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WMBC 63 back on DirecTV
- Thread starter rch66
- Start date
Was WSAH 43 (Bridgeport, CT) also a new addition for the DirecTV NYC lineup?
According to engineers at both stations, Dish Network is supposedly launching WLVT 39 and WMGM 40 into the Philadelphia locals by next month - Dish Network has figured out that they can delay adding must-carry channels with no penalty, and I'm assuming WSAH 43 maybe likely into New York. I wonder if WYBE (for Philadelphia) and WNYE (for New York) carriage restore is in the works as well, as a screen said "we are working to restore this channel" existed for 3 weeks before the channel slates disappeared altogether, or if those are goners on Dish until the next must-carry cycle.
According to engineers at both stations, Dish Network is supposedly launching WLVT 39 and WMGM 40 into the Philadelphia locals by next month - Dish Network has figured out that they can delay adding must-carry channels with no penalty, and I'm assuming WSAH 43 maybe likely into New York. I wonder if WYBE (for Philadelphia) and WNYE (for New York) carriage restore is in the works as well, as a screen said "we are working to restore this channel" existed for 3 weeks before the channel slates disappeared altogether, or if those are goners on Dish until the next must-carry cycle.
Oh ok. I spoke with the station engineer at WSAH and he mentioned that they will be on Dish Network within a month. Let's see. I just noticed Dish not uplinking a lot of must-carry stations, where DirecTV is, and instead Dish is solely focusing on adding HD signals in smaller markets, though on different satellites.
I'm wondering if there is a business model that if WSAH is on Dish, DirecTV, and perhaps Fios if Fios starts service in Fairfield Co., for it to chide away at Cablevision's News12 Connecticut, and be run as an indy to focus on CT news.
While Fairfield Co. gets the big 4 from Hartford/New Haven TV on cable as well, there could be a model, where WSAH runs news (morning, early evening, 10pm hour) with focus on Fairfield Co. (and maybe the station could rely on resources from WTNH or one of the CT stations). The state difference will help as well.
NJ viewers have atleast WWOR which runs a bit of NJ stories.
And, WLNY could focus for Long Island. Right now WLNY is more like a DVR service with a limited low budget 11pm news, and WSAH is infomercials only, and both stations are likely to stick to status quo. But an alternate business model may work. Works with WFMZ 69, though WFMZ had years to establish themselves and it'd take a time for WSAH or WLNY respectively.
I'm wondering if there is a business model that if WSAH is on Dish, DirecTV, and perhaps Fios if Fios starts service in Fairfield Co., for it to chide away at Cablevision's News12 Connecticut, and be run as an indy to focus on CT news.
While Fairfield Co. gets the big 4 from Hartford/New Haven TV on cable as well, there could be a model, where WSAH runs news (morning, early evening, 10pm hour) with focus on Fairfield Co. (and maybe the station could rely on resources from WTNH or one of the CT stations). The state difference will help as well.
NJ viewers have atleast WWOR which runs a bit of NJ stories.
And, WLNY could focus for Long Island. Right now WLNY is more like a DVR service with a limited low budget 11pm news, and WSAH is infomercials only, and both stations are likely to stick to status quo. But an alternate business model may work. Works with WFMZ 69, though WFMZ had years to establish themselves and it'd take a time for WSAH or WLNY respectively.
rch66 said:
Not impossible, but I think you'd be more likely to get hit by lightning on the day you win the lottery.
WSAH is owned by Arthur "Brokered" Liu. I'm not sure he ever met a brokered program he didn't like. That's pretty much his business model. Any independent programming is very very likely to be a block of time purchased by the producer.
rch66 said:
Right on about WSAH. A bunch of us have been saying similar things for a while now. It's nice to see more and more people who have the same vision for Channel 43, maybe station operators will finally "get it" one day. Let's look at the facts:
1. Bridgeport is the most populous city in Connecticut (137,912 pop. est. 2006).
2. Fairfield County is the most populous county in Connecticut (905,000 pop. est. 2006).
3. Fairfield County is home to 4 of the top 10 most populous cities in Connecticut (Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, Danbury).
4. Fairfield County is home to Stamford, 4th most populous city in Connecticut (118,475 pop. 2007).
I can't find any specific numbers, but Fairfield County is home to some of the wealthiest people in the nation. It's not only a bedroom community to New York City, but Stamford also holds its own as an international financial center, home to companies like RBS, GE, UBS, Xerox Financial, etc. and several high-profile hedge fund firms (whatever may be left of them now).
So they don't call it the "Gold Coast" for nothing. There is a huge untapped market that would really support a locally-owned station catering specifically to Fairfield County. These kinds of people would embrace any station that has the name "Fairfield" in there somewhere, since it has a desirable connotation to it, and it's something they could brag about and claim as their own - you might know the type of people I'm referring to. And that's just the bare minimum. If someone wanted to come in and actually program the station giving 110% of all they've got, with "Fairfield County" news, traffic, weather, sports, and public affairs programs, etc. it would be a real success. Right now, it's hit or miss with the NYC and CT media. NYC stations don't travel too far past Stamford or Norwalk unless it's a big story. CT media don't travel too far south of Bridgeport. When Travis the chimpanzee attacked that woman in Stamford, most of the CT stations were relying on footage from their sister stations in the Big Apple until they got people down there by the 10 and 11 o'clock shows. My point is that cities in Fairfield County are in a sort of hit-or-miss no man's land. A city like Bridgeport, the state's largest, deserves better. Sometimes I wonder if the lack of any TV media focusing in on the city is one of the reasons corruption goes so unchecked there. And with WICC-AM slowly going down the tubes, they will only have the CT Post newspaper left to cover the state's largest city, and that's just unacceptable.
I'm drifting a little off topic here. Back to WSAH, unfortunately I don't think their status will change anytime soon. Like cawasinnj said, we might have better luck winning the lottery, and then some. But I do think the potential is there, obviously you do too. Maybe the station will eventually see this. 8)
WSAH in Fairfield Co. seems like an untapped gold mine in my book.
It'd probably need an ownership change before something of change could happen there... and most companies are looking for just quick returns when it comes to buying assets.
It was too bad Scripps sold all the former Shop At Home stations together, rather than selling them piece-meal whereby atleast an effort could go about realizing each station's value.
I think being on 4 major independent providers (that all compete against each other) should help full power OTA stations, and hurt the cable news channels to an extent, as people that switch to DirecTV, Dish or Fios won't see that cable channel, but will still get the OTA channel. It's not like the old days where one's choice is just Cablevision, and Cablevision keeps its own NewsChannel on 12, and dumps the OTA station to some lesser value positioned number. That still exists, but cable is losing customers now, and channel numbers don't make such a huge difference anymore now that a lot of customers have on screen guides and such.
Rather than that handicap, its more a marketing effort on the station's part to get the word out, and start off slow. I suppose Allentown is very fortunate for WFMZ, which is to some may say is handicapped being indy, but it survives. And they even cover Reading with Berks news editions at 5:30pm and 10:30pm.
It'd probably need an ownership change before something of change could happen there... and most companies are looking for just quick returns when it comes to buying assets.
It was too bad Scripps sold all the former Shop At Home stations together, rather than selling them piece-meal whereby atleast an effort could go about realizing each station's value.
I think being on 4 major independent providers (that all compete against each other) should help full power OTA stations, and hurt the cable news channels to an extent, as people that switch to DirecTV, Dish or Fios won't see that cable channel, but will still get the OTA channel. It's not like the old days where one's choice is just Cablevision, and Cablevision keeps its own NewsChannel on 12, and dumps the OTA station to some lesser value positioned number. That still exists, but cable is losing customers now, and channel numbers don't make such a huge difference anymore now that a lot of customers have on screen guides and such.
Rather than that handicap, its more a marketing effort on the station's part to get the word out, and start off slow. I suppose Allentown is very fortunate for WFMZ, which is to some may say is handicapped being indy, but it survives. And they even cover Reading with Berks news editions at 5:30pm and 10:30pm.
Sample Lineup of a not yet created "CT42/43" "CT 42" or "Connecticut 43"
Call sign changed from WSAH to WFCT, call letters meaning for Fairfield County Connecticut
6:00 CT 42 News, or "Good Morning Connecticut"
8:30 I Love Lucy
9:00 The 700 Club
10:00 Your Health with Dr. Richard and Cindy Becker
11am - Infomercials
3:30 Family Ties
4:00 Montel Williams
5:00 CT 42 News
6:00 CT 42 News
6:30 Roseanne
7:00 Roseanne
7:30 Cheers
8:00 Frasier
8:30 Frasier
9:00 CT 42 News
10:00 Still Standing
10:30 Married...With Children
11:00 CT 42 News
11:30 Punk'd
12:00 Reno 911
12:30 Reno 911
1:00 Infomercials
Weekends:
Mostly infomercials.
Chose syndie fare to be an alternate for the 10-11 hour, and moved news to 9pm, as WWOR, WNYW, WPIX and WTIC, WTXX, and WCTX are all running news at 10-11.
Programming based on business models of KTBU (Houston DMA), KFWD (Dallas DMA), WSKY, WFMZ (Phila. DMA), WCIU (Chicago DMA), KRON/KOFY (S.F. DMA), rather than an infomercial 24x7 lineup.
Call sign changed from WSAH to WFCT, call letters meaning for Fairfield County Connecticut
6:00 CT 42 News, or "Good Morning Connecticut"
8:30 I Love Lucy
9:00 The 700 Club
10:00 Your Health with Dr. Richard and Cindy Becker
11am - Infomercials
3:30 Family Ties
4:00 Montel Williams
5:00 CT 42 News
6:00 CT 42 News
6:30 Roseanne
7:00 Roseanne
7:30 Cheers
8:00 Frasier
8:30 Frasier
9:00 CT 42 News
10:00 Still Standing
10:30 Married...With Children
11:00 CT 42 News
11:30 Punk'd
12:00 Reno 911
12:30 Reno 911
1:00 Infomercials
Weekends:
Mostly infomercials.
Chose syndie fare to be an alternate for the 10-11 hour, and moved news to 9pm, as WWOR, WNYW, WPIX and WTIC, WTXX, and WCTX are all running news at 10-11.
Programming based on business models of KTBU (Houston DMA), KFWD (Dallas DMA), WSKY, WFMZ (Phila. DMA), WCIU (Chicago DMA), KRON/KOFY (S.F. DMA), rather than an infomercial 24x7 lineup.
This is starting to get way off topic from the original post. But, WFSB has a 3-4 subchannel called WFSB Fairfield County. As of right now I think they are just running commercials local to Fairfield County, but I remember reading they had plans to do a Fairfield County newscast. They would have to rely on cable carriage though as I doubt the OTA signal from Avon Mountain gets any penetration into Fairfield County.
I have some bad news for those of you hoping WSAH will make any effort to serve Bridgeport.
Multicultural has a application to move WSAH's digital transmitter to the Empire State Building. The signal will be directional and aimed northeast. No. I am not making it up. You can read about it here...http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...xt=25&appn=101269857&formid=301&fac_num=70493
The whole thing with WFSB's, as you can read, will be a partnership to help plug a coverage gap that could be created by the tx move. In return Meredith Corp. (WFSB's parent) will likely have access to program one of WASH's sub-channels covering the NY DMA.
Pretty creative, isn't it??
Multicultural has a application to move WSAH's digital transmitter to the Empire State Building. The signal will be directional and aimed northeast. No. I am not making it up. You can read about it here...http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws...xt=25&appn=101269857&formid=301&fac_num=70493
The whole thing with WFSB's, as you can read, will be a partnership to help plug a coverage gap that could be created by the tx move. In return Meredith Corp. (WFSB's parent) will likely have access to program one of WASH's sub-channels covering the NY DMA.
Pretty creative, isn't it??
Remember, this is only the allotment. Many stations apply for rather odd-looking allotments and then "maximize" up to bigger signals.
WYDO in Greenville NC, for instance, applied for channel 47 with a pattern that looked exactly like their then-current allotment. Once the FCC approved the change of channel, they then applied to relocate to a different tower (with an extra 1000 feet of height) and greatly increased coverage.
WSAH applied at the same time to move their DT-42 to ESB which has to protect WTXF in Philly and WNJT in Trenton, so I think they just kept a similar pattern for whatever reason.
Even if they DO end up with this pattern, it will give them coverage of New York, which is the point. The current signal does not make it, especially with WKOB-LP on 42.
- Trip
WYDO in Greenville NC, for instance, applied for channel 47 with a pattern that looked exactly like their then-current allotment. Once the FCC approved the change of channel, they then applied to relocate to a different tower (with an extra 1000 feet of height) and greatly increased coverage.
WSAH applied at the same time to move their DT-42 to ESB which has to protect WTXF in Philly and WNJT in Trenton, so I think they just kept a similar pattern for whatever reason.
Even if they DO end up with this pattern, it will give them coverage of New York, which is the point. The current signal does not make it, especially with WKOB-LP on 42.
- Trip
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