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What channel numbers do your local subchannels have on your area's cable systems?

T

Tim from Springfield IL

Where are your local subchannels assigned on your local cable system? Are there actually cable systems that carry at least some of them on channels 99 and below, rather than assigning them to the 3-digit hinterland on digital cable? (Not counting those subs that relay sister stations and/or Big 4 networks).

Comcast here in Springfield, IL has them scattered about the 3-digit channel wilderness (all ranging from channels 219 to 820):

--219: WSEC-14.3 Jacksonville/Springfield (PBS Create)
--220: WILL-12.3 Urbana (PBS Create)
--231: WRSP-55.2 Springfield (Me-TV)
--232: WBUI-23.2 Decatur (This TV)
--416: WILL-12.2 (PBS World)
--417: WSEC-14.2 (PBS World)
--418: WEIU-51.2 Charleston, IL (MHzW) (WEIU is our market's 3rd PBS station, mainly serving the southeastern part of the market, but still is carried on Dish/Directv throughout the market, but the main station is assigned to channel 189 on Comcast in Springfield).
--436: WAND-17.2 Decatur (Cozi--formerly weather full-time)
--820: WICS-20.2 Springfield (Zuus formerly Country Network--but who knows for how much longer as WICS's sister Sinclair station KDNL St. Louis has recently dropped Zuus on their subchannel 30.3).

IMO it would make more sense in a small market like mine to try to get as many of the subchannels moved to the lower-numbered channels as possible (2-29).
 
On Charter in my area until two months ago my subs were between 962-976, but were just moved between 180-200. One exception for a long time was Me-TV, which was on 19 because they were on a full-power Weigel station in the Milwaukee market until a shuffle a year ago with their stations; now it's on 192. Univision is on 200 along with their sister networks, with Telemundo on 205 where the Spanish tier begins. Charter's HD tier is 600-800.

Time Warner carries all their subs in Wisconsin between 980-999, but that's right near the 1000 HD tier.
 
Verizon Fios carries all subchannels in the 400 range.

Does anyone know if Directv carries any subchannels yet? From what I can tell by looking online it doesn't appear that they do.
 
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Here in the Hillsdale, Michigan area, Comcast covers the majority of the portions of the county that can get cable out to them, and they start just below 290:

- 287: WKAR 23.3 (Create)
- 288: WKAR 23.2 (World)
- 293: WILX 10.2 (AccuWeather, locally branded as The Weather Authority)
- 296: WSYM 47.2 (MeTV)
- 297: WLNS 6.2 (Live Well Network)
- 298: WLAJ 53.2 (The CW)

Intriguing that 23.3 is in the lineup before 23.2. You'd think it would make more sense to put them in numerical order, but since when did anything Comcast does ever make sense?

Another couple of interesting things to note. First of all, Detroit's ion O&O, WPXD, is right in the middle of the pack at 294. This is the main channel, and the subchannels are nowhere to be found, which means cable subscribers in the area don't get ionLife, Qubo or ShopTV. QVC and HSN, which were added to ion O&Os' subchannels relatively recently, are in the regular lineup far higher up at channels 4 and 9, respectively. But what's more intriguing is that WPXD can't be received very well at all in Hillsdale ever since they changed tower sites from Ann Arbor to the old WKBD tower in the northwest Detroit suburbs, and even before that move, it was technically not the correct affiliate for the market. That has always been WZPX, which is right smack-dab in the middle between Grand Rapids and Lansing (and is technically the market affiliate for both markets). I can easily receive it over the air. WPXD I can't receive at all anymore. We're literally at the far southern end of the Lansing market, where the Lansing, Toledo, and Grand Rapids markets all mesh together in reality, so they could have picked an ion affiliate from any one of the three, though the SHOULD have defaulted to WZPX. Why Comcast chose the Detroit station is beyond me.

The other thing to note is that WILX recently added Antenna TV on their third subchannel, and that hasn't been picked up by Comcast yet. Goodness knows where they'll put it when they do.
 
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ansky212 said:
Does anyone know if Directv carries any subchannels yet? From what I can tell by looking online it doesn't appear that they do.
Click to expand...
DirecTV only carries subchannels in markets where one of the major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, MyNet, Univision, Telemundo) are on subchannels. They also only carry LPTVs if they are the network affiliate for a market.
 
Directv carries no subs in Atlanta. But, we do get 32 WUGA from Athens which is mostly PBS Create. I was shocked when I found it on there. Athens is a good 70 miles away....but from suburb to suburb more like 40.
 
gregg75 said:
Directv carries no subs in Atlanta. But, we do get 32 WUGA from Athens which is mostly PBS Create. I was shocked when I found it on there. Athens is a good 70 miles away....but from suburb to suburb more like 40.
Click to expand...

WUGA is actually licensed to Toccoa (Greenville-Spartanburg DMA). It was once WNEG, a semi-satellite of WSPA and then an independent station. It now carries GPB's Knowledge network and is available on some suburban Atlanta cable systems. I'm surprised they didn't make it a regular GPB transmitter for the Georgia counties of the Greenville DMA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WUGA-TV
 
Directv does carry a subchannel in the Minneapolis market. They carry 2-2 (formerly 17-2) which is the "Minnesota Channel" from the local PBS

Ironically thats the only market they carry it in even though all markets in MN (and ND) have the MN channel as a OTA subchannel
 
There's also the occasional issue where a station with a news/weather subchannel (or at least used to be) requests that it be placed on channel 247 because of it punning as '24/7', no matter if it makes sense or not on a cable system channel map. I know the Louisville Insight/Time Warner system had WAVE 3.2 on 247, even though it was nowhere near their subchannel tiers of 190 or 430 or made sense, and until TWC remapped, made even less sense when they changed it from a weather/news autofeed to Bounce TV. The channels next to it were shopping channels and other unrelated networks.

Before they bungled their way off Time Warner in Milwaukee, WTMJ's weather subchannel was on channel 999 right next to the HD tier, guaranteeing some viewership from people just fumbling for the end of the channel lineup.
 
unclehonkey said:
Directv does carry a subchannel in the Minneapolis market. They carry 2-2 (formerly 17-2) which is the "Minnesota Channel" from the local PBS
Click to expand...

Must be some carriage agreement specific to that station.
 
Comcast in Pittsburgh and vicinity generally carries the subchannels in the 180-300 range. On the local system in Monroeville and vicinity, ThisTV (WTAE-4.2) is on 188, then a Country subchannel of WPGH-53 on 189, then MeTV (WPXI-11.2) at 190, followed by three subchannels of WQED-13 (Create, Neighborhood and Showcase). ION's WINP-16 subchannels are not treated the same way, so a basic subscriber (and I mean very basic, locals and cheaply-obtained stations) doesn't get Qubo or the other services offered beyond 16.1.
 
Charter Big Rapids, MI:
Weather (WOOD-DT2) - channel 193
Weather (WZZM-DT2) - channel 194
Create (WGVU-DT2) - channel 196 (despite WCMU's tower being 15 miles east of Big Rapids; WCMU offers Create on DT3)
Worldview (WGVU-DT3) - channel 197

Charter Clare, MI:
Weather (WJRT-DT3) - channel 193
Create (WCMU-DT3) - channel 196

Charter Ludington, MI:
Weather (WZZM-DT2) - channel 194
Create (WGVU-DT2) - channel 196 (despite WCMW's tower being 10 miles north of Ludington; WCMW offers Create on DT3)

Charter Sault Ste. Marie, MI:
PBS West (WNMU-DT3) - channel 197

Charter Traverse City, MI:
Create (WCMV-DT3) - channel 196 (the major commercial stations don't have subchannels and independent WMNN has two subchannels that aren't seen on Charter)

All five of these above systems are in the Traverse City-Cadillac DMA.

Charter Alpena, MI (Alpena DMA):
ABC (WBKB-DT3) - channel 12
FOX (WBKB-DT2) - channel 13
Weather (WJRT-DT3) - channel 193 (despite WJRT's main channel being dropped when WBKB-DT3 signed on)
Create (WCML-DT3) - channel 196
 
This is based on the TV Guide listing for Comcast Gary, IN:

Livewell Network in HD (WLS-TV 7.2) channel 217 & 345

MeTV (via WCIU 26.3) channel 223 & 357

MeToo (via WCIU 26.4 & it's Chicago's MeTV) channel 247

U Too (via WCIU 26.2 last I remembered) channel 248 & 360 (if they're now carrying the HD version, then it would be from WMEU-CD 48.1)

Antenna TV (WGN-TV 9.2) channel 353

This TV (WGN-TV 9.3) channel 354

Cozi TV (WMAQ-TV 5.2) channel 341

Bounce (via WWME-LD 23.2, though it's now on WCIU 26.5) channel 361

Movies (WPWR-TV 50.2) channel 363

V Me (WTTW 11.4) channel 368

Create/World Channel (WTTW 11.3 with Create on from 7am - 8pm, then World Channel on from 8pm - 7am) channel 369

WTTW Prime (WTTW 11.2, PBS programming, minus children's programming) channel 370

Mhz Worldview (WYCC 20.3) channel 372

FNX (WYCC 20.2) channel 373

Lakeshore Kids (WYIN 56.3) channel 376

Prism (WJYS 62.4) channel 385

MCTV (via WJYS 62.2) channel 386

I believe this is Veria Living (WOCK-CD 13.3) channel 389

KBC TV (WOCK-CD 13.2) channel 391

Azteca America (WCHU-LD 61.1) channel 393
 
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