The New CW San Diego

[ncountysurf]

So where are we thinking The CW will land in San Diego? I vote for XETV, but I don't think this is a democratic decision. CW6 has a nice ring to it... plus it's just kind of cool to have a call sign starting with X.

I also hope Tribune changes the call sign for the new Fox San Diego... KSWB just doesn't make much sense.

Cheers!

 

[Markxxx]

I don't see it going to XETV as with digital TV coming in, UHF will be an equal signal to VHF. Since San Diego is a very heavily cabled market and the cable channel is on channel 9 this is a good cable channel position.

There is no real advantage of using a Mexican channel anymore. And doesn't the CW charge it's affiliates for programs unlike the other 4 networks which pay the affiliates?

 

[tripinva]

The thing to remember is if CW ends up on a subchannel of KSWB, it will not be in HD. San Diego would become the largest market without an HD CW affiliate (not counting Pittsburgh, which has its own set of problems), which would be just absurd given that there will be two otherwise-Independent stations available. Not to mention Tribune would have to find programming for 20 of the 24 hours per day on a CW subchannel.

This may make CW want to take their affiliation elsewhere, to XETV or KUSI.

- Trip

 

[artie fufkin]

The thing to remember is if CW ends up on a subchannel of KSWB, it will not be in HD. San Diego would become the largest market without an HD CW affiliate (not counting Pittsburgh, which has its own set of problems), which would be just absurd given that there will be two otherwise-Independent stations available. Not to mention Tribune would have to find programming for 20 of the 24 hours per day on a CW subchannel.

This may make CW want to take their affiliation elsewhere, to XETV or KUSI.

- Trip

Not really. As someone pointed out earlier, San Diego has a very high cable penetration rate. The station would likely establish a link to the cable headends and to the satellite uplink points to feed the HD programming. The number of households with HD television that rely solely on over the air is relatively small. Besides, it's not as if many people are watching CW programming anyway.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

While we can all speculate of the future of both XETV and the CW in San Diego, the one big fact that no one has mentioned on any of these threads is the one that should not be overlooked:

XETV is a Mexican station with a special authority to broadcast in English.

It is my understanding that el Secretarío de Comunicaciones y Transportes de México can revoke that authorization at anytime, requiring Grupo Televisa/Entravision to operate XETV as a Spanish-language station. That could have happened in 1972, when channel 6 lost its ABC affiliation, but times were certainly different then. It may not make sense for the Mexicans to run XETV as essentially an English-language independent station today. And it's very possible that KUSI could get the CW affiliation and leave channel 6 out in the cold. So don't be surprised if this scenario -- XETV going Spanish -- is explored, at the very least.

 

[tripinva]

While it's true that they could pipe it in via cable, that doesn't change the fact that Tribune would have to find programming to fill 20 out of 24 hours of the day if they started a subchannel, whereas XETV and KUSI already have programming during the rest of the day, and both even have news departments of some kind.

And given how OTA HD reception has been growing in a lot of places due to superior picture quality, even if the growth is not by much, I'm still really doubting that CW wants to be without HD over the air. This is especially true with recent reports of cable companies trying to jam 3 HD feeds into a channel that used to hold 2, thus seriously harming picture quality.

- Trip

 

[Garrett]

While we can all speculate of the future of both XETV and the CW in San Diego, the one big fact that no one has mentioned on any of these threads is the one that should not be overlooked:

XETV is a Mexican station with a special authority to broadcast in English.

It is my understanding that el Secretarío de Comunicaciones y Transportes de México can revoke that authorization at anytime, requiring Grupo Televisa/Entravision to operate XETV as a Spanish-language station. That could have happened in 1972, when channel 6 lost its ABC affiliation, but times were certainly different then. It may not make sense for the Mexicans to run XETV as essentially an English-language independent station today. And it's very possible that KUSI could get the CW affiliation and leave channel 6 out in the cold. So don't be surprised if this scenario -- XETV going Spanish -- is explored, at the very least.

Interesting thought but there's no evidence to support any such action by the Mexican authorities, given the other Mexican stations in English (including My13) and all the other english based FM's in various US states.

Where's David Eduardo when you need him?

 

[EricStein]

I think people on this board are forgetting something...KUSI used to be a UPN affiliate. They dropped them because of poor ratings. Now, if KUSI didn't want to keep UPN then, why would they want its successor on the station now?

 

[Markxxx]

I think what's far more interesting is the fact Tribune (under the new owner Sam Zell) was eager to dump the CW for Fox. Zell is known as a true venture capitalist ("whatever makes the most money for me is where I am," type guy) so it'll be interesting in the years ahead to see if Zell tries to work his Trib stations to better affiliation deals in other markets like say "St Louis," where ABC is on UHF and the Trib has a long established VHF. (But that speculation is another thread)

Currently Johnstown / Altoona is the largest market without a CW station (at #98) but depending on where you are in the area (it's full of mountains), you can pull in Pittsburgh.

However Cincinnati (#33) is the largest market without it's own CW affiliate. In Cincinnati the CW is on a subchannel

 

[sdwulfdawg]

I think what's far more interesting is the fact Tribune (under the new owner Sam Zell) was eager to dump the CW for Fox. Zell is known as a true venture capitalist ("whatever makes the most money for me is where I am," type guy) so it'll be interesting in the years ahead to see if Zell tries to work his Trib stations to better affiliation deals in other markets like say "St Louis," where ABC is on UHF and the Trib has a long established VHF. (But that speculation is another thread)

Currently Johnstown / Altoona is the largest market without a CW station (at #98) but depending on where you are in the area (it's full of mountains), you can pull in Pittsburgh.

However Cincinnati (#33) is the largest market without it's own CW affiliate. In Cincinnati the CW is on a subchannel

I wonder if CW doesn't have a home here in San Diego when KSWB goes FOX whether the cable/satellite folks will pipe KTLA full time back to San Diego.

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

I wonder if CW doesn't have a home here in San Diego when KSWB goes FOX whether the cable/satellite folks will pipe KTLA full time back to San Diego.

Could be possible....

Some brain-storming thoughts I had...  The CW in San Diego in HD form could still be transmitted to cable & satellite customers directly from KSWB's studios, but only in SD or ED on an over-the-air subchannel of KSWB.  Also, Tribune could possibly buy out a smaller LP station in San Diego (KSDX 29 from Liberman for example), make it a digital LP, and switch it to The CW, and operate it out of LA as satellite to KTLA, with local ads/promos insterted, just to have something for those over-the-air people that are HD ready (and have cable carriage as well, as a condition of carrying KSWB).  When I looked at the FCC database, KTLA digital actually has a little more coverage toward the south into San Diego County than it's analog counterpart, so whatever KSDX (or some other LP) digital wouldn't have in coverage toward the north from San Miguel, KTLA digital could possibly make up for that toward the south from Wilson.

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

And, I don't know about the new CW station, but as far as the KSWB calls getting thrown out for FOX affilitation...  It's a hard call... KSFX, KDFX. and KFOX have all been taken on the TV side of things, but it looks like KFXS and KFXD haven't been called for according to Google and the FCC database.  I think KSWB should go to those call letters, while they are still availiable...

 

[Garrett]

How about KFXT?
Boston's Fox affiliate is WFXT...

 

[dhett]

Garrett, I don't think you're qualified to make that suggestion.

Seriously, though, I would find a set of call letters that didn't incorporate the network at all. Look at all of the "UP", "WB" and "PX" calls taken, just to have the network go under on them, rendering the calls meaningless. And since they didn't learn the first time, now we have a bunch of "CW" and "MY" calls. Yeah, I know Fox is a bit more stable than those other nets, but another network change is always possible in the future.

Still, if they must have network-related calls, perhaps they could work out something with North County Broadcasting Corp for the KFSD-TV calls - Fox San Diego. (North County owns KFSD 1450 Escondido.) Or if they want San Diego Fox, KSDF is available, but that kinda reminds me of one of Una Vez Mas' Azteca stations.

 

[tripinva]

How about KVSD or KSDV? 5 San Diego or San Diego's 5...

- Trip

 

[Garrett]

Garrett, I don't think you're qualified to make that suggestion.

LOL No, i guess not.... ;D

I must say, I'm a bit suprised we haven't heard anything yet about what will happen to CW, and a previous post points out that there's still a contract for CW, which leads me to wonder if they'll just throw it on a subchannel of 5/69/19, which is logical considering it will only be a few months before the digital switch anyway.

 

[Stephen_TheMCO]

Taking a look at the Internet Whois databases, I saw that foxsandiego.com, sandiegos6.com, thecw6.com, and the thecw51.com have been registered.  Most notably, thecw6.com and thecw51.com has been taken by "DMTV" in San Diego, which has nothing to do with TV, but rather "Direct Marketing".  Looks like someone is trying to "cash in" on those domains, which IMO is really rotten, as that company would end up charging KUSI or XETV jacked up prices to sell those domains to them, should either of them get The CW affiliation, and want those domain names.

 

[FightingIrish]

Taking a look at the Internet Whois databases, I saw that foxsandiego.com, sandiegos6.com, thecw6.com, and the thecw51.com have been registered. Most notably, thecw6.com and thecw51.com has been taken by "DMTV" in San Diego, which has nothing to do with TV, but rather "Direct Marketing". Looks like someone is trying to "cash in" on those domains, which IMO is really rotten, as that company would end up charging KUSI or XETV jacked up prices to sell those domains to them, should either of them get The CW affiliation, and want those domain names.

Chances are, though, the station CW lands at might not even use those domain names.

Besides, isn't cybersquatting trademarked names illegal? I seem to recall a lawsuit from some time back.

 

[Markxxx]

Besides, isn't cybersquatting trademarked names illegal? I seem to recall a lawsuit from some time back.

Cybersquatting can be illegal, but it's kind of hard to prove. I mean CW can mean so many things. I can put up a country/western music site. You see what I mean.

And with the availablity of names, most stations find an easy alternative or they pay them off. Today it's pretty much unheard of to get a LOT of money but you can get a couple hundred off a domain name. IF and that's a big IF you're lucky.

It's too easy to think around the box. If MyFoxChicago is taken use MyFox32Chicago.

Madonna was successfully able to get the domain for her because the guy using it was specifically capitalizing on her name to reroute it to porn.

If you were Sears and you have a nationally recognized trademark than it's easy to win a cybersquatting case, otherwise it's not so easy, and it's far easier to give someone a few hundred bucks than to pay a lawer $200/hr to write a letter for your company

 

[ncountysurf]

Tons of Fox 5 San Diego promos airing on what is now the CW San Diego. When will we know where the CW will land and what will happen on XETV 6? 8-1-08 is fast approaching!