I've noticed that (except for 25) the channels broadcasting spam are also broadcasting something else. That makes me think those stations are filling their extra bandwidth with spam to subsidize their other broadcasts. I doubt ATSC's designers had this in mind when they included subchannels, but it does provide a way to put channels with small audiences on the air and still make ends meet. In other words, 26.2, 26.3, 31.5, and 50.4 may be part of the price we pay for 26.1, 31.3, 31.4, and 50.1.eskipper411 said:
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Almost half of DFW TV is Christian or spam!
- Thread starter JHBrandt
- Start date
fredcantu said:
I don't think so. I've heard there's a station somewhere in the US broadcasting 12 SD channels! Some might be things like weather channels that don't need much bandwidth, but I'd bet a lot look like our 33.3 and 44 do.
I guess they have to allow for weird situations like the Texoma area, which is served by only two stations. So you have KXII trying to shoehorn 1 SD and 2 HD subchannels into one 6 MHz RF channel. (And I think KTEN is similar.) But it does seem that some stations are abusing their discretion.
Ironically, our Christian and spam broadcasts usually have decent (albeit SD) picture quality.
I wonder how hard it is to flip between SD and HD? If it can be done simply and quickly, I could see KXII changing either 12-1 or 12-3 to 16:9 SD when the other one needs extra bandwidth (e.g., if Fox is showing the Super Bowl, could they switch CBS to SD temporarily, then switch it back afterwards?)tripinva said:
JHBrandt said:
I dredged up that old post just for background. Of course, there have been some changes since I wrote that. Analog 28 is gone and digital 28 has yet to appear, and 31.2 is now a non-religious channel.
I just took another look at these stations and just about everyone still wants to move to Dallas. Also, there's now an eighth station, although it doesn't follow the K?FW naming convention: KWDA.
As Bob noted in another thread KPFW finally made it to RF 18, although the Urban Superstation has yet to appear on 18.2. Its sister, KZFW, has been chugging along on RF 6 as a "virtual LPFM" for many months (the video is just a static station ID card).
The LMO-owned stations, KQFW and KWDA, both have construction permits to move to D/FW. KQFW would broadcast from Garland on out-of-core RF channel 56, while KWDA would broadcast from downtown Dallas on RF 21 with a cardioid pattern similar to KPFW's. KQFW's coverage appears to completely overlap KWDA's, so I can't imagine what they want the latter station for. Neither appears to be on the air yet (but I'm curious what KWDA would use for their virtual channel number!) BTW, the FCC's service contour map for the KWDA CP has a rather amazing mistake if you pull it up
The HCCN-owned stations, KHFW and KSFW, are both licensed to serve areas north of the Metroplex. But if KHFW was ever on the air, they're off now, as their license is for RF 29 and their coverage area overlaps with KTXA. KSFW (RF 2) has a CP to move to Dallas, but their current license covers a larger area than KHFW, including almost all of the latter's area except for the portion farthest east. It would seem HCCN would be better off abandoning their CP for KSFW and instead filing a displacement application for KHFW (assuming they can find a channel to move to!) That way KSFW could keep serving north Texas and KHFW could serve their Dallas members.
That leaves KBFW (RF 6, presumably broadcasting from Ft. Worth) and KVFW (RF 38 from Cedar Hill). KBFW is completely blocked by KZFW in S. Garland, but KVFW comes in OK. Again, I can't imagine what Mr. Benavides even wants KBFW for, since KVFW completely overlaps KBFW's coverage area, and especially considering he only has one active subchannel on KVFW :
M
mikerichardson
Guest
JHBrandt said:
I don't know - I don't think it's in the specification and might screw up some receivers.
They could allocate more or less bandwidth to the channels depending on which program is perceived to be more important. Also, if they have something called a (multiplexing encoder? DBS uses them) - then it will allocate bandwidth dynamically depending upon the demands of each stream.
The last few months have been pretty rough for the Godcasters and videospammers.
Now I've been down this road before, taking notice of a dropoff in Godcasters and wondering if it was a trend. Turned out to be a false alarm (which is why I started this thread!) But this seems pretty big.
There certainly seems to be a glut of TV bandwidth in the DFW market (particularly the LPTV part of the market), which should be pushing down the cost to get on the air. OTOH, it takes a certain minimum level of income to keep a station on the air, so costs can only go so low. At some point you're going to see more KVFW's.
- KVFW/38 has been off the air for months.
- 26.2, 26.3, 31.1, 34.2, 34.3, and 34.4 are all gone.
- KHPK is back on as channel 28, but has no programming as yet. As far as I can tell, no other CPs (on RF 2, 21, 22, or 56) have lit up.
- KLEG lost their programming, but has found nothing to replace it with.
- Last time I checked, 50.2 and 50.4 were both color bars.
Now I've been down this road before, taking notice of a dropoff in Godcasters and wondering if it was a trend. Turned out to be a false alarm (which is why I started this thread!) But this seems pretty big.
There certainly seems to be a glut of TV bandwidth in the DFW market (particularly the LPTV part of the market), which should be pushing down the cost to get on the air. OTOH, it takes a certain minimum level of income to keep a station on the air, so costs can only go so low. At some point you're going to see more KVFW's.
JHBrandt said:
To get an idea of just bleak things are in the LPTV world, read all of this filing detailing financial hardship in a large market (Pittsburgh) with far fewer streams in competition than we have in D/FW.
https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101422484&formid=337&fac_num=68396
In particular note this section from the filing:
DURING EACH OF THE FISCAL YEARS 2008, 2009 AND 2010, WBGN EXPERIENCED EITHER AN OPERATING LOSS OR MINIMAL CASH FLOW. THIS LOSS WAS EXPERIENCED EVEN THOUGH NEITHER OF WBGN'S TWO PRINCIPLES DREW ANY DISTRIBUTION FROM THE LICENSEE AND NO ONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE STATION WAS PAID OVER $10.00 PER HOUR.
fredcantu said:
Indie on 59.1, HSN on 59.2, and Universal Sports on 59.4, based on the skeds on their website:
http://www.wbgn.com/
*Sigh* Plus ca change ... :
For a while things seemed to be getting better, with TheCoolTV, Punch TV, Cubana de Television, and even a few non-religious broadcasts on KWDA/30.
But we've recently lost all the above networks, and KWDA/30 is down to one non-religious show (or maybe two; I'm not sure about Mana 30.7). 30.3 was switched from TV Amor to a simulcast of MCTV 18.4, and 30.9 is now a Bible channel (sort of a Spanish version of 51.3). And there's now a new Godcaster I've never heard of on 18.2 (replacing longstanding color bars).
Hispanics have been hit hardest. They now enjoy 11 general-interest channels, 12 religious channels, and 3 Spanish-language infomercial channels. But we Anglophones aren't doing much better, with 24 general-interest channels and 20 religious, shopping, or infomercial channels to choose from. (And these numbers don't count duplicates/simulcasts.)
For a while things seemed to be getting better, with TheCoolTV, Punch TV, Cubana de Television, and even a few non-religious broadcasts on KWDA/30.
But we've recently lost all the above networks, and KWDA/30 is down to one non-religious show (or maybe two; I'm not sure about Mana 30.7). 30.3 was switched from TV Amor to a simulcast of MCTV 18.4, and 30.9 is now a Bible channel (sort of a Spanish version of 51.3). And there's now a new Godcaster I've never heard of on 18.2 (replacing longstanding color bars).
Hispanics have been hit hardest. They now enjoy 11 general-interest channels, 12 religious channels, and 3 Spanish-language infomercial channels. But we Anglophones aren't doing much better, with 24 general-interest channels and 20 religious, shopping, or infomercial channels to choose from. (And these numbers don't count duplicates/simulcasts.)
JHBrandt said:*Sigh* Plus ca change ... :
For a while things seemed to be getting better, with TheCoolTV, Punch TV, Cubana de Television, and even a few non-religious broadcasts on KWDA/30.
But we've recently lost all the above networks, and KWDA/30 is down to one non-religious show (or maybe two; I'm not sure about Mana 30.7). 30.3 was switched from TV Amor to a simulcast of MCTV 18.4, and 30.9 is now a Bible channel (sort of a Spanish version of 51.3). And there's now a new Godcaster I've never heard of on 18.2 (replacing longstanding color bars).
Hispanics have been hit hardest. They now enjoy 11 general-interest channels, 12 religious channels, and 3 Spanish-language infomercial channels. But we Anglophones aren't doing much better, with 24 general-interest channels and 20 religious, shopping, or infomercial channels to choose from. (And these numbers don't count duplicates/simulcasts.)
We just lost Cubana and TheCoolTV in Houston as well.
We just lost Cubana and TheCoolTV in Houston as well.
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Cubana de Television was just a DVD!
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Cubana de Television was just a DVD!
Given what I'd seen on the most recent return of TheCoolTV to DFW, that doesn't surprise me
I never watched Cubana de Television for long; just a few minutes per day while I got a signal measurement for KJJM, so I never knew it was a DVD operation. But I think TV Amor on 30.3 was a VCR operation! Their PQ was poor, some of which was due to low bandwidth, but there were a few days when I saw the characteristic "tearing" of a VCR with poor tracking :
I never watched Cubana de Television for long; just a few minutes per day while I got a signal measurement for KJJM, so I never knew it was a DVD operation. But I think TV Amor on 30.3 was a VCR operation! Their PQ was poor, some of which was due to low bandwidth, but there were a few days when I saw the characteristic "tearing" of a VCR with poor tracking :
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