HOTEL CABLE REPORT - WYOMISSING, PA

[KML0224]

I'm staying at the Country Inn & Suites in Wyomissing, PA, which is just west of Reading. From the looks of this lineup, it looks like we actually have the local Comcast service...and it's actually decent!

2- WHYY-TV (PBS) channel 12 Wilmington, DE
3- KYW-TV (CBS) channel 3 Philadelphia
4- WTXF-TV (FOX) channel 29 Philadelphia
5- QVC (hotel card had said CN8)
6- WPVI-TV (ABC) channel 6 Philadelphia
7- WLVT-TV (PBS) channel 39 Allentown
8- WGAL-TV (NBC) channel 8 Lancaster
9- WFMZ-TV (IND) channel 69 Allentown
10- WCAU-TV (NBC) channel 10 Philadelphia
11- WPHL-TV (MY) channel 17 Philadelphia
12- WPMT-TV (FOX) channel 43 York
13- BCTV (Berks Community TV)
14- WPSG-TV (CW) channel 57 Philadelphia
15- WWSI-TV (TEL) channel 62 Atlantic City, NJ
16- WUVP-TV (UNI) channel 65 Vineland, NJ
17- WYBE-CA (PBS) channel 35 Philadelphia
18- WGTW-TV (TBN) channel 48 Burlington, NJ
19- WBPH-TV (REL) channel 60 Bethlehem
20- WPPX-TV (ION) channel 61 Wilmington, DE
21- local access
22- local access
23- WITF-TV (PBS) channel 33 Harrisburg
24- WTVE-TV (IND) channel 51 Reading
25- WMCN-TV (IND) channel 53 Atlantic City, NJ
26- Comcast Sportsnet
27- HBO
28- Travel Channel
29- AMC
30- The Weather Channel
31- TNT
32- CNN
33- Nickelodeon
34- A&E
35- CNBC
36- Spike TV
37- TLC
38- BET
39- FX
40- Galavision
41- TV Land
42- ABC Family
43- VH1
44- USA
45- ESPN
46- HSN
47- Lifetime
48- E!
49- MTV
50- Comcast Sportsnet
51- Comedy Central
52- Shop NBC
53- Animal Planet
54- Cartoon Network
55- CMT
56- FOX News Channel
57- MSNBC
58- SyFy
59- Food Network
60- HGTV
61- Disney Channel
62- Speed Channel
63- TBS
64- GSN
65- TRU-TV
66- Discovery
67- Bravo
68- TCM
69- Golf Channel
71- Versus
72- ESPN 2
74- OWN
95- C-SPAN 2

The tuning on the hotel room's 32" LCD HDTV was tricky (no clue what brand it is). Say you wanted to tune in AMC on cable channel 29. The tuner would go up from cable channel 28 (The Travel Channel), tune WTXF-TV (FOX) channel 29-1 (not sure if it was actually WTXF-TV's digital channel or not), then AMC. Confusing at first, but then I figured it out.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

The tuning on the hotel room's 32" LCD HDTV was tricky (no clue what brand it is). Say you wanted to tune in AMC on cable channel 29. The tuner would go up from cable channel 28 (The Travel Channel), tune WTXF-TV (FOX) channel 29-1 (not sure if it was actually WTXF-TV's digital channel or not), then AMC. Confusing at first, but then I figured it out.

This is quite common on QAM tuners, and I see it on my LCD as well...only the analog channels come first, then the -1/-2 etc. locals, on their over-air channel numbers.

On our TWC system, WOIO/19 is analog 4, but QAM digital mapped to 19-1, and it comes up after whatever's on analog 19 (cable position).

 

[radiolives]

How come they have two Comcast Sports Net on the list? Channel 26 and Channel 50.

I am guessing one is CSN Philly and CSN Mid Atlantic.

 

[KML0224]

I just checked the TV and I couldn't tell you. One was replaying the Sabres vs Flyers NHL playoff game from Saturday while the other was showing tennis. Hmmmm!

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

It appears that Wyomissing's Comcast lineup still has a vast analog "extended basic" cable lineup--I wonder how much longer that will last there. Here in the Midwest Comcast has gotten aggressive with the "World of More" and the only analog cable channels left are your basic cable offerings of your local broadcast channels, QVC/HSN, WGN, CSPAN, public access, etc. on channels 2-22--and everything else has gone all-digital. (And even then I would not be surprised if sometime in the future Comcast decides to move the likes of shopping channels, CSPAN and perhaps even WGN to digital from basic too--or even shut the door on analog cable altogether and make everything digital). So I wonder when the "World of More" and a nearly all-digital lineup will come to that part of Pennsylvania.

 

[KML0224]

I'm just surprised that they have so many over-the-air stations on this lineup! Back home in New Britain, CT, the only out-of-market station I get is WGBY-TV (PBS) channel 57 of Springfield, MA.

 

[ssetta]

Are the locals they get in HD?

 

[ding12]

I'm just surprised that they have so many over-the-air stations on this lineup! Back home in New Britain, CT, the only out-of-market station I get is WGBY-TV (PBS) channel 57 of Springfield, MA.

I think it is because Berks County is technically closer to Lancaster County than Philadelphia, though Berks in the Philadelphia DMA. There is a law that states that the cable company has to provide the nearest network affiliate based on COL assuming those station can provide signal, has significantly viewed and request must-carry; in this case, WGAL trumps WCAU in the COL distance factor, but because Philly is within DMA, both sets are carried.

Comcast carries the major Philadelphia stations in Cecil County as Elkton is closer to Philadelphia than Baltimore.

In Reading, WGAL has been on Ch.8, and Comcast was mostly unable to move it out elsewhere to put CN8 on 8, at the time when Comcast was using the CN8 branding and wanted it on 8 on as many systems as possible.

 

[ding12]

How come they have two Comcast Sports Net on the list? Channel 26 and Channel 50.

I am guessing one is CSN Philly and CSN Mid Atlantic.

It's The Comcast Network (on Ch.26), and CSN Philly (on Ch.50). CSN Mid Atlantic doesn't have carriage within Berks County. I think CSN Mid Atlantic may only have coverage in Delaware and within the Harrisburg-Lancaster market, where there is overlap between CSN Philly.

 

[ding12]

WYBE, WWSI and WMCN were additions from just the last 10 years IIRC.

I find it odd that WWSI and WMCN from Atlantic City license are on Comcast Reading, but Comcast still hasn't made Reading licensed WTVE available in Camden County. WTVE is on Fios, Dish and DirecTV, however, and on the Comcast system in Atlantic County, further southeast of Camden County, as that was a Suburban Cable system that agreed to carry WTVE many years ago, but Comcast denied original request for WTVE based on the fact that WTVE's OTA signal didn't reach the community it wanted coverage. The Atlantic City stations don't provide a OTA signal into Berks County, so I'm not sure the difference, other than maybe WTVE (under the latest ownership) just didn't try again.

 

[azumanga]

I find it odd that WWSI and WMCN from Atlantic City license are on Comcast Reading, but Comcast still hasn't made Reading licensed WTVE available in Camden County... Comcast denied original request for WTVE based on the fact that WTVE's OTA signal didn't reach the community it wanted coverage. The Atlantic City stations don't provide a OTA signal into Berks County, so I'm not sure the difference, other than maybe WTVE (under the latest ownership) just didn't try again.

Maybe the other stations actually paid Comcast to carry their station in Reading, and the reason why WTVE was not on the Camden system is because they didn't take the easy way out and pay Comcast for carriage.

 

[KML0224]

As far as I could tell, all of the over-the-air stations looked like they were in HD when available. The TV was not in a "Stretch-O-Vision 4:3" mode.

 

[spunker88]

The tuning on the hotel room's 32" LCD HDTV was tricky (no clue what brand it is). Say you wanted to tune in AMC on cable channel 29. The tuner would go up from cable channel 28 (The Travel Channel), tune WTXF-TV (FOX) channel 29-1 (not sure if it was actually WTXF-TV's digital channel or not), then AMC. Confusing at first, but then I figured it out.

The TV is picking up the PSIP from the QAM channels. It can get kind of confusing when an analog channel is on the real channel. My TV tuner card in my computer has QAM but can't map PSIP information so they channel numbers are usually in the 80s or 90s for open QAM signals.

 

[KML0224]

I was just reminiscing, looking at this sweet lineup. I wonder how much it costs for people who actually live in that area? Here in New Britain, CT, we're (unfortunately) a Comcast city for the most part. In the past two weeks, they finally killed the old analog line-up, save for the color bars on analog cable channel 2. As for the confusion on the QAM tuner, it's not just in Pennsylvania. Our area is home to WEDH-TV (PBS) channel 24 of Hartford. Without a converter, my mother's TV will tune in this order, when hitting "CH - UP" on her remote:

WCCT-TV Waterbury channel 20-1 (CW)
WCCT-TV Waterbury channel 20-2 (This TV)
WEDH-TV Hartford channel 24-1 (PBS)
TBS HD channel 24-2
WEDH-TV Hartford channel 24-2 (CPTV 4U)
WEDH-TV Hartford channel 24-3 (CPTV Sports)
WHPX-TV New London channel 26-1 (ION)

They ought to assign TBS to QAM channel 25 or whatever, since it's not being used!

It's even worse on my TV, since it's a Sanyo 26" LCD HDTV from 2006. My television, also with no converter, will only get TBS HD on channel 24 and map it as 24-1. The locals are all assigned randomly. For example, I get WCCT-TV (CW) channel 20-1 at 46-3. I can't tune subchannels directly, either. If I hit 4-5 and wait on my remote, it will tune 45-1, which ends up being WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61-1. I have to hit "CH - UP" once to get channel 45-2, which is WFSB-TV (CBS) channel 3-1 of Hartford. Screwy, huh? Yet, a backup Toshiba 24" LCD HDTV in my closet (great picture but s----y sound!) tunes the locals directly and correctly.

Lastly, it should be noted that, with both of our Sanyo TVs and their QAM tuners, that the old analog cable band was on its own tuner, not blended together like the hotel TV did in Pennsylvania.