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Text TV station ID's after 2/17/09

J

Jul

Guest
I would like to know how will the text TV station ID's look after 2/17/09 when the broadcast TV stations goes all digital. Will it still say "WPVI-TV/WPVI-DT Philadelphia" for example or will it be different? If so what will the new text station ID will look like?
 
It's a good question. I would assume it would be WPVI-DT. However, since there would no longer be any analog station, one wonders if the DT stations will go back to calling themselves TV. (WPVI-TV)

Somewhere, someone at the FCC has thought of this and made a ruling about it. I'm sure someone out there knows.
 
Actually, the FCC's been maddeningly vague about this. Its database doesn't recognize "-DT" as a suffix; the licenses for analog channel 3 and digital channel 26 in Philadelphia are both listed as "KYW-TV," for instance.
 
The database is one thing, the rules and regs are another. I'm sure somewhere they've made a ruling about this. I'll send an e-mail to the FCC and see what they say.
 
Scott Fybush said:
Actually, the FCC's been maddeningly vague about this. Its database doesn't recognize "-DT" as a suffix; the licenses for analog channel 3 and digital channel 26 in Philadelphia are both listed as "KYW-TV," for instance.
Click to expand...

Though if you look up the application for the license-to-cover, the application lists -DT. (OK, I didn't look up KYW but it does list WDAF-DT, WSMV-DT, and WTMJ-DT) I can't look at the actual licenses as the server seems to be down right now. (and I'm not going to drive 30 miles to look at the WSMV-DT license!)

The FCC seems to gradually change its mind about whether the -DT suffix sticks around. Looking at last Tuesday's Broadcast Actions, six stations received permits for their permanent DTV facilities. Three appear in the Public Notice with -DT suffixes, three don't. I can't track them down but I've heard reports to the effect that the -DT suffix is going away, since all full-power stations will be digital after the 18th you'll just have to assume they're -DTs!

Definitely they won't need to ID both WPVI-TV and WPVI-DT after the analog signal goes off. However, there's nothing in the current interpretation of the rules that says you can't run an ID for a non-existant station... I'll bet many stations won't think to change their graphics right away on the 18th.
 
"Definitely they won't need to ID both WPVI-TV and WPVI-DT after the analog signal goes off. However, there's nothing in the current interpretation of the rules that says you can't run an ID for a non-existant station... I'll bet many stations won't think to change their graphics right away on the 18th."

wpvi itself only ids itself as wpvi-tv during its sunday afternoon movie intro, so yes, many stations won't update everything for years to come.
 
Our management says that we will continue to use "-TV" everywhere we can, except possibly "on the hour" if the FCC Rules require it ("-DT").

We've been a "TV" station for 60 years. We ain't gonna change now! ;D
 
FYI, I'm talking about the text ID's that appear at the bottom of the screen while a program is in progress at the top of each hour or during the newscasts, etc.
 
AFAIK, the only requirement would be to put your "real" call sign (WXYZ-DT, Community of License) up at the top of the hour. You can call yourself "Alphabet City TV" the rest of the time.

It's all really a moot point, though, if the PSIP has the legal call in it's data stream. Don't know why the FCC should care...most of the public doesn't recognize call signs anymore. Call signs are only for the FCC and DX'ers.
 
Call signs are only for the FCC and DX'ers.
Click to expand...
And Nexstar stations. IIRC, they mandated most of their stations to use their calls as their primary branding. (I say most because Fox 7 in Evansville, IN remains Fox 7)

They're far from alone at Nexstar. There are lots of stations that identify with "Network #" like "My 9" and never mention the calls.
 
I don't like the way the FCC allows them to double ID, like ME-TV in Chicago is Channel 23 (low power) and on WCIU's subchannel.

So they say

ME-TV
WWME-CA/WCIU-DT 2

You wouldn't know what you're watching. Well you should but you know what I mean?

Do other stations do that? I know in some markets like Champaign Illinois channel 3 is CBS and channel 49 is MyNetworkTV (darn they need a standard way to shorten that.) Because the market is so far apart, Channel 3 carries channel 49 on it's subchannel and channel 49 carries channel 3 on it's subchannel.
 
kenglish said:
It's all really a moot point, though, if the PSIP has the legal call in it's data stream. Don't know why the FCC should care...most of the public doesn't recognize call signs anymore. Call signs are only for the FCC and DX'ers.
Click to expand...

All depends on the station. A lot of American stations still brand using the callsign, and in at least two recent cases at CBS, stations are returning to callsign branding. Examples being WWJ in Detroit changing from CBS Detroit to WWJ-TV, and WBZ in Boston changing from CBS4 Boston to WBZ. At least with heritage stations like WBZ, it would appear that a lot of the viewing public still prefer the callsigns.
 
Yeah, we're one of those stations. Good thing we never called ourselves "CBS5", since we had to change to NBC a few years ago ;D .

But, many people still call us "Channel 5", or "Dick Nourse's news station".

Still, I think that having the true call letters in the PSIP (and, available on your screen, via the PSIP data), should be enough for a legal (FCC) requirement, since it serves all their purposes. Even putting the station's call in the secondary "Long Name" field, which many sets don't display, would work.
 
I remember the stations in Houston using the Network-Channel number. I can't recall in KHOU used "CBS 11", but KPRC did briefly use NBC 2 in some promotions.

KPRC has used "News 2 Houston" and Local 2 - but people still call them "Channel 2 News" 13+ years later. KTRK's news was ABC 13 Eyewitness News, but now seems to be just "13 Eyewitness News". KHTV/KHWB/KHCW has gone from Channel 39 to WB39 to Houston's WB to CW 39...

In markets like Houston, everyone knows 2 is NBC, 11 is CBS, 13 is ABC, 26 is Fox, and 8 is the granddaddy PBS of them all!

Jim
 
I don't like the way the FCC allows them to double ID, like ME-TV in Chicago is Channel 23 (low power) and on WCIU's subchannel.

So they say

ME-TV
WWME-CA/WCIU-DT 2
Click to expand...


Actually since March, METV in Chicago has a triple ID shown on the screen:

WWME-CA Chicago / WWME-LD Chicago / WCIU-DT Chicago
 
Scott Fybush said:
Actually, the FCC's been maddeningly vague about this. Its database doesn't recognize "-DT" as a suffix; the licenses for analog channel 3 and digital channel 26 in Philadelphia are both listed as "KYW-TV," for instance.
Click to expand...
That's weird because at the top of each hour, the ID would say on the screen "KYW-TV/DT Philadelphia". FYI, WPVI's text ID is "WPVI-TV/WPVI-DT Philadelphia", WCAU is "WCAU/WCAU-DT Philadelphia" and so on.
 
Posters, thanks for the input so far. If you can find out more info on this, please post it here.
 
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