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Predictions for 2019 for TV in the Boston/Manchester/Providence areas
- Thread starter alg2468
- Start date
The installation of a new master antenna on the "Candelabra" tower, followed by the replacement of the master antenna on be "CBS" tower and the temporary and permanent transmitter moves that will result will be a big part of changes in 2019.
WFXT, the last station that was still broadcasting from the Candelabra tower has already moved to the CBS tower using a side mount antenna and new transmitter. This will allow the new master to be installed at the top of the Candelabra tower. After that is done WFXT will move back to the Candelabra tower, and be joined there temporarily by WBZ, WCVB, WGBH, WGBX, and WSBK so that the master at the top of the CBS tower can be replaced. WBZ, WCVB, WGBX, and WSBK will then move back to the CBS tower, but WGBH will stay permanently on the Candelabra tower using its new real channel - ch 5. Also moving to the CBS tower are WNEU and WUTF, and (if approved) moving to the Candelabra tower is WUNI.
It will be interesting to see how bad the WGBH signal will be.
And both the Boston and Providence markets are still without several of the largest diginets - AntennaTV, Movies!, Decades, Charge!, and others. WSBK over-compresses H&I and Comet into blurs for no obvious reason - they aren't using the bandwidth for the main channel. That would have been an obvious place for Decades.
WHDH and WBTS have both submitted applications to move to their new channels early (WBTS to Providence, where it won't be NBCBoston). I think at least one other station applied for an early move too.
QUOTE=channel99;6238491]The installation of a new master antenna on the "Candelabra" tower, followed by the replacement of the master antenna on be "CBS" tower and the temporary and permanent transmitter moves that will result will be a big part of changes in 2019.
WFXT, the last station that was still broadcasting from the Candelabra tower has already moved to the CBS tower using a side mount antenna and new transmitter. This will allow the new master to be installed at the top of the Candelabra tower. After that is done WFXT will move back to the Candelabra tower, and be joined there temporarily by WBZ, WCVB, WGBH, WGBX, and WSBK so that the master at the top of the CBS tower can be replaced. WBZ, WCVB, WGBX, and WSBK will then move back to the CBS tower, but WGBH will stay permanently on the Candelabra tower using its new real channel - ch 5. Also moving to the CBS tower are WNEU and WUTF, and (if approved) moving to the Candelabra tower is WUNI.
It will be interesting to see how bad the WGBH signal will be.
And both the Boston and Providence markets are still without several of the largest diginets - AntennaTV, Movies!, Decades, Charge!, and others. WSBK over-compresses H&I and Comet into blurs for no obvious reason - they aren't using the bandwidth for the main channel. That would have been an obvious place for Decades.
WHDH and WBTS have both submitted applications to move to their new channels early (WBTS to Providence, where it won't be NBCBoston). I think at least one other station applied for an early move too.[/QUOTE]
You always have great information, channel 99. In addition to your information, what I notice from rabbitears.com and other sites is that in the Providence area, there will be some changes:
WLNE, ch 6 (RF49) will be moving to RF24, and its Rehoboth transmitter will be at the top of the WJAR tower alongside with WJAR, getting an EPR power boost and elliptical non-directional antenna, so the signal should be easier to receive, particularly north of Boston. WJAR, ch 10 (RF50), moves to RF25, with an elliptical antenna and non-directional. WPRI, ch 12 (RF13) moves to RF7. WSBE, ch 36 (RF21) moves to RF2 and becomes non-directional (but their signal may get worse due to the low cRF). WNAC, ch 64 (RF12) stays the same. Also, I noticed WCRN-LP (RF25) has been granted a move to the Providence area (it was in the Worcester area) but has filed to silence its signal as of December 27, 2018.
As far as the missing diginets, I saw on Rabbitears.com that WLNE has a new diginet, Court TV, on its 6.4 subchannel, but it is not showing up on my TV's yet. And maybe WBTS-LP (and possibly WCRN-LP) could carry some of the diginets like Antenna TV or Decades.
WFXT, the last station that was still broadcasting from the Candelabra tower has already moved to the CBS tower using a side mount antenna and new transmitter. This will allow the new master to be installed at the top of the Candelabra tower. After that is done WFXT will move back to the Candelabra tower, and be joined there temporarily by WBZ, WCVB, WGBH, WGBX, and WSBK so that the master at the top of the CBS tower can be replaced. WBZ, WCVB, WGBX, and WSBK will then move back to the CBS tower, but WGBH will stay permanently on the Candelabra tower using its new real channel - ch 5. Also moving to the CBS tower are WNEU and WUTF, and (if approved) moving to the Candelabra tower is WUNI.
It will be interesting to see how bad the WGBH signal will be.
And both the Boston and Providence markets are still without several of the largest diginets - AntennaTV, Movies!, Decades, Charge!, and others. WSBK over-compresses H&I and Comet into blurs for no obvious reason - they aren't using the bandwidth for the main channel. That would have been an obvious place for Decades.
WHDH and WBTS have both submitted applications to move to their new channels early (WBTS to Providence, where it won't be NBCBoston). I think at least one other station applied for an early move too.[/QUOTE]
You always have great information, channel 99. In addition to your information, what I notice from rabbitears.com and other sites is that in the Providence area, there will be some changes:
WLNE, ch 6 (RF49) will be moving to RF24, and its Rehoboth transmitter will be at the top of the WJAR tower alongside with WJAR, getting an EPR power boost and elliptical non-directional antenna, so the signal should be easier to receive, particularly north of Boston. WJAR, ch 10 (RF50), moves to RF25, with an elliptical antenna and non-directional. WPRI, ch 12 (RF13) moves to RF7. WSBE, ch 36 (RF21) moves to RF2 and becomes non-directional (but their signal may get worse due to the low cRF). WNAC, ch 64 (RF12) stays the same. Also, I noticed WCRN-LP (RF25) has been granted a move to the Providence area (it was in the Worcester area) but has filed to silence its signal as of December 27, 2018.
As far as the missing diginets, I saw on Rabbitears.com that WLNE has a new diginet, Court TV, on its 6.4 subchannel, but it is not showing up on my TV's yet. And maybe WBTS-LP (and possibly WCRN-LP) could carry some of the diginets like Antenna TV or Decades.
M
MikaelaArsenault
Guest
The Boston area will get Court TV.
According to RabbitEars, Court TV is coming soon to WLNE-TV 6.4.
Concerning, WBTS-LD, if NBC/U retains ownership of it, then I would assume they would use it, at least primarily, for coverage of NBC/U-owned over-the-air networks, such as Cozi TV and TeleXitos, in Rhode Island. They could also repeat WRIW-CD to provide better over-the-air coverage of Telemundo to the entire Providence market.
I predict that, after WNEU moves its transmitter, WYCN-CD will switch to channel-sharing with it, instead of WGBX-TV. I also wouldn't be surprised if the WBTS calls moved over to WYCN-CD, having it become WBTS-CD. The WYCN calls could move over to WBTS-LD or perhaps it would get new calls, after moving to Providence.
I also predict, after WYCN-CD stops channel-sharing with WGBX-TV and WGBH-TV moves to its new low-VHF channel, that they will add a repeater in standard-definition for WGBH-TV on WGBX-TV's signal, to ensure full coverage of the market for the main PBS channel.
It will be interesting to see if Cox unloads WFXT, as it was rumored they were trying to do in 2018. If Fox were to buy WFXT back, that could certainly potentially lead to some shake-up with the diginets on WFXT's sub-channels and perhaps some ripple effect on other channels too.
Might CBS and Hearst finally completely get over their aversion to having more than one sub-channel? I think Hearst has gotten over their aversion in a few of their smaller markets already and CBS has gotten over their aversion on their non-CBS stations. There is no reason that WBZ-TV and WCVB-TV couldn't each add a second sub-channel. This could bring some of the missing diginets to the Boston market.
Concerning, WBTS-LD, if NBC/U retains ownership of it, then I would assume they would use it, at least primarily, for coverage of NBC/U-owned over-the-air networks, such as Cozi TV and TeleXitos, in Rhode Island. They could also repeat WRIW-CD to provide better over-the-air coverage of Telemundo to the entire Providence market.
I predict that, after WNEU moves its transmitter, WYCN-CD will switch to channel-sharing with it, instead of WGBX-TV. I also wouldn't be surprised if the WBTS calls moved over to WYCN-CD, having it become WBTS-CD. The WYCN calls could move over to WBTS-LD or perhaps it would get new calls, after moving to Providence.
I also predict, after WYCN-CD stops channel-sharing with WGBX-TV and WGBH-TV moves to its new low-VHF channel, that they will add a repeater in standard-definition for WGBH-TV on WGBX-TV's signal, to ensure full coverage of the market for the main PBS channel.
It will be interesting to see if Cox unloads WFXT, as it was rumored they were trying to do in 2018. If Fox were to buy WFXT back, that could certainly potentially lead to some shake-up with the diginets on WFXT's sub-channels and perhaps some ripple effect on other channels too.
Might CBS and Hearst finally completely get over their aversion to having more than one sub-channel? I think Hearst has gotten over their aversion in a few of their smaller markets already and CBS has gotten over their aversion on their non-CBS stations. There is no reason that WBZ-TV and WCVB-TV couldn't each add a second sub-channel. This could bring some of the missing diginets to the Boston market.
Court TV is new apparently, and coming soon - a re-incarnation of the original. TSReader shows WLNE has no 4th channel configured at this time, visible or not.
WGBX will most likely become the primary station instead of WGBH, carrying the main PBS feed.
Agreed, NBCBoston won't need WYCN-CD once WNEU moves to Needham - so there are probably a few possibilities. WGBX and NBC/U could mutually agree to give up the sharing, leaving WGBX with more bandwidth, while WYCN-CD would be shared on WNEU once it moves.
Or WYCN-CD might be used by NBC/U for something else and not moved from WGBX - or even turned over to WGBX to lease time on at a lower bitrate, similar to BIZ-TV on WGBH. The value that WYCN-CD has is the must-carry status that goes with it.
WGBX will most likely become the primary station instead of WGBH, carrying the main PBS feed.
Agreed, NBCBoston won't need WYCN-CD once WNEU moves to Needham - so there are probably a few possibilities. WGBX and NBC/U could mutually agree to give up the sharing, leaving WGBX with more bandwidth, while WYCN-CD would be shared on WNEU once it moves.
Or WYCN-CD might be used by NBC/U for something else and not moved from WGBX - or even turned over to WGBX to lease time on at a lower bitrate, similar to BIZ-TV on WGBH. The value that WYCN-CD has is the must-carry status that goes with it.
I think NBC/U will retain the current WYCN-CD, swap calls with WBTS-LD, making it WBTS-CD, channel-share with WNEU and keep NBC and Cozi TV on WBTS-CD, while keeping Telemundo and TeleXitos on WNEU. This will ensure must-carry on cable for both NBC and Telemundo.
The end of WYCN-CD channel-sharing with WGBX-TV will, as channel99 stated, open up bandwidth to, in some way shape or form, put the main WGBH-TV feed on the WGBX-TV signal to ensure full market coverage. I don't see any reason they can't continue to split WGBX-TV's signal five ways to ensure full market coverage of the main WGBH-TV, main WGBX-TV, World, Create and PBS Kids. However, retaining the two licenses allows them to ensure must-carry on cable for both main WGBH-TV and main WGBX-TV.
The end of WYCN-CD channel-sharing with WGBX-TV will, as channel99 stated, open up bandwidth to, in some way shape or form, put the main WGBH-TV feed on the WGBX-TV signal to ensure full market coverage. I don't see any reason they can't continue to split WGBX-TV's signal five ways to ensure full market coverage of the main WGBH-TV, main WGBX-TV, World, Create and PBS Kids. However, retaining the two licenses allows them to ensure must-carry on cable for both main WGBH-TV and main WGBX-TV.
They don't need must carry for NBC, whatever channel it ends up on, since undoubtedly they are charging the cable and satellite operators a hefty retransmission consent fee. Of course on Comcast, that just goes out one pocket and into another... Not sure about Telemundo, it may depend on the viewer demand in a market. So they could use it for Telemundo, Cozi, etc. Then again - NBC/U has been very creative up to now - it is hard to guess what they could do.
What WGBH / WGBX does may depend on how well the Ch 5 signal actually covers the market. If they put the primary PBS feed on WGBX, they may not want it shared with 4 other channels.
The primary PBS feed will almost certainly be on the WGBX signal. Anyone speculating about "how bad the WGBH signal will be" has clearly never dealt with low-VHF. Once moved to low-VHF, the signal may as well not exist for most indoor antenna viewers, and lots of viewers with outdoor antennas will struggle as well. Programming found on the channel 5 signal might as well not exist for most OTA viewers if it's not mirrored somewhere else.
Regarding call signs, if NBC wanted, WYCN-CD could already be WBTS-CD. It does not conflict with WBTS-LD and could co-exist if they wanted, as far as I know.
Regarding WBTS-LD, I direct you to the WRIW-CD channel sharing agreement, which is here: https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f91630406060163220f5b864599 Note that it is a term agreement, limited to two years. As such, I would anticipate that when it expires, the WBTS-LD signal will be used as a channel sharing host for WRIW-CD in Providence.
WYCN-CD, as a Class A license, does not have must-carry.
WGBX has requested to move its transition from Phase 8 into Phase 4, to align with that of WGBH. WSBK and WHDH have requested to move from Phase 8 to Phase 7. WBTS-LD, as a low-power station, is not assigned to a phase and can transition to its new channel at any time, as long as interference is not caused to other broadcasters.
Court TV launches in the spring and is noted on RabbitEars as coming soon. Entravision, owner of WUTF, was announced as one of the launch partners for Court TV and I wouldn't be surprised to see it land there when all is said and done. I have no information to confirm that, but it seems likely. I did have that information for WLNE.
- Trip
Regarding call signs, if NBC wanted, WYCN-CD could already be WBTS-CD. It does not conflict with WBTS-LD and could co-exist if they wanted, as far as I know.
Regarding WBTS-LD, I direct you to the WRIW-CD channel sharing agreement, which is here: https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f91630406060163220f5b864599 Note that it is a term agreement, limited to two years. As such, I would anticipate that when it expires, the WBTS-LD signal will be used as a channel sharing host for WRIW-CD in Providence.
WYCN-CD, as a Class A license, does not have must-carry.
WGBX has requested to move its transition from Phase 8 into Phase 4, to align with that of WGBH. WSBK and WHDH have requested to move from Phase 8 to Phase 7. WBTS-LD, as a low-power station, is not assigned to a phase and can transition to its new channel at any time, as long as interference is not caused to other broadcasters.
Court TV launches in the spring and is noted on RabbitEars as coming soon. Entravision, owner of WUTF, was announced as one of the launch partners for Court TV and I wouldn't be surprised to see it land there when all is said and done. I have no information to confirm that, but it seems likely. I did have that information for WLNE.
- Trip
M
MikaelaArsenault
Guest
So I wonder if LATV will be gone or something.
candlelabra
Driving by the "Candelabra" I noticed the "candles" are missing - referring to the masts previously there. At one time there was one for WFXT, one for WLVI, and one for WSBK. WFXT, the last still transmitting from there, recently moved temporarily to the "CBS" tower, to allow a new master antenna to be installed for use permanently by WFXT, WGBH, and WUNI (if they get approval), and also temporarily by WBZ, WCVB, WSBK, and WGBX. So the new antenna work is apparently in progress.
Driving by the "Candelabra" I noticed the "candles" are missing - referring to the masts previously there. At one time there was one for WFXT, one for WLVI, and one for WSBK. WFXT, the last still transmitting from there, recently moved temporarily to the "CBS" tower, to allow a new master antenna to be installed for use permanently by WFXT, WGBH, and WUNI (if they get approval), and also temporarily by WBZ, WCVB, WSBK, and WGBX. So the new antenna work is apparently in progress.
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Some of these policies are in serious need of review since they are based on conditions that no longer apply - many going back to the analog days. WJAR is on most of the Comcast systems south of Boston - giving viewers a choice of 2 flavors of "NBC10".
The new UHF master antenna, with the new WGBH VHF antenna on top, were installed on the weekend.
- Status