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PBS Subchannels: Create, World, V-Me, PBS Kids

G

Gregg

These four subchannels are offered by PBS to local affiliates. Are they being offered in your market?

I wonder how a PBS affiliate decides whether to take these channels? Are they charged extra by PBS to carry them? Where do the shows on V-Me come from? Is PBS picking them up from TV Espana or producing them themselves. (I suppose some are just dubs of English language PBS shows but some are original productions in Spanish.) Once a local PBS station has any of these subchannels, can they break in to do local fundraisers? Are they being carried by your cable system?

In the NYC area, WNET 13, the primary PBS station, offers V-Me and PBS Kids as subchannels. And the secondary PBS affiliate, WLIW 21, offers Create (How-to shows: Cooking, Travel, This Old House, etc.) and World (non-fiction PBS shows such as Nova) as its subchannels.

13 transmits from the Empire State Building so it's seen within 40 or 50 miles of Midtown. But 21 broadcasts from a tower on Long Island, so its signal is not easy for everyone in NYC to pick up, let alone NJ, Westchester or Hudson Valley viewers. There's also 50 and 58 which run the New Jersey Network and have NJN2 as their secondary channel, simply a line up of PBS and local shows that are an alternative to the primary schedule.

I know in New Hampshire, that state's public TV system offers a secondary channel called "Explore." Did they simply create that channel themselves from secondary PBS programs or is that a nationally offered channel as well? Despite its name, it doesn't seem to explore anymore than the primary PBS line up. There are children's, music and drama shows on Explore.

My cable system, Time Warner, carries ALL the NY area channels, some on the expanded digital tier. Oddly, they don't carry the progam guide for NJN2. Channel 723 lists the main NJN programs even though they show the NJN2 feed. I wonder if anyone at Time Warner knows that?

I notice WGBH 2 in Boston, one of the premiere PBS stations in the country, has no subchannels, not for any of the secondary PBS networks, not even for their own Channel 44 WGBX, which has a so-so signal compared with 2. I wonder why they carry no subchannels or at least let 44 piggyback on the superior Channel 2 (DTV 19) signal?


Gregg
[email protected]
 
In Arizona, we get all but PBS Kids, but only two on each station. KAET Phoenix carries Create (8.2) and World (8.3), while KUAT Tucson carries V-Me (6.2) and Create (6.3).

Tucson also has KUAS Ch. 27.x, but I think they're just used as a KUAT in-town translator (that's what they were in the analog days anyway). I can't pick that station up in Phoenix to find out what they carry.
 
Gregg said:
I notice WGBH 2 in Boston, one of the premiere PBS stations in the country, has no subchannels, not for any of the secondary PBS networks, not even for their own Channel 44 WGBX, which has a so-so signal compared with 2. I wonder why they carry no subchannels or at least let 44 piggyback on the superior Channel 2 (DTV 19) signal?
Click to expand...

Per the Wikipedia article on WGBX, that channel carries PBS Work, Create and PBS Kids, alongside WGBX's main channel. Considering that WGBH is one of the owners of PBS World, it is hard to believe WGBH not offering any subs at all.

KeithE4 said:
Tucson also has KUAS Ch. 27.x, but I think they're just used as a KUAT in-town translator (that's what they were in the analog days anyway). I can't pick that station up in Phoenix to find out what they carry.
Click to expand...

According to Wikipedia, KUAS 27.1 repeats KUAT 6.1; however, their subchannels are different -- KUAT offers V-me and create, while KUAS has PBS Kids and PBS World.
 
Gregg said:
These four subchannels are offered by PBS to local affiliates.
Click to expand...

There is no national PBS Kids channel. Any PBS Kids channel is being put together locally by your local station.

Did they simply create that channel themselves from secondary PBS programs or is that a nationally offered channel as well?
Click to expand...

Local.

I notice WGBH 2 in Boston, one of the premiere PBS stations in the country, has no subchannels, not for any of the secondary PBS networks, not even for their own Channel 44 WGBX, which has a so-so signal compared with 2. I wonder why they carry no subchannels or at least let 44 piggyback on the superior Channel 2 (DTV 19) signal?
Click to expand...

As someone else stated, World, Create, and a local Kids feed are on WGBX.

- Trip
 
Gregg said:
These four subchannels are offered by PBS to local affiliates. Are they being offered in your market?
Click to expand...

For Maine Public Broadcasting, which is carried statewide, an SD and a HD feed are only available OTA. On Time Warner systems in Maine however, World, Kids, Create and a 3 hour delayed feed of MPBN are available on digital cable. I have no idea if the other cable companies in the state carry them, but I believe some do.
 
KQED San Francisco
9.1 KQED
9.2 KTEH 54 in San Jose
9.3 KQED World (PBS World)
9.4 KQED Kids
9.5 KQED Life (Create)
9.6 V-Me
KVIE Sacramento
9.1 KVIE-HD
9.2 KVIE 2 (more PBS)
9.3 V-me
KEET Eureka,CA
13.1 KEET
13.2 KEET World
13.3 KEET Create
KIXE Redding,Ca
9.1 KIXE-HD
9.2 KIXE Create
9.3 KIXE World
 
KeithE4 said:
Tucson also has KUAS Ch. 27.x, but I think they're just used as a KUAT in-town translator (that's what they were in the analog days anyway).
Click to expand...

Only on the primary subchannel, 27.1. The secondary subchannels carry KUAT Kids (Trip is right - there is no longer a national PBS Kids; it's all local) on 27.2 and World on 27.3.

If the FCC ever gets around to licensing new DTV stations, I wonder if the application for an NCE station on ch 43 will be granted, and if so, if they would carry V-Me and children's programming. The station proposes to broadcast from South Mountain, but be licensed to Coolidge. Its licensee is proposing programming that would serve the minority and Indian communities, but with the Gila River Community already proposing a network of LPDTV stations to serve the reservation, I would imagine those proposing the ch 43 station would consider something else. Of course, it will have to be on another channel if the FCC gets its way and steals chs 32-51 from TV.

Application for proposed ch 43: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101212580&formid=340&fac_num=82704
 
Miami, having two PBS outlets, is like so:

WPBT 2-1 PBS
WPBT 2-2 Create
WPBT 2-3 V-Me

WLRN 17-1 WLRN
WLRN 17-2 "WLRN Learn" (cherrypicking I suppose from WLRN 17-1 & other PBS; MHz Worldview overnights)

Also in my viewing area:

WXEL 42-1 WXEL
WXEL 42-2 Create
WXEL 42-3 V-Me
WXEL 42-4 Florida (access, gov't mettings & such)

cd
 
KCET- Los Angeles (Soon to be bailing out from the PBS landscape Jan 1, '11)
28.1 KCET
28.2 KCET Orange (mostly mirrors 28.1 but has alt programming over the weekend)
28.3 VE-Me
28.4 PBS World

KOCE - Huntington Beach (Soon to be LA's primary PBS when KCET bolts)
50.1 KOCE
50.1 KOCE-OC (Co-op with Chapman College) Runs a constant 24/7 OC news crawl. Little content otherwise.
50.3 Daystar (Mandated by judgment to carry via a very long and drawn out legal battle)
+ additional bandwidth leased over to upstart content provider Sezmi

KLCS - Los Angeles (Owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District)
58.1 KLCS
58.2 PBS Kids
58.3 Create
58.4 Secondary educational/instructional programming

*Fringe signal that may or may not be receivable in every Southland market*

KVCR - San Bernardino
24.1 KVCR
24.2 MHz Worldview
24.3 KVCR Desert Cities
24.4 Create
 
IN the CHicago market, there are 3 PBS stations: WTTW (primary PBS station), WYCC (secondary PBS station), & WYIN (licensed to Gary Indiana, & only covers the south suburbs of Chicago & the city of Chicago).

WYIN originally carried Create, but the fees to carry the channel forced them to remove it from their subchannel after about 6 months. WYIN recently added their own PBS Kids Go channel recently on 56.3, but 56.2 & 56.4 are simulcasts of 56.1. Supposedly, they have plans for the other 2 channels. I heard that they plan to be part of an upcoming Indiana Channel, that will be available to all Indiana PBS stations. The other being their own lifestyle channel that they plan to call Lakeshore Lifestyle, which would be like Create, but programmed locally. I don't know when either channel will come to light. If anything, I doubt the Indiana Channel will be an HD channel, as WYIN broadcasts 2 720p HD channels (like commercial station, WLS-TV).

WTTW picked up Create after WYIN dropped it from their station. WTTW brings in more money for their station than WYIN does (primarily because they broadcast out of Chicago instead of Indiana like WYIN does). So they can afford to carry Create on 11.3. They also carry V-Me on 11.4 because it's a free service at this time. They also chose to carry V-Me because PBS otherwise doesn't serve the Spanish speaking viewers. I don't know if WTTW ever carried the original PBS Kids. If they did, they never bothered to create their own PBS Kids channel after it was discontinued. They however took a pass on PBS World in favor of programming their own local channel, called WTTW Prime. WTTW Prime on 11.2 is a 24 hour Primetime channel that shows anything from primetime, & allows people to view programs that previously aired on WTTW 11.1 on 11.2. They also air programs on that channel that wouldn't otherwise fit into the WTTW 11 schedule. They air a lot of childrens programming during the week (around 12 hours a day monday - Friday & 3 - 4 hours a day on weekends, as long as there are no pledge drives on weekends).

WYCC has in the past been an educational channel focussing primarily on college course programming during the daytime hours during the week & documentaries & other programming in the evening & overnight hours. They've scaled some of the college programming back in order to add children's programming from 8am - 1pm Monday - Friday (they have 6 - 10am set aside on weekends for children's programming to meet E/I requirements). They never carried PBS Kids & don't plan to carry their own version either. For some reason, they also took a pass on PBS World. I don't know if PBS World charges a fee, or if it's a free service as I heard from someone on facebook. WYCC has an SD simulcast on 20.2, & has Mhz Worldview on 20.3. I don't know if WYCC pays a fee on Mhz Worldview. If they do, it's probably cheaper than carrying any network from PBS. I doubt WYCC will add any other network from PBS to their lineup, though PBS World would fit in with the documentaries they carry on their channel.
 
The Northeast Ohio landscape:

WVIZ/25 Cleveland

25.1 WVIZ primary/HD
25.2 The Ohio Channel (statewide public affairs, WVIZ is involved in running it)
25.3 PBS World
25.4 PBS Create
25.9 (audio only) Cleveland Sight Center Network (radio reading for the blind, formerly on WVIZ's analog SAP channel)

WNEO/45 Alliance and WEAO/49 Akron

45.1/49.1 WNEO/WEAO "Western Reserve PBS" primary/HD
45.2/49.2 Fusion (local programs mostly repeated off .1, ARTS network nights, runs Ohio Channel in daytime hours)
45.3/49.3 MHz Worldview (national network running English-language foreign TV programming, mostly news/public affairs)
45.4/49.4 V-me

As you can see, there's no duplication, other than a few hours of Ohio Channel on "Fusion".

49 is the Cleveland market's second PBS signal, and 45 is considered the Youngstown market's PBS outlet. Despite it being licensed to the Cleveland market (barely) city of Alliance in eastern Stark County, its stick is the Columbiana County city of Salem. 45 also has an in-market digital translator, W44CR-D Youngstown, which means OTA viewers in the heart of the Youngstown area get two sets of the 45 channels thanks to PSIP...
 
WTTW picked up Create after WYIN dropped it from their station.
Click to expand...


No, there was a period around 2008 when both WYIN and WTTW were airing Create at the same time. Probably WYIN felt it was not necessary to spend money and continue with duplicate programming on Create because the signals overlap. Just about everyone who can receive WYIN also gets WTTW, but not the other way around.

Likely the reason why WTTW does not offer a kids channel is because 'Sprout' is already available to cable systems. Sprout is part-owned by Comacst and PBS, so it is automatically carried by Comcast in the Chicago area. WTTW probably believes that if any viewers want to receive PBS kids shows all day long, they should spend the money to sign up for cable.
 
The Quad Cities has two PBS stations--WQPT and KQIN. The latter was initially a "twin station" to the former before becoming a part of Iowa Public Television in 2003. Here are the grand total of five subchannels as follows:

24-1. WQPT-TV Moline, IL
24-2. MHZ Worldview
(NOTE: Both subchannels air all day and all night since Labor Day 2010)

36-1. KQIN Davenport, IA (Iowa Public Television)
36-2. IPTV Learns (Create from 5 A.M. to 5:30 P.M., PBS Kids from 5:30 P.M. to 10 P.M., and other programming from 10 P.M. to 12 A.M.)
36-3. PBS World (AKA IPTV World)
(NOTE: Since January 2010, all IPTV subchannels sign off at midnight and return to the air at 5 A.M.)
 
avtosalon said:
WTTW picked up Create after WYIN dropped it from their station.
Click to expand...


No, there was a period around 2008 when both WYIN and WTTW were airing Create at the same time. Probably WYIN felt it was not necessary to spend money and continue with duplicate programming on Create because the signals overlap. Just about everyone who can receive WYIN also gets WTTW, but not the other way around.
Click to expand...

WYIN e-mailed me back months ago & they said that cost was the reason they dropped Create. They don't bring in the same revenue that WTTW does. They claimed to be looking at a Create like channel, called Lakeshore Lifestyle (programmed locally), which has yet to happen, as it's now fall, but was supposed to happen this past summer. This is the same reason they haven't picked up other subchannel networks that costs big bucks. BTW, I don't remember Create still being carried on WYIN in 2008, as I had an ATSC TV tuner card on my PC, and never saw Create at all. All I saw was a simulcast of the main channel on the subchannel. I never got a chance to watch Create again until I hooked up my DTV converter box in 2009, and got WTTW on it, but didnt get WTTW on that same tuner TV tuner card on my pc.
 
Mississippi Public Broadcasting

MPB .1 channel-Main PBS in SD
MPB .2 Subchannel-main PBS channel in HD
MPB .3 subchannel-create

Not sure why Mpb is simulcasting on both .1 and .2 Its a waste of bandwith if you ask me. Nobody is going to watch the crappy old SD channel as long as you can get the same exact thing on the other channel in high definiton. I would shut down the SD feed and put on PBS world instead. Or even a radio station would be better than wasting bandwidth.
 
KCTS 9 Seattle has Create on 9.2 and V-me on 9.3.

KBTC 28 Tacoma has Worldview on 28.2.

PBS Kids Sprout is on our cable system, but no PBS Kids subchannel here.

-crainbebo
 
Montana PBS offers these on the full power stations
KUFM/Missoula, KUSM/Bozeman, KBGS/Billings

.1 main feed
.2 PBS Kids
.3 Create
.4 World
.5 MT legislature
 
Iowan tells us that one of the Quad Cities' two PBS stations, KQIN, signs off at Midnight! I really can't think of any other TV station that doesn't go 24/7 these days, except for some occasional transmitter maintenance. Even then I think most TV stations still send a feed to local cable systems even if their over the air signal signs off for a few hours early Sunday or Monday morning.

And by the way, I realize that WNET, NYC's primary PBS station, now calls its youth subchannel "13 Kids" not "PBS Kids" anymore. Since so many PBS stations do have a youth subchannel, I wonder why PBS discontinued the feed. Scores of PBS stations around the country now have to assemble their own line up of Teletubbies and Miya & Miguel.

I also wonder why New Hampshire PTV, which programs its own subchannel "Explore" sometimes runs kids shows on both its main channel and its subchannel. That doesn't make much sense. You'd think that between early morning and late afternoon, they'd make sure one channel or the other would have general programming and one for kids. That's the way WGBH always programmed Channel 2 and Channel 44 in Boston.


Gregg
[email protected]
 
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