These stations will be adding RTN to a digital subchannel.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2009/05/04/daily.8/
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2009/05/04/daily.8/
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RTN ON KLDT DALLAS & KNWS HOUSTON
- Thread starter silverthree
- Start date
thank god because i have been waiting for this for a very long time!
mmnassour said:
CBS uses 1080i for its HD, which consumes a lot of bandwidth. So any other subchannel(s) are going to be really crunched.
cowboybud said:
Frankly, I'm skeptical that RTN will ever show up on either of these stations. And, in the event that it does, that it will last very long.
Johnson Broadcasting, the parent company of KLDT and KNWS, is in bankruptcy. They have an application for a low power (31.5 kw) STA on their permanent digital channel (39), with the reason given in their filing being financial hardship. KLDT-DT has always fouled up their PSIP -- for a long time, their audio was transmitted as a secondary audio channel with silence on the main channel, and they still show up with an incorrect virtual channel (54.3) on most televisions.
The only way I can see these stations being a viable home for RTN is if the bankruptcy court has a buyer lined up for both stations who plans to put RTN on after acquiring these stations.
The website for the Houston station (http://www.knws51.com/) suggests the programming will hit the air when the DTV transition takes place in June. See the banner at the top of the page and also click on the 47.2 logo to see what programming RTN will offer.
KLDT is so bad they don't have any kind of website except for the info section on knws51.com.
I take a different view of the bankruptcy status in regards to this RTN deal. Somehow these stations are managing to keep the transmitters on the air. I don't know if that means they're positive cash flow (aside from debt payments) or not, but they do run a lot of infomercials and have very low overhead. I think the bankruptcy makes it more likely that the RTN deal is a straight cash payment from RTN to get on the air in two major markets. How much cash? Who knows. I suspect it's enough that RTN is sure the stations will be able to meet the commitment to carry the programming.
KLDT is so bad they don't have any kind of website except for the info section on knws51.com.
I take a different view of the bankruptcy status in regards to this RTN deal. Somehow these stations are managing to keep the transmitters on the air. I don't know if that means they're positive cash flow (aside from debt payments) or not, but they do run a lot of infomercials and have very low overhead. I think the bankruptcy makes it more likely that the RTN deal is a straight cash payment from RTN to get on the air in two major markets. How much cash? Who knows. I suspect it's enough that RTN is sure the stations will be able to meet the commitment to carry the programming.
tested said:
Hmmm. If they are promoting RTN as "47.2" does that mean KNWS is completely rebranding as channel 47 after the digital transition?
And if so, what does that mean for KTMD, currently on Channel 47 analog? Perhaps rebranding to channel 48 (their original analog allocation) ??
tested said:
Why would RTN bother? Traditionally, RTN prefers to deal with local broadcasters who have some sort of clout with their local cable companies so that the subchannel stands a chance of getting carried on cable -- as opposed to only being visible to the roughly 1/4 of the market which is comprised of OTA viewers.
If RTN runs on a subchannel of KLDT, the likelihood of it showing up on cable in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is virtually zero. It also probably won't be seen on DISH or DirecTV. And I suspect that most OTA households either won't be able to receive KLDT's relatively weak OTA signal or will have programmed their sets to bypass that station, since it doesn't carry anything worth watching.
The bottom line is that RTN will be virtually invisible in the market if it runs on KLDT. I think that the situation would only be very slightly better with KNWS in Houston.
TexasTom said:
Personally, the only way it would be successful is if they have an extensive ad campaign on the streets, such as billboards, newspaper ads and radio commercials. But since the owner's financial health is close to flatlining, they won't have the means to spread the word around.
TexasTom said:
RTN is visible in zero homes in the DFW area right now. Getting on KLDT without any cable carriage would assure them of tens of thousands of households at least.
It really doesn't matter, a deal has been struck and we'll probably see RTN on KLDT in June.
Lost in this discussion of KLDT's financial health is the financial health of RTN itself. We're all sitting out here throwing darts at KLDT's owners, but we really don't know what's going on there. Nor do we know what's up with RTN. It's possible KLDT is the only full power station in the DFW area that would take RTN. Maybe the others fear it won't be around that long. Who knows.
tested said:
It's not throwing darts. We do know that Johnson Broadcasting is in bankruptcy -- that's not speculation, that's fact. We also know that Johnson has pled financial hardship to the FCC as their reason for requesting a temporary lower powered operation on channel 39 come June. That's in their filing and can be found in the FCC's data base.
As for your comment that KLDT might be the only full power station in DFW that would take RTN -- while that's speculation, I suspect that it is likely true. And while you're also likely right "tens of thousands of households", that's not a lot in a market with well over 2 million households.
It's unfortunate, because I think that a very logical home for both RTN and This TV would be as subchannels of KFWD. The subchannels would fit in very nicely with the main channel, making KFWD the multicast home for classic TV and movies on broadcast television.
TexasTom said:
It's throwing darts to speculate that the station won't be able to meet commitments to air programming announced in the news release.
I know Johnson is in bankruptcy. I also know they claimed financial hardship as the reason for asking for the temp authority to run a low power on 39 in June.
My point is that being in bankruptcy does not mean you're losing money. It does not mean Johnson's stations will go dark before they get RTN on the air.
That is pure speculation on the part of people here without knowing what the actual books of the company look like.
I agree that KFWD would be a better location for RTN. I'd also like for someone in this market to pick up America One.
To clarify -- I don't necessarily think that either of the Johnson stations will go dark prior to June. But I am less convinced that they'll successfully launch RTN as a subchannel -- instead, I suspect that the subchannel (at least on KLDT) is likely to be rendered useless by technical problems.
Remember, this is the station that had their audio set up incorrectly for a year, with the result that most OTA viewers received no audio on their main channel. And their PSIP is still not correctly set up, since they are showing as 54.3 on most televisions, instead of 54.1 or 55.1 (depending on whether they have FCC permission to identify with their physical channel instead of their old analog channel) as they should. Consequently, I'm a bit skeptical of their ability to get the technical aspects of their subchannel correct -- and if they foul up the PSIP data, the result can be a subchannel that can't be properly tuned in.
Once we get past those initial issues, there remains the question of whether Johnson Broadcasting can promote the new service to OTA viewers, arrange cable carriage, etc.
Time will tell on all of us this, of course. It's speculation, of course -- and you're absolutely right when you note that Johnson's cash flow situation with these stations is an unknown. If their operations are throwing off cash, then they may be able to slowly build a solid position with one or both stations, depending on how *much* cash these stations are generating. I suspect that getting a look at the finances of these stations would be fascinating...not that it is going to happen.
Remember, this is the station that had their audio set up incorrectly for a year, with the result that most OTA viewers received no audio on their main channel. And their PSIP is still not correctly set up, since they are showing as 54.3 on most televisions, instead of 54.1 or 55.1 (depending on whether they have FCC permission to identify with their physical channel instead of their old analog channel) as they should. Consequently, I'm a bit skeptical of their ability to get the technical aspects of their subchannel correct -- and if they foul up the PSIP data, the result can be a subchannel that can't be properly tuned in.
Once we get past those initial issues, there remains the question of whether Johnson Broadcasting can promote the new service to OTA viewers, arrange cable carriage, etc.
Time will tell on all of us this, of course. It's speculation, of course -- and you're absolutely right when you note that Johnson's cash flow situation with these stations is an unknown. If their operations are throwing off cash, then they may be able to slowly build a solid position with one or both stations, depending on how *much* cash these stations are generating. I suspect that getting a look at the finances of these stations would be fascinating...not that it is going to happen.
TexasTom said:
I don't know about "most televisions" but I have a Samsung STB and four different brands of CECB, and KLDT has always shown up as 54.1, not 54.3, on every one. (Their logo also brands them as KLDT 54, so 54.1 is most likely correct.)
Still, something must be wrong if they show up as 54.3 on any television. And they did have their audio screwed up for a very long time.
I agree with the previous poster that KLDT should put RTN on 54.1, and either drop the infomercials or move them to 54.2.
David Barron article in The Chronicle online seems to suggest that KNWS is indeed rebranding to Channel 47, although he typo's the RTN subchannel (midway through story):
http://blogs.chron.com/sportsmedia/2009/05/comcast_cuts_deals_with_nfl_ne.html
Still don't know which channel KTMD will map to after 6/12.
http://blogs.chron.com/sportsmedia/2009/05/comcast_cuts_deals_with_nfl_ne.html
Still don't know which channel KTMD will map to after 6/12.
I remember hearing that the move to channel 47 for KTMD was because they could move back to 48 when the switch over happens. I heard this years ago....
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6513189036
The move to 47 occurred because the transmitters could not be co-located as long as there was a pair of analog signals on both 48 and 49. With the 47/48 allotments swapped, co-location could occur successfully.
- Trip
The move to 47 occurred because the transmitters could not be co-located as long as there was a pair of analog signals on both 48 and 49. With the 47/48 allotments swapped, co-location could occur successfully.
- Trip
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