CBS O&Os to debut digital multicast stations

[FreddyE1977]

that appears to mean "KDKA Radio for your Television"

Oh, Goody! :

 

[jsu5381m]

What about the smaller markets that run CBS like WCTV-TV (Tallahassee Florida) and WTVY-TV (Dothan Ala)

Those stations are owned by Gray Television, not CBS, so they don't need CBS's permission to air secondary subchannels. As for the stations that CBS O&Os will get, I'm not sure if CBS will offer them to affiliates. I don't know why they wouldn't.

I think both stations have a MyNetworkTV subchannel.

 

[bostonmediaguy]

Anybody in NY or LA have any new info on this venture?

 

[ansky212]

Anybody in NY or LA have any new info on this venture?

There are no new subchannels on WCBS. But it's not Q3 yet anyway...

 

[mgsports]

Meredith or any other company that hooked up with DOT2 Network needs to hook up with another Channel like My Family Net or Tuffy TV.

 

[LiveLocal]

I've always found it strange that CBS owns WTOG here in Tampa (the studio is actually in St. Petersburg). Our CBS affiliate is WTSP, owned by Gannett. WTOG used to be a really good indy, with a somewhat strange but popular 10pm newscast. WTOG also had a very good promotional department that came up with some creative local marketing for such things as their early evening sitcom block (Simpsons, etc) which would beat most of the local newscasts. CBS never wanted to give the network affiliation to WTOG due to the UHF channel 44's coverage issues compared to VHF 10 WTSP. But in this digital age, does it matter any more? WTOG has good cable coverage due to years of being a good indy.

These days, WTOG has no local programming, no marketing, no local news (cancelled in 1998, a few years after WTVT became Fox and started a 10 pm newscast and cable Bay News 9 came along with 24/7 local news) and not many viewers. Last time I saw the numbers, the evening sitcom block was getting ratings like .3, .4, etc. You never see any local promotion and I'd guess most people around don't even know the station exists, just another channel on cable with shows you can see elsewhere. I drive by their studio occasionally, rarely more than a few cars there. Sad station for a CBS O&O.

 

[Madmansam]

Anybody in NY or LA have any new info on this venture?

There are no new subchannels on WCBS. But it's not Q3 yet anyway...

Yeah, no new subchannel(s) on KOVR-13 Sacramento. Not even a test screen. But again, not Q3 yet.

 

[bostonmediaguy]

Anybody in NY or LA have any new info on this venture?

But it's not Q3 yet anyway...

I realize that. If they were to launch in early Q3 (July) I would expect some advertising and possibly engineering testing taking place.

 

[KERCAlum]

Here in D/FW, CBS 11/KTVT still has no digital subchannels (unless you want to count TXA 21/KTXA ). It is still somewhat surprising, but FOX 4/KDFW doesn't have any digital subchannels, either.

Frankly, though, the programming available on the NBC and ABC subs (KXAS and WFAA, respectively) is not compelling. Since KXAS did away with weather on 5.2, WFAA's AccuWeather on 8.2 is the only live weather available on OTA DTV - and it's mostly just repeats of regional AW forecasters with the occasional Greg Fields, Steve McCauley or Pete Delkus forecast repeat and NWS audio over the radar. If there's severe weather, I'll go to the main channel anyway. And there isn't anything on NonStop, Universal Sports or LiveWell that is worth watching (except maybe rugby on US - and then only for a moment).

If CBS does anything for its O&Os, it should be compelling enough to draw eyeballs away from the main channel and maintain interest in the main channel at the same time. That's the only way it'll be successful. Most other efforts simply fill time in an attempt to justify having the additional subs.

 

[ajc_trw]

I hope CBS in Los Angeles puts the new station on 9.2 rather than 2.2 as KCAL doesn't have the amount of HD programming KCBS has. I'd rather them mess with the local news and leave NCIS & 5-0 alone.

 

[KeyTimes950]

that appears to mean "KDKA Radio for your Television"

Oh, Goody! :

I had to chuckle when I saw that. I watched some shaky video the other day when KD-1020's morning team was being interviewed on KD-TV2's morning news.

The idea does entail some strange possibilities.

For instance, one could see Dr. James Winer and "Your Health Naturally" expand his radio empire to the video side. He's now on KD-AM and WPGB-104.7 weekends and WKHB-620 weekdays.

Seriously, I wonder what KDKA would run on a subchannel that it doesn't already farm over to WPCW-19. "Pittsburgh's CW" offers an hour of morning news, 35 minutes of news and 25 of sports talk at night and some replays of syndicated fare also aired on TV2.

Still, a KDKA-2.2 and/or WPCW-19.2 certainly would be an interesting development in a summer that already has seen an explosion of subchannel changes in Pittsburgh, from MeTV on WPXI-11.2 to WINP-16's running the ION trio on subchannels of a ShopNBC primary channel (that still turns over airtime Monday and Tuesday mornings for fare from former sibling WQED-13).

Low-power WBGN snatched up Retro for a subchannel that had been a throwaway for infomercials (more so that its primary channel). Good move -- though as long as Comcast won't run WBGN or its subchannels it will remain a challenge for viewers to try and find it with rabbit ears or rooftop antennas.

 

[TomParks]

that appears to mean "KDKA Radio for your Television"

Oh, Goody! :

I had to chuckle when I saw that. I watched some shaky video the other day when KD-1020's morning team was being interviewed on KD-TV2's morning news.

The idea does entail some strange possibilities.

For instance, one could see Dr. James Winer and "Your Health Naturally" expand his radio empire to the video side. He's now on KD-AM and WPGB-104.7 weekends and WKHB-620 weekdays.

Seriously, I wonder what KDKA would run on a subchannel that it doesn't already farm over to WPCW-19. "Pittsburgh's CW" offers an hour of morning news, 35 minutes of news and 25 of sports talk at night and some replays of syndicated fare also aired on TV2.

Still, a KDKA-2.2 and/or WPCW-19.2 certainly would be an interesting development in a summer that already has seen an explosion of subchannel changes in Pittsburgh, from MeTV on WPXI-11.2 to WINP-16's running the ION trio on subchannels of a ShopNBC primary channel (that still turns over airtime Monday and Tuesday mornings for fare from former sibling WQED-13).

Low-power WBGN snatched up Retro for a subchannel that had been a throwaway for infomercials (more so that its primary channel). Good move -- though as long as Comcast won't run WBGN or its subchannels it will remain a challenge for viewers to try and find it with rabbit ears or rooftop antennas.

Not to change the subject, but I wish WPCW would put a transmitter in Altoona. It stinks not having a CW station to watch.

 

[KeyTimes950]

Not to change the subject, but I wish WPCW would put a transmitter in Altoona. It stinks not having a CW station to watch.

A terrible irony considering the history of WPCW. I don't want to digress any further than you do, but considering that it once was WARD-56 in Johnstown, then WJNL-19 in Johnstown (and a few other things, I seem to recall), for your purposes it's a shame that the station was moved far enough west that Jeannette could be its city of license (and still is today) and ended up being housed at KDKA's studios.

Then again, in this digital era when stations are building booster signals in outlying areas, perhaps there's hope that "Pittsburgh's CW" may eventually become the Altoona-Johnstown CW. (I stress "perhaps" because we're also in an era where ADIs count more than heritage when it comes to station pickups on cable.)

 

[Iowan]

Here's my question: What ARE the names of these supposed networks by CBS?

 

[bostonmediaguy]

Here's my question: What ARE the names of these supposed networks by CBS?

They will be known as "CBS New York Plus," "CBS Chicago Plus," etc.

Broadcasting & Cable reports that NY and LA will launch theirs in late September. "They will features news, sports, and weather in a wheel format, with a smattering of entertainment programming from within the CBS family..."

 

[KTN Corp]

CBS had it right with their no subchannel policy. DTV's appeal was clearer picture and sound, not multiple program streams. DTV subchannels are comparable to HD subchannels in that the main (.1 or -1) channel is the moneymaker while the subchannels are mostly ignored.

 

[dave73]

Here's my question: What ARE the names of these supposed networks by CBS?

They will be known as "CBS New York Plus," "CBS Chicago Plus," etc.

Broadcasting & Cable reports that NY and LA will launch theirs in late September. "They will features news, sports, and weather in a wheel format, with a smattering of entertainment programming from within the CBS family..."

This is gonna make me think of NBC & their Nonstop channels, being boring. As much as I'd like to see subchannels on my CBS station, I'd rather have it something other than a boring format that's also being copied by NBC.

 

[mgsports]

I was hoping Orlando and kc wre one of them but they aren't.

 

[fybush]

I was hoping Orlando and kc wre one of them but they aren't.

Do you understand the difference between a network affiliate and an owned-and-operated ("O&O") station?

The "CBS" stations in Orlando and Kansas City are not owned by CBS; they're owned by Post-Newsweek and Meredith, respectively, and it's up to those companies to decide what will be on their stations' subchannels.

These new "CBS Plus" channels are airing only on the stations CBS itself actually owns, and those are mainly in the very biggest markets: Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, LA, Dallas, Miami and a few others.

 

[gregg75]

If that is their format then it does sound just as dull as NBC's Nonstop. Looks like much
of the same with just a few entertainment type shows thrown in.

Here's what ABC should do............ kick back to an all retro 1986-1996 ABC type schedule.
That would blow CBS and NBC out of the boat into Dulltown where they belong.