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US affiliates in the Caribbean

F

Frank

Guest
I was in the Caribbean last week and noticed (on my hand held TV) that WABC from New York was shown in St. Lucia, and on cable TV in my hotel room in San Juan. The ID on cable showed WPRU-20 abc-Puerto Rico and yet the commercials were all from WABC. The superimposed ID throughout each show was for WABC. Furthermore, Channel 20 was not avaliable on my hand held TV OTA in San Juan.
Additionally, WNBC was shown on Channel 10 OTA in St. Maarten (I think I have mentioned the correct island; I went to several).
In San Juan both WABC and WNBC were available but the CBS station shown was WVXS-17 from the Virgin Islands. It's city of license just said Caribbean(I thought that was interesting).
One last comment, when I was in Costa Rica earlier this year, both WABC and WNBC were shown in the hotel room there. However, the CBS affiliate was from Erie. Why isn't WCBS shown on cable in these areas?
 
. Furthermore, Channel 20 was not avaliable on my
> hand held TV OTA in San Juan.
> Additionally, WNBC was shown on Channel 10 OTA in St.
> Maarten (I think I have mentioned the correct island; I went
> to several).


WPRU is a low-power station serving San Juan (actually licensed to Aquadilla). The station is only a few months old, and basically simulcasts the WABC feed. It's supposed to implement local news in the near future.


> One last comment, when I was in Costa Rica earlier this
> year, both WABC and WNBC were shown in the hotel room there.
> However, the CBS affiliate was from Erie. Why isn't WCBS
> shown on cable in these areas?
>

This may go back to the whole Primetime 24 issue. This satellite service is on the KU Band (possibly C Band as well), and offers network affiliates. For reasons known only to them, the 'east coast' CBS affiliate offered is WSEE-TV 35 out of Erie, PA. It has been for years. Previously, the CBS affiliate offered was WRAL-TV/Raleigh. Before that, I believe WBBM/Chicago was the offering (despite being in Central time).
 
> In San Juan both WABC and WNBC were available but the CBS
> station shown was WVXS-17 from the Virgin Islands. It's city
> of license just said Caribbean(I thought that was
> interesting).

I remember WNBC being on San Juan cable a few years ago when I was in Puerto Rico with some friends (one was a native, so we weren't in a hotel, but rather at a family beach house) but I don't remember WABC. CBS was not from the VI, iirc, but somewhere in North or South Carolina. They also had WPIX-11 for the WB, Fox Net for Fox and I think WWOR-9 for UPN. Being Brodacasting students, a bunch of us got a kick out of watching the morning news from NYC on WNBC becasue at that point they still had the "red line" for their Chyrons... The running joke because that the college station had a better graphics package than WNBC-New York. (Of course, there was also the amusement of watching the "Puerto Rican Jerry Springer" that we found on Ch. 4 in San Juan (it was in Spanish, but we pretty much knew what was happening) and the realization that Ch. 4 and TMJ 4 Milwaukee had the same music package)

-A<P ID="signature">______________

</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by RockManAC on 07/15/05 05:42 AM.</FONT></P>
 
When I was in the Bahamas several years ago I remember the cable system in our hotel carried NYC and LA affiliates. I remember watching KTLA and WWOR for sure, and I think the others (NBC, ABC, etc.) were mostly LA affiliates.
 
Although technically not in the Caribbean, Bermuda has a rather odd selection of US channels on their cable lineup. Bermuda's own US network affiliates are ZFB (ABC), ZBM (CBS), and VSB-11 (NBC). In addition, the cable lineup includes WDIV-4 (NBC Detroit), WPIX-11 (WB New York), WGN (WB Chicago) and WUHF (FOX Rochester, NY). I thought I remember once seeing WIXB (CBS Buffalo) there but do not see any reference to that channel anymore. PBS is also offered...does anybody know which PBS affiliate/system is shown in Bermuda? CHCH (Hamilton, Ontario) and CITY-TV (Toronto) are also offered.
 
WNBC's feed to DirecTV for their national network package used to have some commercials for San Juan when I had them a few years ago. Don't know if they still do. They used to run one for "Lasabada Auto" quite frequently.

> > In San Juan both WABC and WNBC were available but the CBS
> > station shown was WVXS-17 from the Virgin Islands. It's
> city
> > of license just said Caribbean(I thought that was
> > interesting).
>
> I remember WNBC being on San Juan cable a few years ago when
> I was in Puerto Rico with some friends (one was a native, so
> we weren't in a hotel, but rather at a family beach house)
> but I don't remember WABC. CBS was not from the VI, iirc,
> but somewhere in North or South Carolina. They also had
> WPIX-11 for the WB, Fox Net for Fox and I think WWOR-9 for
> UPN. Being Brodacasting students, a bunch of us got a kick
> out of watching the morning news from NYC on WNBC becasue at
> that point they still had the "red line" for their
> Chyrons... The running joke because that the college station
> had a better graphics package than WNBC-New York. (Of
> course, there was also the amusement of watching the "Puerto
> Rican Jerry Springer" that we found on Ch. 4 in San Juan (it
> was in Spanish, but we pretty much knew what was happening)
> and the realization that Ch. 4 and TMJ 4 Milwaukee had the
> same music package)
>
> -A
>
 
> WNBC's feed to DirecTV for their national network package
> used to have some commercials for San Juan when I had them a
> few years ago. Don't know if they still do. They used to run
> one for "Lasabada Auto" quite frequently.

The national WNBC DirecTV feed is identical to the the local feed they have as I have seen on people who have DirectTV here in the tri-state area, as they get WCBS, WNBC, WNYW, and WABC twice - in the local slots and the national slots. The feeds are identical for all. <P ID="signature">______________
WCBS = We're Crazy Buffoons and Schmucks
<a href=http://chuck.spotteddogs.org/tv/>Spotted Dog TV Talk - for all your non-news TV Talk</a></P>
 
Re: US affiliates in the Caribbean & Latin America

> I was in the Caribbean last week and noticed (on my hand
> held TV) that WABC from New York was shown in St. Lucia, and
> on cable TV in my hotel room in San Juan. The ID on cable
> showed WPRU-20 abc-Puerto Rico and yet the commercials were
> all from WABC. The superimposed ID throughout each show was
> for WABC. Furthermore, Channel 20 was not avaliable on my
> hand held TV OTA in San Juan.
> Additionally, WNBC was shown on Channel 10 OTA in St.
> Maarten (I think I have mentioned the correct island; I went
> to several).
> In San Juan both WABC and WNBC were available but the CBS
> station shown was WVXS-17 from the Virgin Islands. It's city
> of license just said Caribbean(I thought that was
> interesting).
> One last comment, when I was in Costa Rica earlier this
> year, both WABC and WNBC were shown in the hotel room there.
> However, the CBS affiliate was from Erie. Why isn't WCBS
> shown on cable in these areas?
>
THat's odd because WSEE from Erie, PA (CBS) actually produces an 11 pm ET weathercast called vacation weather for the sat feed. It includes a nice weathercast for the Caribbean and Central America - centered on Puerto Rico. They even do a San Juan 5-day forecast.

The hotel in Costa Rica that carries WNBC and WABC must have a US-based direct TV feed. Amnet cable carries WNBC and WSEE while Cable Tica carries only WSEE. Those are the only 2 cable provides in CR. And, their coverage areas are a mixed hodgepodge. For my money, Amnet is the better system.

The cable system in Managua, Nicaragua carries WNBC, WABC, and KCBS (LA) along with KTTV (Fox) and KTLA. This is the only cable system in Central or South America that I know of that carries a US Fox affiliate - as Fox Latin America has the rights in all of Central and South America. Fox LA is DIFFERENT than our Fox and is about half a season behind. It also only carries some Fox shows and certain non-Fox programs.

The furthest south place that seems to carry on cable the big 3 is Ecuador - systems in both Guayaquil and Quito offer WABC, WNBC and WSEE.

Cable systems in El Salvador and Guatemala seem to have dropped all 3 network feeds entirely. Same seems to be true in most of Caracas, though apparently some corners of SE Caracas still DO get the big 3 channels. Because of syndex-type restrictions, Fox LA, Sony, Warner Channel and others apparently own rights to most shows. This may be the reason for the deletions. In Costa Rica, for example, Amnet would black out about half of prime time programming for this reason.

Despite the "Vacation Weather" cut-in, WSEE is the weak sister of the 3 PT24 affilites, featuring lots of crappy informercials and 1-800 number (satellite only) ads. WNBC's feed used to do more of this, but it now seems to be the local feed. No more "NBC America" crap (remember that?) thankfully!
 
Re: US affiliates in the Caribbean & Latin America

> > I was in the Caribbean last week and noticed (on my hand
> > held TV) that WABC from New York was shown in St. Lucia,
> and
> > on cable TV in my hotel room in San Juan. The ID on cable
>
> > showed WPRU-20 abc-Puerto Rico and yet the commercials
> were
> > all from WABC. The superimposed ID throughout each show
> was
> > for WABC. Furthermore, Channel 20 was not avaliable on my
> > hand held TV OTA in San Juan.
> > Additionally, WNBC was shown on Channel 10 OTA in St.
> > Maarten (I think I have mentioned the correct island; I
> went
> > to several).
> > In San Juan both WABC and WNBC were available but the CBS
> > station shown was WVXS-17 from the Virgin Islands. It's
> city
> > of license just said Caribbean(I thought that was
> > interesting).
> > One last comment, when I was in Costa Rica earlier this
> > year, both WABC and WNBC were shown in the hotel room
> there.
> > However, the CBS affiliate was from Erie. Why isn't WCBS
> > shown on cable in these areas?
> >
> THat's odd because WSEE from Erie, PA (CBS) actually
> produces an 11 pm ET weathercast called vacation weather for
> the sat feed. It includes a nice weathercast for the
> Caribbean and Central America - centered on Puerto Rico.
> They even do a San Juan 5-day forecast.
>
> The hotel in Costa Rica that carries WNBC and WABC must have
> a US-based direct TV feed. Amnet cable carries WNBC and
> WSEE while Cable Tica carries only WSEE. Those are the only
> 2 cable provides in CR. And, their coverage areas are a
> mixed hodgepodge. For my money, Amnet is the better system.
>
>
> The cable system in Managua, Nicaragua carries WNBC, WABC,
> and KCBS (LA) along with KTTV (Fox) and KTLA. This is the
> only cable system in Central or South America that I know of
> that carries a US Fox affiliate - as Fox Latin America has
> the rights in all of Central and South America. Fox LA is
> DIFFERENT than our Fox and is about half a season behind.
> It also only carries some Fox shows and certain non-Fox
> programs.
>
> The furthest south place that seems to carry on cable the
> big 3 is Ecuador - systems in both Guayaquil and Quito offer
> WABC, WNBC and WSEE.
>
> Cable systems in El Salvador and Guatemala seem to have
> dropped all 3 network feeds entirely. Same seems to be true
> in most of Caracas, though apparently some corners of SE
> Caracas still DO get the big 3 channels. Because of
> syndex-type restrictions, Fox LA, Sony, Warner Channel and
> others apparently own rights to most shows. This may be the
> reason for the deletions. In Costa Rica, for example, Amnet
> would black out about half of prime time programming for
> this reason.
>
> Despite the "Vacation Weather" cut-in, WSEE is the weak
> sister of the 3 PT24 affilites, featuring lots of crappy
> informercials and 1-800 number (satellite only) ads. WNBC's
> feed used to do more of this, but it now seems to be the
> local feed. No more "NBC America" crap (remember that?)
> thankfully!
>
The hotel where I stayed in Costa Rica was the Hampton Inn at the San Jose airport. Maybe they do have a direct US feed.
I wonder how many other countries besides Bermuda carry OTA US affiliates? I was unaware that any did until I went on this trip.
Another inteesting note, when I was in Santaigo, Chile in 2001, there was a dedicated cable channel to CSPAN in my hotel room. I recall that FOX was carried along with many other stations that we have on cable in the US, but the 3 big US affiliates were not available.
 
Re: US affiliates in the Caribbean & Latin America

>
> The hotel where I stayed in Costa Rica was the Hampton Inn
> at the San Jose airport. Maybe they do have a direct US
> feed.
> I wonder how many other countries besides Bermuda carry OTA
> US affiliates? I was unaware that any did until I went on
> this trip.
> Another inteesting note, when I was in Santaigo, Chile in
> 2001, there was a dedicated cable channel to CSPAN in my
> hotel room. I recall that FOX was carried along with many
> other stations that we have on cable in the US, but the 3
> big US affiliates were not available.
>
I am pretty sure that, aside from the USVI (which are part of the USA) and Bermuda, all other "Big 3" carriage is via satellite/cable. In fact, I find it interesting to hear that there is a movement to bring certain networks to terrestrial TV in Puerto Rico. All the times that I've been there, those channels are satellite/cable only. A fact that surprised me on my first visit to the island. Also, the lack of an English speaking FM in PR was a bit of a surprise. For example, Costa Rica has 1 1/2 English speaking FM stations (107.5 FM and Radio 2 - in the am). So does Guatemala City (97.7 and 102.5).

You are right in that there are occasional oddball US cable channels seen on cable systems in Latin America. Fox News is on in Caracas and Guatemala City, TBS in Nicaragua, and CNBC in lots of places. And, I also recall seeing CSPAN on cable in Santiago de Chile. Which was odd because - of all US channels to pick, why CSPAN? Plus, so many places carry BBC World - why not here?!?

One thing though - I am almost certain that the "FOX" network that you saw in Chile was Fox Latin America, which is carried on almost all cable systems south of the Rio Grande. It features US shows with Spanish subtitles, or dubbed in Spanish - though English is often available via SAP. That's a lifesaver for shows like the Simpsons! Fox LA is quite different (and almost a season behind) the Fox that we all know up here. And, they sometimes carry primetime programs that came from other networks (like NYPD Blue, before it retired). It is one of the most popular cable channels down there, along with Sony Entertainment TV and Warner Channel. All cater to the more weathy/educated folks who can actually afford cable. So, the audience is not so broad based as here in the States.

Chile is too far south for the footprint of our satellites, so no US-based sat feeds would be available there. CSPAN must have a feed on one of the southern hemisphere satellites, for example. I seriously doubt that you could find NBC, ABC or CBS (or a US Fox feed) anywhere in Brazil, Argentina or Chile. I never have. Furthest south place that I have been with US nets is Guayaquil, Ecuador (3 deg. S).
 
> WNBC's feed to DirecTV for their national network package
> used to have some commercials for San Juan when I had them a
> few years ago. Don't know if they still do. They used to run
> one for "Lasabada Auto" quite frequently.

I think the name of the dealership is "Losada Auto"

>
> > > In San Juan both WABC and WNBC were available but the
> CBS
> > > station shown was WVXS-17 from the Virgin Islands. It's
> > city
> > > of license just said Caribbean(I thought that was
> > > interesting).
> >
TelePonce Cable (now Centennial Communications-Ponce) used to carry WABC from NYC (for ABC), WIXA from Atlanta (for NBC), WBBM from Chicago (for CBS), Fox Net (National Feed for FOX).

> > I remember WNBC being on San Juan cable a few years ago
> when
> > I was in Puerto Rico with some friends (one was a native,
> so
> > we weren't in a hotel, but rather at a family beach house)
>
> > but I don't remember WABC.
I believe Adelphia (formerly Cable TV of Greater San Juan) and WHTV Cable carried both WABC and WNBC. They both carry the ABC local.

>> CBS was not from the VI, iirc,
> > but somewhere in North or South Carolina. They also had
> > WPIX-11 for the WB, Fox Net for Fox and I think WWOR-9 for
>
> > UPN.
Correct. It was once from WBBM in Chicago, now is WSEE TV 35 from Erie, PA.
WPIX is still carried, while WWOR And WSBK was dropped from cable systems in Puerto Rico, thanks to the SyndEX rules. Puerto Rico had no access to United Paramount Network, until the other low powered local (which is a WB/UPN affilliate) came to the air. You can imagine how did WWE fans in Puerto Rico pushed for bringing back WWOR or WSBK to cable and sattlelite systems in the island. They now have the choice to watch it on Thursday from the UPN Affilliate, or on late Sunday nights on WAPA TV 4 (in Spanish).

>Being Brodacasting students, a bunch of us got a
> kick
> > out of watching the morning news from NYC on WNBC becasue
> at
> > that point they still had the "red line" for their
> > Chyrons... The running joke because that the college
> station
> > had a better graphics package than WNBC-New York. (Of
> > course, there was also the amusement of watching the
> "Puerto
> > Rican Jerry Springer" that we found on Ch. 4 in San Juan
> (it
> > was in Spanish, but we pretty much knew what was
> happening)
> > and the realization that Ch. 4 and TMJ 4 Milwaukee had the
> > same music package)
>
Maybe they used the same audio/graphics company for their presentations at that time.

Reguarding San Juan's Channel 4 (WAPA), this channel is available in the U.S. in a presentation like WGN Superstation, and TBS' national feed. It's name is "WAPA América" (which is available on DirecTV, and in selected markets Comcast Digital Cable operate.
 
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