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TBS Superstation no more
- Thread starter jal41
- Start date
tlyle said:
THose were the days, weren't they?
Now TBS' sole existence is not to be a program alternative as WTCG/WTBS was, but to wrap commercials around TV shows....just like the rest of cable. Look how they have bastardized Bravo.
A few notes:
WTBS is not a licensed superstation. It is basically a local feed of TBS.
Atlanta cable customers will get the same TBS everyone else in America gets come October 1st. On Comcast, it may be a digital-only offering (Comcast is shutting down Expanded Analog Basic operations everywhere, moving everything minus locals to digital).
The station started as WJRJ in the mid-60's. When Ted Turner bought the station around 1970 or so, the callsign became WTCG. The WTBS calls took effect in 1978, after the equipment donation deal with MIT.
The station is pretty much for sale. WTBS is Time Warner's only OTA broadcast license. The issue I see is that CNN's bureaus have their microwave licenses pegged to WTBS' license. (I suspect CNN no longer uses microwave and uses satellite/fiber-optic transmissions instead).
The callsign is on a Clear Channel owned radio station in nearby Macon (After it was abandoned by Atlanta's 94.9, it moved to an AM in Augusta before going to Macon). I suspect a sharing agreement will be made for the callsign.
I suspect Canadians will no longer get TBS until the CRTC gives them a import license to do so (which from what I understand, takes a lot of time). They also will have to address minimum Canadian content issues as well in doing so.
Satellite providers (DirecTV and Dish Network) should already be providing you with national TBS. If not, you should get it after October 1st.
I wonder what Ted Turner has to say about all of this.
WTBS is not a licensed superstation. It is basically a local feed of TBS.
Atlanta cable customers will get the same TBS everyone else in America gets come October 1st. On Comcast, it may be a digital-only offering (Comcast is shutting down Expanded Analog Basic operations everywhere, moving everything minus locals to digital).
The station started as WJRJ in the mid-60's. When Ted Turner bought the station around 1970 or so, the callsign became WTCG. The WTBS calls took effect in 1978, after the equipment donation deal with MIT.
The station is pretty much for sale. WTBS is Time Warner's only OTA broadcast license. The issue I see is that CNN's bureaus have their microwave licenses pegged to WTBS' license. (I suspect CNN no longer uses microwave and uses satellite/fiber-optic transmissions instead).
The callsign is on a Clear Channel owned radio station in nearby Macon (After it was abandoned by Atlanta's 94.9, it moved to an AM in Augusta before going to Macon). I suspect a sharing agreement will be made for the callsign.
I suspect Canadians will no longer get TBS until the CRTC gives them a import license to do so (which from what I understand, takes a lot of time). They also will have to address minimum Canadian content issues as well in doing so.
Satellite providers (DirecTV and Dish Network) should already be providing you with national TBS. If not, you should get it after October 1st.
I wonder what Ted Turner has to say about all of this.
jal41 said:
I don't know that I even consider WGN a superstation anymore, either. Other than the WGN News at Noon and WGN News at Nine, the cable feed differs significantly from the over-the-air feed in Chicago.
jal41 said:
So all those years of channel 17 being uplinked to satellite nationwide was done illegally? What about WPIX, WSBK, KTLA, etc.? They're on my cable's extended package.
livingfruitvirus said:
No laws were broken. TBS was technically a basic cable station, and WTBS broadcast a feed of TBS OTA.
WPIX, KTLA, WSBK, and the current WWOR are "legal superstations", while TBS and WGN are "marketing superstations" (these terms are for the lack of ones that I am aware of, WWOR ended as a marketing superstation in 1996). There is a lot of confusion between these two types. The legal superstations have a special definition for legal reasons (which I don't know the reasons for).
The big 4 network affilates in Atlanta and Denver uplink their signals onto satellites. As a result, WSB-TV is avaliable on cable over 300 miles away from Atlanta in south Georgia (where there is a lack of an ABC station), and in Highlands, NC (way inside the Greenville/Spartenburg/Ashville DMA, where WLOS serves as the ABC station). Any cable system in Georgia that can carry WSB-TV that can get away with it does (WPGA in Macon cracked down on WSB being available on the cable system owned by...a division of WSB's parent company Cox).
In Atlanta, WPIX, KTLA, WSBK, nor WWOR are available on cable or satellite AFAIK. Many people don't get these stations.
jal41 said:
The only difference I can think of is the fact that the national feeds of TBS and WGN differ from what viewers in Atlanta and Chicago get (as a previous poster stated, the only shows that both Chicago and national viewers on WGN get are the Noon and 9:00 news, and Cubs/Sox/Bulls games). WPIX/KTLA/WSBK/WWOR provide feeds identical to what viewers in what their local market see. When I had DISH network, they had a package with those four stations plus KWGN, not sure if they still offer it.
I believe some cable systems in California carry local programs (i.e., news and sports) from KTLA, but are required to black out the CW and most syndicated shows.
K
KML0224
Guest
WWOR-TV had something called EMI-Eastern Microwave, a.k.a. a generic feed running public domain shows and whatnot. The only stuff let though was news and (at the time) New York Mets baseball. The cable here in New Britain, CT dropped them for good in the late 1990s. We've had TBS on this cable as long as I can possibly remember.
Mark said:Interesting where does one find the defintion of Superstation. I tried searching the FCC site, but got no where. Of course I never do, I hate that site
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/Notices/2000/fcc00004.txt
K
KML0224
Guest
Is WSBK still on that list? I don't know of a single cable system here in Connecticut which carries them anymore.
Kevin Lagasse said:
Yes it is. It is carried at the discretion of the individual cable provider. Dish Network currently carries all five superstations plus the WGN cable-feed.
jal41 said:
So why would they carry WSB-TV in Highlands or even Macon when there is already a local ABC affiliate providing coverage? I always thought must-carry prevented that practice, even if the ABC programs themselves are syndexed out. I understand that cable is welcome to provide local communities without network affiliates with one outside the market, so of course WSB-TV is available in small towns in Georgia with no ABC stations. In fact, some towns in New Jersey have affiliates from both New York and Philadelphia since they don't have their own.
Buddy Hayes said:
The local stations use syndex to have that programming blocked. It's not a requirement from the get-go, but it must be implemented if the local affiliate requests it.
Tim-In-Houston said:
The only "superstation" that is available in the US because of their strong representation to the main station would be WAPA America. Yes, I know it's in Spanish, but WAPA America is more similar to WAPA than WGN Superstation being similar to WGN. One has more Syndex programming than the other.
Kevin Lagasse said:
Actually, Eastern Microwave was WWOR's nationwide distributor, which programmed the "WWOR EMI Service" after syndex went into effect in January 1990.
Also, EMI did not show public-domain material, but they showed alot of programming from the Universal and, later, Worldvision libraries, plus some programs from the Christian Science Monitor, when they had their own TV diovision.
Kevin Lagasse said:
Same for everyone else that carried the EMI signal -- the service was discontinued after the end of 1996, when the distributors sold their transponder rights to a new network called Animal Planet. And look where THEY are today.
livingfruitvirus said:
In Macon's case I have a friend that lives there, and he says when he was a kid there was only one station in Macon and then by the time they got the second station a lot of people in Macon had huge antennas pointed at Atlanta. Then eventually Macon got a third TV station but it was UHF, and people still had their antennas pointed at the VHF from Atlanta.
So my guess would be the local people got accustomed to Atlanta stations and they are more sophisticated than the small town stations like Macon. My understanding is that the FCC doesn't monitor the stations cable companies carry unless the station being affect complains formerly to the FCC, then it will take action.
C
chuckydoll
Guest
From WTBS-17 to Peachtree TV
As indicated above, Peachtree TV signs on October 1. It'll be an old-style independent station for Atlanta and will carry 45 Braves games in 2008.
Ted Turner is no longer involved with Turner Broadcasting System -- Time Warner bought him out in the late 90's. Time Warner also sold the Braves earlier this year.
As indicated above, Peachtree TV signs on October 1. It'll be an old-style independent station for Atlanta and will carry 45 Braves games in 2008.
Ted Turner is no longer involved with Turner Broadcasting System -- Time Warner bought him out in the late 90's. Time Warner also sold the Braves earlier this year.
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