Changes in DFW's LPTV market

[Mediafrog+]

I should buy time on a subchannel and broadcast my home videos for my family to watch.

Having your family watch your home videos on one of those channels would probably greatly increase the station's viewing audience. ;D

 

[TexasTom]

But OTOH, it's also evident that there's programming that people will watch if it's offered, but isn't available here; MeTV being the one most often mentioned, but there are others. It's odd that despite a glut of bandwidth, lease costs are still too high to attract these networks as lessees.

MeTV isn't looking to lease bandwidth, they're looking for affiliates under a barter arrangement. Preferably, affiliates with the resources and clout to line up cable carriage for the channel as well as OTA coverage.

 

[arnoldevns]

Yes. Seems to me the only logical options in DFW are Fox 4/My27, CBS 11/TXA 21, KFWD 52 (run by WFAA)

CW33 is full up. Fox seemingly has no interest in subchannels, so that's likely out. CBS seems to have its own subchannel plan, so that's probably out. WFAA is full, but they run KFWD and the Me-TV shows would compliment their programming well. Problem is, WFAA seems to have a hard time getting its subchannels on cable. I still don't have them on Verizon Fios. Unless Weigel can change minds or changes its philosophy I don't think we'll see Me-TV here anytime soon.

 

[txchipk]

Yes. Seems to me the only logical options in DFW are Fox 4/My27, CBS 11/TXA 21, KFWD 52 (run by WFAA)

CW33 is full up. Fox seemingly has no interest in subchannels, so that's likely out. CBS seems to have its own subchannel plan, so that's probably out. WFAA is full, but they run KFWD and the Me-TV shows would compliment their programming well. Problem is, WFAA seems to have a hard time getting its subchannels on cable. I still don't have them on Verizon Fios. Unless Weigel can change minds or changes its philosophy I don't think we'll see Me-TV here anytime soon.

KTAQ is being sold to London Broadcasting. It's other properties are Tyler/Longview's KYTX (CBS on .1, Me-TV .2, Azteca America) and CW KCEB; Beaumont/Port Arthur's KBMT (ABC on .1, NBC on .2) and KUIL-LP (MyNetworkTV on .1, Azteca America on .2), Temple/Waco's KCEN (NBC on .1, This TV on .2, Me-TV on .3), and Corpus Christi's KIII (ABC on .1, Me-TV on .2).

Given the portfolio of the stations, I wonder if they plan to run something beyond 24/7 infomercials and paid religious programming that KTAQ now runs. Obviously, as they run Me-TV on subchannels in 3 other markets, they have a relationship already -- wonder if they are interested in running it on KTAQ's primary signal?


I wonder why not try KTAQ. It's pending new owners, London Broadcasting, run Me-TV on the subchannels of their other properties -- CBS KYTX Tyler/Longview, NBC KCEN Temple/Waco, and ABC KIII Corpus Christi. It also owns KBMT Beaumont which runs ABC and NBC on subchannels along with a MyNetworkTV LPTV. I would guess it would be interested in doing something with KTAQ other than paid religious and infomericals 24/7.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

Given the portfolio of the (London) stations, I wonder if they plan to run something beyond 24/7 infomercials and paid religious programming that KTAQ now runs. Obviously, as they run Me-TV on subchannels in 3 other markets, they have a relationship already -- wonder if they are interested in running it on KTAQ's primary signal?

If I ran London, I'd keep KTAQ alone. Its primary channel is already on cable and provides the only full-market signal for local paid religion (unlike Daystar and TBN, both national feeds). I'd suppose that KTAQ is a low overhead operation and they enjoy cashing the checks from the preachers, UAN on 47-2 and Mexicanal on 47-3.

Trying to make a go of it with general-market programming, as the third indy in the DMA, would be more of challenge than I'd be willing to undertake. We'll see if London wants to "go big" in D/FW or just leave well enough alone.

 

[txchipk]

Given the portfolio of the (London) stations, I wonder if they plan to run something beyond 24/7 infomercials and paid religious programming that KTAQ now runs. Obviously, as they run Me-TV on subchannels in 3 other markets, they have a relationship already -- wonder if they are interested in running it on KTAQ's primary signal?

If I ran London, I'd keep KTAQ alone. Its primary channel is already on cable and provides the only full-market signal for local paid religion (unlike Daystar and TBN, both national feeds). I'd suppose that KTAQ is a low overhead operation and they enjoy cashing the checks from the preachers, UAN on 47-2 and Mexicanal on 47-3.

Trying to make a go of it with general-market programming, as the third indy in the DMA, would be more of challenge than I'd be willing to undertake. We'll see if London wants to "go big" in D/FW or just leave well enough alone.

Being KTAQ went into bankruptcy in 2010 and London is buying it from the debtor-in-possession, I'm guessing the current religious format isn't doing all that well.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

Being KTAQ went into bankruptcy in 2010 and London is buying it from the debtor-in-possession, I'm guessing the current religious format isn't doing all that well.

The KTAQ of that era was a continuous feed of the duo of Mike and Hazel Simons under the name of Promiseland. I don't ever recall seeing anything except those two on KTAQ. I suppose that they thought the power of television would launch them as the next Jim and Tammy Bakker. But instead, that fare led to bankruptcy.

Since the bankruptcy, 47-1 is packed solid with paid religion, one program after another. Ca-ching.

 

[arnoldevns]

Had not really thought of KTAQ, but it does have the benefit of already being on cable and the new owners clearly need to do something different with it.

 

[TexasTom]

If I ran London, I'd keep KTAQ alone. Its primary channel is already on cable and provides the only full-market signal for local paid religion (unlike Daystar and TBN, both national feeds). I'd suppose that KTAQ is a low overhead operation and they enjoy cashing the checks from the preachers, UAN on 47-2 and Mexicanal on 47-3.

None of us have the information to really say whether maintaining the current paid religion format makes economic sense. We don't know whether the paid format is profitable, how profitable it is (assuming it's making a profit), or what sort of return London is expecting on their $18 million investment in this station.

For example, if the current format is profitable, but only to the tune of a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, London probably isn't going to be happy with the status quo. After all, if you want to make a 1% return, you may as well buy T-bills. Conversely, if they could milk a couple million per year out of the paid programming, they would probably consider that to be a great return.

However, I tend to doubt that it is especially profitable -- everything I've seen in recent years suggests that stations that run paid programming have had an increasingly tough time of it. And prior to the recent round of bankruptcies, KLDT channel 55 was running paid programming (including some local religion in the form of the really creepy "Water of Life" church in Plano) that didn't seem to be doing an especially good job of paying the bills.

Wo while we can't know for sure, my bet is that London has some sort of plans for KTAQ that don't involve maintaining the status quo.

 

[JHBrandt]

But OTOH, it's also evident that there's programming that people will watch if it's offered, but isn't available here; MeTV being the one most often mentioned, but there are others. It's odd that despite a glut of bandwidth, lease costs are still too high to attract these networks as lessees.

MeTV isn't looking to lease bandwidth, they're looking for affiliates under a barter arrangement. Preferably, affiliates with the resources and clout to line up cable carriage for the channel as well as OTA coverage.

I was speaking generally and only mentioned MeTV as an example. I didn't mean to hijack the thread! Oh, well....

I suppose an ambitious local group could lease LPTV airtime from Mako, put on MeTV, and sell ads under a barter arrangement, much as the Hot TV folks are doing now with RTV on 31.4. But getting cable coverage is asking a lot of my hypothetical ambitious local group.

One option for KFWD/52 or KTAQ/47 would be to put MeTV on subchannel 1, thus guaranteeing MeTV cable coverage under must-carry, if they thought it'd make more $$ than their current fare.


We now resume our coverage of changes in D/FW LPTV:

KWDA/30 has added yet another subchannel (just color bars for now), for a total of 7

KLEG/44 seems to be off the air again. I have no knowledge of whether this is a technical or a financial issue.

 

[JHBrandt]

KLEG/44 seems to be off the air again. I have no knowledge of whether this is a technical or a financial issue.

KLEG/44 is back after being off the air for three days, so probably was a technical issue.

 

[JHBrandt]

KQFW asks for RF 24 again

KQFW proposes to broadcast from Garland, while their sister station KWDA broadcasts from downtown Dallas. Perhaps they've decided they need a translator in that area for viewers lacking outdoor antennas.

That's still the best theory I have. KQFW has, for the second time, applied to displace to RF 24. They are actually licensed on RF 56 but AFAIK they're not broadcasting. Why else would they want to broadcast from Garland when KWDA has one subchannel with color bars, one with a static page soliciting programming, and one with nothing more than an animated logo?

Their previous RF 24 application was rejected by the FCC, citing excessive interference with K25FW. But I didn't see any changes in this application. The interference report they filed looked exactly the same. It appears to meet FCC regulations, showing interference with only 0.4% of K25FW's potential viewers. But the FCC did their own analysis and came to a different conclusion last time.

BTW, a bit of trivia: D/FW now has 7 consecutive virtual channel numbers: 25 (K25FW), 26 (KODF), 27 (KDFI), 28 (KHPK), 29 (KMPX), 30 (KWDA), and 31 (K31GL). If this goes through, it will add 23 (KUVN) and presumably 24 (KQFW) for a total of 9 in a row. And then if KNAV goes online, that'd add 20 (KBOP), 21 (KTXA), and 22 (KNAV) for a total of 12 in a row! I wonder what the national record is?

 

[JHBrandt]

KHFD actually applied to boost to 15 kW using a full service mask filter. The claim is that even with the power boost, adding the mask filter drops out of band emissions by more than 10 dB.

- Trip

The FCC's Web master finally got the service contour maps working on all these new applications. Looks like KHFD's new application not only boosts the power but also moves to a non-directional antenna. So if this is approved some folks will see even more than a 5 dB increase, particularly toward the south.

Also, KSFW/2 would reach from Ft. Worth all the way to Garland where I live. Nevertheless, chances are I'll never see them - I filter VHF-Lo out so I can use RF 3 and 4 for in-home signal distribution. I'll reconsider the day VHF-Lo has something worth watching.

 

[tripinva]

KHFD has not applied for an omni; if you're seeing it like that, then the map was just generated wrong. I complained to Dale Bickel about that bug several months ago and he asked that any maps generated incorrectly like that be reported to him.

I now generate my own contour maps for RabbitEars, usually within 24 hours of the application appearing in the FCC database. Here's KHFD at 15 kW: http://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=1446630

- Trip

 

[DToTheJ]

I noticed something called GBC World News on 34.2 & 50.4 the other day... I found the website gbctv.us says it's an independent news channel based in Houston. It has a decent production value, but is heavily focused on world news.

One word: BBC.

One more word: lawsuit. :-X

 

[arnoldevns]

I noticed something called GBC World News on 34.2 & 50.4 the other day... I found the website gbctv.us says it's an independent news channel based in Houston. It has a decent production value, but is heavily focused on world news.

One word: BBC.

One more word: lawsuit. :-X

I don't get your post. It's not the BBC and it's not trying to look like the BBC. As far as I can it hasn't been sued by the BBC either. What is your point?

 

[JHBrandt]

I noticed something called GBC World News on 34.2 & 50.4 the other day... I found the website gbctv.us says it's an independent news channel based in Houston. It has a decent production value, but is heavily focused on world news.

One word: BBC.

One more word: lawsuit. :-X

I'm no lawyer but I don't see any trademark or other infringement here. Trademarking "BBC World News" doesn't outlaw "GBC World News" any more than it'd outlaw "ABC World News."

Murdoch's News Corp. owns The Times of London and regularly goes after other papers that call themselves The Times. But even Murdoch knows you can't go after The New York Times, The St. Petersburg Times, El Tiempo, etc.

Now if GBC World News has been stealing BBC's material and airing it as their own, then you have a lawsuit! But just because they have similar names and are competing in the same business? I don't think so.

(That said, there does seem to be some vagueness in trademark law. Remember waay back in the 80's, when IBM released their successor to the PC, the "PS/2," which ran "OS/2?" Afterwards IBM successfully threatened just about anyone selling hardware or software with a name ending in "/2" into changing the name, claiming the "/2" would mislead buyers into believing the product was made by IBM. I don't know if any of those threats ever resulted in a lawsuit - who wants to take on IBM, even if you're pretty sure you're right? But by trademarking two similar names, IBM did seem to effectively trademark the common suffix.)

 

[TheRover]

Channels 21.2 - 21.9

After doing a channel scan the other day, I found the most sub-channel slots I have seen anywhere, on CH 21.2- 21.9.

I don't know who is broadcasting 21.2 - 21.9. There is not channel name or ID that comes up in my Digital TV directory.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

Re: Channels 21.2 - 21.9

After doing a channel scan the other day, I found the most sub-channel slots I have seen anywhere, on CH 21.2- 21.9.

I don't know who is broadcasting 21.2 - 21.9. There is not channel name or ID that comes up in my Digital TV directory.

It's KWDA. The correct virtual channel is 30 but some devices get the mapping wrong.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

KHFD actually applied to boost to 15 kW using a full service mask filter. The claim is that even with the power boost, adding the mask filter drops out of band emissions by more than 10 dB.

KHFD's CP has been granted and they have until 12/29/2014 to fire up the new facility (going from the current 15 kW to the newly-approved power of 15 kW).