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Hotel Cable Report - Harrison, NJ

C

charlestondxman

For the last few days I have been in NJ with my family. We stayed in the Hampton Inn in Harrison, NJ, just across the river from Newark. From our room, we could see downtown Newark and the baseball stadium there.

It was a nice hotel, packed every day. However, the TV service in the rooms left a lot to be desired.

It was a LodgeNet DirecTV system, and had those Nintendo GameCube games that you had to pay extra for along with movies.

1- The 212 Scene (a NY channel airing in most of the hotels)
2- WCBS
3- USA Network
4- WNBC (which was frozen for two days! It was frozen from Thursday afternoon until Saturday night on Easter weekend)
5- WNYW
6- TNT
7- WABC
8- ESPN2
9- ESPN2 (yes, ESPN2 was repeated on two channels)
10- ESPN News
11- WPIX
12- The Weather Channel (with national forecasts like 90% of hotels)
13- WNET (PBS)
14- Cartoon Network
15- Nickelodeon
16- HLN
17- CNN
18- CNBC
19- Fox News
20- TBS
21- MTV
22- HBO (at least they had HBO)
23- YES
24- History
25- A&E
26- Comedy Central
27 and 28- blank spots that were hotel channels

No MSG or MSG+, no SNY, no My 9, none of the Spanish channels, and many of the major cable networks. Not a good system. In the waiting room, however, they had the full Fios system. Strange to see.
 
WOW, no WWOR and nada en espanol? And you also didn't get WNYE, WPXN (ion), NJN, or WLNY. All local channels that any local cable provider would offer on basic. Not to mention the disappearance of at least FOUR local Spanish channels. Unacceptable, really. In reality, lacking Univision and Telemundo in a place like New Jersey represents a major oversight nowadays. Those stations do get decent ratings, particularly in that market.

This is exactly why a lot of us say that LodgeNet sucks.
 
charlestondxman said:
4- WNBC (which was frozen for two days! It was frozen from Thursday afternoon until Saturday night on Easter weekend)
Click to expand...

Could you recall the image that was frozen on WNBC for at least 48 hours? Was it from "The Ellen Show"?
 
ixnay said:
Re The 212 Scene - isn't that Manhattan's area code (+ its overlay)?

ixnay
Click to expand...

Yes, 212 is the area code for Manhattan. I have never heard of The 212 Scene. It must be some network designed specifically for hotels.
 
ansky212 said:
I have never heard of The 212 Scene. It must be some network designed specifically for hotels.
Click to expand...

Some cable companies offer special tourist channels for broadcast only in hotels and other lodging facilities -- I know Bright House has one in Orlando, as do Videotron in Montreal; these channels usually bump a channel that is of little use to travellers, generally a local access channel.
 
BRNout said:
WOW, no WWOR and nada en espanol? And you also didn't get WNYE, WPXN (ion), NJN, or WLNY. All local channels that any local cable provider would offer on basic. Not to mention the disappearance of at least FOUR local Spanish channels. Unacceptable, really. In reality, lacking Univision and Telemundo in a place like New Jersey represents a major oversight nowadays. Those stations do get decent ratings, particularly in that market.

This is exactly why a lot of us say that LodgeNet sucks.
Click to expand...

The source wasn't cable though. Cable carries those channels because of must-carry. Must-carry also doesn't apply to hotel lineups. I assume with LodgeNet and DirecTV, there are multiple receivers/tuners output downconverted and multiplexed to analog. Not sure though.

If the hotel used what was from the cable company, it would be unlikely that WWOR, WXTV, etc. would have been excluded. I agree Univision and Telemundo show programming towards a significant audience in that market, but the the decision for channels probably accomodates to out of towners.

Then again, I've seen channels like The Cooking Channel, Oxygen and Hallmark Movie Channel on hotel lineups, but more established cable channels, Telemundo and independent local stations that probably get higher ratings than the mentioned cable networks, missing in hotels in the large markets.
 
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