Changes in DFW's LPTV market

[eskipper411]

I would really love to see TheCoolTV back in Dallas.

 

[JHBrandt]

I would really love to see TheCoolTV back in Dallas.

You're not the only one; but looking over their affiliates at Wikipedia, it seems they prefer full-power stations to LPTV. I know Wikipedia may not be completely up-to-date but I only saw one LP affiliate listed (KAXT-CD in San Jose, CA). I also checked rabbitears.info and saw no LPTV affiliates listed. (Both sites list 14 full-power affiliates, including Austin's KNVA.)

That preference may be a mistake. According to Wikipedia, Sinclair Broadcasting recently dropped TheCoolTV from all their stations without explanation, and Journal Communications (owner of a couple of former affiliates in Wisconsin) sued TheCoolTV's parent company for nonpayment of a $257,000 bill. So it seems TheCoolTV is having financial difficulties.

I don't have precise figures, but I have to think that leasing an LPTV SD subchannel would cost much less than a full-power subchannel, particularly in DFW where there's a glut of LPTV infomercials, simulcasts, & color bars but very little full-power bandwidth available. And in DFW many LPTV stations have good coverage of the metroplex.

I'd suggest they consider KLEG's 44.4, currently broadcasting color bars. That would cover the Dallas side of DFW quite well. Might be a cheap money-maker for them at a time when it sounds as if they need one.

 

[JHBrandt]

Follow-up on the scarcity of full-power bandwidth in DFW:

Channels 2 & 13 are noncommercial, so they're out for a commercial network like TheCoolTV.
Fox O/O's (4 & 27) use the splicer, so their bandwidth is very limited. 27 has Bounce and 4 has an M/H simulcast. 4 could add a second M/H channel, but neither has enough bandwidth left for a regular subchannel.
WFAA/8 is full, with 1 HD & 2 SD subchannels and an M/H simulcast.
CBS O/O's (11 & 21) don't do subchannels, so they're out.
KTXD/47 is full with 1 HD & 3 SD subchannels.
KDTX/58 presumably has no interest in non-religious content.
KPXD/68 is likely full with 1 HD & 2 SD subchannels and the Airbox subscription stuff.
Of the Spanish-language stations, only one (KAZD/55) has shown any interest in English-language subchannels.

So we're left with KXAS/5 (not quite full with 1 HD & 1 SD subchannel and an M/H simulcast), and KAZD/55 (full - stuffed, actually - but 2 of their SD subchannels are infomercials). Total room: about 2-3 more subchannels - if the price is right.

In contrast, in the LP arena we have KPFW/18 broadcasting a simulcast and color bars; KODF/26 broadcasting a simulcast; KHPK/28 broadcasting a simulcast & two color bar channels; K31GL broadcasting infomercials on 31.5; KJJM broadcasting infomercials on 34.3; and KLEG broadcasting color bars on 44.4.

All of these have decent signals in Dallas and many cover Ft. Worth as well; but most are owned (or in KLEG's case, managed) by Mako. I suspect small OTA networks like TheCoolTV are more interested in barter arrangements (making some commercial time available to the local station) rather than simple pay-for-play, which is Mako's model. They need to be able to keep up the lease payments, which seems questionable in light of the last post.

The non-Mako stations with decent Dallas signals are KPFW/18 and KWDA/30, but KPFW is owned by a church. KWDA is owned by one of the HCCN shells, but it does air some non-religious content, including music, so it may be a possibility; but I suspect they're probably pay-for-play like Mako. They're also way overstretched on bandwidth.

 

[eskipper411]

I can pick those LPs up here in Decatur except KPFW. Maybe on good tropo nights but KHPK, KLEG, and K31GL would be good possibilities for TheCoolTV. Let TheCoolTV rewind back to 2009 when it was on 31.3. I couldn't stop watching 31.3 let alone watch any other TV stations.

 

[JHBrandt]

I can pick those LPs up here in Decatur except KPFW. Maybe on good tropo nights but KHPK, KLEG, and K31GL would be good possibilities for TheCoolTV. Let TheCoolTV rewind back to 2009 when it was on 31.3. I couldn't stop watching 31.3 let alone watch any other TV stations.

Agreed. I'm speculating they thought they were going "big-time" when they got the Sinclair deal and let all their LP leases expire. Now that they've lost Sinclair maybe they'll reconsider.

I confirmed that KPFW's signal doesn't reach as far towards Decatur as the others. Not sure why, though. They do have a null towards the SE to protect KGSW, but the radiation towards Decatur is nearly full-power; and their antenna is only 10 ft. below KLEG's. (I think they were out of the picture anyway since they're owned by a church, but some of what I've seen on 30.3 makes me wonder )

 

[eskipper411]

I can pick those LPs up here in Decatur except KPFW. Maybe on good tropo nights but KHPK, KLEG, and K31GL would be good possibilities for TheCoolTV. Let TheCoolTV rewind back to 2009 when it was on 31.3. I couldn't stop watching 31.3 let alone watch any other TV stations.

Agreed. I'm speculating they thought they were going "big-time" when they got the Sinclair deal and let all their LP leases expire. Now that they've lost Sinclair maybe they'll reconsider.

I confirmed that KPFW's signal doesn't reach as far towards Decatur as the others. Not sure why, though. They do have a null towards the SE to protect KGSW, but the radiation towards Decatur is nearly full-power; and their antenna is only 10 ft. below KLEG's. (I think they were out of the picture anyway since they're owned by a church, but some of what I've seen on 30.3 makes me wonder )

I think the reason why I don't get KPFW is that my antenna is probably blocked by a mass of trees between me and the transmitter and tropospheric enhancement just pushes the signal through those trees and into my antenna. My antenna is about 40 feet in the air and is built to seek deep-fringe signals. According to TVFool though, KPFW is 4th from the last. The link is below. I am however interested by what K21KJ-D will bring to the mix for the Westerplex. I'll have a viable chance at catching it since I only live 36 miles from the transmitter site in Mineral Wells and may even have a potential clear line of sight.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3dcc49412df19219

 

[JHBrandt]

I totally missed it, but last May the FCC gave the religious broadcaster operating KHFD/51 a construction permit to move to RF 26. Here's a statement from KHFD's displacement applicaton:

INASMUCH AS RECENT FCC POLICY PREVENTS DIGITAL LPTV FILINGS ON CHANNEL 51, ANY CHANGE IN THE FACILITY MUST SPECIFY DISPLACEMENT TO A DIFFERENT CHANNEL; HENCE, THIS APPLICATION SEEKS DISPLACEMENT RELIEF TO MOVE TO CHANNEL 26.

The new facility will broadcast from Richland Hills and cover a significantly smaller area than their current facility on RF 51. It won't be receivable in Garland where I live. For now they're still on RF 51, though (at least as of last night). I suspect they'll drag their feet on lighting up the new facility, so look for it early spring 2015 :

 

[eskipper411]

I totally missed it, but last May the FCC gave the religious broadcaster operating KHFD/51 a construction permit to move to RF 26. Here's a statement from KHFD's displacement applicaton:

INASMUCH AS RECENT FCC POLICY PREVENTS DIGITAL LPTV FILINGS ON CHANNEL 51, ANY CHANGE IN THE FACILITY MUST SPECIFY DISPLACEMENT TO A DIFFERENT CHANNEL; HENCE, THIS APPLICATION SEEKS DISPLACEMENT RELIEF TO MOVE TO CHANNEL 26.

The new facility will broadcast from Richland Hills and cover a significantly smaller area than their current facility on RF 51. It won't be receivable in Garland where I live. For now they're still on RF 51, though (at least as of last night). I suspect they'll drag their feet on lighting up the new facility, so look for it early spring 2015 :

I may be in Oklahoma City by then, but i'll try my best to stay down here for it! ;D

 

[julesism]

I was browsing rabbitears.info and it shows The Cool TV on KHPK 28.2. I went and looked at The Cool TV's site and they also list KHPK 28.2 as an affiliate. Right now all all it has is color bars but we may need to keep an eye on this...

 

[tripinva]

My source was the Cool TV website, which has already listed the wrong subchannel in certain markets. Cool TV should be appearing on one of the Mako stations, so keep an eye open. I'll fix it on RabbitEars quickly if the Cool TV website turns out to be wrong.

- Trip

 

[JHBrandt]

My source was the Cool TV website, which has already listed the wrong subchannel in certain markets. Cool TV should be appearing on one of the Mako stations, so keep an eye open. I'll fix it on RabbitEars quickly if the Cool TV website turns out to be wrong.

- Trip

As of last night it was wrong, but I scan through all the DFW channels transmitting color bars pretty much every night, so I'll post if I see TheCoolTV or any other programming appear (unless someone beats me to it, of course)

 

[JHBrandt]

It's Ba-ack!!

My source was the Cool TV website, which has already listed the wrong subchannel in certain markets. Cool TV should be appearing on one of the Mako stations, so keep an eye open. I'll fix it on RabbitEars quickly if the Cool TV website turns out to be wrong.

- Trip

As of last night it was wrong, but I scan through all the DFW channels transmitting color bars pretty much every night, so I'll post if I see TheCoolTV or any other programming appear (unless someone beats me to it, of course)

Guess you've all noticed by now. The Cool TV is back ;D On 28.2 just as their website promised.

 

[eskipper411]

Re: It's Ba-ack!!

My source was the Cool TV website, which has already listed the wrong subchannel in certain markets. Cool TV should be appearing on one of the Mako stations, so keep an eye open. I'll fix it on RabbitEars quickly if the Cool TV website turns out to be wrong.

- Trip

As of last night it was wrong, but I scan through all the DFW channels transmitting color bars pretty much every night, so I'll post if I see TheCoolTV or any other programming appear (unless someone beats me to it, of course)

Guess you've all noticed by now. The Cool TV is back ;D On 28.2 just as their website promised.

I noticed the same time you did! What a coincidence! ;D

 

[JHBrandt]

Re: It's Ba-ack!!

Guess you've all noticed by now. TheCoolTV is back ;D On 28.2 just as their website promised.

I noticed the same time you did! What a coincidence! ;D

One change I've noticed since TheCoolTV was last on in DFW: there are a lot more ads now. In fact, back when it was on channel 31.something, I remember seeing so few ads I was worried TheCoolTV wouldn't survive.

Well, that's certainly changed. Now, there's almost a 50-50 chance of seeing an ad whenever I switch TheCoolTV on, including many of those intolerably long Time-Life ads.

If that's what it takes to remain profitable, I guess it's still better than not having TheCoolTV, but this many ads certainly detracts from the channel's enjoyability. I wish they could strike a better balance, closer to 25-75 than 50-50.

 

[arnoldevns]

Not sure what's up, but 28.2 looked like it was having a technical problem this morning and was basically a black screen. 28.3 had changed to almavision instead of classic arts. (Again, no.idea if that's permanent or temporary)

I also noticed 26.2 had reappeared with a placeholder picture of cartoon animals and a note saying "P-TV coming soon". Not sure what that is.

 

[JHBrandt]

Not sure what's up, but 28.2 looked like it was having a technical problem this morning and was basically a black screen. 28.3 had changed to almavision instead of classic arts. (Again, no.idea if that's permanent or temporary)

The black screen on 28.2 was probably just a momentary glitch. But 28.3 changed to Almavision Friday night and it's been that way all weekend, so that change is probably permanent. What surprises me is that KHPK chose to replace actual programming on 28.3 rather than the color bars on 28.4! It's true the noncommerical Contemporary Arts Showcase wasn't making them any money, but the color bars certainly aren't a profit center either :

Maybe they didn't have a spare satellite dish/receiver, so they had to stop receiving Arts to start receiving Almavision. They'll have to get another receiver if they ever expect to replace those color bars, though.

I also noticed 26.2 had reappeared with a placeholder picture of cartoon animals and a note saying "P-TV coming soon". Not sure what that is.

I tried looking up P-TV on Wikipedia and Google and didn't have much luck. According to Wikipedia, PTV may refer to:

Pakistan Television Corporation, a state-run broadcaster of Pakistan
PTV (TV station), a TV station in Mildura, Victoria, Australia
Paikallistelevisio (PTV4), a now-defunct Finnish television channel, predecessor of Nelonen
People's Television, a Thailand-based satellite television station
People's Television Network, a government-owned broadcaster in the Philippines formerly known as NBN.
Paramount Television, a defunct American television production/distribution company (now CBS Television Studios)
PTV, a temporary branding to PBS Kids, used from 1993 to 1999.

None of those seem particularly likely.

 

[arnoldevns]

I looked it up. It's Punch TV. Looks like family oriented programming. The cartoon characters are the stars of one of their main shows.

 

[JHBrandt]

I looked it up. It's Punch TV. Looks like family oriented programming. The cartoon characters are the stars of one of their main shows.

Thanks for the lead. I linked their website above. Seems to be urban/African-American oriented.

 

[JHBrandt]

Re: KXDA continues the trend

The church that owns KPFW recently sold KXDA to something called the Hispanic Family Christian Network, which does sound suspiciously similar to the Hispanic Christian Community Network that owns KHFW and KSFW.

Yup - same people. Cesar & Maria Guel own Hispanic Community Christian Network, Hispanic Family Christian Network, and Iglesia Jesucristo Es Mi Refugio, Inc.

The latter entity gave KXDA to HFCN - it was an internal transaction.

Interesting - do you know if LMO Christian Media (KWDA/KQFW) is also owned by them? Reason I'm suspicious is that JEMIR's KPFW programming is simulcast on KWDA, so they appear to be working together.

That appears to be the case. HCCN is located at 8500 N. Stemmons Fwy., Ste. 5050. LMO Christian Media and Hispanic Family Christian Network are both listed at the same address as well. I misspoke earlier - Iglesia Jesucristo Es Mi Refugio is a separate company, but Antonio Cesar Guel, owner of HCCN, has been the consulting engineer for all of Iglesia's activities, so there is still a close relationship between the companies.

KXDA & KQFW have applied for licenses to cover their construction permits on RF 5 and RF 24. With anyone else I'd say that meant they were close to going on the air. But with these guys.... :

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

Re: KXDA continues the trend

KXDA & KQFW have applied for licenses to cover their construction permits on RF 5 and RF 24. With anyone else I'd say that meant they were close to going on the air. But with these guys.... :

As for KQFW RF-24, there's not a hint of any ATSC waveform there. Per another thread, I was checking analog channel 6 on the Sencore (it has only an audio component and nothing at down in the lower part of the NTSC spectrum). Then I saw your post and examined KQFW. Nada. I can only speculate that the license to cover is for yet another zombie with the ultimate purpose of filing a CP for a Cedar Hill move.