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[KEVIN_224]

Read that earlier. It seems as if they'd rather have FOX own them and not Sinclair. The only Sinclair station I know of in New England is CBS of Portland, ME.

[bing101]

https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/226741/station-trading-roundup-4-deals-46-4m/


KCSO-LD Sacramento is going to be a Telemundo affiliate owned by NBC and WHDT Palm Beach is going to Scripps.


https://nypost.com/2018/12/10/disney-plans-to-split-up-foxs-local-sports-networks-to-sell/


And an update on the Disney/Fox Talks over the sale of its RSN's

[kevinb1994]

https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/226741/station-trading-roundup-4-deals-46-4m/


KCSO-LD Sacramento is going to be a Telemundo affiliate owned by NBC and WHDT Palm Beach is going to Scripps.


https://nypost.com/2018/12/10/disney-plans-to-split-up-foxs-local-sports-networks-to-sell/


And an update on the Disney/Fox Talks over the sale of its RSN's

I’m not surprised that they’re now planning to split the sports networks among the potential buyers. Should be interesting to see who does what with them.

[bing101]

https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/227334/fcc-approves-gray-raycom-merger/



Here is an update on the Gray/ Raycom Talks

[bing101]

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2018/12/21/graycom-is-a-go-says-fcc


https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2018/12/21/pink-slips-to-fly-at-gray


Update the FCC and DOJ has approved the Gray/Raycom deal.

[bandit957]

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2018/12/21/graycom-is-a-go-says-fcc


https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2018/12/21/pink-slips-to-fly-at-gray


Update the FCC and DOJ has approved the Gray/Raycom deal.

Another monopoly rubber-stamped.

[SP Cook]

If you read the article, sell offs of stations in markets where both were present, was required.  No monopoly whatsoever was created. 

[RobbieL2415]

Is there a full list of stations that aired pay-TV during off hours in the 80s and early 90s? I'm talking OnTV, Spectrum Pay TV, Tele1st and SelecTv.

[KEVIN_224]

I think the old WHCT-TV channel 18 of Hartford did pay TV like that for a time in their history.

[KeithE4Phx]

Is there a full list of stations that aired pay-TV during off hours in the 80s and early 90s? I'm talking OnTV, Spectrum Pay TV, Tele1st and SelecTv.

Off-hours?  Most of those aired either in prime time (7 PM to midnight or later), or almost 24/7 with unscrambled time for FCC-mandated public service programming.

Wikipedia has a list of affiliates for ON-TV.  Spectrum aired only in Chicago (WFBN/66, now WGBO-TV) and the Twin Cities (KTMA/23, now WUCW).  SelecTV was in LA, Philly, and Milwaukee. 

Tele1st aired overnights on WLS-TV/7 Chicago for the first six months of 1984 and failed miserably.  I don't know if other ABC O&Os picked it up.  It required a VCR to use it, and movies were only good for one calendar month.

Chicago also had SportsVision on WPWR-WBBS/60 (the stations shared time until 1986, when WBBS went dark; WPWR moved to Channel 50 in 1987).  It carried the White Sox, Blackhawks, and Bulls.  It was a piece of cake to decode, either with a home-built set-top box or a thumbwheel-tuned VCR, getting the sound off the radio.  ON-TV used the same transmission method (out-of-phase sine wave to scramble the picture, and subcarrier audio).  ON-TV also aired soft-core porn after midnight, which resulted in several lawsuits and an FCC inquiry.

[bing101]

https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-tv-antennas-20181228-story.html


And here is an article on TV antennas and cord cutting.

[SP Cook]

TV stations have, since the 80s, had a negative attitude towards their OTA signals.  Cable and sat. companies, which means you and me customer, have to PAY local stations for "retransmission".  So if you watch your local channels via cable or dish, you pay, but if you watch OTA, it is free.  Thus stations have done as nominal an effort as possible.  Most stations provide a fixed landline signal to the major cable and dish companies, the tower could collapse and you would not notice.

Now it is shifting.  As people "cord cut" a big part of that is OTA TV, and, especially in rural areas and mountainous areas, which is where cable TV came from (as CATV, a way for a town unable to get TV to share a communal antenna too expensive for any one person to afford) the stations need big time upgrades and engineers that show actual knowledge and concern about OTA signals.

[vdeane]

Sure, over the air quality may have gotten a lot better if you live in an area with consistently good reception, but what about those of us who don't?  I have a ground-floor (partially underground on the side facing the antenna, such that my antenna is level with the blades of grass outside) apartment in a brick building on a hill, and during summer or any day with humidity and above freezing temperatures, reception is choppy for everything that isn't CBS (which is a low-band VHF station here that ironically most people have trouble receiving, but which comes in loud and clear for me), even with an amplified antenna that was rated for 50 miles when I bought it in WalMart five years ago.

[bandit957]

Reception has gotten much worse with the forced switchover to digital. I completely lost 2 stations that used to have great local reception.

We should go back to analog.

[RobbieL2415]

I think the old WHCT-TV channel 18 of Hartford did pay TV like that for a time in their history.

It was called PhoneVision and operated by Zenith.  WHCT (now WUVN) is still around as the Univision affiliate for the area and is the oldest UHF station in the state.

[KEVIN_224]

Yep! They were also the original CBS affiliate for greater Hartford. Channel 3 didn't sign on until 1957. They became a CBS affiliate in 1960 and never looked back. Good move, since my reception of analog channel 18 was always horrible. I lived in the south end of New Britain, CT.

[ErmineNotyours]

TV stations have, since the 80s, had a negative attitude towards their OTA signals.  Cable and sat. companies, which means you and me customer, have to PAY local stations for "retransmission".  So if you watch your local channels via cable or dish, you pay, but if you watch OTA, it is free.  Thus stations have done as nominal an effort as possible.  Most stations provide a fixed landline signal to the major cable and dish companies, the tower could collapse and you would not notice.

Now it is shifting.  As people "cord cut" a big part of that is OTA TV, and, especially in rural areas and mountainous areas, which is where cable TV came from (as CATV, a way for a town unable to get TV to share a communal antenna too expensive for any one person to afford) the stations need big time upgrades and engineers that show actual knowledge and concern about OTA signals.

For a brief period of time, some stations promoted their over-the-air digital availability.  I remember the first promo materials for local digital TV on cable featured only the PBS affiliate (KCTS) and the NBC affiliate (KING).  Shortly after, the ABC affiliate (KOMO-4) ran promos on their air saying, "You don't need cable to get high def TV!"  And then they showed the oddball dial position of their digital channel: 38.  They didn't know virtual channels would catch on.  It must have been a ploy to get in on the Comcast promo of local channels, because soon KOMO was the promotional materials, and they stopped mentioning free high def TV.

Also in Seattle, those stations that abandoned their VHF frequencies in favor of their transitory UHF frequencies had to change out their tower masts. I noticed that the CBS affiliate (KIRO-7) didn't replace it with a mast as tall as the old one.  They simply lopped off their old mast and left the new existing UHF aerial bolted to the side.  Hey, the antenna is just there to put the station on cable, who cares if a few fewer people can watch it.  They also admitted what I had noticed all along.  In a historic retrospective aired about the time the analog signal was to be shut off, they admitted that channel 7 is a lousy frequency to broadcast on.  It's subject to non-television interference on adjacent frequencies, and I noticed how much more sharper and colorful CBS programs became when the network briefly switched affiliations to Channel 11.

[golden eagle]

My cousin used to live in Northwest Indiana (about a mile from the Chicago/Illinois border) and when I visited her, the cable system she had carried both NBC and ABC affiliates from South Bend, in addition to the Chicago stations.


Has anyone ever received three or more stations affiliated with the same network? I have family in Forrest City, AR, and their cable carries ABCs from Little Rock, Jonesboro and Memphis.

[1]

Forrest City, AR

I just had to make sure that was the correct spelling.

[ErmineNotyours]

My cousin used to live in Northwest Indiana (about a mile from the Chicago/Illinois border) and when I visited her, the cable system she had carried both NBC and ABC affiliates from South Bend, in addition to the Chicago stations.


Has anyone ever received three or more stations affiliated with the same network? I have family in Forrest City, AR, and their cable carries ABCs from Little Rock, Jonesboro and Memphis.

In Pullman, Washington they carried the Spokane CBS affiliate; and Lewiston, Idaho's only TV station, also a CBS affiliate.  They also carried independent KSTW 11, Tacoma as a regional super station.  For a time they still carried KSTW after it became a CBS affiliate though neither the affiliation and the super station status lasted long.

While I was going to Washington State University, I noticed that Lewiston's cable system didn't carry Spoake's Fox affiliate, nor any other Fox station.  It is on Channel 28, and Lewiston is far enough away from Spokane that they could carry the VHF stations, but not the UHF stations.  I imagine when Fox got the AFC away from CBS, Lewiston's cable system might have changed this.

[bing101]

Scripps, TEGNA and Hearst


https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/10/tegna-hearst-and-ew-scripps-plan-january-bids-for-cox-tv-stations.html


Are named as candidates to get the Cox stations.

[kevinb1994]

Scripps, TEGNA and Hearst


https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/10/tegna-hearst-and-ew-scripps-plan-january-bids-for-cox-tv-stations.html


Are named as candidates to get the Cox stations.

Well if TEGNA gets them that would require them to divest some of their stations.

I would personally prefer that Cox Media Group merges their TV aka television assets with those of Hearst Television’s so that Hearst finally owns a small amount of Fox aka FOX-affiliated television stations.

Although, I think now that Scripps is looking to divest, merge, or spin-off their television assets and/or combine them with those from another media conglomerate such as Cox.

[hbelkins]

My cousin used to live in Northwest Indiana (about a mile from the Chicago/Illinois border) and when I visited her, the cable system she had carried both NBC and ABC affiliates from South Bend, in addition to the Chicago stations.


Has anyone ever received three or more stations affiliated with the same network? I have family in Forrest City, AR, and their cable carries ABCs from Little Rock, Jonesboro and Memphis.

I don't know about cable companies, but back in the early days of television, my grandparents could receive (albeit faintly) both Channel 3 from Louisville and Channel 3 from Huntington, depending on which way they turned their antenna.

My brother lives in Owen County, Ky., which is the center of the triangle between Louisville, Lexington, and Cincinnati. His satellite TV provider (Dish) carries the Cincinnati stations. He installed an antenna on his back porch and can now get Lexington over-the-air. I'd say he could get OTA from all three cities if he mounted the antenna on his roof.

[golden eagle]

Forrest City, AR

I just had to make sure that was the correct spelling.

Just like Forrest County, MS.

[kevinb1994]

Forrest City, AR

I just had to make sure that was the correct spelling.

Just like Forrest County, MS.

And Forrest Township, Livingston County, Illinois.