Beaumont-Port Arthur NBC Affiliation Mystery Solved

[fredcantu]

The most common example of open captioning these days is the subtitles on foreign language material.

 

[intx]

KUIL's post-Jan. 1 plans are starting to come together. According to the Enterprise, they'll become an indy known as "The U." Article mentions they've picked up "Scrubs" and will air shows produced by Lamar University, but doesn't say which shows have been selected to fill the primetime hours. This economy, combined with the affiliation loss? Let the countdown begin ...

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/fox_64_to_drop_affiliate_in_new_year_12-18-2008.html

 

[intx]

OK ... I'm answering my own question. Checked the various TV listing sites. Most weren't updated to reflect the switch, but Zap2It was. Apparently KUIL's new primetime lineup is back-to-back "Family Guy" from 7 to 8p and "Tyra" at 8p. Meanwhile, over at KBTV, they are completely taking their newscasts out of head-to-head competition with the other stations in town. Morning news runs from 7 to 9a. There's a new 30-minute newscast at 4p. No 5p or 6p news. And, of course, as a Fox station their late news runs at 9p instead of 10p. Still no word tho on KBMT's lineup for NBC on 12.2.

 

[fredcantu]

WWJ-TV CBS 62 in Detroit provides a good example of a network affiliate with no local news.
They run infomercials until the network's morning news show comes on.
They fill the 5 minute cut-ins with weather, traffic and commercials (nothing on camera.)
They run a 30-minute syndie before the network evening news.
Then the run a 60-minute syndie show to fill between the net's evening news and prime time.
Thr late news slot is filled with a 30-minute syndie.

KVEO NBC 23 in the Valley ran something very similar until they recently started doing local news.

It is possible KBMT will simulcast its local news on 12.1 and 12.2, but I'm not sure what they would gain. It makes more sense to go after two different audiences and then sell them in combo.

 

[arnoldevns]

I think simulcasting the news would make perfect sense. Think of it this way, if you have 30,000 people watching the NBC programming and 20,000 watching the ABC programming - why would you make one of those large groups flip over to your other channel to watch your news? There's a fair chance they'll go somewhere else. If you could just keep them there, you stand a much better chance at getting a total of 50,000 for your news.

 

[azumanga]

It is possible KBMT will simulcast its local news on 12.1 and 12.2, but I'm not sure what they would gain. It makes more sense to go after two different audiences and then sell them in combo.

In the Flint/Saginaw market, WNEM operates a MyNetworkTV affiliate on one of its subchannels. For news, the MNTV channel simulcasts WNEM's news live, save for a 10PM newscast (which is a simulcast of WSMH's newscast, which is produced by WNEM).

 

[intx]

KBMT has said they will offer news on the NBC subchannel, so I think it's a safe bet they will simulcast most, if not all, of their newscasts on 12.2.

 

[arnoldevns]

KBMT has said they will offer news on the NBC subchannel, so I think it's a safe bet they will simulcast most, if not all, of their newscasts on 12.2.

They could simulcast all their news and even the Today and GMA news inserts without too much difficulty.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

In the Flint/Saginaw market, WNEM operates a MyNetworkTV affiliate on one of its subchannels. For news, the MNTV channel simulcasts WNEM's news live, save for a 10PM newscast (which is a simulcast of WSMH's newscast, which is produced by WNEM).

In Wheeling WV, where CBS affiliate WTRF launched the "ABC Ohio Valley" subchannel, they simulcast WTRF's newscasts on the ABC side...with a different opening, and superimposed "7-ABC" graphics that cover the WTRF/CBS logo airing on the main channel. I've got that recorded somewhere.

I suppose the reason is the same as posted here earlier - they don't want folks watching ABC's prime time programming to be tuning channels at 11 for the news, possibly landing on competitor WTOV/9.

One of WTRF's West Virginia Media Holdings sister stations also added ABC as a subchannel, and I believe runs one newscast only for the ABC affiliate. WTRF also has a FOX subchannel, and it produces a 10 PM newscast there.

 

[intx]

The plot thickens: KBMT and Time Warner are locked in negotiations and the warning's out that Southeast Texas cable customers could lose their ABC --and-- NBC signals effective 12/31.

http://www.kbmt12.com/home/breaking/35970284.html

 

[bpatrick]

While I'm aware of places like Flint, Wheeling,
Charlottesville, and Bowling Green carrying more
than one network thanks to subchannels, I'm
wondering about a couple of things:

In Jacksonville, Gannett has a duopoly of WTLV/12
(NBC) and WJXX/25 (ABC), and the news airs at
different times; 25 has a 7 PM newscast. This is
Eastern time rather than Central, but could KBMT
carry one of its newscasts at 5 and the other at 6?

Second, the reception on WWJ (as analog) is so
weak that many Detroit-area viewers watch WTOL/11
Toledo for CBS. If there are people in Beaumont who
don't have HDTV and no access to 12.2, will they end
up watching NBC on KPRC or Lake Charles' KPLC?

 

[tripinva]

Second, the reception on WWJ (as analog) is so
weak that many Detroit-area viewers watch WTOL/11
Toledo for CBS. If there are people in Beaumont who
don't have HDTV and no access to 12.2, will they end
up watching NBC on KPRC or Lake Charles' KPLC?

If they're OTA viewers, after 02/17/09 they'll have to go digital so they'll get NBC from KBMT, and if they get that 160 kW they want, coverage shouldn't be an issue.

That said, shoving two HD feeds onto a single channel will probably destroy the picture quality, so many people with HDTVs will probably end up watching network programming from KPLC (NBC) and KTRK (ABC).

- Trip

 

[azumanga]

...the reception on WWJ (as analog) is so
weak that many Detroit-area viewers watch WTOL/11
Toledo for CBS.

A few years ago, WWJ upped its analog signal to 5000kw, not only the strongest signal in Detroit, but the maximum allowed by law for a UHF signal. It's digital signal, however, is 200kw, though it has a Construction Permit for 345kw, and an application for 425kw. (Federal maximum for digital UHFs are 1000kw.)

And while WTOL is a viable alternate in Detroit, not everyone north of I-94 gets the station -- many turn to Lansing's WLNS or Saginaw's WNEM instead.

...shoving two HD feeds onto a single channel will probably destroy the picture quality, so many people with HDTVs will probably end up watching network programming from KPLC (NBC) and KTRK (ABC).

Isn't there any technology that would enable two HD signals without affecting the quality of each other, or its subchannels?

 

[w9wi]

Isn't there any technology that would enable two HD signals without affecting the quality of each other, or its subchannels?

Arguably statistical multiplexing would make it a lot more likely (but not certain) to work.

(this is going to get kinda long, sorry!)

The problem is that there is only 19.2MBPS of data bandwidth in an ATSC DTV signal. That figure is established in the FCC regulations -- in any case you couldn't change it without obsoleting all the DTV receivers. You have to split that 19.2 among all the programs you carry.

Uncompressed, you couldn't even fit one HD into that bandwidth. So MPEG compression is used. Instead of transmitting all of each frame, you transmit the difference between each frame and the previous frame. (then every once in awhile you transmit another complete frame) Usually works pretty well. But if you have rapid motion in a complex frame, you might run out of bandwidth - the "difference" frames might have too much difference - be too big - to be transmitted quickly enough through the "pipe". WIthin each frame, DTV transmits large blocks of picture first, then smaller and smaller "macroblocks" of detail. If some of the macroblocks are lost due to lack of bandwidth, the picture will appear to break up into small (or not so small!) squares. You've probably seen it.

That can and does happen even with the full 19.2 devoted to a HD program. It is of course more likely to happen if the HD program doesn't get the whole 19.2, if it has to share it with other programs on the same transmitter. It's pretty common to cut the HD back to 14 or 15MB to handle a second SD program. That works pretty well. In KBMT's case, neither HD will be getting more than 9.6MB (half of the available bandwidth). It'll probably work fine most of the time but they'll be far more likely to break up occasionally.

The "Multiplexer" is the device at the DTV station that combines all the sources of programming into a single stream of data for transmission. (even if you have only one program, a multiplexer brings in the "metadata" - the required program guide, the virtual channel information, the "text ID", etc...) A standard multiplexer must be told how much bandwidth you want each program to get. If I tell our standard mux to give 15MB to 12.1 and 4.2MB to 12.2, that's what each channel is going to get. If 12.1 needs 17MB to transmit some fast cuts in a Harry Potter movie, while 12.2 is transmitting a weather map and only needs 2MB, well, the Potter movie is going to break up -- and the weather map is going to be sent with a pile of "null packets" to be discarded by the receivers.

"Statistical Multiplexers" are able to dynamically reallocate that 19.2MB among the subchannels. If 12.1 needs more than 15MB, it can ask for, and presumably get, the extra bandwidth. At least as long as 12.2 is able to surrender it - if both channels need the bandwidth at the same time, you're still going to run out.

Statistical multiplexing is hardly universal though; many stations don't have it. It's considerably more expensive. (even though on newer multiplexers it's merely a firmware change) I don't really have a handle on how many stations have it, and certainly don't know whether KBMT does.

 

[tripinva]

Unfortunately, the best stat muxer in the world cannot cram more than 19.393 Mbps worth of data into the stream. HDTV (especially in motion, like sporting events) looks really lousy when the bitrate is chopped down. One station was doing two HD feeds and an SD and just dropped one of the HD feeds to SD because the quality was so poor. (That station is WKYT in Lexington KY) I've heard complaints about others as well, such as KALB in Alexandria LA, doing NBC in 1080i and CBS in 720p.

The only station I know of that is doing two HD feeds without a stat muxer is KWBF in Little Rock, the rest are usually using some specialized stat muxing encoder. For those who don't know, KATV lost their tower a while back, and to get the signal up again, they stuck their HD feed on KWBF's digital, and KWBF does not have a stat muxer. The HD on 42-1 is at 8 Mbps, the HD on 7-1 (42-3) is 7.5 Mbps, and the SD subchannel (RTN) on 42-2 they have has 1.5 Mbps. All look terrible, I'm told.

The complete list, to the best of my knowledge, is:

WKYT-DT Lexington KY (now discontinued) - CBS 720p, CW 720p, Radar 480i
KWBF-DT Little Rock AR (temporary) - MyN 720p, ABC 720p, RTN 480i
KALB-DT Alexandria LA - NBC 1080i, CBS 720p
KXII-DT Sherman TX - CBS 1080i, Fox 720p, MyN 480i
KWTX-DT Waco TX - CBS 1080i, CW 720p
KLCW-DT Lubbock TX - CW 720p, MyN 720p, Telemundo 480i

I may have forgotten one, as I can't shake the feeling there's another...

Stations rumored to be adding it:
KSPR-DT Springfield MO - ABC 720p, CW 720p
WGGB-DT Springfield MA - ABC 720p, Fox 720p

Stations that were rumored to be adding it but never did:
WNOL-DT New Orleans LA (temporary until WGNO-DT returns to the air on 02/17/09) - ABC 720p, CW 1080i

- Trip

 

[azumanga]

The plot thickens: KBMT and Time Warner are locked in negotiations and the warning's out that Southeast Texas cable customers could lose their ABC --and-- NBC signals effective 12/31.

http://www.kbmt12.com/home/breaking/35970284.html

Luckily, the station has come into agreement the afternoon of New Year's Eve, meaning that ABC and NBC will be available. (NBC will be on cable 14).

Just in time, too, as Time Warner now has bigger headaches, involving Viacom.