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WBTS - Home of NBC Boston?


The Frog

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WMFP is still broadcasting 62.1 on rf 18; how much longer until they channel share with WWDP?

The FCC extension to remain on the air expires approximately 4/23. The exact date is in a PDF doc on the FCC site that is corrupted and won't open. They appear to have pulled the encoder that provided the subchannels out of the chain - so they may be moving equipment to WWDP.

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One thing NBC did in the run up to the to the and Super Bowl and Olympics was put all unnecessary technical work on hold and they asked the FCC for extensions and they got them. They were 90 day ones I believe.

 

Here’s an example from WNBC to delay channel sharing implementation with WNJU. https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076ff35f0d902f015f0db1f991003a

 

WMFP had the same thing.

 

https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076f915f490f5f015f4b5190d81664&id=25076f915f490f5f015f4b5190d81664&goBack=N

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I don't see any sort of outcry among Bostonians that 60.5 got shut down.

 

If anything, the exact opposite. 15.1 has the same signal that WGBX has, and it's one of - if not - the best signal in the market.

 

Moreover, when NBC made their push for people to rescan for 15.1 back in January, 8.1 and 60.2 were mentioned as the other outlets for "NBC 10 Boston." 60.5 was not.

I still don't see the average person paying attention to those occasional announcements right up until the channel disappears. The guy with the 65" 4 K set with 4 antennas on the roof does - but not those with a 12" OTA kitchen TV who just tune the set to whatever it picks up - particularly the local news. There are a lot of those OTA kitchen, even bathroom, sets in homes with cable in other rooms - and a lot of local news is watched on them.

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There are a lot of those OTA kitchen, even bathroom, sets in homes with cable in other rooms - and a lot of local news is watched on them.

 

No but their system should auto rescan unless they’re using a converter box and CRT TV.

 

Also, is the backdrop behind their set a typical live video feed connected via typical backhaul methods or are they glorified 4K webcams that are connected to the average internet connection that updates every few seconds? Where say a car is one place and a second later it’s a way further along than it should be.

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I think they should start using an ID that shows every station number and how to get it followed by the call letters.

 

Chances are if you are viewing it you know the channel.

 

Do their TOTH IDs include every city of license or just what specific transmitter your viewing? MPT does a two line list of every call sign they are on and city of license for their six stations.

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As for what the viewer sees... During the local news - they see a bug in the lower right consisting of the peacock and a number "10" - almost identical to the what WJAR uses.

WJAR and WBTS use distinct logos. I'm pretty sure they are easy to tell apart:

 

WJAR:

upload_2018-4-13_10-34-30.jpeg.5a38e764f1ed1a508a47cda050d0d64e.jpeg

 

WBTS:

upload_2018-4-13_10-35-11.jpeg.ac8c0310cdd7a30a6bc20988ec801d58.jpeg

 

And the content of either station is decidedly different. NBC 10 Boston is not going to run Boris Epshteyn, for example.

 

Moreover, I didn't see NBC issue a statement that their "NBC 10" had nothing to do with the Sinclair political fiasco in which WJAR has got themselves entangled in.

upload_2018-4-13_10-34-30.png.320682380fd68711a841b2b60f083098.png

upload_2018-4-13_10-35-11.png.e89f255a877797c86a8a931cea9a2dac.png

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And the content of either station is decidedly different. NBC 10 Boston is not going to run Boris Epshteyn, for example.

 

Moreover, I didn't see NBC issue a statement that their "NBC 10" had nothing to do with the Sinclair political fiasco in which WJAR has got themselves entangled in.

 

Two more reasons WBTS should've branded as NBC 15 Boston.

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I think most viewers can tell the difference between Boston news and Providence news with a Sinclair slant. Don't sell the viewers short that they will get confused. Outside of Bristol County MA, WBTS is the NBC affiliate and with high cable/satellite saturation, is the default, no matter the channel number used for marketing purposes.

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I think most viewers can tell the difference between Boston news and Providence news with a Sinclair slant. Don't sell the viewers short that they will get confused. Outside of Bristol County MA, WBTS is the NBC affiliate and with high cable/satellite saturation, is the default, no matter the channel number used for marketing purposes.

 

Hopefully they can tell the difference. But if they do find themselves accidentally on WJAR, will they head directly to WBTS, or settle for possibly simpler 4, 5, 7, or maybe 25 ?

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WJAR and WBTS use distinct logos. I'm pretty sure they are easy to tell apart:

 

WJAR:

[ATTACH=full]5803[/ATTACH]

 

WBTS:

[ATTACH=full]5804[/ATTACH]

 

And the content of either station is decidedly different. NBC 10 Boston is not going to run Boris Epshteyn, for example.

 

Moreover, I didn't see NBC issue a statement that their "NBC 10" had nothing to do with the Sinclair political fiasco in which WJAR has got themselves entangled in.

 

At least its not WCAU (even though that's one of their sister stations.)

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Two more reasons WBTS should've branded as NBC 15 Boston.

Definitely. It would have at least made a unique identity for the market.

 

People involved in, or interested in the business, are far less likely to be confused than the average viewer.

 

As far as the cable numbering is concerned - it's not all 10 or 810, etc., either. The link "Click for your channel" on the WBTS main page:

 

https://www.nbcboston.com/contact-us/tv-listings/boston-channel-finder-400035841.html

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I think some of you are generously overestimating the intelligence of the average viewer. Most of us have heard the stories from the New World Fox stations that over a decade after they switched networks, they still received calls from viewers wondering why they weren't showing their favorite Big Three network programs. You have people who think the DTV switchover caused over-the-air TV to go away entirely. To these people, a peacock next to a "10" means the same station regardless of location.

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I think some of you are generously overestimating the intelligence of the average viewer. Most of us have heard the stories from the New World Fox stations that over a decade after they switched networks, they still received calls from viewers wondering why they weren't showing their favorite Big Three network programs. You have people who think the DTV switchover caused over-the-air TV to go away entirely. To these people, a peacock next to a "10" means the same station regardless of location.

 

and they think FNC is part of the same family as the local Fox affiliate and will flood them about the latest outrage

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  • 2 weeks later...
WMFP vacated rf 18 (channel 62) last night.

Actually they didn't. Mr. Swaggart is still preaching there. However they have done something to their PSIP info and some TV's no longer see the channel.

 

2 weeks ago the FCC granted WMFP yet another 3 month extension to stay on 18. The reason - some cable operators or other providers are unable to receive the anemic WWDP signal that WMFP will be sharing on, so they will need to have fiber lines installed to get a hard wired version of the signal:

 

https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f916267d43b01628be74663203f

 

WYDN did shut down on Monday and are sharing with WPXG - transmitter in NH.

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Actually they didn't. Mr. Swaggart is still preaching there. However they have done something to their PSIP info and some TV's no longer see the channel.

 

The PSIP data had the "Hide Channel" flag set accidentally to "True". They fixed it today.

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  • 2 weeks later...

NBC needs to give up on Boston, WBTS-LD/WNEU-DT2/WYCN-CD NBC Boston Cable Channel 10 Virtual Channel 8 is a colossal failure. It's pretty sad and telling that the NBC affiliate it replaced is doing better as an news-intensive independent than as a network affiliate.

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