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TV - FOX pulls affiliation from WTVW/Evansville

PTBoardOp94

PTBoardOp94

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/may/11/no-headline---12affiliates/

The announcement was made today that WEVV-2 would take the FOX affiliation for Evansville. There is no word what programming WTVW 7 will take on. NFL fans in Evansville can look forward to losing 1080i coverage from CBS to allow HD coverage of the FOX games. This appears to be the result of a year-long fight between Nexstar, owners of WTVW, and FOX. More at the link.
 
In light of this, would CBS be open to switching from Channel 44 to Channel 7, since its former affiliate Channel 25 is now an ABC station? Or has CBS decided to stick with 44?
 
PTBoardOp:  I have seen two HD feeds work in other markets (720p, as I recall), but how well it will work here remains to be seen.  Best case scenario is that most folks won't notice much difference, but I'll be skeptical until I see for myself.  I'm an OTA viewer, so the end result shouldn't be too bad.

Mr. Mike:  CBS is sticking with 44.  The new "My Fox 44" (so named because the current MyNetwork TV programming on 44.2 is not going away, just shifting to a later timeframe each night) is an addition.

This move is seen as Fox's retaliation for Nexstar's refusal to pay the network the share of retransmission fees that they've been demanding from stations.  They said in February they'd look for alternative channels if the stations didn't comply ... now we know they were serious.  It should also be noted that WTVW's contract actually ran out in June of last year.

For the record, WTVW has yet to officially comment on this in any way, shape or form, or even so much as mention it in any of their newscasts.  I'm hopeful to get a chance to speak with their GM soon (I've left messages for him), and will of course report in the C&P and on my website any new information I get.

Finally, for WEVV's part, they have until July 1 to get a lot of things done.  Most important:  The current My44 (soon to be My Fox 44) is not carried on all of the area's cable systems, nor is it on Dish or DirecTV.  44's GM says conversations to remedy that situation will begin immediately.
 
WTVW Marcia Yockey memories 24 hours a day...

Channel 7, 7 listeners...

Announcing the Tri State's only all tower cam all the time channel....

Channel 7, Antenna TV

Channel 7, PBS 2
 
If Nexstar is fighting FOX over the fees, what does this hold (in the opinion of the brains of this board) for Nexstar's Fort Wayne station WFFT and their agreement with FOX?? From my position as a FW viewer I can't see any other station taking the FOX coverage to a subchannel...WANE has MyCoolTV and radar, WPTA carries the CW, and WISE has MyTV and radar. And I can't see a low power station doing anything with it. Curious if the battle carries over into other markets...
 
jnewkirk77 said:
Mr. Mike: CBS is sticking with 44. The new "My Fox 44" (so named because the current MyNetwork TV programming on 44.2 is not going away, just shifting to a later timeframe each night) is an addition.
Click to expand...

If Nextstar wanted CBS for WTVW, it would be easy since they have a news department and WEVV does not. Also, even though we're in a DTV/Cable/Satellite world old habits die hard and WTVW has a viewership that extends beyond the Evansville DMA. Consider the source but the WTVW wikipedia entry has this map http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:I...Area_imposed_over_WTVW_Viewing_Area_Map-2.png showing WTVW's viewership extending into Crittenden, Breckenridge, Grayson and Butler Counties in Kentucky along with Crawford and Orange Counties in Indiana.

Granted it might not happen but on paper it does make sense for CBS to move to WTVW.
 
Sad that they are doing that. Hopefully WTVW will find a network to go to where it will thrive. Probably, that will not happen. They will be stuck in My or CW purgatory.
 
WTVW had an incredible signal years ago when it was on Channel 7. The VHF signals seemed to have more coverage, like channel 4.

With digital conversion Channel 7 is on a UHF signal yet still having the Channel 7 display. WEHT, formerly a UHF, had asked for Channel 7 yet carries Channel 25 on the converter boxes. This concept hasn't carried to the public, many thinking nothing has changed. It still displays "Channel 7" on the television making consumers think the old channel versus frequency is the same. This has shown to be a big problem for consumers who wonder why their old television antenna on VHF received Channel 7 so well yet seems like a piece of untuned aluminum foil now.

Many former VHF stations fought the conversion as their power bills would increase. 100 thousand watts on VHF versus millions of watts on UHF was computer at over a million dollars a year in increased power consumption for some stations.

What is 7's coverage like in the real world now, and Channel 25? The old 7 map seems to forward this theory that nothing has changed. The FCC even presumes the VHF to UHF move will have no impact but what we have seen is that former VHF stations have lost incredible coverage.
 
When I was at WANE-TV in 96 we got our HD assignment and originally it was for VHF channel 4. Knowing that NOBODY in the Fort Wayne area had a VHF antenna installed they got it reassigned to UHF channel 31, where it is today. What the FCC thought when issuing the channel assignments I'll never know. The whole PSIP (program and system information protocall) setup, making viewers think they're still watching their old channel assignments...why force stations to spend THAT MUCH MORE instead of saying "this is WANE-TV channel 31 Fort Wayne." There's some crazy bastards at the FCC it seems...
 
Juan Bodley said:
The whole PSIP (program and system information protocall) setup, making viewers think they're still watching their old channel assignments...why force stations to spend THAT MUCH MORE instead of saying "this is WANE-TV channel 31 Fort Wayne." There's some crazy bastards at the FCC it seems...
Click to expand...

Because WANE-TV has many thousands of viewers that know it as Channel 15. No need to cause more confusion than there already is with digital TV. The FCC was 100% right in adopting PSIP - they really didn't have much of a choice. The rebranding costs and the need to advertise a new channel (something that had only occasionally been required since the mid 1950s channel shifts) would have been an unnecessary expense. The technology that allows for PSIP, both in the transmitters and receivers, can't be that expensive in comparison.

But it would have been a really bad decision for WANE to accept RF channel 4 in an all-UHF market.
 
KeithE4 said:
Juan Bodley said:
The whole PSIP (program and system information protocall) setup, making viewers think they're still watching their old channel assignments...why force stations to spend THAT MUCH MORE instead of saying "this is WANE-TV channel 31 Fort Wayne." There's some crazy bastards at the FCC it seems...
Click to expand...

Because WANE-TV has many thousands of viewers that know it as Channel 15. No need to cause more confusion than there already is with digital TV. The FCC was 100% right in adopting PSIP - they really didn't have much of a choice. The rebranding costs and the need to advertise a new channel (something that had only occasionally been required since the mid 1950s channel shifts) would have been an unnecessary expense. The technology that allows for PSIP, both in the transmitters and receivers, can't be that expensive in comparison.

But it would have been a really bad decision for WANE to accept RF channel 4 in an all-UHF market.
Click to expand...

Just ask WDKY Danville/Lexington, KY an all UHF analog market. Their interim digital allocation was Channel 4 in an all UHF market. Needless to say you had to be determined to receive WDKY. Eventually they did move back to UHF. Meanwhile, WKYT had the allocation of Channel 13 and found that to be a problem and like WDKY moved to UHF taking over the Channel 36 allocation no longer used by WTVQ former analog 36.

Back to the topic, I've heard rumblings through the rumor mill that ABC might go back to WTVW. So stay tuned.
 
I remember when it came in and I was told the first thing I said was "who has a VHF antenna in this area??" Maybe someone in the fringe areas of Ohio...

This network change in Evansville has me wondering why stations ever want to willingly change affiliation in the first place. Brand knowledge is EVERYTHING...like a radio station changing formats...Going from, say, "CBS2" to "NewsSource2, your FOX source"...I'd be pulling my hair out as a promotions person. That's why I watch and listen and complain/comment/bitch/mock from the sidelines. I have no meaning, even to Arbitron/Nielsens/NOBODY.
 
DTV signals seem to be affected by atmospheric conditions much more than the analogues were. It can be difficult to maintain a watchable/listenable signal with DTV, whereas analogue was more stable.
 
A news release from Nexstar today explains how WTVW will fill its evenings:

Weeknights
7p: Inside Edition and the Insider
8p: Law & Order: SVU reruns

Saturday:
7p: Old Westerns

Sunday:
7p: Old "family friendly" movies
 
They are also increasing news programming. It didn't say the source of national coverage, CNN? Maybe they will return to airing mostly uncensored movies late at night. ;D

Thank goodness I can pick up WEVV with an indoor antenna, it doesn't appear Dish will add their subchannel for Fox; for now.
 
radiorob2.0 said:
They are also increasing news programming. It didn't say the source of national coverage, CNN? Maybe they will return to airing mostly uncensored movies late at night. ;D

Thank goodness I can pick up WEVV with an indoor antenna, it doesn't appear Dish will add their subchannel for Fox; for now.
Click to expand...

They are using some CNN stories, Rob ... at least it looks that way. How much they'll dip into that well, I don't know. But it's there when they need it.

As of 4:00, there's still no Dish/Fox44 deal, so the antenna will be your only hope for now. You might try to scan and pull in W47EE-D (ch. 47.1). That's Fox44's HD feed. It's a low-power station, but I'm getting it just fine on the SW side of Owensboro with my antenna in the attic.
 
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