WHICH IS THE BEST CURRENT SUPERSTATION

[gregg75]

Wikipedia says there are only 6 true superstations in 2010. Which is the best in your book?

WGN AMERICA Chicago (not WGN-TV) independent
WSBK Boston independent
WWOR Secaucus NJ independent

WPIX NY (CW)
KWGN Denver (CW)
KTLA Los Angeles (CW)

I don't think any station affiliated with the CW could possible be best. Once I paid for the
superstation package, but when they all went CW and the same sorry shows were on three
channels, that was the end of that. WGN is the only one I currently have and it's rarely
watched. I'd give them a C- at best.

 

[MarcB]

WWOR Secaucus NJ independent

WWOR is actually an affiliate of MY NETWORK TV. FOX 5 ruined it.

 

[gregg75]

Well thanks for that update. Does that make WSBK the top dog? maybe

 

[Joe_Capitano]

Plus, because WGN America was spun off from the broadcast channel, and its schedule differs substantially from same, it's not really a superstation anymore. It's just another cable channel.

...but at least they still have the Cubbies (and the Pale Hose).

 

[DToTheJ]

I guess there's only one true superstation in broadcasting today... (Hint: read my signature. ;D )

 

[ansky212]

Does any company besides Dish Network even carry superstations anymore? I wouldn't really consider WGN America a superstation since the majority of their programming is different than what is on WGN TV. WGN America is more like TBS now.

 

[DToTheJ]

WGN only airs no more than a dozen hours of local programming per week outside of baseball season - mostly their noon and 9 PM newscasts, as well as a Saturday morning public affairs program or two...

 

[gregg75]

According to Wikipedia WGN AMERICAN is a superstation. It is "grandfathered" by some change that was made by the FCC.

 

[BRNout]

According to Wikipedia WGN AMERICAN is a superstation. It is "grandfathered" by some change that was made by the FCC.

WGN America becomes less and less of a 'superstation' and more and more of a conventional cable network with each passing year. Very little of the programming is shared with the real WGN in Chicago. At this point, it's mainly Cubs baseball and some of the newscasts. That makes it debatable whether it's really a superstation at all.

The advent of syndex, The WB and UPN collectively put the nails in the coffin of the U.S. superstation concept. Yes, Dish Network offers up some 'superstation' signals - but they're about it now. Look at New England and WSBK. Here's a truly independent station (since tossing UPN) that was once a staple on cable systems from Stamford to Presque Isle to Syracuse. Now, it's not even available on cable in relatively nearby (to Boston) places such as northern RI or southern ME! All the rest have lost cable carriage beyond their respective markets as well. In that way, I suppose that WGN America is the last US "superstation" - though it isn't really a superstation anymore either.

Canada is a totally different story and cable subs up there still can get KTLA, WSBK, WPCH (the former WTBS), WPIX and WGN. They also can get multiple feeds of US network affiliates (in different time zones, via digital cable) and multiple feeds of Canadian broadcast network outlets. All in all, the grass is most certainly greener up there as far as this issue is concerned.

 

[gregg75]

Maybe WSBK was booted when it became UPN. It may have to "earn" itself back.

I think in the eyes of the FCC WGN AMERICAN is not a network but a superstation, so it
can be added to distant cable/satellite systems. There must be some advantage in being a
superstation and not a network (which probably works in WGN AM'S favor).

From what I've read on here, looks like all the superstations have been reduced to
WIMPYSTATIONS.

 

[bostonmediaguy]

WGN America is a cable network and is not under the jurisdiction of the FCC in regards to Superstations.

 

[gregg75]

ONCE AGAIN.....
Go to wikipedia (WGN AMERICA) the 7th or 8th word tells you that it is a superstation of WGN-TV.

 

[fybush]

Whether or not WGN America is considered a "superstation" for regulatory purposes misses the bigger question: do superstations as we knew them in the 1970s and 1980s really serve any purpose at all today?

It was one thing, after all, to have access to WPIX or WOR in Rochester in 1979, when the only local viewing options were the big three plus PBS. The superstations certainly served a purpose then: they brought in syndicated programming that wasn't otherwise available in smaller markets, they carried sports teams (Yankees on WPIX, Mets on WOR) that would otherwise not have been televised here, and they provided big-city news that was otherwise unavailable.

Three decades later, none of those needs exists. All the same syndicated shows that air on WPIX or WWOR or WNYW have local outlets up here, thanks to new stations and subchannels that have signed on in the last few decades. Sports? I can watch nearly every Yankees or Mets game on YES or SNY, and the ones that are carried on local TV in New York are also offered via syndication to local broadcasters upstate. (Here in Rochester, both the Yankees/WWOR package and the Mets/WPIX package air on a station that didn't even exist in 1979, the CW feed on WHAM-TV's 13.2.) For that matter, if I pay for MLB Extra Innings I can watch any game from anywhere. And if I want news from New York, I have a 24-hour feed of NY1 on digital cable, or I can stream news from just about any station in NYC or anywhere else.

So...aside from ads for businesses hundreds of miles away from me, what purpose is a superstation supposed to serve in a world where even the tiniest of markets now have many more viewing choices than they had thirty years ago?

Much the same question could be asked about the fetish that some seem to have for "independent" stations. Aside from two hours of primetime five or six nights a week, what exactly distinguishes an "independent" station from the CW or My outlets now found in every market from coast to coast? It's not as though the disappearance of MyNetwork TV primetime would bring back the other programming features that distinguished the old-time indies. 24-hour kids' networks have wiped out the need for the cheesy local kiddie shows, 24-hour movie channels and Netflix and such have wiped out the relevance of the "Million Dollar Movie," and the rights to major-league sports have been largely priced out of the reach of local stations.

 

[MattParker]

Good points, Scott. If it is not broadcasting the same programming as a TV station, it's a cable channel, not a superstation. If it's a network affiliate (even CW or My), it's not a superstation. In the 70s, Ted Turner had an independent station, with rights to baseball and basketball teams he owned, and got a satellite link to make his station available throughout the South (and then the whole country). Before that, independent proto-superstations were relayed by microwave throughout a region (WOR, WPIX, WSBK). Fin-Syn crippled most superstations; cable systems had to black out syndicated shows if a local station had the same show, so superstations started running only fin-syn free shows on the satellite (which made the satellite and terrestrial schedules largely different). TBS has been split off from the local Atlanta station. WGN America has been split off the local Chicago station. If a broadcaster wants to start a cable channel now, they just start a cable channel.

Their really aren't independent channels any more either. The stuff that independent stations once carried as their bread and butter are now on dedicated cable channels. Sports on sports channels. Old TV shows on old TV show channels. Old movies on old movie channels. The only indie staple cable channels have missed is Bowling for Dollars.

 

[BRNout]

ONCE AGAIN.....
Go to wikipedia (WGN AMERICA) the 7th or 8th word tells you that it is a superstation of WGN-TV.

That is merely a remnant of past glory. If you lived in or near the Chicago market and could actually watch WGN-TV, you'd see that it shares very little programming with WGN America. Less than WTBS used to share with TBS; even after they went with their 'very funny' moniker. And I haven't heard anyone calling them a superstation in the past 5 - 10 years.

No gregg75, it's a cable channel owned by Tribune that's positioned to use the familiar (to all but northeasterners) calls of WGN and a little of its programming as a marketing tool. That's it.

For example, did you see the Bears-Dolphins game on WGN America last night? Of course not, only WGN-9 had the market rights to that. How about the local news following the game - did they show it delayed? To consider this channel a "superstation" is a big stretch. No matter what the fools at Wikipedia think.

 

[fybush]

That is merely a remnant of past glory. If you lived in or near the Chicago market and could actually watch WGN-TV, you'd see that it shares very little programming with WGN America. Less than WTBS used to share with TBS; even after they went with their 'very funny' moniker. And I haven't heard anyone calling them a superstation in the past 5 - 10 years.

TBS national and WTBS Atlanta were a nearly-straight simulcast right up until the relaunch of the Atlanta station as "Peachtree TV." Only the ads and some Saturday morning public-affairs programming differed between the Atlanta broadcast feed and the national feed.

For example, did you see the Bears-Dolphins game on WGN America last night? Of course not, only WGN-9 had the market rights to that. How about the local news following the game - did they show it delayed? To consider this channel a "superstation" is a big stretch. No matter what the fools at Wikipedia think.

It's not quite that simple, and the "fools" at Wikipedia aren't quite that foolish. At least where the FCC and the Copyright Royalty Tribunal are concerned, there are some specific meanings to "superstation," allowing the handful of stations with grandfathered superstation status to be distributed in ways that other local stations are not. The specific rules are enshrined in 47CFR76.120, and WGN is included as one of those "superstations." I'm not a communications lawyer, so I won't pretend to be able to explain how WGN America can still provide a nearly completely different program service and still qualify, but it does.

 

[milwaukee_dave]

In the early days of SyndEx (1990), the goal was to simulcast as much programming as possible on the local and national WGN-TV feeds. I read an article from May of that year with a head from United Video (former uplinker of the WGN satellite feed) expressing pleasure in the fact only two hours of programming had to be blacked out weekdays. In the early years of SyndEx, substitute programming, while interesting to a TV geek like myself, was not going to garner huge ratings. As time progressed in the past 20 years, the thinking about programming WGN America has changed dramatically.

On-air, you will still see a few subtle references that hint at WGN America being a superstation. For instance, at the end of programs I'll sometimes see "WGN-TV Chicago" at the bottom of the screen, even though I'm watching the national feed. But, yes, it's all a matter of semantics. WGN America's presence on cable and designation as a superstation is a nod to the past, but the folks at Tribune are clearly trying to market the channel as a national cable network, as evidenced by the "America" branding.

I used to compare the WGN America and WGN-TV schedules. I haven't in a while, but as mentioned elsewhere in this thread the schedules are very different, except for some sports, the midday/night newscasts and public affairs shows on Saturday mornings. WGN America isn't shy about pre-empting the 9 p.m. newscast if warranted, so you see where the priorities are. There might still be an entertainment program here or there, on both feeds, but that would be an anomaly.

 

[azumanga]

did you see the Bears-Dolphins game on WGN America last night? Of course not, only WGN-9 had the market rights to that. How about the local news following the game - did they show it delayed?

WGN America isn't shy about pre-empting the 9 p.m. newscast if warranted, so you see where the priorities are.

WGN America usually just scotch the 9PM news that night if the movie they're showing runs long, or if a program or sporting event available only in Chicago has the potential to run over 9PM CT.

In the past, though, the national WGN feed would join the news after it starts back in Chicago, but in recent years, they just don't bother with it.

 

[Markxxx]

...I'm not a communications lawyer, so I won't pretend to be able to explain how WGN America can still provide a nearly completely different program service and still qualify, but it does.

From the FCC Website

(2) A superstation is a television broadcast station other than a network station, licensed by the Federal Communications Commission that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite carrier;

Nationally distributed superstation. The term “nationally distributed superstation” means a television broadcast station, licensed by the Commission, that—
(1) Is not owned or operated by or affiliated with a television network that, as of January 1, 1995, offered interconnected program service on a regular basis for 15 or more hours per week to at least 25 affiliated television licensees in 10 or more States;
(2) On May 1, 1991, was retransmitted by a satellite carrier and was not a network station at that time; and
(3) Was, as of July 1, 1998, retransmitted by a satellite carrier under the statutory license of Section 119 of title 17, United States Code.

 

[LKellerIII]

Aren't we including the most famous "Superstation" - TBS? If so, TBS gets my vote, due to Conan. I'm not personally a Lopez fan, but it shows that TBS is definitely spending some money to produce programming.

I've DVRed Glory Daze - haven't watched it yet, but I've seen positive feedback about it.