,
whose cable system brings in all the Raleigh/Durham channels plus WITN/7
and WNCT/9 Greenville/New Bern/Washington. I once asked him if he
got Channel 12, meaning ABC affiliate WCTI New Bern. He thought I
meant Raleigh's CW affiliate WLFL/22, which is on 12 on his cable system.
(He doesn't get the New Bern station.)

So my first thought was that KTTV might be on Channel 37 on some cable
system in Arizona, outside Phoenix and Tucson (you don't say where in
Arizona this happened), maybe near the California border. Do you remember
where you were? If you do, you could check it out at titantv or zap2it.

 

[compubit]

(Sorry for the delay in responding - I've been out of town).

This was at least 10 years ago. I had a Tucson Sunday newspaper guide, but didn't see KTTV, especially since KMSB was on the air...

Other things about the "donation" just didn't seem right with me - and I definitely didn't contribute...

Jim

 

[zumahans]

In the mid 1960s, a microwave engineering company began feeding KTLA and KTTV via microwave through Palm Springs and Yuma to rural Arizona markets, as far north as Flagstaff and east to Bisbee and Douglas. (KNBC and KNXT went as far as Yuma).

CATV systems in rural Arizona all had channels 5 and 11 from LA thoughout the 70s and into the 80s. I used to watch the Dodgers and Angels via microwave in Nogales in 1979. Neither was available in Tucson or Phoenix because there no CATV systems in either big market, only the rural areas with CATV got 5 and 11.

For a few years in the early 1980s, Tucson got KTLA off the microwave via wireless MMDS cable.

This was a grandfathered use and not affected by the Superstation law.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Some of the branding we've seen in recent years has contributed to the confusion. Remember when KNTV was "NBC 3", eventhough they're on Channel 11? And that one station in Florida that is now "ABC 7", eventhough they're on 40.

And don't even get me started about the confusing way they did it in Canada a number of years ago. CKY5? WTF...

 

[azumanga]

And that one station in Florida that is now "ABC 7", eventhough they're on 40.

...or 26, depending on where you live. Sarasota's WWSB ch.40 and Fort Myers' WZVN ch.26 both use "ABC 7" (though their logos are different).

 

[compubit]

OK - I figured it was a scam, so I didn't participate...

As for the Canadian stations:

CKY 5 - 5 is where the station is on cable across most of Manitoba (OTA 7) (now just CTV Manitoba)
CFJC 7 - Kamloops(OTA 2)
CFRN 2 - Edmonton (OTA 3) (now just CTV Edmonton)
CFCN 3 (or CFCN 5) - Calgary (now just CTV Calgary) - OTA 4 in Calgary and OTA 13 in Lethbridge
"Calgary 7" CICT - OTA 2 (Now Global Calgary)

The stations that I never understood were the ones that did 2 numbers:

CHAT 6 & 3 Medicine Hat, AB- OTA 6, Cable 3 (very creative logo, though...)
CJFB 5 & 9 Swift Current, SK - OTA 5, Cable 9 (now CBKT-4, rebroadcasting CBKT)
2&7 CISA Lethbridge, AB- OTA 7, Cable 2 (now Global Lethbridge)
2&7 CKKX Calgary, AB- OTA 2, Cable 7 (then became Calgary 7 - CICT, then Global Calgary)
CKND 9/12 Winnipeg, MB- OTA 9, Cable 12 (now Global Winnipeg)

I'm sure that there were others over time...

Jim

 

[mjlarochelle]

CFJC 7 - Kamloops(OTA 2)

OTA 4, actually. You might be thinking of the station in Kelowna.

CHAT 6 & 3 Medicine Hat, AB- OTA 6, Cable 3 (very creative logo, though...)
CJFB 5 & 9 Swift Current, SK - OTA 5, Cable 9 (now CBKT-4, rebroadcasting CBKT)
2&7 CISA Lethbridge, AB- OTA 7, Cable 2 (now Global Lethbridge)
2&7 CKKX Calgary, AB- OTA 2, Cable 7 (then became Calgary 7 - CICT, then Global Calgary)
CKND 9/12 Winnipeg, MB- OTA 9, Cable 12 (now Global Winnipeg)

I'm sure that there were others over time...

CBWFT 3/10 Winnipeg - OTA 3, Cable 10 (now Radio-Canada Manitoba)
CBC 9 & 4, Regina, SK (CBKT) - OTA 9, Cable 4 (now CBC Regina)
CBC 9 & 4, Moose Jaw, SK (CBKT-1) - OTA 4, Cable 9 (now CBC Regina)
TBTV 2/5, Thunder Bay, ON (CKPR) - OTA 2, Cable 5 (now TBTV CKPR)
TBTV 4/6, Thunder Bay, ON (CHFD) - OTA 4, Cable 6 (now TBTV CTV)

Some stations at least made an effort to differentiate between the channel and cable number - examples include CBXT 5 (Ca. 4), CITY 57 (Ca. 7), CFCF 12 (Ca. 11), CBMT 6 (Ca. 13), CFMT 47 (Ca. 4), and CFTO 9 (Ca. 8 ). Such branding is highly unusual in the United States, probably because of markets being served by multiple cable companies with different lineups, some of which use the OTA number anyways - one exception being WUHF 31 in Rochester, which promoted Cable 7 at one time. Others traditionally have only promoted their cable number(s), such as CJOH (Ca. 7), CKOS (Ca. 11), ATV (Ca. 9 or 8 ), CIVT (Ca. 9) and CIHF (Ca. 6) - although almost never as their main branding.