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WBTS - Home of NBC Boston?


The Frog

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Yeah, the translators are under separate licenses, so they can still operate.

 

Univision bought the rights to the WBIN license, but not the WBIN calls - they have 10 days to change the call letters. Would the Binnie translators still carry it? See section 5.7:

 

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101763584&qnum=5040&copynum=1&exhcnum=2

 

The OTA shared channel is only 480i, 16x9. Comcast has pulled the WBIN HD feed, plus the subchannels Antenna TV and Grit - replacing them with color bars with the message "WBIN-TV is no longer broadcasting the programming previously seen on this channel. Please contact WBIN-TV should you have further questions."

WBIN is still carried in SD mode in the channel group containing the SD versions of other OTA stations. WUTF has been carrying Grit for a while, anyway - but for at least for now - there's no Antenna TV in the Boston market.

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Univision bought the rights to the WBIN license, but not the WBIN calls - they have 10 days to change the call letters.

 

I assume that's so Binnie can use them elsewhere.

 

I wonder what the new calls will be.

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I assume that's so Binnie can use them elsewhere.

 

I wonder what the new calls will be.

 

It may not matter. They could pick most anything to meet the 10-day requirement to change them. It doesn't seem likely that they will waste for long a must-carry channel, which also has a good OTA signal, on what little is being shown on the remains of WBIN. There is no reason they couldn't up the bandwidth to a full HD level and make yet another deal...

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The repack described stations moving from UHF to VHF, or high VHF to low VHF. Transmitting from Rehoboth, WPRI is moving within hi VHF (rf 13 to rf 7). Does this free up a high VHF station for NBC Boston?

That's RF, not PSIP. Unless WMTW decided to cede their PSIP ID of 8 (the chances of that are less than zero) there's no way NBC can use that ID beyond WBTS-LD.

 

Besides, digital VHF RF is demonstrably weaker than digital UHF RF.

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I think NBC Boston has improved much since the launch in January. I thought their news could be kind of annoying at times (from the clips posted online), but it's not too bad now.

If you go read the reviews on NBC Boston's Facebook page, people in New England REALLY hate these guys. If NBC Boston wants to survive, they need to make some changes fast.

 

What I think they need to change...

1. Get a stronger channel, etc.

2. New set...current set is bright and kind of boring, and people on Facebook hate it.

3. Get rid of Latoya Edwards and Audrey Asistio, both are very annoying.

4. Revamp midday news and move to 11am, anchors could either be Brian and Melody or Nick and Melody.

5. Pair J.C. and Phil together on more than just one newscast. They are so good and people love them.

6. New anchor teams...

Mornings: Nick, Melody

Midday: Brian or Nick, Melody

4pm: Shannon, Joy

5pm: Chris, Shannon

6pm: Phil, J.C.

7pm: Phil, Joy

11pm: Phil, J.C.

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4. Revamp midday news and move to 11am, anchors could either be Brian and Melody or Nick and Melody.

 

How is news at 11 AM appealing? Many are at work at that time.

5. Pair J.C. and Phil together on more than just one newscast. They are so good and people love them.

 

JC and Phil have been together at both 6 and 11 since JC joined the station in July, with JC taking Shannon's shifts. We'll see what happens to the anchor pairings when Shannon returns (which should hopefully be within the next 2 weeks) - my guess is that Phil will be paired with Shannon for 1 newscast and JC for another.

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Speaking of a possible home for a FULL power WBTS, I have seen by looking at Rabbit Ears that WGBH is in the process of acquiring soon-to-be channel share partner WFXZ-CD as I was wondering if any possibility exists of WGBH selling WGBX (RF 43 > 32) to NBCU, converting it to commercial and moving NBC there?

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Speaking of a possible home for a FULL power WBTS, I have seen by looking at Rabbit Ears that WGBH is in the process of acquiring soon-to-be channel share partner WFXZ-CD as I was wondering if any possibility exists of WGBH selling WGBX (RF 43 > 32) to NBCU, converting it to commercial and moving NBC there?

 

The WGBH/ NBC subject was floated in Dec of 2015.

I still think it's a very viable solution.

It can be done...just takes approval of the govt and I'm sure WGBH will want a bunch of cash....but it'

s a workable solution.

https://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?threads/boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu.15146/page-3#post-147053

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WGBX isn't an option. No way, no how.

 

Boston has been able to support two public TV stations for decades. Plus the optics of the market's dominant telecom provider snatching up a public broadcaster for their own personal interests are far from good... the outcry among WGBH/WGBX's supporters would be vociferous.

 

And then you'd have a lengthy legal battle to convert WGBX's license to commercial status. Good luck with that. Remember that it took nearly 15 years for WQED to sell WQEX.

 

I... I feel like we've made this exact same argument elsewhere in this thread. You can't continue to grind a rock and expect water to come out.

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WGBX isn't an option. No way, no how.

 

Boston has been able to support two public TV stations for decades. Plus the optics of the market's dominant telecom provider snatching up a public broadcaster for their own personal interests are far from good... the outcry among WGBH/WGBX's supporters would be vociferous.

 

And then you'd have a lengthy legal battle to convert WGBX's license to commercial status. Good luck with that. Remember that it took nearly 15 years for WQED to sell WQEX.

 

I... I feel like we've made this exact same argument elsewhere in this thread. You can't continue to grind a rock and expect water to come out.

 

 

It's not a problem with optics if they get a boatload of cash in return.

It's only a channel assignment...and it's not even "2".

 

Easy sell if you have the community on board...and the community won't walk away from easy money....and that's EASY money.

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It's not a problem with optics if they get a boatload of cash in return.

It's only a channel assignment...and it's not even "2".

 

Easy sell if you have the community on board...and the community won't walk away from easy money....and that's EASY money.

Except in the imperceptible chance that WGBH sells out, you still have that pesky issue of converting WGBX to a commercial license.

 

The only chatter about WGBH selling off WGBX is coming from here. In theory, they could do it. But the chances of them actually doing it are next to none.

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Except in the imperceptible chance that WGBH sells out, you still have that pesky issue of converting WGBX to a commercial license.

 

The only chatter about WGBH selling off WGBX is coming from here. In theory, they could do it. But the chances of them actually doing it are next to none.

 

No question about that. There isn't much chance that WGBH wants to essentially give up OTA programming. They had added WGBX in the 60's when there only way to add another channel - add another transmitter and use the entire 6 MHz. DTV changed all of that, making 2 OTA digital signals unnecessary to broadcast several streams. Right now WGBH has only 2 channels - main PBS (1080i), and World 480i. WGBX has 3 - secondary PBS (1080i) , Create (480i), and Kids (480i) A total of 5, that they could really fit all on one station now.

 

They chose to move the WGBH UHF signal to VHF low, but not give up the WGBX UHF signal, because there was a better payment offer for the WGBH Ch 19 signal vs the WGBX Ch 43 signal. After the repack, they can put all of the primary programming on WGBX, and the least important "stuff" on the future poor WGBH Ch 5 signal, and most OTA viewers won't be badly affected. But give up most OTA viewership?, not very likely.

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Does the callsign WNEQ ring a bell, people?

Comparing WGBX to WNEQ is like comparing apples to lawn furniture. Much, much smaller market... even with or without cable carriage in neighboring Toronto (not to mention Toronto already has a non-comm service of their own, TVO).

 

Furthermore, WNED always had been a commercial license (inherited from NBC's brief dalliance into UHF broadcasting in the late 1950s) while WNEQ was non-comm; thus, it was far, far easier to swap the license designations and sell off WNEQ.

 

Markets like Boston and New York are big enough to support public television duopolies, or in the case of LA, big enough to support two different public television stations. Last I checked, WNET/WLIW and WGBH/WGBX are holding their own in this cutthroat industry.

 

(And yes, Rudy Giuliani sold off WNYC-TV - which had always operated on a commercial license - to private interests in 1996. That's even more of an anomaly that WNEQ.)

 

But going back to my point, there is absolutely no tangible proof that WGBH is interested in selling off WGBX at this time. None.

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But going back to my point, there is absolutely no tangible proof that WGBH is interested in selling off WGBX at this time. None.

 

I agree.

 

If there was ANY Interest by WGBH to sell, they would have sold off one of their signals in the incentive Auction, and channel share on which of the two wasn't sold back to the FCC.

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I agree.

 

If there was ANY Interest by WGBH to sell, they would have sold off one of their signals in the incentive Auction, and channel share on which of the two wasn't sold back to the FCC.

 

Why when you can sell the signal AFTER the auction and make more???

 

Let's face facts here...

 

To this day not a single person on these forums has gotten ANYTHING even remotely correct when it comes to the NBC Boston scenario.

 

Not a single predilection here was correct.

 

So I float something perfectly possible, and something the NBC lawyers are looking at...and all of you "PBS Boston" purist go all crazy.

 

I love watching all you get stirred-up over the WGBH thing.

 

Wait till I create the Mother of all annoying TVNT threads...

 

A thread and subject so annoying, that Weeters will probably kill the thread ( and me) before it festers into a giant boil...

 

More annoying then a "caps and conflicts" thread x1000...

 

A thread and subject that will bring out every "special" TVNT'er from around the globe to chime in on this important subject...

 

A subject sooooo annoying I need to keep it in a special box to protect regular non-TVNT types safe from exposure...

 

More to come...

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To this day not a single person on these forums has gotten ANYTHING even remotely correct when it comes to the NBC Boston scenario.

 

Not a single predilection here was correct.

 

To assume that WGBX will 100% be sold because of incorrect past prognostications on here is absolute folly. Knock off this Alex Jones fact-free garbage while you're still ahead.

 

Actually, one prognostication has been proven absolutely correct thus far... mine. NBC Boston has been a complete and utter non-factor in the market since day one, and will continue to be a non-factor for the very long term, regardless of what signal they are on or what PSIP ID they hold.

 

Comcast doesn't want a competitive product, they just want the easy revenue from NBC programming passing from one hand to another in the same corporate tree. That's the bed they've made. Let them lay in it.

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To assume that WGBX will 100% be sold because of incorrect past prognostications on here is absolute folly. Knock off this Alex Jones fact-free garbage while you're still ahead.

 

One of those guys down in the D-block room dared me to do it.

I told them not to bug you...and that you were sleeping.

 

Hey Myron...

Don't forget to get into the Pumpkin Spice mode...

 

I bet you have a nice rice cake recipe popular in the greater Ohio valley you can share with all of us?baby_huey_pic.jpg.b2c59958e85be464ee7f39304bab2db0.jpg

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WBTS sub channel 8.4 COZI is not currently carried by RCN but WUTF sub channel 66.4 GRIT is. Are there any rules on what gets carried and what doesn't?

 

Only the primary channel (NBC) is required to be carried under must carry rules. A station would have to negotiate a deal with RCN.

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