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No Arkansas Public TV Station in Memphis Market?

G

Gregg

Memphis-area TV cable systems carry two PBS stations. 10 WKNO-TV, based in Memphis. (They also are a regional PBS production hub, providing shows such as Burt Wolf, seen on other PBS stations.) Then there is 18 WMAV-TV from Oxford MS, part of the Mississippi Public TV network.

Doesn't Arkansas also have a Public Broadcasting network? Memphis sits just across the Mississippi River from West Memphis, Arkansas and other suburbs in that state. You'd think the Memphis cable system would pull in a signal from an Arkansas public station.



Gregg
[email protected]
 
The closest AETN station is KTEJ in Jonesboro, channel 19. I don't know about West Memphis cable, their Comcast may have AETN, but not on this side of the river.
 
Yes. Arkansas does have a public TV network; the closest affiliate is in Jonesboro. And, yes, Mississippi has a very fine state network, one of the best in the country.

Neither Mississippi nor Arkansas are currently carried on Memphis cable. In 1994, Mississippi Authority for Educational Television ("MAET") filed a complaint with the FCC requesting "must carry" in Memphis. The FCC ruled against MAET, finding they were just shy of two miles too far from the cable head to get such consideration. Arkansas would be even further away.

There would be issues of Copyright, too, but that's a bit esoteric for this discussion.

West Memphis does not receive a reliable signal from Arkansas ETV. Perhaps more oddly, DeSoto County does not get a reliable signal from MAET. I have often wondered why MAET never put a small transmitter there. MAET is a well-run organization; one would think they would want to reach Mississippi's fast-growing county.

As an aside, I have a pretty beefy UHF antenna in my attic. I have no trouble with WMAV. They are freeze-free in HD all the time.

DE
 
In the 1980's, WMAV in Mississippi was carried on the Memphis cable system. That's how I watched Doctor Who with Tom Baker and later Peter Davison. Channel 10 didn't carry Doctor Who back in those days. I think that it was about 1990 that WMAV got taken off Memphis cable.
 
since WKNO has removed create from 10.2 I have a small amount of motivation to connect the antenna in my attic up finally. I actually recorded a couple shows off Create to watch when I was caught up on other TV shows.
 
The reason MPB and AETV probably don't try to reach the areas around Memphis is because of WKNO acting as the default local for DeSoto and Crittenden counties. I think it's inarguable that Memphis is the hub of everything in those areas even though it's in a different state. Since MPB is carrying the top of the line shows and WKNO is as well, I doubt they'd gain enough new viewers to justify adding a stick in DeSoto County.

If there's some way they could program a totally different lineup to compliment WKNO, though, that might be a moneymaker. Er, a pledge-driver. :D

Where I live in Alabama I get both APT from Mobile and WSRE from Pensacola off air and via cable, but they're almost totally identical simulcasts, with both also providing Create. So we get two nearly identical PBSes and two Creates on our cable.

On the radio side the public stations were mostly different, with WHIL in Mobile picking up all the top line NPR programming and WUWF in Pensacola going more for the APM/PRI/BBC stuff. Now that WHIL is owned by the University of Alabama, they're like the TV stations, almost totally the same. And where WUWF fades out the MPB station in Biloxi comes in and the programming is again mostly the same. Not much public radio choice here anymore.

I do miss being able to drive all over creations and hear the same public radio schedule in Mississippi. That was pretty swell.
 
The Direct TV feed on the Naval Base in Millington has all the local Memphis channels, but has MPB instead of WKNO for the local public broadcasting station. WKNO has better local programs than MPB. I wish WKNO TV would bring back Create TV on their digital channel. I learned a lot from that channel.
 
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