OK, lets see if we can get a conversation started here. Utica has no local CBS affiliate. Watertown has no NBC affiliate. Both markets depend on Syracuse stations which, because of the digital conversion, in no sway serve the markets. So what's to stop WKTV (NBC) in Utica & WWNY (CBS) in Watertown to run each other's stations on subchannels? I would expect it would be revenue producing for both stations and might even mean a few extra compensation bucks for each from NBC & CBS. It would probably P. O. WSTM/WTVH but why would the networks care?
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Is this possible for Utica/Watertown
- Thread starter therealjm12
- Start date
"Rumour has it" that WKTV did look at the possibility of putting CBS on a subchannel. And if I understand correctly, WTVH would still retain CBS presence on Time Warner Cable within the Utica DMA. Also due to bandwidth limitations, WKTV would not broadcast an OTA subchannel in high def.
For the work that would be needed to import a WKTV signal into Watertown, or WWNY to Utica, it would be just as simple given today's technology for WKTV or WWNY (or WUTR or WWTI) to add another local subchannel of their own with CBS and NBC, respectively. And it will happen, sooner or later. The networks have not been enthusiastic about protecting the sort of grandfathered out-of-market service that WSTM provides to Watertown or WTVH to Utica. Look at Elmira, where WBNG lost its spot on cable to WENY when WENY added a CBS subchannel.
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editthis
Guest
And when it's done, it'll be done in the cheapest manner possible which means we will lose an HD signal on cable for a SD subchannel signal. I know it'd be very easy to pass an HD signal into the fiber feed for cable but will the companies care to spend the extra $$$ to do so. Can't say I look forward to watching the NFL on CBS in standard stretch-o-vision on the basic cable tier.
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editthis
Guest
Maybe the CW should get on that...we still have a cruddy SD cropped 4x3 for our local CW subchannel on basic cable.
The cost differential between SD and HD for this kind of operation is rapidly vanishing. Increasingly, the video gear - distribution amps, monitoring converters, etc. - already supports HD. It might actually be *more expensive* to run a subchannel in SD, because you need a downconverter.....
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Bob1370
Guest
At one point (in the 70s and 80s) the Utica/Rome market actually came close to getting a CBS affiliate...by having a second full power VHF station sign on. The market had a tentative allocation for Channel 4 which met all the requirements for co-channel and adjacent channel separation, and ability to provide a city-grade signal to Utica and Rome proper, assuming its transmitter was located near WKTV's east of Utica and it operated at similar ERP (35 kW at 1380 feet above terrain).
It never got built, first because the regional economy in the '80s was sketchy and potential owners held off on applying for a CP, and then because the FCC slowed down on processing any new applications for analog TV CPs after the early 1990s while they were trying to figure out how to phase in digital TV and where existing stations were going to wind up after the transition. No one ever pronounced flat out the death of the Channel 4 allocation for Utica but it's been pretty much assumed dormant for the last 20 years.
It could come back to life if the FCC actually squeezes stations back into the VHF band, as some expect, in order to make room for more spectrum in the higher UHF channels (above channel 40) for broadband data. Heritage stations would be pushed back into the VHF band first (at powers like their old analog visual ERP, to cut through the noise). But some new stations might show up there as well.
It never got built, first because the regional economy in the '80s was sketchy and potential owners held off on applying for a CP, and then because the FCC slowed down on processing any new applications for analog TV CPs after the early 1990s while they were trying to figure out how to phase in digital TV and where existing stations were going to wind up after the transition. No one ever pronounced flat out the death of the Channel 4 allocation for Utica but it's been pretty much assumed dormant for the last 20 years.
It could come back to life if the FCC actually squeezes stations back into the VHF band, as some expect, in order to make room for more spectrum in the higher UHF channels (above channel 40) for broadband data. Heritage stations would be pushed back into the VHF band first (at powers like their old analog visual ERP, to cut through the noise). But some new stations might show up there as well.
I recall the Ch. 4 proposal for Utica in the mid/late 1980's and there was local buzz about CBS affiliation. At the time I had a co-worker who lived near the proposed Tx site in Fairfield (Herkimer Cty) and he was not happy about the possibility of another tower. I told him not to be too upset as I felt CBS was not all that interested in Utica. WTVH-Syracuse and WRGB-Albany not only had far-reaching analog signals, but TVH ran a top notch newsroom that often covered Utica area events. WTUV, then independent, now WFXV-Fox, came on the air during this time period. A CP for Ch. 4 resurfaced again around '94 or '95 with a proposed site in Forestport NY, about 35mi northeast of Utica. Don't know if it ever got approved.
Its possible to have a 16:9 480p subchannel. Its mentioned in the ATSC standard, and my local WWNY uses it for FOX on its subchannel.
It would be nice to have NBC around here without going through the cable company. Back in the days of analog I know people who could pull in either WSTM on channel 3 or WKTV on channel 2 depending on which was closer to where they lived. Those VHF-L analog signals could get out quite a ways especially with a little tropo to help.
We used to have Utica's ABC here before it became its own affiliate as WWTI. Unfortunately I'm guessing they see no benefit from adding an NBC translator in Watertown since its a smaller market.
It would be nice to have NBC around here without going through the cable company. Back in the days of analog I know people who could pull in either WSTM on channel 3 or WKTV on channel 2 depending on which was closer to where they lived. Those VHF-L analog signals could get out quite a ways especially with a little tropo to help.
We used to have Utica's ABC here before it became its own affiliate as WWTI. Unfortunately I'm guessing they see no benefit from adding an NBC translator in Watertown since its a smaller market.
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