Big bang: The coming upheaval in local TV

[K.M. Richards]

We'll just have to wait and see. I'm not sure your logic follows anyway; the whole point is that stations which are bought out don't have to be moved/rebuilt, so all of those costs/timelines should, ideally, get better if more stations participate and are bought. Saying that fewer stations will participate because the costs of moving are too high makes no sense; stations which get bought out won't have costs of moving.

I should have been clearer, Trip. Sorry.

What I am thinking is that those stations which agree to be bought out and then channel share a transmitter will probably have costs involved in doing so, and those costs will be higher if the shared channel has to be moved because it's too high up on the UHF band. (Didn't I remember that everything was supposed to end up below present channel 41?) So I could see a lot of stations, if they wouldn't have to move, stay put and hope they get approached by someone wanting to share their signal ... and pay for the costs.

I still think there is going to be a shortage of participants in the largest markets, and more participants than takers in the smaller markets, which creates an interesting paradox because the wireless providers covet the spectrum more in the areas where there is likely to be the least freed up.

The real question that no one wants to answer yet is how the conversion to ATSC 3.0, which will be necessary if everyone who wants to stay "on the air" shares transmitters to do so, is going to be handled when the existing digital receivers are incompatible and there won't be any pre-transition channel assignments.

And ... will there be room for all the diginets and specialized ethnic subchannels that have come along since we switched from analog broadcasting?

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

An editorial in this morning's Chicago Tribune is calling for the city to get in on the spectrum sales action and sell the market's secondary PBS outlet (WYCC-20). Interesting reading:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...spectrum-wycc-fcc-auction-20151111-story.html

 

[KTN Corp]

Might be the end of TV. On one side, cable TV being battered by cord-cutters. The other, wireless phone providers buying up spectrum to provide an expensive (almost a luxury) monthly service. Might as well sell large monitors (TVs without tuners) at electronics stores to display Netflix, et al.

To think I just bought an antenna last month that I will install in the attic, now that the weather has cooled down here in Houston!

 

[Mediafrog+]

Might as well sell large monitors (TVs without tuners) at electronics stores to display Netflix, et al.

I've long thought that making "TVs" just a monitor that you could attach various OTA tuners/cable-satellite boxes/Internet attachments (Apple, Roku, Chromecast) would make more sense, and save money. When something new comes along that you want (or can afford) you simply buy "the box" and connect it. That would make the ATSC 3.0 changeover easier to achieve.

 

[KeithE4]

Might be the end of TV. On one side, cable TV being battered by cord-cutters. The other, wireless phone providers buying up spectrum to provide an expensive (almost a luxury) monthly service. Might as well sell large monitors (TVs without tuners) at electronics stores to display Netflix, et al.

A television in 2015 is a computer monitor with built-in ATSC and NTSC tuners, and maybe some online apps (Netflix, Hulu, Pandora etc.). The CRT has gone the way of the Nipkow disk.

To think I just bought an antenna last month that I will install in the attic, now that the weather has cooled down here in Houston!

OTA television isn't going away anytime soon, but it may be deja vu 1970 all over again -- back to 3 to 8 channels per market. Most of the LPTV/Class A stations, other than major network affiliates in the smaller markets, could go away now and wouldn't be missed.

 

[blackgold]

I'm trying to access the story, but the damn web site is asking me to subscribe to their service in order to read the damn thing. When I press the "Not Right Now" button, it takes me back to the main page!

 

[landtuna]

OTA television isn't going away anytime soon, but it may be deja vu 1970 all over again -- back to 3 to 8 channels per market. Most of the LPTV/Class A stations, other than major network affiliates in the smaller markets, could go away now and wouldn't be missed.

I'd miss 'em, the English language stations anyway. It's like going back to the 50's through the 70's on some of those stations. The only place I can watch old favs like Cisco & Pancho, Hoppy, 'B' movies and, coming Jan 1 - Carson. Almost all of my viewing is on those LPTV/A stations except for live sports.

 

[TVCOOL]

Some places have more than one PBS channel and some religious and shopping channels that can go away and we won't miss it one bit.

 

[K.M. Richards]

The only place I can watch old favs like Cisco & Pancho, Hoppy, 'B' movies and, coming Jan 1 - Carson. Almost all of my viewing is on those LPTV/A stations except for live sports.

I feel badly for you having to depend on low-power stations for the classic television networks. Down here in La-la Land, all but one of the major diginets is on a full-power station subchannel:
Decades - KCBS/2.2
Cozi - KNBC/4.2
Antenna - KTLA/5.2
This - KTLA/5.3
Laff - KABC/7.3
Retro - KFLA/8.3 (this is the only one on a LPTV)
Buzzr - KCOP/13.2
Movies! - KCOP/13.3
Heroes & Icons - KCOP/13.4
Bounce - KMEX/34.2
Get - KFTR/46.2
Escape - KFTR/46.3
Grit - KFTR/46.4
Me - KDOC/56.3
Comet - KDOC/56.4
Works - KDOC/56.8

I bet if more markets were like Los Angeles, there would be a lot more cord-cutting.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Some places have more than one PBS channel and some religious and shopping channels that can go away and we won't miss it one bit.

Many of those are either on subchannels (and probably won't go away unless they stop paying their lease to the primary station) or on low power stations, whose future is in doubt.

Let's face it, if you'd spent the money to put a LPTV on the air, wouldn't you try to recoup your investment by leasing to a religious or ethnic broadcaster and/or throw up a home shopping channel where you get a piece of every sale that came from someone viewing your station? Of course you would, because while it's a nice idea to carry a general-entertainment diginet, you still have to pay the electric bill at the transmitter site, etc.

And the religious networks do have their audiences, even if miniscule. So do ethnic broadcasters. If they didn't, they'd stop leasing airtime. So while you won't miss those, there will be some viewers who will (so you might want to substitute "I" for "we" in your original statement) and there will be some LPTV owners who will end up going dark because there is no vacancy for them after the auction and repacking. I feel sorry for those viewers and owners who will be in that boat together, hoping in vain for someone to come rescue them.

 

[KTN Corp]

I've long thought that making "TVs" just a monitor that you could attach various OTA tuners/cable-satellite boxes/Internet attachments (Apple, Roku, Chromecast) would make more sense, and save money. When something new comes along that you want (or can afford) you simply buy "the box" and connect it. That would make the ATSC 3.0 changeover easier to achieve.

I was simply imagining that some--especially larger TVs--will have smart functionality built-in and it comes with HDMI ports to attach a Blu-Ray player and the over-the-top box of your choice.

What's the point of ATSC 3.0? 3D is a flop and 4k has no noticeable difference from 720/1080 p/i on most consumers. 4k is really an unnecessary luxury especially with the poor economy right now. I can't imagine anybody but the 1%ers and techies buying $2,500 4k TVs.

A television in 2015 is a computer monitor with built-in ATSC and NTSC tuners, and maybe some online apps (Netflix, Hulu, Pandora etc.). The CRT has gone the way of the Nipkow disk.



OTA television isn't going away anytime soon, but it may be deja vu 1970 all over again -- back to 3 to 8 channels per market. Most of the LPTV/Class A stations, other than major network affiliates in the smaller markets, could go away now and wouldn't be missed.

Honestly I would have thought that NTSC tuning would have been gone within 3 model years since the transition (2012). What's the holdup with eliminating unnecessary circuitry? I still see modern TVs sold with RCA ports for composite/component video inputs; some with stereo audio output.

The repacking though may eliminate the LPTV/Class A stations in the short run. But the full-powers, especially network affiliates and the PBS station, may be affected if they get bumped down from UHF/High VHF to lower frequencies down to Low VHF for the long run. If a market had too many of its major full-powers on Low VHF, it could practically be the end of free OTA TV, at least in that market!

 

[KeithE4]

Honestly I would have thought that NTSC tuning would have been gone within 3 model years since the transition (2012). What's the holdup with eliminating unnecessary circuitry? I still see modern TVs sold with RCA ports for composite/component video inputs; some with stereo audio output.

The main reasons are that (1) analog NTSC stations are still on the air -- LPTVs and (I think) Class A stations don't have to shut down yet, and (2) there are still millions of old VCRs with even more millions of VHS tapes in the field that use either the antenna input and NTSC tuner or the RCA jacks. One VCR, along with about 400 VHS tapes going back to 1981, is mine. About half of those are irreplaceable.

 

[dhett]

Class A stations had to be digital by 9/1/15, or shut off. They didn't get the reprieve that the other LPTV stations got.

 

[semoochie]

I was simply imagining that some--especially larger TVs--will have smart functionality built-in and it comes with HDMI ports to attach a Blu-Ray player and the over-the-top box of your choice.

What's the point of ATSC 3.0? 3D is a flop and 4k has no noticeable difference from 720/1080 p/i on most consumers. 4k is really an unnecessary luxury especially with the poor economy right now. I can't imagine anybody but the 1%ers and techies buying $2,500 4k TVs.


Honestly I would have thought that NTSC tuning would have been gone within 3 model years since the transition (2012). What's the holdup with eliminating unnecessary circuitry? I still see modern TVs sold with RCA ports for composite/component video inputs; some with stereo audio output.

The repacking though may eliminate the LPTV/Class A stations in the short run. But the full-powers, especially network affiliates and the PBS station, may be affected if they get bumped down from UHF/High VHF to lower frequencies down to Low VHF for the long run. If a market had too many of its major full-powers on Low VHF, it could practically be the end of free OTA TV, at least in that market!

4K TVs are now selling for below $400.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Might be the end of TV. On one side, cable TV being battered by cord-cutters. The other, wireless phone providers buying up spectrum to provide an expensive (almost a luxury) monthly service. Might as well sell large monitors (TVs without tuners) at electronics stores to display Netflix, et al.

To think I just bought an antenna last month that I will install in the attic, now that the weather has cooled down here in Houston!

People just don't understand. There is a limit on how many people you can reach with the Internet or telephone. With regular broadcast TV, the number is unlimited. It's a more efficient way to get vital news out to the people that need it. Paris last Friday, for example.

 

[K.M. Richards]

People just don't understand. There is a limit on how many people you can reach with the Internet or telephone. With regular broadcast TV, the number is unlimited. It's a more efficient way to get vital news out to the people that need it. Paris last Friday, for example.

Let me know when you convince the wireless operators that they don't really need all that UHF television spectrum and that the auction can be cancelled. Oh, and be sure to convince Congress too, which covets the $$$ from that auction (not that I think they're going to get as much as they think they will).

I think the only thing that could stop this massive boulder called the incentive auction from rolling downhill at increasing speed would be a significant increase in cord-cutting and use of broadcast television. Won't happen, of course; the public at large may complain about high cable bills, but few will ever do anything about it unless they suddenly find themselves in a crunch, family budget-wise. But ... tell them that doing away with over-the-air television will result in fewer dropped calls on their cellphone and faster mobile phone Internet, and they'll ask why it can't be done tomorrow.

It's not so much that they don't understand, it's that their priorities are screwed up.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Let me know when you convince the wireless operators that they don't really need all that UHF television spectrum and that the auction can be cancelled. Oh, and be sure to convince Congress too, which covets the $$$ from that auction (not that I think they're going to get as much as they think they will).

I think the only thing that could stop this massive boulder called the incentive auction from rolling downhill at increasing speed would be a significant increase in cord-cutting and use of broadcast television. Won't happen, of course; the public at large may complain about high cable bills, but few will ever do anything about it unless they suddenly find themselves in a crunch, family budget-wise. But ... tell them that doing away with over-the-air television will result in fewer dropped calls on their cellphone and faster mobile phone Internet, and they'll ask why it can't be done tomorrow.

It's not so much that they don't understand, it's that their priorities are screwed up.

For once, it's not my opinion, but it was stated by experts.

 

[landtuna]

But ... tell them that doing away with over-the-air television will result in fewer dropped calls on their cellphone and faster mobile phone Internet, and they'll ask why it can't be done tomorrow.

I think most people are smart enough to recognize that OTA TV is the basis for their cable network channels and that is where the vast majority of viewing still takes place. Of course, OTA could go away and the networks could "broadcast" on cable only but unless it was a free service (yeah, right) there would be a huge uproar. This situation might change as the nation ages and the youngsters don't depend upon the Big 4 for their electronic entertainment fix but that isn't going to happen for a few years yet.

 

[K.M. Richards]

For once, it's not my opinion, but it was stated by experts.

See? I don't always disagree with you ...

 

[KeithE4]

It's not so much that they don't understand, it's that their priorities are screwed up.

Not at all. Depends on what you like to watch.

If you don't like sports, then going OTA along with Netflix or similar is just fine. But if you are a sports fan, you don't have a choice. 75-90% of all major sports are on something other than your local broadcast stations, depending on the market. Here in Phoenix, the only local team with an OTA presence is the NFL Cardinals. Fox Sports Net owns the rest.

Postseason games other than the NFL and the World Series are now mostly on cable, or split between cable and OTA. ESPN owns the college football bowls, with a few exceptions. We who are sports fans are more than willing to spend the money to get the product we want. Our priorities are just fine, thank you.