Thundershock MN 169 Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 I posted this in the Allbritton/Sinclair thread. But, on second thought I think it might be worthy of its own thread. Hopefully, the mods don't mind. Anyway, "ABC 33/40" in Birmingham is now broadcasting on WABM 68.2. WJSU/WCFT will turn in their licenses on or before September 29th and cease broadcasting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFTV Channel 9 80 Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 What about WBMA? Are they shutting down too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 What about WBMA? Are they shutting down too? WBMA is staying on the air as a satellite of WABM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundershock MN 169 Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 What about WBMA? Are they shutting down too? WBMA-LD is staying on the air and will remain branded as "ABC 33/40". In turn, WABM (and WDBB) will simulcast WBMA-LD via a subchannel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbs4dallas 17 Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 WBMA-LD is staying on the air and will remain branded as "ABC 33/40". In turn, WABM (and WDBB) will simulcast WBMA-LD via a subchannel. I don't get how they can still get to be called "ABC 33/40" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbs2newengland 71 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 To steal the quote from the movie Wreck it Ralph, Sinclair like "wrecking things." if they could stop buying such stations maybe the viewers won't have to be punished not getting clear OTA signals. I don't know too much other than what was said in the other thread in the last day or so, I don't want to give too much opinon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3443 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Now that 33/40 is now a subchannel of WABM, the question is, how's the picture quality? Especially now that WCFT and WJSU are on the air, along with WBMA-LD...it's a good chance to compare things before WCFT and WJSU go away. 720p gives some wiggle room to do a dual stream on one channel. Since ABC and MNTV both broadcast in this format, it shouldn't be an issue. I witnessed WKBN's dual effort a few years back as they shoehorned CBS and FOX onto one channel with a dual 720p stream. Since CBS is a 1080i network, there was a reduction of quality on .1 and FOX .2 was fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry 718 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I posted this in the Allbritton/Sinclair thread. But, on second thought I think it might be worthy of its own thread. Hopefully, the mods don't mind. Anyway, "ABC 33/40" in Birmingham is now broadcasting on WABM 68.2. WJSU/WCFT will turn in their licenses on or before September 29th and cease broadcasting. 68.2? Hopefully that is going to be temporary. ABC deserves the 68.1 position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry 718 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I don't get how they can still get to be called "ABC 33/40" WBMA-LD is on Channel 40 according to the FCC. The rules on virtual channels allow 68 to use virtual channel 40 if the signals overlap. http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WBMA-LD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I don't get how they can still get to be called "ABC 33/40" Technically, since there is decent satellite penetration in the Birmingham DMA, the "ABC 33/40" branding will still mean something. According to TitanTV and each DBS' respective website, Directv carries WBMA+ on channel 33 and Dish carries it on channel 40. Sorry I had to double post from an earlier response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobvick 9 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Not all, but a great deal of the cable operators in the market have ABC 33/40 on channel 12. The seems to me with the cable and DBS penetration it would have made sense to create a new brand ABC 12, and have the DBS providers and other cable companies agree to place it on channel 12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4164 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 68.2? Hopefully that is going to be temporary. ABC deserves the 68.1 position. Possible that S!nclair has to wait until the end of the month to make a switch, simply due to whatever agreement was made between MyTV and ABC. Either way, 68.2 and 17.2 are - and will be - WBMA+ satellites. One thought that just occurred to me, though. Wouldn't it make more sense to relabel "68.2" and "17.3" as "58.4" and "58.5," respectively, in concurrence with WBMA's PSIP map (58.1 "WBMA+", 58.2 "James Spann WX" and 58.3 "Heartland")? And is that even possible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundershock MN 169 Posted September 19, 2014 Author Share Posted September 19, 2014 One thought that just occurred to me, though. Wouldn't it make more sense to relabel "68.2" and "17.3" as "58.4" and "58.5," respectively, in concurrence with WBMA's PSIP map (58.1 "WBMA+", 58.2 "James Spann WX" and 58.3 "Heartland")? And is that even possible? Agreed. It would make more sense...and, if I were in charge that's probably how I'd do it. And, yes it is possible to do that. I brought up in the WTTV/CBS thread that Tribune should do something similar. I'd link to the string of posts discussing this and how it is an allowed "exception" within the PISP standard. But, I'm on my mobile and it's a PITA to link to posts. Anyway, I'm sure you (or others) can easily find it if you desire the additional reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry 718 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Agreed. It would make more sense...and, if I were in charge that's probably how I'd do it. And, yes it is possible to do that. I brought up in the WTTV/CBS thread that Tribune should do something similar. I'd link to the string of posts discussing this and how it is an allowed "exception" within the PISP standard. But, I'm on my mobile and it's a PITA to link to posts. Anyway, I'm sure you (or others) can easily find it if you desire the additional reading. I have a prejudice against high channel numbers. If I were going to pick a single channel number for all three stations, it would be 17. This would also be advantageous for OTA channel flippers since it is close to 6 and 13. I don't know what things are like in Birmingham, but here 4, 6 and 10 are easy to flip between. But you have to flip through a lot of LPTV crap to get from 10 to 28, and between 28 and 34, and then again between 34 and 53. My Samsung doesn't flip that fast and it is a real pain to watch Get TV, which isn't yet on cable here. Brand as ABC 17/33/40 and then drop the 33-40 after a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnuts6 89 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Or go for the simple (and somewhat cliche-ish) ABC BIRMINGHAM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montydavis 7 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Do you think the average viewer really cares about the branding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsMaster 226 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Or go for the simple (and somewhat cliche-ish) ABC BIRMINGHAM ABC Alabama. The market includes more than just Birmingham, also Tuscaloosa, Anniston and Gadsden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobvick 9 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 ABC Alabama. The market includes more than just Birmingham, also Tuscaloosa, Anniston and Gadsden. I am not 100% positive, but I think that WNCF in Montgomery brands as ABC Alabama already. I still think they should do like a lot of the stations in San Diego (KSWB-69 "Fox 5," KSND-39 "NBC 7,"XHDTV-49 "My 13") and use their cable channel, make it ABC 12. It would be no more confusing to OTA only viewers than ABC 3340. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFTV Channel 9 80 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I am not 100% positive, but I think that WNCF in Montgomery brands as ABC Alabama already. I still think they should do like a lot of the stations in San Diego (KSWB-69 "Fox 5," KSND-39 "NBC 7,"XHDTV-49 "My 13") and use their cable channel, make it ABC 12. It would be no more confusing to OTA only viewers than ABC 3340. WNCF is branded as ABC Montgomery so ABC Alabama is open for use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry 718 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Do you think the average viewer really cares about the branding? Probably not, but in my mind this has less to do with branding than with consumer convenience. The percentage of OTA viewers in any given market is anywhere from 10% to 25%, not to mention second and third TV's that don't have a cable hookup (I have one of those). Birmingham has 710,000 TV homes, which means that anywhere from 71,000 people to 177,500 people watch OTA. Some of these people are low income, others have high incomes and don't want to spend $$$ for cable. That translates to a market the size of anywhere from Grand Junction, CO (#185) to Wausau, WI or Rockford, IL (#134 and 135). That's why they should make the virtual channel the one that is easiest to flip to: ABC 17. It makes it easy to flip between ... Fox-6. PBS 10, NBC 13, ABC 17 and CBS 41. Otherwise, you have to flip through 44.1 through 44.6 before you can get through to Channel 58. Six channels may not sound like much, but that's a lot of junk to flip through. I don't know what else is on the ground there in terms of LPTV signals or signals from adjacent markets. Or, who knows - maybe they like showing up in three different positions. But if it's a clean shot between Fox 6 and ABC 17, that's what I would go for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother 81 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Conversely, the average OTA viewer could just flip backward from 6.1 to 68.2. Or they could just punch in 58.1 or 68.2 on their remote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4164 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 As WBMA-LD is still the market's ABC affiliate, the practical solution would be to call it "ABC 58" and do the PSIP mapping I suggested earlier (WBMA-LD as "58.1," WABM's secondary subchannel as "58.4," and WDBB's secondary subchannel as "58.5."). Yes, it would result in branding with a higher channel number. But WDJT has proven that isn't necessarily a handicap. And it would be a solution that maximizes viewer convenience. Universally, the station would be branded as "ABC 58" and would be found at "58" on their digital converter box. Easier to market and promote, too. Hopefully someone in S!nclair Engineering has thought of this, or is reading this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobvick 9 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 As WBMA-LD is still the market's ABC affiliate, the practical solution would be to call it "ABC 58" and do the PSIP mapping I suggested earlier (WBMA-LD as "58.1," WABM's secondary subchannel as "58.4," and WDBB's secondary subchannel as "58.5."). Yes, it would result in branding with a higher channel number. But WDJT has proven that isn't necessarily a handicap. And it would be a solution that maximizes viewer convenience. Universally, the station would be branded as "ABC 58" and would be found at "58" on their digital converter box. Easier to market and promote, too. Hopefully someone in S!nclair Engineering has thought of this, or is reading this post. Makes more sense than ABC 3340 with the translators now (or soon to be) gone. ABC 58 really wouldn't be all that bad, at least it would be consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrapmcdowell 1 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Available now on 17.1, 58.1, and 68.2 I am still hoping for a new set and updated graphics eventually... I agree with others that a rebrand to abc17 would work nicely. Especially if the the new logo could play off of the circle seven idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobvick 9 Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Available now on 17.1, 58.1, and 68.2 I am still hoping for a new set and updated graphics eventually... I agree with others that a rebrand to abc17 would work nicely. Especially if the the new logo could play off of the circle seven idea. Interesting that ABC is on 17.1. I no longer have an aerial, but when mine worked 17 came in like gangbusters in NW Ala. Will be interesting to see if they ever do change the branding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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