Hotel Cable Report: Brattleboro, VT - 2/13/2012

[KML0224]

I'm presently at the EconoLodge on US Route 5 in Brattleboro, VT. While the service seems to be showing some ads from DirecTV, the rest of the service sure doesn't look like it. It's bad enough the room's TV is a old 27" Panasonic CRT tube TV. Here's the room's very limited lineup. You'll notice one major player is missing:

14- Shotime
16- Shotime Extreme
18- Lifetime
20- Discovery Channel
22- TLC
28-WCVB-TV (ABC) channel 5 Boston
30- WFXT-TV (FOX) channel 25 Boston
32- CNBC
34- NESN
36- Fox News Channel
38- FX
40- Cartoon Network
44- HLN
46- TBS
48- TNT
50- USA
56- WGBH-TV (PBS) channel 2 Boston
58- The Weather Channel
60- Nickelodeon
62- WBZ-TV (CBS) channel 4 Boston
64- ESPN

Yes, that's right...No NBC! Period! WSBK-TV (MY) channel 38 of Boston was nowhere to be found either. I did a cable scan at least twice with no luck. :

Thank goodness the only things I need to watch tonight are on USA ("WWE Raw") and TBS ("Conan")

 

[vibe]

Is that cable? I remember Brattleboro VT having a lot of stations from markets such as Burlington, Hanover/Whiter River, and others... What a crappy "system" and TV. And I've stayed in a lot of those places!

 

[TheRob]

HLN, but not CNN? That's a sorry lineup. I stayed at a crummy motel in White River Junction once, and it had all the major Boston stations, plus WCAX, VPT and WMUR.

 

[cd637299]

Was looking at this lineup....note the channel numbers....all are "even". There aren't odd-numbered channels in between? A problem with the remote keypad??

And, if this was indeed correct, could it be in relation to the Sunbeam/WHDH brouhaha with DirecTV? Maybe the hotel depends on the dish (small d). Is the feud still on?

cd

 

[KML0224]

Good question! It's probably based on viewing habits, but I can't ever figure out why Windham County, VT is even still a part of the Boston/Worcester DMA. Is it that Brattleboro is clustered with Boston/Worcester because it's right on the state line with Cheshire County, NH (i.e. Keene), which is already in their market?

When I stayed 4 miles north of here last year at the Super 8 on US Route 5/VT Route 9, their "cable" had WBZ, WCVB, WHDH, WFXT, WSBK and what was supposed to be WGBH, but it was their audio only.

Thanks for mentioning Sunbeam though! No WLVI-TV (CW) channel 56 on this lineup either.

 

[kenglish]

Was looking at this lineup....note the channel numbers....all are "even". There aren't odd-numbered channels in between? A problem with the remote keypad??

And, if this was indeed correct, could it be in relation to the Sunbeam/WHDH brouhaha with DirecTV? Maybe the hotel depends on the dish (small d). Is the feud still on?

cd

It could also be due to the cost/quality of the modulators.
Many inexpensive analog modulators output both sidebands, not just the upper-only, which is proper "Vestigial Sideband" operation. They are not designed to stack adjacent channels.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Here's the room's very limited lineup. You'll notice one major player is missing:

64- ESPN

In addition to no NBC, there were three other "major players" missing: ESPN2, ESPN Classic, and ESPNNEWS. Shocked to see just the original on that lineup (although there was NESN).

 

[cd637299]

@kenglish.....maybe so about the even channels, but there are still a few even-numbered channels missing there!

cd

 

[nomadcowatbk]

A lot of the cheap chains just use the local analog basic lineup of the local cable system

 

[KML0224]

@ NOMADCOWATBK: Which would be fine in Brattleboro's case. Their local Comcast lineup has locals from Boston, Burlington (VT) [WCAX-TV], Manchester (NH), Derry (NH) [WBIN-TV], White River Junction (VT) [WNNE-TV], Springfield (MA) [WGBY-TV] and Adams, MA [WCDC-TV].

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Many lodgenet systems often lack netlet or indie station

 

[CrankyYankee]

I recently stayed at the 'Colonial' Motel on Rt. 5/Putney Road and found a channel line-up like that mentioned in the initial post.
It appears they use DISH for their service, with Boston channels for the network services. Yes, Brattleboro cable(Comcast) has the Burlington
and White River Junction, Vermont stations available, as well as the Boston stations too. But as Brattleboro is in the Boston ADI, DISH can provide the Bay State channels to folks in the southern counties of Vermont. Since most of the guests who stay at a motel are from out-of-town, I suppose so long as they can find such
programs as "Idol" or "Hawaii Five-0", they don't mighty much mind from where they originate. I personally think since the Burlington stations are available to both DISH & Direct, that the Vermont stations should be on the motel TV line-up and not the Boston channels. Hey, you're in Vermont after all. (Then again, watching TV is probably not the prime reason folks seek lodging at a motel.)

 

[KML0224]

However, I am VERY interested as to what's offered on the TV and how the wi-fi is at said hotel/motel!

Again, as for Burlington/Plattsburgh (includes White River Junction, VT), Comcast of Brattleboro offers WCAX-TV (CBS) channel 3 of Burlington and WNNE-TV (NBC) channel 31 of White River Junction. The meager service I received was definitely a DirecTV thing of some kind. During Conan on TBS this past Monday, there was an inserted advertisement for WWE Elimination Chamber on pay-per-view, telling you to call DirecTV to order.

You had mentioned Putney Road, which is US Route 5 north of downtown Brattleboro, heading towards the north end of town, closer to Exit 3's rotary from I-91. Was the Colonial before the rotary or after it? Besides the EconoLodge this past Monday night, I've stayed at the Super 8 on Putney Road (twice).

 

[mgsports]

The problem is not all Channels work because I was in a room at the Omaha Downtown Embassy in July and the main TV wouldn't pick up all HD Channels but oen in Bedroom would.

 

[KML0224]

As I hit the one year anniversary of this thread (ha ha!), I still wonder if that "cable" ever improved? BTW, it was also the last time I went to northern New England. Not a lot to do in the south end of Brattleboro.