I did not realize that any analog channels existed any longer, and I did not know about the channel 30. Was it some kind of low power station, and do those exist anymore?
So far there's been no mandate for LPTV to cut to digital, so across the station there are several stations still broadcasting in analog.

W30BX has a permit to flash cut to digital on RF channel 30, so they may indeed be in the process of doing that.

I did not realize that any analog channels existed any longer, and I did not know about the channel 30. Was it some kind of low power station, and do those exist anymore?

Yes, channel 30 was a low-power analog station that barely extended beyond the Mobile city limits. I think LPTV stations can broadcast in analog until next year, when they will be forced to convert to digital.

Programming from the ION Television Network is now available to cable TV customers of Comcast Cablevision of Mobile with digital receivers (or "set-top boxes"). I cannot get programming from ION with a digital transport adapter, even though "ION I" appears on the screen when I have the receiver set for the channel.

Sadly, we don't have that on our Digital cable box or the cable converter box. Guess it's a rumor.

Sadly, we don't have that on our Digital cable box or the cable converter box. Guess it's a rumor.

I have been able to see ION programming with the "set-top boxes" ever since I posted the message you quoted. ION programming recently became accessible through the digital transport adapters in my home.

i'll be moving to Mobile (most likely the midtown area, but i'm also considering the downtown area as well) in July and was wondering if some of you locals could give me some advice re: choices for internet and cable service. also, if anyone can also provide advice re: local hi-fi shops and home theater installers, i'd appreciate that as well...

many thanks in advance!

i'll be moving to Mobile (most likely the midtown area, but i'm also considering the downtown area as well) in July and was wondering if some of you locals could give me some advice re: choices for internet and cable service. also, if anyone can also provide advice re: local hi-fi shops and home theater installers, i'd appreciate that as well...

many thanks in advance!

In Mobile itself....Comcast is the only cable company. However, if you choose to locate in the outskirts (West Mobile and surrounding areas), you'll have Mediacom. Like pretty much everywhere else, Comcast is as bad is everyone says it is....if not worse. If you can hook up a dish or have access to AT&T UVerse...I would recommend that route.

However, if you don't have access to UVerse where you end up, your only other option for internet is AT&T DSL, which for me is horrible. I have 768k service (which I downgraded from 1.5) and I'm lucky to see it go above 300k in both instances. Even though Comcast rips off its non cable customers for internet, this may be the only way to go unless you go full-cable.

BLAB TV programming is now available in Mobile.

http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/blab-tv-programming-now-available-mobile

BLAB TV programming is now available in Mobile.

http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/blab-tv-programming-now-available-mobile

I am going to look for it right now.

I am going to look for it right now.

And there it was! Blab TV running on 33-4 digital.

Something else interesting I noticed my plasma showed an "air channel" which was not digital. Lo and behold, I got a weak signal on analog channel 30, the HSN channel. First time I have ever seen that one pop up on my receiver.

Someone posted a while back that is was missing. I guess it is back on the air.

This is a low power station, still allowed to broadcast in analog, correct?

And there it was! Blab TV running on 33-4 digital.

Something else interesting I noticed my plasma showed an "air channel" which was not digital. Lo and behold, I got a weak signal on analog channel 30, the HSN channel. First time I have ever seen that one pop up on my receiver.

Someone posted a while back that is was missing. I guess it is back on the air.

This is a low power station, still allowed to broadcast in analog, correct?

Interesting...they must have worked out some kind of time-brokerage agreement with WHBR. This is the first time i've seen anything like this, so BLAB must be serious about getting their signal viewable in Mobile. (Is WHBR even a commercial license?) For those of you in on the Florida side of the market, is BLAB on the main channel or on a subchannel of WFBD?

Speaking of subchannels, I wonder what channel LIN is going to put "Bounce TV" on...knowing what a "strong" signal WALA puts out.

Interesting...they must have worked out some kind of time-brokerage agreement with WHBR. This is the first time i've seen anything like this, so BLAB must be serious about getting their signal viewable in Mobile. (Is WHBR even a commercial license?)

According to the World Wide Web site of the FCC, WHBR-TV is a commercial digital TV station.

Interesting...they must have worked out some kind of time-brokerage agreement with WHBR. This is the first time i've seen anything like this, so BLAB must be serious about getting their signal viewable in Mobile. (Is WHBR even a commercial license?) For those of you in on the Florida side of the market, is BLAB on the main channel or on a subchannel of WFBD?

Speaking of subchannels, I wonder what channel LIN is going to put "Bounce TV" on...knowing what a "strong" signal WALA puts out.

BLAB-TV is on OTA channel 33.4 (WFBD).

Is anyone around here using one? I would be particularly interested to know if any Mediacom customers on the Eastern Shore have successfully set up this card.

It is expensive, around $400. But you insert a cable card, and it has four tuners. The idea is that you use Windows Media Center as your DVR, and the device will eventually pay for itself because you are not having to rent a dvr from the cable company.

Silicondust is also coming out with a six tuner ethernet device in July, but it will cost about $500 and you have to use two cable cards with it.

I now use a Hauppauge Colossus card which allows me to use my Directv HD DVR as a tuner in media center. I also have an HD Homerun ethernet tuner for OTA reception, and they work great in Media Center. I have made many recordings using them.

But the great disadvantage is that you can only tune one satellite channel at the time using the Colossus. So when others are watching, I wind up having to use the Directv HD DVR to record shows, and then I transfer the keepers to hard disk in real time, tying up the Directv device from being used by others while I make the transfer.

I would consider going with the Ceton or the HD Homerun product to be released, if and only if the PQ produced by Mediacom with a cable card is equal to Directv. The last time I tried Mediacom with their Motorola DVR was circa 2007, and the results were, shall we say, far less than satisfactory. The low band cable channels were noisy and full of hash. Not pleasant to watch on a modern large screen flat panel TV. But the technician told me a cable card solution would produce a better result. I did not try it at the time.

But I would love to hear Eastern Shore Mediacom customers who are watching cable through a large screen plasma, lcd, led or the like, and hear a report on picture quality.

Thanks in advance.

BLAB-TV is on OTA channel 33.4 (WFBD).

WFBD-TV broadcasts on channel 48 and WHBR-TV broadcasts on channel 34 over the air (main channel programming appears on virtual channel 33-1). Every time I set a digital TV converter for BLAB TV on channel 33-4, the words "DTV Program" and "No Description" appear on the screen. The same words appear when I set the converter for channel 33-2, which has programming from the international version of the Christian Television Network since WHBR-TV is affiliated with them.

WFBD-TV broadcasts on channel 48 and WHBR-TV broadcasts on channel 34 over the air (main channel programming appears on virtual channel 33-1). Every time I set a digital TV converter for BLAB TV on channel 33-4, the words "DTV Program" and "No Description" appear on the screen. The same words appear when I set the converter for channel 33-2, which has programming from the international version of the Christian Television Network since WHBR-TV is affiliated with them.

You’re right and thank you for the correct information. I got the call letters mixed up. I seldom view either one of those stations. 33-1 is the main channel with religious programming, 33-2 is CTNi and 33-4 is BLAB. I get them all with an antenna here in Gulf Breeze

You’re right and thank you for the correct information. I got the call letters mixed up. I seldom view either one of those stations. 33-1 is the main channel with religious programming, 33-2 is CTNi and 33-4 is BLAB. I get them all with an antenna here in Gulf Breeze

That puzzle must be sovled for 33.3. Couldn't be ION/qubo channel, WAWD, WRBD or WBQP-CA?

One thing Dish Network finally picked up the HD feed of WFNA. Now they must get WFGX, WJTC, APT, and WSRE.

FOX

Has anybody had issues with WPGX and WALA both being on VHF 9?

no, but I wish Fox would move off of VHF, since they are the only one on it.

I can't imagine how hard it must be to get WALA in Pensacola or way out in Mary Ester. I'm north of Foley in Baldwin County and have trouble with it, with indoor antennas. If I climbed to the top of my roof I'd probably be able to see their tower.

FOX

Has anybody had issues with WPGX and WALA both being on VHF 9?

I don't have a Hi-VHF antenna, just the older UHF CM4228, which has reported reception in the Hi-VHF. Never gotten any of the FOX channels, from Mobile (WALA) or Panama City (WPGX). FCC coverage show both coverage areas doesn't extend into Fort Walton in the mid point between the two coverage areas, so it not expected you would have interference issues because the signals are way too weak.

Now that I've said that, somebody will report VHF 9 reception here in Fort Walton :D

How about you, mtchd? You getting VHF 9?

I can't get WPGX from my location. I have a friend who has issue with WPGX that sounds like maybe the digital version of co-channel. I was wondering if there was another 9 east of WPGX or if WALA was getting carried farther to the East. The Dxer map is a nice guide when conditions are right but not a Bible. Mother Nature follows her own rules. :)

I was watching WKRG the other night and happened to notice a Publix commercial that appeared to be in HD....it was in 16x9, and although it was a little flickery, it was much sharper and more vibrant than the other commercials running in SD....I wonder if this means that non-network programming is capable of being broadcast in HD. Since WKRG picked up the syndicated run of Big Bang Theory starting this fall...I'm hoping it will be in HD as well!

Guess what!? When I was rescanning channels in here, I got shocked when I get WLOX-TV from here. And we get the 24/7 ThisTV subchannel in Mobile, so we don't have to worry about the boring WFGX.

I wonder WKFK 7 reaches in here though...

Guess what!? When I was rescanning channels in here, I got shocked when I get WLOX-TV from here. And we get the 24/7 ThisTV subchannel in Mobile, so we don't have to worry about the boring WFGX.

I wonder WKFK 7 reaches in here though...

What part of Mobile do you live in? I am on the Eastern Shore, and WLOX is out of my range here.

What part of Mobile do you live in? I am on the Eastern Shore, and WLOX is out of my range here.

I live in D.I.P., this morning... I guess it barely pick up in Mobile and I don't have a roof antenna, just indoor.

Has disappeared from all my tuners. Wonder if something happened to the carriage agreement? 33-4 is black from here.

Has disappeared from all my tuners. Wonder if something happened to the carriage agreement? 33-4 is black from here.
Same here. The channel is still present but there is no picture/content.

There were times when there was a frozen picture or no picture from Christian Television Network International (CTNi) on channel 33-2. WHBR-TV could be having technical issues with channel 33-4.

There were times when there was a frozen picture or no picture from Christian Television Network International (CTNi) on channel 33-2. WHBR-TV could be having technical issues with channel 33-4.

I can pick up 33.1 and 33.2, but no signal is acquired on 33.4.

I know it was working last week. I noticed the problem yesterday.

I emailed Blab TV through their website, and asked about 33-4. If I understood the response correctly, the transmissions over 33-4 are used to relay content. I was urged to go to the Blab TV website to view their programming or to tune in channel 48, which would not be easy to do from Spanish Fort. I cannot imagine what the purpose of the relay would be, but that is what they said.

I infer from the response that 33-4 will still be used, but should not be looked at as a source of Blab-TV programming.

I tried again last night to tune the frequency, but no signal was present.

I emailed Blab TV through their website, and asked about 33-4. If I understood the response correctly, the transmissions over 33-4 are used to relay content. I was urged to go to the Blab TV website to view their programming or to tune in channel 48, which would not be easy to do from Spanish Fort. I cannot imagine what the purpose of the relay would be, but that is what they said.

I infer from the response that 33-4 will still be used, but should not be looked at as a source of Blab-TV programming.

I tried again last night to tune the frequency, but no signal was present.

I checked 33.4 the other day, I was getting a good signal from my meter on my Insignia DTV box, but no programming. Basically, this seems like a way of sending a scrambled signal from Pensacola (using WHBR as a relay) to Wing, Alabama (site of WFBD) that WFBD can decode and broadcast on their channel. Instead of using satellite, fiber or microwave, this may be the most cost-effective solution.

In a way, it's like back in the 50s and 60s when stations that wanted to affiliate with a network that wouldn't provide them with a signal because of cost (or other reasons). Stations either had to devise their own way to intercept the network signal or actually re-broadcast a neighboring station with the same affiliation (for the sole purpose of airing network programming). WTVA in Tupelo, MS and WKPT in Johnson City, TN used this practice, but eventually got formal affiliations with their respective networks once satellite technology replaced microwave and telephone feeds.

Are there any other stations using the method that WFBD could be using?

I don't understand why someone would blank out the programming on WHBR when it would not be harmful to expose that programming to literally hundreds of thousands more people. Just because we live in Baldwin County doesn't mean we never cross the mythical state line. In fact, I rather enjoy shopping in Pensacola and having a station showing Pensacola programming would be welcome. Especially since it's not taking away some more valuable bandwidth for something else.

I just flipped over to WPMI and noticed that Dr. Oz and an NBC promo tagged with a "Local 15" logo are FINALLY airing in HD!
I wonder if WJTC has the upgrade as well and if both stations are now capable of running syndicated programming in HD.

Now WALA/WFNA needs to upgrade since they carry everything else that has been in HD for several years! The only thing I've seen from them outside of FOX programming is a Cellular South commercial a few weeks ago.

As for WKRG....I'm hoping Big Bang Theory this fall will be in HD. They've been airing an increasing number of HD commercials (and even promos, although the one with Devon looks like one of their interns cut it in iMovie).
I'd hate to think what would happen if Andy Griffith were upconverted!

I just flipped over to WPMI and noticed that Dr. Oz and an NBC promo tagged with a "Local 15" logo are FINALLY airing in HD!
I wonder if WJTC has the upgrade as well and if both stations are now capable of running syndicated programming in HD.

Now WALA/WFNA needs to upgrade since they carry everything else that has been in HD for several years! The only thing I've seen from them outside of FOX programming is a Cellular South commercial a few weeks ago.

As for WKRG....I'm hoping Big Bang Theory this fall will be in HD. They've been airing an increasing number of HD commercials (and even promos, although the one with Devon looks like one of their interns cut it in iMovie).
I'd hate to think what would happen if Andy Griffith were upconverted!

I just noticed this this yesterday. When I turned to Stargate Universe and I got shocked WJTC going HD and WPMI better go the same thing like WJTC.

I have a question, do anyone wants to insist WPMI and WJTC to stop showing the old Hoffman Furniture commercial?? Because this commercial's too old and I grew up seeing this. Do you know how long do they keep showing this commercial...?

I didn't see any local high def content on WPMI when I watched the news this evening, but something was definitely different. The contrast was off and everything on the 6 pm news was very dark. And the audio on both the national and local programming was "off", very dull and AM-radio like. The high end was definitely missing.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but these sort of technical glitches are common as a station is upgrading equipment and preparing to go high def in the control room and all that. I witnessed it with Fox 6 and CBS 42 in B'ham, and WTVA in Tupelo a month or so before they all upgraded to HD news. Syndicated shows and commercials came first, then the news desk cameras next, then later field cameras. Maybe Local 15 news will be next in HD? It would be nice.

We can all hope! I am crossing my fingers.

WJTC was running House of Payne in HD yesterday, but the Simpsons was still in SD. On WPMI, Entertainment Tonight was still in SD yesterday, but Regis & Kelly was in HD this morning.

A lot of this may have to do with whether or not the syndicator is capable of sending HD content, and whether or not the station has the means of receiving, recording and playing back the content. I noticed on Judge Judy yesterday, that even though the show was in SD, there were HD commercials that aired (in the time that Judge Judy sells to sponsors...not the station)

Entertainment Tonight is in HD on WPMI.
Also, a "Derek Said it Would" promo aired in HD as well.
The audio problem is still prevalent in everything.

I think all the major syndicators can send in HD now, so I bet the issue is with WPMI replaying taped HD content. I hear refitting a station for HD playback of shows is pretty expensive, but I have forgotten the numbers quoted for WTVA (who at one time pleaded hardship to the FCC for not building any digital transmitter facility at all right up at the deadline, then went digital with syndicated HD and HD news all in a very short time frame.)

As I understand things, WALA Fox 10 is actually the most watched of the local news outlets. And it looks like they may be the last ones to HD. I watched their 9 pm newscast tonight. Anchors and reporters aside, their sets and graphics look straight out of 1993!

Good to see the site recovered from its problems the other day.

I contacted WPMI and they are indeed in the process of converting to HD in the on air chain for syndicated programming. No word on if/when they will be able to play back HD content, but they did say they want to go HD for news. It's just a matter of getting past the high cost.

http://metvnetwork.com/wherewatch.php?zipcode=36609

According to MeTV's website, they claim MeTV is coming to WKRG on or about 9/28/11....

So long RTV!

To add insult to injory, MeTV is picking up The Rifleman, Daniel Boone and Peter Gunn....which are currently airing on......RTV!

RTV is history unless there's a new content deal in the works. The loss of the NBC/Universal deal wiped out nearly all of their programming...

BLAB TV programming is back on channel 33-4. Here is a link (http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/whbr-tv-broadcasts-blab-tv-programming-again) to an article with more details.

Does anyone know when Comcast in Mobile is going to "pull the plug" on its analog signal, going all digital? Last fall, Comcast said the transition would be completed by spring.

Does anyone know when Comcast in Mobile is going to "pull the plug" on its analog signal, going all digital? Last fall, Comcast said the transition would be completed by spring.

I believe it's a phased process. Certain areas have already undergone the transition, while others remain with analog extended basic service. The infrastructure may be undergoing upgrades throughout the system which may be part of the delay.

Unscrambled again, and putting a clean, clear signal into Spanish Fort!

I just don't understand why they'd scramble. It's wall-to-wall advertisements. Are they scared someone in Mobile is going to drive over to Pensacola to buy an area rug?

And just like that, BLAB is down from 33.4...again!

Looking at signal contours on TVFool....WFBD does provide a solid signal for most of Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties, yet it barely extends a reliable signal into Pensacola itsef. Meanwhile, WHBR covers Pensacola and Mobile quite reliably.

At least now, 33.4 is a blank subchannel with no audio or video signal (but can set off the signal meter)...so outside of us who know what is really going on....no one would ever be able to know what is happening.

Then again, this is a missed opportunity to broadcast a signal to large swaths of the market who have never been able to see this channel...but the intent is to likely keep it on the Florida side of the market....much like WEAR is pretty much Florida based news-wise and the other stations (especially WKRG) focus more on the Alabama side.

Add Mediacom to the list of cable/satellite companies that LIN is playing last minute hardball with....

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/about_us/retransmission/mediacom-retransmission-dispute

So am I the only one who still thinks WPMI's audio sounds like garbage? I wrote them again and didn't get a response this time. I ruled out (terrible, terrible) Riviera Cable by checking OTA and it's the same. Night and day quality difference between them and other network locals, especially on the home theater or headphones.

I do think Riviera Cable has begun overcompressing both the video and audio of HD channels as they are all now super-blocky and the audio is dull, but WPMI is like this off the air as well. It started when the picture got "darker" and they started running HD syndicated fare.

So am I the only one who still thinks WPMI's audio sounds like garbage? I wrote them again and didn't get a response this time. I ruled out (terrible, terrible) Riviera Cable by checking OTA and it's the same. Night and day quality difference between them and other network locals, especially on the home theater or headphones.

I do think Riviera Cable has begun overcompressing both the video and audio of HD channels as they are all now super-blocky and the audio is dull, but WPMI is like this off the air as well. It started when the picture got "darker" and they started running HD syndicated fare.

I find it ironic that while WJTC is fine...it's WPMI that's having problems. In this day and age of duopolies and shared services, you would think that the equipment used on both stations would be nearly identical (especially since both stations are putting out a 1080i signal OTA). Perhaps there's some encoding glitch somewhere along the line (since WPMI has a subchannel) or it could be a piece of NBC equipment throwing things off.

I find it ironic that while WJTC is fine...it's WPMI that's having problems. In this day and age of duopolies and shared services, you would think that the equipment used on both stations would be nearly identical (especially since both stations are putting out a 1080i signal OTA). Perhaps there's some encoding glitch somewhere along the line (since WPMI has a subchannel) or it could be a piece of NBC equipment throwing things off.

Whatever it is, it affects local products like news and commercials in addition to network fare. It must not be bad enough for anyone else to notice; there's been zero complaints about it on their Facebook page since it happened.

Oh well, sometimes having "golden ears" as friends say is more of a burden than a blessing.

BLAB-TV is back up and running on 33-4.

While watching the Saints-Raiders last night, I did notice a local 15 news promo in widescreen, and what appeared to be high def. I knew from prior posts they were introducing the ability to run syndication in high def. Are they implementing the same from their news, also?

While watching the Saints-Raiders last night, I did notice a local 15 news promo in widescreen, and what appeared to be high def. I knew from prior posts they were introducing the ability to run syndication in high def. Are they implementing the same from their news, also?
I asked them via Facebook about that and all I got is a "we want to go HD for news at some point, but it's costly." They seem to be doing it one piece at a time with WJTC and WPMI creeping towards HD together. The other night the Two and Half Men after the Sunday national news was in HD, so that's some progress. Audio is still ratty, though.

Unless LIN is holding until the LAST possible second to strike a deal with Mediacom (or vice versa)....expect WALA & WFNA to be gone from Mediacom!

Let's see, LIN's done this with....Brighthouse, Dish Network, Cox...
I'd hate to think when Comcast and DirecTV's retrans deals are up....especially with LIN's current track record thus far.

I believe it's a phased process. Certain areas have already undergone the transition, while others remain with analog extended basic service. The infrastructure may be undergoing upgrades throughout the system which may be part of the delay.

I got the Xfinity upgrade over a month ago. More HD channels than I can watch. BBC AmericaHD, 286 is by far my new favorite.

The only downside is that my slingbox doesn't work any longer.

You guys are making me jealous. BBC-A HD? *sob*

I'm stuck with Riviera Cable due to no LOS to Dish or DirecTV. The HD is terrible, overcompressed and the DVR is the worst electronic device I've ever used, period.

As for WFNA and WALA. I hate it that LIN is playing such hardball. My experience has been those two channels are the hardest to receive consistently of all the commercial OTA broadcasts in the area, especially for folks in west Mobile or Pensacola.

I live in Semmes and was wanting to get an OTA antenna. I bought an OTA antenna 18 or so years ago and couldn't get but 2 channles. So I got Dtv.

I tried again in 2007 with all the stations going digital. I still only get 2 channels steadily. Some come in and go back out.

I'm building a new house on my land and want to try again. I took down my 18 year old antenna and noticed it was all corroded. I'm hoping I can spend some money on a new and possibly better long range antenna and pick up all my network stations. Mounted on the house should give it about 15 feet or more in height.

I also saw some antennas on Amazon that says they pick up channels 50 miles away. The farthest stations seem to be about 40 miles away. All are UHF but WALA which is VHF. Most of the HD antennas seem to be UHF. I may have to look into getting a combo antenna. Not sure. Anyone in Semmes with an OTA antenna that get all the networks?

While watching the football games last night on 15 and 44, over on 15, I saw a couple of commercials airing in High Definition...one of which ran during the 10p newscast, confirming the fact that 15 can now run these spots. Meanwhile, the audio problem still plagues them, but I'll cut them some slack as they work out the glitches....

Over on 44, it seemed a lot of their spots had rendering issues as they appeared flickery when they ran. This happened during the South game.

Now it appears that every major station (WEAR, WKRG, WALA, WPMI, WFGX, WJTC & WFNA) in the market can run HD commercials locally, and that WPMI/WJTC and WKRG have some capabilities of doing spots in HD (promos only...no commercials) Meanwhile, WEAR has been plugging away in HD for well over two years now!

The next big test will be whether or not WKRG will be running Big Bang Theory syndicated episodes in HD.....and if WALA/WFNA will ever upgrade to show their syndicated material in HD...

Great report! I am anxious to see whether the Bama game broadcasts in "no issue" high def tomorrow. There were issues last season on SEC Network games on 44.

Being something of a new area resident, I get the impression that WALA is coasting on reputation. They have the worst commercial digital signal on the coast, the most outdated news set and graphics and appear to be the least HD capable. The news and weather crews seem heavy with kids fresh out of journalism school. Yet they are the most watched news in Mobile. Their parent company always plays hardball with the cable companies, too. Like anyone in Mobile or Pensacola could watch them without cable carriage!

While watching the football games last night on 15 and 44, over on 15, I saw a couple of commercials airing in High Definition...one of which ran during the 10p newscast, confirming the fact that 15 can now run these spots. Meanwhile, the audio problem still plagues them, but I'll cut them some slack as they work out the glitches....

Over on 44, it seemed a lot of their spots had rendering issues as they appeared flickery when they ran. This happened during the South game.

Now it appears that every major station (WEAR, WKRG, WALA, WPMI, WFGX, WJTC & WFNA) in the market can run HD commercials locally, and that WPMI/WJTC and WKRG have some capabilities of doing spots in HD (promos only...no commercials) Meanwhile, WEAR has been plugging away in HD for well over two years now!

The next big test will be whether or not WKRG will be running Big Bang Theory syndicated episodes in HD.....and if WALA/WFNA will ever upgrade to show their syndicated material in HD...

The football game broadcast by WPMI-TV came from Cox Sports Television, not NBC, which means WPMI-TV pre-empted all NBC programming between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM yesterday. The weather sub-channel could have been used for the pre-empted programs or WJTC-TV if it were not for the football game with the Jaguars of the University of South Alabama.

The football game broadcast by WPMI-TV came from College Sports Television (CSTV), not NBC, which means WPMI-TV pre-empted all NBC programming between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM yesterday. The weather sub-channel could have been used for the pre-empted programs or WJTC-TV if it were not for the football game with the Jaguars of the University of South Alabama.

Actually, the Saints preseason games are produced by CST, or Cox Sports Telvision out of New Orleans. CSTV is now known as CBS Sports Network, which until a few months ago, was known as CBS College Sports Network.

I believe UTV44 had a hand in producing the South telecast, since Pat Greenwood was one of the people on the telecast.

I meant to type Cox Sports Television, since I typed articles about it and the games broadcast by WPMI-TV and WJTC-TV before. I get Cox Sports Television and College Sports Television mixed up sometimes due to their similar abbreviations.

Being something of a new area resident, I get the impression that WALA is coasting on reputation. They have the worst commercial digital signal on the coast, the most outdated news set and graphics and appear to be the least HD capable. The news and weather crews seem heavy with kids fresh out of journalism school. Yet they are the most watched news in Mobile. Their parent company always plays hardball with the cable companies, too. Like anyone in Mobile or Pensacola could watch them without cable carriage!

Agree totally. I have lived in the Mobile area since 1981, and 10 has gone from clearly the best news operation to second or third fiddle. It surprises me they would be dominating any time slot. Which slots are they winning?

Agree totally. I have lived in the Mobile area since 1981, and 10 has gone from clearly the best news operation to second or third fiddle. It surprises me they would be dominating any time slot. Which slots are they winning?

http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=4789&sid=18

According to the "Media Frenzy" column in the current Lagniappe, it appears that WKRG has wrestled away the top ratings slot for its 5, 6 and 10pm newscasts. WALA may stll be winning mornings, and no matter what the ratings are, Studio10 will likely remain on the air as long as it keeps turning a profit.

Add to the fact that WALA's GM has "disappeared" from the station, It looks like LIN could be well aware that WALA is slipping and that major changes could be coming to bring the ratings back up.

On the flip side, the mention of WKRG's furloughs has to have an impact of them. It seems their quality has suffered over the past two years, when back in 2009, they laid off about 30 people over a period of several months and instituted furloughs that year. Their parent company seems to be in trouble, because their newspapers have been losing large amounts of money for years, and the profits from their television stations have been trying to prop up the company and pay off their debt. This latest round of furloughs has to be a major kick in the pants because I would imagine their staff is streched thinly enough already.

That I don't know. I just heard that they were #1 in for the most part with WKRG also hitting the top spot from time to time. My guess would be the 9 pm news, I think Fox affiliates' news usually beat out network programming in many markets since there's no other competition.

I did not realize the format for the old Lagniappe was still being used for new articles until esdx posted the link. Here is a link (http://www.lagniappemobile.com) to the Lagniappe site with the new Page Turn Pro format.

wala fox 10 i dont know how they even stay around you cant even pick them up over the air i dont even watch them anymore since i cant pick them up i wish wfgx 35 would pick up fox since u can pick them up

Went to the Alabama Kent State game yesterday, and recorded WJCT OTA and MSG feed on Directv.

The good news: Nice HD Station ID in full high def. Game cleared in full high def, and the signal did not fluctuate back into standard def like I have seen in past years with the SEC game of the week network on WJCT.

The bad news: The whole game originating from Tuscaloosa was plagued with some kind of funky technical problem. It looked like a camera out of registration, but the problem persisted from all cameras. Red jumped around all over the place on the Tide's crimson jerseys, and it sometimes looked as if there were a gray superimposed border around a red area. Other colors were affected also. I will post a frame capture if anyone is interested in seeing the phenomenon.

The good news is the problem was definitely not caused locally. The MSG feed had it also. I hope this is an isolated problem, and will not be repeated throughout the season.

More good/bad news. With the WPMI/WJCT recent updates, they apparantly now have the ability to put a local crawl over a high def network feed. Good if you want a weather bulletin: bad if it persists throughout the telecast and detracts from it. The crawl area was larger than it needed to be and I tired quickly of it. It will not cause me to do business with Ashley Furniture, whose logo adorned every milisecond of the crawl.

MSG had a persistent score crawl, but it was smaller in area. Easier to live with.

http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=4789&sid=18

According to the "Media Frenzy" column in the current Lagniappe, it appears that WKRG has wrestled away the top ratings slot for its 5, 6 and 10pm newscasts. WALA may stll be winning mornings, and no matter what the ratings are, Studio10 will likely remain on the air as long as it keeps turning a profit.



Great article. Thanks much for the link to Lagniappe link. That publication may be the only alternative news outlet we have. God forbid we should lose it.

I thought the quote from the WKRG GM was quite telling:

Contacted by this reporter for comment about the furloughs, WKRG General Manager Joe Goleniowski had little to offer about the situation.

"Why should I give you any information when you’ve got a history of terrible journalism? You’ve got a garbage publication. Goodbye,” Goleniowski said.

What motivated that kind of response? I do not know who pulled his chain, and maybe there is some kind of history between that reporter or WKRG and Lagniappe that would cause that kind of hostility, but if I had been the Lagniappe reporter, I would have used the quote in exactly the same way.

If Lagniappe is so horrible, then how would he characterize the Press Register? On every level that matters, I would say that the opinion leaders in this town are far more likely to be influenced by the former rather than the latter.

Another possible addition of HDTV....

WKRG's broadcast of "Tide & Tigers Today" appeared to be in HD yesterday!

As for the Alabama game over on WJTC, I originally thought it was a local problem with the colors separating....they were initially running the same crawl WPMI has been running...while keeping the game in HD. When this crawl went away, the game appeared to be airing normally on their broadcast signal.

Since the same problem happened on the MSG feed (which isn't in my DirecTV package) it could have very well have been a network issue.

Another possible addition of HDTV....

WKRG's broadcast of "Tide & Tigers Today" appeared to be in HD yesterday!

As for the Alabama game over on WJTC, I originally thought it was a local problem with the colors separating....they were initially running the same crawl WPMI has been running...while keeping the game in HD. When this crawl went away, the game appeared to be airing normally on their broadcast signal.

Since the same problem happened on the MSG feed (which isn't in my DirecTV package) it could have very well have been a network issue.

The bleed on the MSG feed also disappeared into its broadcast. I was ready to pop on my red/cyan 3D glasses and see if it was a 3D experiment.

When I re-scan the channels, I see the name "WPMV-1 21.6"...

Do y'all know what's wrong with it? It works fine...

I have an HD Homerun Tuner which I run through MediaCenter. It shows 21.1,21.2,21.3.21.4, and 21.5, none of which are operational at this time, but all of which have worked fine in the past. The tuner in my Samsung plasma shows exactly the same 21.6 channel you mentioned, and only that channel, and it is working fine.

Funny thing is, I do not remember recently doing a scan on the Samsung tuner, so I can't imagine why it would be current, and the HD homerun would not be.

I am going to refrain from doing a scan right now, to see how the issue resolves. Sounds like something is going on at the transmitter.

Yesterday all the subchannels worked except for 21.1 TBN, today they're all blank for me, but with 100% signal strength.

Yesterday all the subchannels worked except for 21.1 TBN, today they're all blank for me, but with 100% signal strength.

Well... I swear I got all the channels scanned perfectly without screwing up but it's still the same for WMPV...

Does other TBN stations have the same reason yet???

I live in Semmes and was wanting to get an OTA antenna. I bought an OTA antenna 18 or so years ago and couldn't get but 2 channles. So I got Dtv.

I tried again in 2007 with all the stations going digital. I still only get 2 channels steadily. Some come in and go back out.

I'm building a new house on my land and want to try again. I took down my 18 year old antenna and noticed it was all corroded. I'm hoping I can spend some money on a new and possibly better long range antenna and pick up all my network stations. Mounted on the house should give it about 15 feet or more in height.

I also saw some antennas on Amazon that says they pick up channels 50 miles away. The farthest stations seem to be about 40 miles away. All are UHF but WALA which is VHF. Most of the HD antennas seem to be UHF. I may have to look into getting a combo antenna. Not sure. Anyone in Semmes with an OTA antenna that get all the networks?

A very good solution for the Semmes area is the Channel Master CM-2018 High VHF/UHF antenna (mounted outside) WALA broadcasts its digital signal on VHF 9. Electronics World in the Loop area of Mobile carries CM products.

Well... I swear I got all the channels scanned perfectly without screwing up but it's still the same for WMPV...

Does other TBN stations have the same reason yet???
Looks like they had an encoder go bad. TBN programming is being reported on 21.6 while the multiplex is offline. Should be a few days before order is restored and 21.1-5 come back to life.

Some good news and bad news in the world of digital and HD television here in Mobile-Pensacola....

Just checked my Insignia DTV box and WMPV is back broadcasting all 5 channels as 21.1-21.5...

Last night, WKRG pre-empted a repeat of 48 Hours Mystery at 7pm to air a 1 hour documentary on the Honor Flight program, hosted by Bill Riales. It was presented in widescreen, with certain segments that appeared to be HD. It did contain a lot of archive footage from WWII which had to be formatted in order to fit the screen properly. Judging from the program, it appears that Bill could have done it all by himself, which if that was the case, he should be commended.

Since I normally set the DVR to record 48 Hours Mystery, it picked up the airing which aired sometime overnight (likely after the Late Late show)...it's one of the few shows that CBS runs that is not in HD. I scanned through it just to see if they recorded it in HD, but it was entirely in SD, including the commercials. Since WKRG seldom pre-empts network programming anymore, it may not justify time-shifting it in HD yet.

Over on 44 today for the Auburn game, all looked really good until right at 2:30 when they switched over to another program, but switched immediately back to the game. Most likely it was a glitch in the system since the game was only scheduled to run until 2:30 but ran over...

I was watching at a friend's house with Comcast, so now WJTC is feeding their HD signal on them. I can only hope DirecTV picks up their HD signal soon, since these games themselves should be enough of a reason to warrant HD coverage. Now that more than half of their schedule is in HD, I hope DirecTV gets the message soon, despite their lack of a network affiliation.

Comcast's cable TV customers are now receiving TBN Enlace programming instead of the main programming from TBN broadcast by WMPV-TV. Here is an article with more details:

"WMPV-TV restores all programming feeds; Comcast TV customers receive wrong feed" (http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/wmpv-tv-restores-all-programming-feeds-comcast-tv-customers-receive-wrong-feed)

Comcast customers are receiving the main programming from TBN again. I noticed the programming was back by 12:00 PM.

Some good news and bad news in the world of digital and HD television here in Mobile-Pensacola....


I was watching at a friend's house with Comcast, so now WJTC is feeding their HD signal on them. I can only hope DirecTV picks up their HD signal soon, since these games themselves should be enough of a reason to warrant HD coverage. Now that more than half of their schedule is in HD, I hope DirecTV gets the message soon, despite their lack of a network affiliation.

I watched some of their broadcast OTA, and it looked just fine in hd. But not on directv. Poor quality, even in SD. The game was in a small centered box. Not sure why that is. Channel 55 is in HD on directv, I assume, becuase they are the CW affiliate. Come on directv, let's fix that!!

55 is being carried because it is the CW, but Direct doesn't carry all CW in most DMAs yet. The lack of network affliation is probably the reason why 44 isn't carried in HD yet. I think Direct has very few independent local channels in HD. We are lucky to have local CW and PBS in HD by Direct. But at least WJTC is significantly easier to pick than WALA and WJTC is showing the SEC games in HD.

I am still looking for Mediacom customers in the Spanish Fort area who are satisfied with the high def offerings on cable. I tried them in 2007, and found the picture to be unacceptable. I was told that I could have improved the PQ with a cable card, but did not try that.

I will even broaden the question. Are there any high def afficionados in Spanish Fort - Daphne - Fairhope that are using Mediacom and satisfied with the service.

Particularly interested to see if anyone is using the service with a cable card.

I had a prior post asking whether anyone is using the Ceton card, but never got an answer. Homerun HD prime comments (fat chance) would also be welcome.

Mobile folks, if you have any experience with these devices, please also speak up!

I'm curious how a cable card could change the picture quality.

I'm curious how a cable card could change the picture quality.

I can't see how it would make that much difference either, quite frankly. I am just waiting for someone to appear who will tell me they have great service, and clean, clear high def signal.

I didn't see anything like that several years ago, using the Motorola DVR they brought me then. The basic cable signal was simply not tolerable.

But the installer told me from the beginning I would be happier with the cable card. Should have taken him up on it!

I can't see how it would make that much difference either, quite frankly. I am just waiting for someone to appear who will tell me they have great service, and clean, clear high def signal.

I didn't see anything like that several years ago, using the Motorola DVR they brought me then. The basic cable signal was simply not tolerable.

But the installer told me from the beginning I would be happier with the cable card. Should have taken him up on it!
I'm going way out of my wheelhouse here, but I suppose the cable card is just the unit to authorize the device to decode the signal, right? So any quality improvement would be between the hardware of the DVR or TV with the card and the box from the cableco.

As far as I'm concerned, every cable outlet I've seen has had an inferior HDTV picture compared to DirecTV. I've never seen a U-Verse or Fios setup so I can't comment on those. Our Riviera Cable here in Foley is just awful. Everything is overcompressed and many of the channels can't be fast forwarded or rewound through the DVR without it going haywire. No channel is as sharp as off-the-air locals in HD like our local CW and ABC stations. NBC looked good until their so-called "upgrade", now it's noticeably fuzzy and has some sort of ghosting issues. When I had DirecTV there were sound dropouts occasionally and of course rain fade, but the dropouts via cable, the picture glitches and other visual "tics" are in a whole 'nother world of bad.

I think the box is made by Pace, which the cable people say is a step down from the Motorola "but it's all we have to rent out now". :rolleyes:

Maybe the decoding circuitry is inferior in the Motorola cable box, or maybe the person who said the cable card looked better was blowing smoke. To me, cable is just not going to look good, period, compared to satellite, fiber or U-Verse, and I feel confident saying that despite having never seen the latter two in person!

I'm going way out of my wheelhouse here, but I suppose the cable card is just the unit to authorize the device to decode the signal, right? So any quality improvement would be between the hardware of the DVR or TV with the card and the box from the cableco.

As far as I'm concerned, every cable outlet I've seen has had an inferior HDTV picture compared to DirecTV. I've never seen a U-Verse or Fios setup so I can't comment on those. Our Riviera Cable here in Foley is just awful. Everything is overcompressed and many of the channels can't be fast forwarded or rewound through the DVR without it going haywire. No channel is as sharp as off-the-air locals in HD like our local CW and ABC stations. NBC looked good until their so-called "upgrade", now it's noticeably fuzzy and has some sort of ghosting issues. When I had DirecTV there were sound dropouts occasionally and of course rain fade, but the dropouts via cable, the picture glitches and other visual "tics" are in a whole 'nother world of bad.

I think the box is made by Pace, which the cable people say is a step down from the Motorola "but it's all we have to rent out now". :rolleyes:

Maybe the decoding circuitry is inferior in the Motorola cable box, or maybe the person who said the cable card looked better was blowing smoke. To me, cable is just not going to look good, period, compared to satellite, fiber or U-Verse, and I feel confident saying that despite having never seen the latter two in person!


uverse hd is junk, their hd streams are compressed down to about 5.5 mbps

is your a long way from the VRAD, its like watching a dodgy digital OTA signal

verizon is all fiber and their PQ is suppose to rival DIRECTV's

I'm going way out of my wheelhouse here, but I suppose the cable card is just the unit to authorize the device to decode the signal, right? So any quality improvement would be between the hardware of the DVR or TV with the card and the box from the cableco.

As far as I'm concerned, every cable outlet I've seen has had an inferior HDTV picture compared to DirecTV. I've never seen a U-Verse or Fios setup so I can't comment on those... !

I make the same assumptions as you, and I would be surprised if I got a positive report from any cable user. But it never hurts to check. Sometimes we can be surprised, but probably not!!

WKRG is now carrying the syndicated repeats of "The Big Bang Theory" in HD!

Great to hear. Final goal: all HD all the time!

I just did a scan on my TV and it's telling me that WJTC is now in 720p!
Meanwhile, WPMI is still in 1080i (due to NBC) and still has the audio issue that has persisted them since they started passing HD content locally.
I wonder what made WJTC switch from 1080i (from the UPN days)....could a subchannel be in the works?

I just did a scan on my TV and it's telling me that WJTC is now in 720p!
Meanwhile, WPMI is still in 1080i (due to NBC) and still has the audio issue that has persisted them since they started passing HD content locally.
I wonder what made WJTC switch from 1080i (from the UPN days)....could a subchannel be in the works?

Good guess. Let's see what happens.

WFNA has lit up 55-2 for its Bounce TV subchannel. It's in a loop right now saying it will launch at 12 eastern on Monday.

However, on 55-1 during the ACC game, the picture quality is noticably lower with a lot of heavy pixelization on fast motion, even a degraded picture quality on the local content. Any ACC fans out there who can agree that the picture is worse than in the past few weeks?

Good guess. Let's see what happens.

I was under the impression that a 720p feed was actually more of a bandwidth hog that a 1080i feed due to the higher frame rate.

What was WFNA-TV broadcasting on channel 55-2 shortly after noon on Saturday besides the information loop? I saw video of some folks speaking, but I did not have enough time to keep watching to understand.

What was WFNA-TV broadcasting on channel 55-2 shortly after noon on Saturday besides the information loop? I saw video of some folks speaking, but I did not have enough time to keep watching to understand.

I saw this too, and it's part of the loop that was running.
As of now, around 10am on Sunday, they appear to be running programming, but so far what i've seen is the start of some movie or show which only lasted about 2 minutes, then it cut away to another movie (which ended up being the opening sequence to "The Wiz"). This has been currently happening for the past 5 minutes, as the intro plays, and the movie re-starts over and over again.

In other words, they're on the air and likely working out the bugs. Hopefully all is well come launch time!

I just tuned in to a logo for Bounce TV "TV Our Way" which says programming is to begin on Monday at 12 p.m. Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

That anouncement seems to apply to the network. I assume WFNA will be broadcasting it at that time.

The Bounce TV website has a sound bite from Andrew Young, referring to Bounce TV as the first African American network available free over the air to everyone.

I also saw the film clip from The Wiz, which appears to be running in a test loop.

Alabama is going to be blanketed by Bounce TV when it debuts tomorrow. They're on full power stations here, Montgomery, Dothan, Huntsville and Columbus, GA. Definitely making a big splash in the south, affiliate-wise.

Going back to WJTC for a moment, I was thinking about the move to 720p while some HD program was on this afternoon (Stargate?) SEC Network is probably their biggest draw right now and it's run by ESPN. Who does everything in 720p. So maybe it's to help the picture look better by not reconverting the SECN's 720p feed?

Aww.... That's sad that we're losing RTV in the morning to get MeTV. I bet MeTV will be better than RTV.

But... It's 2 and half years of carriage for RTV...

Alabama is going to be blanketed by Bounce TV when it debuts tomorrow. They're on full power stations here, Montgomery, Dothan, Huntsville and Columbus, GA. Definitely making a big splash in the south, affiliate-wise.

Going back to WJTC for a moment, I was thinking about the move to 720p while some HD program was on this afternoon (Stargate?) SEC Network is probably their biggest draw right now and it's run by ESPN. Who does everything in 720p. So maybe it's to help the picture look better by not reconverting the SECN's 720p feed?

Do you think ESPN's interest in the SEC Network might influence Directv to offer WJCT in high def? I realize that's probably hoping against hope.

Alabama is going to be blanketed by Bounce TV when it debuts tomorrow. They're on full power stations here, Montgomery, Dothan, Huntsville and Columbus, GA. Definitely making a big splash in the south, affiliate-wise.

Going back to WJTC for a moment, I was thinking about the move to 720p while some HD program was on this afternoon (Stargate?) SEC Network is probably their biggest draw right now and it's run by ESPN. Who does everything in 720p. So maybe it's to help the picture look better by not reconverting the SECN's 720p feed?

I figured the SEC games were the factor in switching to 720p...not to mention how much better sports performs on a progressive HD signal than on an interlaced one.

And if things ever go sour between LIN and FOX, there will be another station in the market that could snatch up the affiliation!

Do you think ESPN's interest in the SEC Network might influence Directv to offer WJCT in high def? I realize that's probably hoping against hope.
I really wish that would push DirecTV to add them in high def. I don't subscribe now but plan to in the future whenever the trees cooperate (;)) and not having UTV44 in HD would be a bummer.

I cant get WJTC via Antenna and they are SD on Dish. Ugh.

Where yat? Last time I was in Gulf Shores I was able to get WJTC in one of the condos with nothing more than some bare wire clipped to the coax cable. Granted, I was ~7 stories up. ;)

Here north of Foley it's 100% with nothing more than a straight piece of metal (my spare bedroom antenna is the whip off an old Chrysler or Dodge vehicle attached to the coax via alligator clips.) WJTC/WPMI seems to be one of the easier combos to get.

Almost the Miss line. Have a winegard indoor about 12 feet up. I get 3, 5, 15, 42 and 55.

I really wish that would push DirecTV to add them in high def. I don't subscribe now but plan to in the future whenever the trees cooperate (;)) and not having UTV44 in HD would be a bummer.

I get a great HD signal OTA. And and with my directv package, the SEC game of the week is always on at least two of those channels: MSG and, I think, FSN, in high def. I have Showtime and Sports Monthly that gets me those channels, in addtion to Choice Extra.

But the directv SD feed of WJTC is pretty marginal in my opinion.

Does anybody know to to write to, if there is anyone, to lobby for an HD feed of WJCT?

WFNA has lit up 55-2 for its Bounce TV subchannel. It's in a loop right now saying it will launch at 12 eastern on Monday.

However, on 55-1 during the ACC game, the picture quality is noticably lower with a lot of heavy pixelization on fast motion, even a degraded picture quality on the local content. Any ACC fans out there who can agree that the picture is worse than in the past few weeks?

After watching a few recordings, I'd say pq is worse. Reminds me of wkrg with the blocking in motion.

WFNA is 1080i right? Seems like every station doing that with subchannels looks really bad.

55 is completely dead for me right now on the living room tv, no idea why. It actually has a real indoor antenna at the same height as the car whip I use in the bedroom. They are only separated by a wall. Who knew wall could wipe out a signal?

Yepp, 1080. I wish these guys would go to mpeg4, plenty of bandwidth then.

From what i've seen, it looks like most of WJTC's schedule is in HD, meanwhile WALA and WFNA seem like they are light years away from ever airing non-network content in SD. If common sense was a part of getting DirecTV and Dish to carry WJTC in HD, then they have more than enough reason to because of the abundance of HD content. Unfortunately, this is going to likely come down to whatever retrans deal Newport Television (WPMI & WJTC's owner) can strike with the providers, and if Newport holds their ground too much, then things could get ugly (just like LIN and Dish, Brighthouse, Cox, and now Mediacom.....) Because of WJTC's lack of affiliation and WPMI's ratings, this may be an uphill battle.

OTA signal cutting in and out contstantly today. It certainly isn't the weather. Anyone else having that problem?

OTA signal cutting in and out contstantly today. It certainly isn't the weather. Anyone else having that problem?
You mean going completely out or just macroblocking? It macroblocks and has near-regular glitches OTA for me, despite being a solid 100% on the signal meter.

WPMI-TV was broadcasting "Monkeybone" and "From Hell" today (they were syndicated movies) and I noticed "From Hell" was displayed in the 16:9 aspect ratio ratio, by which the scenes fit the entire high-definition TV screen in my home. "From Hell" was not displayed in its original format of 2:35 : 1 or else it would have not fit the entire screen.

What were the start times for these movies today? The TV listings from Zap2it, TV Guide, and TitanTV do not have the start times (they had "To Be Announced" between 12:00 PM and 5:00 PM).

You mean going completely out or just macroblocking? It macroblocks and has near-regular glitches OTA for me, despite being a solid 100% on the signal meter.

Periodic macroblocking with audio cutting out before the scene stabalized. Frustrating. I had to use my directv HR24-500 to dub the Alabama - Florida game, instead of using my media center recording which was recorded from the OTA signal. Four hour dub in real time as opposed to simply editing the media center recording.

Cannot remember the last time this has happened with the WKRG signal. If it continues I will try and view the signal strength meter to see if it is varying or consistent during the macroblocking episodes. They only last for a few seconds.

Mine was fine for both games. Other than their usual breakup during fast motion.

OTA signal cutting in and out contstantly today. It certainly isn't the weather. Anyone else having that problem?

When a station uses a portion of the bandwidth allocated to one HD channel and spreads a it out over 3 or more sub channels, the quality goes downhill fast. Look at 21-. They have 5 subchannels and non are watchable. Also, none are HD. SUB CHANNELS EAT UP BANDWIDTH AND QUALITY. COME ON FCC, DO SOMETHING ABOUT LETTING STATION DILUTE THE BANDWIDTH SO MUCH. UNTILL THE FCC STEPS IN. IT WILL JUST GFT WORSE. THE MORE $$$ THE STATIONS CAN MAKE, THE MORE THEY WILL MAKE.

Are we talking about the same FCC? The FCC wants more subchannels, not fewer.

- Trip

Remember, this is the age of the YouTube video... 21 looks great compared to some of the junk uploaded to the internet! Expect to see more picture degradation over time. No one strives for perfect anymore, just 'good enough'.

When a station uses a portion of the bandwidth allocated to one HD channel and spreads a it out over 3 or more sub channels, the quality goes downhill fast. Look at 21-. They have 5 subchannels and non are watchable. Also, none are HD. SUB CHANNELS EAT UP BANDWIDTH AND QUALITY. COME ON FCC, DO SOMETHING ABOUT LETTING STATION DILUTE THE BANDWIDTH SO MUCH. UNTILL THE FCC STEPS IN. IT WILL JUST GFT WORSE. THE MORE $$$ THE STATIONS CAN MAKE, THE MORE THEY WILL MAKE.

The stations should be free to have as many digital sub-channels as they want without government regulation and the folks who operate stations with sub-channels should be aware of the consequences to picture quality by now.

As far as the FCC's concerned, as long as a station is putting out a DIGITAL signal (not even HD) and meets all of its obligations in the community, that's all the FCC requires for compliance. HD exists because of network obligations and the broadcasters that actually take the initiative to upgrade their equipment, although this is swayed by the demands of the industry and by consumers who make the investment in new televisions capable of airing HD content. Very few "digital" televisions exist, most are in HD.

On the flipside, subchannels are launched by stations to increase revenue and/or to provide additional programming to broaden a stations' audience (but have been added at the corporate level by broadcasters as well). The value of the subchannel should make the broadcaster evaluate how to allocate bandwidth.

Ok...it's been well over a month now. Any progress on getting WALA & WFNA back on Mediacom?

How long did the WEAR spat with Mediacom last back in 07? LIN may be working on a record here!

Remember, this is the age of the YouTube video... 21 looks great compared to some of the junk uploaded to the internet! Expect to see more picture degradation over time. No one strives for perfect anymore, just 'good enough'.

Yepp, and as someone who cares about quality, this bothers me.

One person up the tower for each sub- channel? We would have to gather an army for Channel 21!:)

Anyone else having picture issues on Bounce TV? (WFNA 55.2) I've tried it on 2 of my HD sets and both converter boxes and despite a near 100 percent signal on all, the picture has blocking effects and glitches every few seconds.

Anyone else having picture issues on Bounce TV? (WFNA 55.2) I've tried it on 2 of my HD sets and both converter boxes and despite a near 100 percent signal on all, the picture has blocking effects and glitches every few seconds.
Yup. Been that way since they launched. Either they can't fix it yet or they don't care.

Ive also seen a lot more blocking on 55.1 this season, very annoying.

Ditto on Bounce.

Those of you who can rx Fox 10 OTA, how large of an antenna do you have?
Since Comcast did the forced digital "upgrade" they have been doing once a week channel changes back and forth to wkrg and retro. Fox 10 moved but I think it is stable now. I have both a cable internal and OTA external tuners for my WMC setup. Rather than hope that Comcast will stop meddling, I started moving WMC over to the OTA tuner. All is well with WKRG again but I can't get FoX. I am using a dinky Radio Shack Rabbit Ears so I know I need to get something better. Any suggestions for getting Fox back? I may just drop Comcast all together if I can get my OTA working like it should.

Thank you...

Where are you located?

Near the Pensacola airport, I can receive Fox 10 (broadcasting on VHF channel 9) using a full-sized outdoor antenna, about 12 ft high, mounted to a railing on the second floor. So, the antenna is about 30 feet above ground. I cannot receive it using rabbit ears either on the first floor nor the second floor. I cannot receive it with rabbit ears on Pensacola Beach.

Where are you located?

Near the Pensacola airport, I can receive Fox 10 (broadcasting on VHF channel 9) using a full-sized outdoor antenna, about 12 ft high, mounted to a railing on the second floor. So, the antenna is about 30 feet above ground. I cannot receive it using rabbit ears either on the first floor nor the second floor. I cannot receive it with rabbit ears on Pensacola Beach.

Thanks for the info. I am in west mobile ...thinking of putting something in my attic. The rabbit ears were a temp solution and just for emegencies, now it looks like I am going to have to do something . I can get their sister station, just not Fox proper.

Thanks for the info. I am in west mobile ...thinking of putting something in my attic. The rabbit ears were a temp solution and just for emegencies, now it looks like I am going to have to do something . I can get their sister station, just not Fox proper.

As I mentioned, WALA is broadcasting on a VHF channel (9) while the 'sister' station is broadcasting on a UHF channel. Comparing reception issues is like comparing the proverbial apples and oranges.

Thanks for the info. I am in west mobile ...thinking of putting something in my attic. The rabbit ears were a temp solution and just for emegencies, now it looks like I am going to have to do something . I can get their sister station, just not Fox proper.
Could you put the rabbit ears in the attic and see how that works? Height is almost as magical an elixir to this problem as the size of the antenna.

I've also got a pair of rabbit ears, amplified, that sit behind the living room TV as a backup for when cable goes out. I get everything BUT Fox 10 there, and can raise it up to about 12 feet off the ground to get it at 70%.

If you're lucky, the attic may be enough if you have a good line of site to Baldwin County.

Where are you located?

Near the Pensacola airport, I can receive Fox 10 (broadcasting on VHF channel 9) using a full-sized outdoor antenna, about 12 ft high, mounted to a railing on the second floor. So, the antenna is about 30 feet above ground. I cannot receive it using rabbit ears either on the first floor nor the second floor. I cannot receive it with rabbit ears on Pensacola Beach.

I am within a few miles of virtually all the towers. I live in Spanish Fort. But I'm down in a hole, surrounded by tall pines, and that hurts reception. I have used the Channel Master Eight Bay 4228 in my attic, pointing pretty much due East, and I get good reception on just about all the locals. I have the old, discontinued 4228, the new model, I think is called the 4228HD. Some of the reviews have said the new is much worse than the old. The good thing about the old 4228, is that it's gain extended into the VHF high band range, which would be what you would need for Channel 9. But if you can get an acceptable picture with just rabbit ears in the attic, the 4228 would be overkill of a high magnitude.

Mediacom customers can rejoice...WALA and WFNA are back up on Mediacom!

As for Comcast and DirecTV customers...we'll see what happens when it's re-negotiation time with LIN, becuase their track record has been ugly with Brighthouse, Dish and even a close call with COX a few months back.

Could you put the rabbit ears in the attic and see how that works? Height is almost as magical an elixir to this problem as the size of the antenna.

I've also got a pair of rabbit ears, amplified, that sit behind the living room TV as a backup for when cable goes out. I get everything BUT Fox 10 there, and can raise it up to about 12 feet off the ground to get it at 70%.

If you're lucky, the attic may be enough if you have a good line of site to Baldwin County.

Yes I could with more cable. But if I go to the trouble shouldn't i just get a slightly better Ant? What is a good decent antenna for the attic? Nothing fancy. Also can any of you get a station in Pascagoula called wkfk ch 7? I know it's a long shot but just wondering as they have Retro which WKRG dropped recently. Thanks.

Yes I could with more cable. But if I go to the trouble shouldn't i just get a slightly better Ant? What is a good decent antenna for the attic? Nothing fancy. Also can any of you get a station in Pascagoula called wkfk ch 7? I know it's a long shot but just wondering as they have Retro which WKRG dropped recently. Thanks.
I can't speak to antenna recommendations but I can say that WKFK has a permit to raise their power a good bit, which will extend their coverage east and west. I think the primary contour will at least make it to Grand Bay so in the future you may have some luck with them. They're moving to channel 13 IIRC.

WKFK is, for some strange reason, on Riviera Cable here in Foley and it is RTV 24/7 as far as I can tell. No program guide, though, as it's on channel 24 "Leased Access".

I may not be able to receive programming from WKFK-TV due to my location (midtown Mobile) and my use of indoor antennas, but the use of their main channel and sub-channels gives me an idea of what could be done for WFGX-TV. For example, WFGX-TV could be broadcasting "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" from ThisTV on a sub-channel while the main channel has "Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer" before the station broadcasts "Mona the Vampire" on both the main channel and the sub-channel.


WKFK is, for some strange reason, on Riviera Cable here in Foley and it is RTV 24/7 as far as I can tell. No program guide, though, as it's on channel 24 "Leased Access".

According to the programming guide on the World Wide Web site for WKFK (http://www.wkfk.com), all programs from the Retro Television Network (RTV) are broadcast on their first sub-channel (the main channel has a mix of local programs, RTV programs, America One programs, and ION Television programs) and all programs from ION Television are broadcast on the second sub-channel. According to Zap2it (http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCSGrid.do?stnNum=66196&channel=24), Riviera Cable in Foley provides programming from the main channel, which has a mix of local programs, RTV programs, America One programs, and ION Television programs.

WKFK is, for some strange reason, on Riviera Cable here in Foley and it is RTV 24/7 as far as I can tell. No program guide, though, as it's on channel 24 "Leased Access".

The same company that runs WKFK also runs NCN, who sells the local advertising time on Riviera Cable channels in Foley.

I can't speak to antenna recommendations but I can say that WKFK has a permit to raise their power a good bit, which will extend their coverage east and west. I think the primary contour will at least make it to Grand Bay so in the future you may have some luck with them. They're moving to channel 13 IIRC.

WKFK is, for some strange reason, on Riviera Cable here in Foley and it is RTV 24/7 as far as I can tell. No program guide, though, as it's on channel 24 "Leased Access".
Thanks for the info, did not realize that. I have some off the wall-weirdo reasons for wanting retro:
Many years ago when I was a child, NBC had a truck driving show that was partially filmed in Mobile and I got to see them make one of the episodes. The show was never rerun until 30+ years later on Retro started showing them a few months ago. Sure the show was cheesy but it brought back some great memories from long ago. So here I am recording them on WMC7 and all was going well until I got some kind of infection. No problem, I have a system image so I did a restore only to find out the hard way that MS backup in Win 7 will actively refuse to backup .wtv files. So I lost all my recordings, despite having a backup. So I started recording again and shortly afterwords WRKG pulled the rug out from under RTV. What timing! Oh well lesson learned and I now store the recordings on a cheap NAS - till I can get something better but I learned my lesson about trusting Microsoft.

Movin' On, right? :)

Movin' On, right? :)

You got it! Seems like a lifetime ago for me, but still remember Dot Moore, Claude running up to the battleship, etc. Only episode I was able to save looks like it was shot at Dog River.

You got it! Seems like a lifetime ago for me, but still remember Dot Moore, Claude running up to the battleship, etc. Only episode I was able to save looks like it was shot at Dog River.
I'm afraid that was before my time. But anything showing Mobile from the 70s would be something I'd like to see. Mobile is not listed as one of the shooting cities on the Wikipedia entry for the show, was it only used in one or two episodes?

I'm afraid that was before my time. But anything showing Mobile from the 70s would be something I'd like to see. Mobile is not listed as one of the shooting cities on the Wikipedia entry for the show, was it only used in one or two episodes?

Well I had always heard rumors like 3 or 4 but just stuff I had heard from other kids so I was never sure till a few months ago. Before I lost access to RTV, I counted 4. That's probably it but still not 100% sure. Ironically one of my 4th-5th grade teacher's brother was in it. They had some of the well known locals in it as well.

Anyone out in TV land experiencing problems with WJTC either over the air or on cable/satellite?

From my location in Mobile, I am getting no (usable) signal on WJTC OTA, but it is working fine on DirecTV.

Apparently, this is enough of an issue for WJTC viewers that WPMI will be simulcasting the high school football game tonight as well as tomorrow's SEC game. A crawl is currently running on WPMI and WJTC to notify viewers of this.

At this time, I have no problems receiving programming from WJTC-TV broadcast over the air or provided through Comcast Cablevision of Mobile (I'm in midtown Mobile). Earlier today, local Comcast customers lost access to programming from the station between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM before programming returned shortly before 3:00 PM. An image from "The Dr. Oz Show" was frozen until programming returned.

100% here in Foley and it's on Riviera Cable just fine — at least the snowy analog version, I haven't checked the HD feed on the other TV yet.

The scroll is the same on both UTV and Local 15, so if you're watching WJTC it says the games will be there, then on Local 15 the games will be there. If we can see WJTC, why do need to know the games are going on as scheduled? Duh.

And why would they pre-emt NBC network programming for high school football? That's insane. They have a subchannel, use it instead. :rolleyes:

I can now get WJTC over the air. If you can flip back and forth between WPMI & WJTC you can hear the difference in audio quality.

Apparently, this is enough of an issue for WJTC viewers that WPMI will be simulcasting the high school football game tonight as well as tomorrow's SEC game. A crawl is currently running on WPMI and WJTC to notify viewers of this.

There must have been a change of plans, as WPMI-TV is still broadcasting regular programming while WJTC-TV is broadcasting SEC Network programming alone. At this time, the "breaking news" on the home page for WPMI-TV is the still the previous announcement regarding the SEC Network programming.

I've discovered a glitch when trying to set my DirecTV DVR....

Since WKRG airs "The Big Bang Theory" as a CBS program as well as a syndicated show, my DVR cannot tell the difference between the two shows. I want to record only the CBS version, but my DVR will record all episodes airing on WKRG....recording over the shows I tell it to keep because I limit it to only keeping 5 episodes. I've temporarily fixed the problem by setting the show to record only the "First Run" episodes, which means that no shows will record when the episodes go into repeats.

However, on WEAR, they run "Grey's Anatomy" as an ABC show and a syndicated show on Sunday nights. I don't have this problem with this show.
It only records the network version without having to jump through the hoops that I have to do with Big Bang.

Is there something that WKRG or DirecTV (or the listing service) should be doing to prevent this? Is anyone else having a similar problem with other providers as well?

I've discovered a glitch when trying to set my DirecTV DVR....

Since WKRG airs "The Big Bang Theory" as a CBS program as well as a syndicated show, my DVR cannot tell the difference between the two shows. I want to record only the CBS version, but my DVR will record all episodes airing on WKRG....recording over the shows I tell it to keep because I limit it to only keeping 5 episodes. I've temporarily fixed the problem by setting the show to record only the "First Run" episodes, which means that no shows will record when the episodes go into repeats.

However, on WEAR, they run "Grey's Anatomy" as an ABC show and a syndicated show on Sunday nights. I don't have this problem with this show.
It only records the network version without having to jump through the hoops that I have to do with Big Bang.

Is there something that WKRG or DirecTV (or the listing service) should be doing to prevent this? Is anyone else having a similar problem with other providers as well?

AFAIK, the only way to fix this is to do a manual record for the timeslot you want to record, just like in VCR days. You can set to record every Thursday 7:00-7:30 PM and it will show up on your playlist as "Manual: The Big Bang Theory". Of course, this won't address stunt scheduling like the show running a few minutes over (a problem you will have with Grey's Anatomey) or if the show airs extra episodes at different times/days.

Hey guys maybe you can help me out here. I live in Foley Alabama zip 36535 and have antenna. I get all of the channels except for nbc channel 15 and fox channel 10..

I have and standard rabbit ears. What antenna do you recommend. I would like something simple.

Do you think the clip on dish antenna will work

Please help thanks

Hey guys maybe you can help me out here. I live in Foley Alabama zip 36535 and have antenna. I get all of the channels except for nbc channel 15 and fox channel 10..

I have and standard rabbit ears. What antenna do you recommend. I would like something simple.

Do you think the clip on dish antenna will work

Please help thanks
Do you know if that clip on antenna is amplified? I'm 99% sure it'll get everything but Fox 10 if it isn't, but if it is it should get 10 as well.

Surprising that you're having trouble with 15; its the easiest thing for me and I'm just north of Foley. WALA and WEIQ are the only two I struggle with and I've got set top rabbit ears in the living room. In a bedroom I'm using an old whip from a Chrysler hooked up with alligator clips (!) and it actually pulls in everything, including Fox 10, at 100%. Really your rabbit ears should be sufficient, especially if they are amplified. Can you try moving them around a bit? The higher you can put them the better your reception will be.

yes channel 15 is blue I tried moving antenna around and rescon. Nothing.

I will try again tonight. What antenna would be best for picking this up

I have the 100 element RS outdoor antenna and am 35 miles from the towers. Get 100 percent on all except Fox 10 about 88. It is on a 20 foot pole.

Panama City's WPGX has received a permit to increase their coverage area. The boost will be from 2.3 kW at 466 feet to 24.1 kW at 712 feet.

As everyone knows WPGX runs on RF channel 9, same as WALA in Mobile. This puts FWB and Destin in between the two signals. The power boost looks like it was exacerbate that a little, and will extend the 36 dBu contour plot almost all the way to Destin.

It'll be interesting to see if this has any affect on reception of either station out there in "Fox no man's land". :)

I sure wish Fox would do something with theirs so i could get it in west mobile.

I sure wish Fox would do something with theirs so i could get it in west mobile.
The best possible solution would be for WALA to move to UHF like everyone else, but that's a big ol' mess of money and we all known LIN ain't coming off a penny if they can help it. It's likely the only reason they went with VHF after the digital transition was to reuse the antenna from the analog 10 days.

The best possible solution would be for WALA to move to UHF like everyone else, but that's a big ol' mess of money and we all known LIN ain't coming off a penny if they can help it. It's likely the only reason they went with VHF after the digital transition was to reuse the antenna from the analog 10 days.

WFNA and WALA should swap frequencies....keeping the PSIPs the same. This way, everybody can pick up a station they want to watch and nobody can pick up a station that nobody watches!

Watched bones and then kitchen nightmares, bones was stereo and nightmares was DD 5.1. Does that sound right? Watched on Dish HD.

It is really me or... FOX 10 is nearly turning itself into HD...?

Because I saw it when paid programming called Nu-Wave Oven is in HD and it's 16:9.

Don't y'all think?

^When was the advertisement broadcast? It could have been from the FOX Broadcasting Company as part of their Saturday morning paid programming block.

^When was the advertisement broadcast? It could have been from the FOX Broadcasting Company as part of their Saturday morning paid programming block.

I see the reason... My bad.:-P

BTW... If FOX 10 aqquired 19:6 format of WoF, Jeopardy, and other few shows; would they ever put it letter boxed while it's still in 4:3?

^I don't know how they would display syndicated programs produced in the 16:9 aspect ratio for folks receiving programming in standard definition, but they display programs from FOX produced in the same aspect ratio with black bars from top to bottom for these folks.

^I don't know how they would display syndicated programs produced in the 16:9 aspect ratio for folks receiving programming in standard definition, but they display programs from FOX produced in the same aspect ratio with black bars from top to bottom for these folks.
What to do with content for each screen size has been a bugaboo for stations, hasn't it?

I don't know if APT still does this, but for a long time 4:3 viewers got letterboxed versions of 16:9 programs, and windowboxed (black on all four sides!) versions of 4:3 programs. I have a difficult time receiving WEIQ despite the fact I live in Baldwin County and have switched over to WSRE from Pensacola. PQ is better and so is the schedule of high def programming. This style of presentation is a rarity and usually due to having insufficient high def equipment available.

My understanding right now is that the vast majority of syndicated HD content is filmed so it can be center cut for older SD set viewers. This means that people watching Jeopardy!, for example, will not have black bars on a 4:3 feed, they just lose the content around the edges.

This allows those with older sets to have a "full picture" but means those of us with high def sets are basically seeing nothing of importance in our extra wide screen area. Personally, I would rather say "screw the SD people" and let them have letterboxes so we who paid good money for HD sets can make full use of the widescreen aspect ratio. That's how Fox News Channel AND Fox broadcast network do it. They are letterboxed for 4:3 viewers of widescreen content.

But then I don't understand why a few black bars are so annoying to the average teevee viewer. I've always preferred that format for movies, etc. on my 4:3 screens.

What to do with content for each screen size has been a bugaboo for stations, hasn't it?

I don't know if APT still does this, but for a long time 4:3 viewers got letterboxed versions of 16:9 programs, and windowboxed (black on all four sides!) versions of 4:3 programs. I have a difficult time receiving WEIQ despite the fact I live in Baldwin County and have switched over to WSRE from Pensacola. PQ is better and so is the schedule of high def programming. This style of presentation is a rarity and usually due to having insufficient high def equipment available.

Agreed about WSRE having better PQ.

My understanding right now is that the vast majority of syndicated HD content is filmed so it can be center cut for older SD set viewers. This means that people watching Jeopardy!, for example, will not have black bars on a 4:3 feed, they just lose the content around the edges.

This allows those with older sets to have a "full picture" but means those of us with high def sets are basically seeing nothing of importance in our extra wide screen area. Personally, I would rather say "screw the SD people" and let them have letterboxes so we who paid good money for HD sets can make full use of the widescreen aspect ratio. That's how Fox News Channel AND Fox broadcast network do it. They are letterboxed for 4:3 viewers of widescreen content.

Let the SD viewers eat cake!

But then I don't understand why a few black bars are so annoying to the average teevee viewer. I've always preferred that format for movies, etc. on my 4:3 screens.

Ditto.

Black bars are only annoying to me when I have black bars on both sides and the top and bottom on my 16:9,63 inch wide screen.

Black bars are only annoying to me when I have black bars on both sides and the top and bottom on my 16:9,63 inch wide screen.

Politely refer to that as "windowboxing", but "postage stamped", "matchboxing" and "gutterboxing" all work.

Call it what you may, it is still annoying

Anyone have any input as to why WALA's programming, a lot of it, is in Stereo and not DD?

I see this on Directv and OTA.

Anyone have any input as to why WALA's programming, a lot of it, is in Stereo and not DD?

I see this on Directv and OTA.
Cheap owners?

Hehe.

When I was watching Seinfeld on Fox10 and commercial breaks came, they just showed the C-Spire commercial in 16:9 in HD.

I think it's really coming true, they are having plans of upgrading it into HD.:-D

When I was watching Seinfeld on Fox10 and commercial breaks came, they just showed the C-Spire commercial in 16:9 in HD.

I think it's really coming true, they are having plans of upgrading it into HD.:-D
Renee Dials in HD. Are we sure that's a good idea? :D

When I was watching Seinfeld on Fox10 and commercial breaks came, they just showed the C-Spire commercial in 16:9 in HD.

I think it's really coming true, they are having plans of upgrading it into HD.:-D

We watched "Fair Game" the other night on Showtime. It's the Valarie Plame - Joe Wilson version of events in the Iraq war build- up. There is a montage of various news anchor teams announcing one of the stories of the hour, and as they progressed, I thought to myself "That looked like Bob Grip". Then my wife shouted out "Hey Wait". She thought she saw the same thing, so we rewound, and lo and behold, the clip is of Bob Grip and Lenise Ligon!! What a surprise!

Maybe there's a little race going on between WALA and Local 15 to see who can go HD first. Well, race is a bit of an optimistic term, but… ;)

Local 15 has been running local commercials and station promos in HD for a while now.

Not sure if you guys are talking HD news or HD syndication, but if it is HD news promos, don't get your hopes up. Two stations here in the New Orleans market, Belo's WWL and Hearst's WDSU have been airing beautiful HD news promos for years and the newscasts are 16:9 SD. At least all of the major stations in this area are showing HD syns.

Not sure if you guys are talking HD news or HD syndication, but if it is HD news promos, don't get your hopes up. Two stations here in the New Orleans market, Belo's WWL and Hearst's WDSU have been airing beautiful HD news promos for years and the newscasts are 16:9 SD. At least all of the major stations in this area are showing HD syns.

Then again, ever since WKRG went HD, and starting doing their promos in HD, the quality of the promos went downhill. They look like they're cut in Imovie, and some of the things they promote are downright hokey....like the news team on the football field, the weather promo where John Nodar is sprayed with a garden hose, and the endless barrage of "gimme 5s"...what the heck happened over there at 5? Are they that desperate to let that garbage air over and over and over again?

Meanwhile over on FOX 10 the promos that they've been running, aren't in HD, but the quality and production values are some of the best I've seen in this market in quite some time. Perhaps Cspire is the lone client willing to pay for HD ads at FOX 10....other ads that air in HD the other stations are usually squished into the 4x3 frame.

15 is most likely to be the next to go HD, especially since they are apparently capapble of producing HD promos. Since the "Big Game" is airing on 15 this year...i'm sure they will be using that to their advantage.

I wish WKRG-TV would broadcast station identification segments like the one from 1986 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyB-M-fZXm4&feature=channel_video_title) I found on YouTube. New segments like that one would be great in high definition.

Maybe there's a little race going on between WALA and Local 15 to see who can go HD first. Well, race is a bit of an optimistic term, but… ;)

Local 15 has been running local commercials and station promos in HD for a while now.

Just found this small nugget of information... WPMI (Local 15) going HD by "Spring 2012"

(Can't link): 602communications****/2012/01/graphic-designer-local-15-utv44-mobile-al-pensacola-fl/

replace the * with ".com"

Cool. Thanks for sharing. I figure Spring 2012 is a very optimistic goal, however.

Cool. Thanks for sharing. I figure Spring 2012 is a very optimistic goal, however.

It sounded the same to me, but this was posted in January. Who knows?

The current advertisement for a graphics designer on the WPMI-TV site does not mention local news programming being in high definition by the spring of 2012. It was posted there on Monday, January 9th and updated on Tuesday, January 17th. The advertisement on the 602 Communications site was posted on the next day.

Update: the information in the 602 Communications advertisement regarding high-definition newscasts is correct, according to the station.

Then there is this post.

http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/wpmi-tv-to-broadcast-local-news-programs-high-definition?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Then there is this post.

http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/wpmi-tv-to-broadcast-local-news-programs-high-definition?CID=examiner_alerts_article
Yeah, I saw that, too.

Let's see. WEAR went HD in late 2008, WKRG went HD in late 2010. Maybe that means WPMI will go HD in late 2012 and WALA in late 2014. Every two years! *snerk* :D

Are y'all shocked that WFBD appeared in Dish Network/DirecTV? I saw it moved to Alabama.

Only barely in Alabama, or the Mobile television market, to be fair. I mean it's just barely on the edge. I can't get it OTA in Foley and I haven't heard of anyone in Pensacola picking it up yet, either.

Depending on where the receive stations are, they may just be picking it up off WHBR 33.4, where Blab (complete with WFBD on screen IDs) has been airing in the clear for a while.

Only barely in Alabama, or the Mobile television market, to be fair. I mean it's just barely on the edge. I can't get it OTA in Foley and I haven't heard of anyone in Pensacola picking it up yet, either.

Depending on where the receive stations are, they may just be picking it up off WHBR 33.4, where Blab (complete with WFBD on screen IDs) has been airing in the clear for a while.

I get both WHBR 33.4 and WFBD 48.1 in Gulf Breeze OTA with a 4 bay bowtie antenna (and WALA 9.1 too). :D

^WALA-TV's actual broadcast channel number may be 9, but their virtual channel number remains 10-1 (or 10.1).

With WALA's move to a temporary set, could an HD upgrade be in the works as well? Seems like it could be timed to coincide with May sweeps. They would be foolish NOT to upgrade to HD at this point in time since things have barely changed since 2001 or 2002 when they moved into their new facility.

It will be an interesting couple of months to see who will make the jump to HD.

I get both WHBR 33.4 and WFBD 48.1 in Gulf Breeze OTA with a 4 bay bowtie antenna (and WALA 9.1 too). :D
To be fair, I do get WALA on one TV, using a straight FM whip antenna from an old Chrysler. The amplified indoor antenna on the other TV? Not a peep.

After reading about the new set, I really do hope they're readying a jump to HD. Even if it's just an HD-friendly set to be used later, it's some progress. We may have ourselves a little (snail-paced) race between WALA and WPMI going on here. :D

Looks like WALA's jump to HD news has been confirmed (http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/wala-tv-has-plans-to-broadcast-local-news-programs-high-definition) on their Facebook page. April is the target date.

Bob Grip in 16 X 9 glory!
What more could we ask for?

It appears that WLOX is going to be adding CBS as a subchannel soon.
This could be interesting. Could we be seeing dual-stream 720p channels?
Or could CBS be another SD subchannel?

I could see them dumping their weather channel, Bounce TV, or both to fit CBS on their signal.

It appears that WLOX is going to be adding CBS as a subchannel soon.
This could be interesting. Could we be seeing dual-stream 720p channels?
Or could CBS be another SD subchannel?

I could see them dumping their weather channel, Bounce TV, or both to fit CBS on their signal.
I don't see them bumping Bounce. Isn't WLOX a Raycom station? Raycom has backed Bounce TV in some way. They may try squeezing a 720p, a 1080i and a 480i channel all on the same multiplex but I can assure you, it will NOT look good.

I believe some ABC O&Os run ABC HD and the ABC health and living network, both in 720p from the same TX and they have generated tons of complaints about poor picture quality on both HD feeds.

But if WLOX runs CBS SD only, won't that become the de facto local CBS, forcing WKRG and WWL in HD off cable/sat systems in those markets?

The Sun Herald in Biloxi has published a news article (http://www.sunherald.com/2012/03/14/3818783/wlox-requests-a-channel-for-cbs.html) about the situation involving WLOX-TV.

WPMI confirmed they will be upgrading to HD on their 10 pm news tonight.

WPMI confirmed they will be upgrading to HD on their 10 pm news tonight.
They've been mentioning it at other times as well. Apparently there was an audio snafu during the 5 pm news the other day and Greg Peterson said it was due to all the upgrading going on for the switch to HD.

These sorts of problems seem to be pretty common when news goes HD; it's amazing that these stations work as seamlessly as they do, considering practically everything in the video chain has to be swapped out at some time or another.

WPMI confirmed they will be upgrading to HD on their 10 pm news tonight.

When I saw esdx's post on my phone, I thought he meant WPMI was going high def that night.

I now see that you meant they were again confirming the HD upgrade now scheduled for next month. I turned on WPMI last night halfway expecting to see 16X9, and was a little disappointed to see the old square format.

In other news... I am still trying to figure out the WLOX story that was linked a few posts ago. The newspaper article was not a modicum of clarity.

I can't believe that CBS would allow WLOX to carry their regular network programming as a sub-channel. I would infer from the article, they are simply switching affiliations from ABC to CBS. If CBS were on a sub- channel, I doubt the must carry rules would even apply. Does someone know if they would?

Is ABC doing that badly in the ratings?

CBS will be on a subchannel. See multiple examples of it happening elsewhere in the country, such as WBBJ Jackson TN.

- Trip

People in the WLOX area are really getting screwed if they lose an affiliate like WWL on their cable or satellite system and get a WLOX CBS feed at 1080i that has been crammed in with the 720p ABC feed. Both PQs will suck and they will be stuck unless they can add OTA and grab from NO or Mobile.

More than likely they'll keep ABC HD and put CBS on a second channel as SD. I don't know of any stations that mix 720 and 1080 programming on the same multiplex.

I'm pretty sure WLOX will exercise must carry, which will eliminate the HD versions of WKRG and/or WWL that my exist on cable or satellite. Bummer.

In the Mobile HD newscast race, WALA has already confirmed they're building a new set, but no word on if WPMI will do the same. Some stations can get away with reusing the old set, like WTVA in Tupelo did. It actually wound up looking pretty nice in HD, but their set is unlike any other I've seen, being completely open to the back office, with people walking across the set during newscasts.

We already know Local 15's graphics packages are HD ready with their HD promos, so, it may only be a matter of switching out studio equipment to get them up and running.

I don't know of any stations that mix 720 and 1080 programming on the same multiplex.

KWTX Waco TX
KBTX Bryan TX
WGBC Meridian MS
KXII Sherman TX
KTEN Ada OK
KALB Alexandria LA
KSBW Salinas CA
WISE Fort Wayne IN

- Trip

KWTX Waco TX
KBTX Bryan TX
WGBC Meridian MS
KXII Sherman TX
KTEN Ada OK
KALB Alexandria LA
KSBW Salinas CA
WISE Fort Wayne IN

- Trip
Wow, I didn't even know that was possible.

As I have done with a few other markets (Chicago, Denver, Richmond and Roanoke to name but four), I'm in the process of reading the entire Mobile/Pensacola thread from start to finish to get an idea of how DTV evolved over the years.

I've come up with two questions after culling what I could from the nine years of DTV history for this DMA.

1). WALA had a CP granted for 124 kW (BPCDT-19991028AEO) but ultimately built a 29 kW facility (BLCDT-20050316ADI) at a slightly higher HAAT. Why did Emmis, the owner at the time, opt out of the more powerful facility?

2). I understand that for historic reasons, the Mobile-licensed stations had their NTSC transmitter plants closer to the COL near Malbis. When DTV was on the horizon, why didn't stations like WKRG and WALA consolidate with the others by re-locating their ATSC facilities near Robertsdale?

Wow, I didn't even know that was possible.

After Katrina, WPXL was doing all sorts of heavy lifting with its multiplex. At one point it was airing WDSU in 1080i and at another WGNO at 720p along with WNOL at 480i as well as its own main (pax/i/ion) feed at 480i and its own sub channel(s) at 480i. And yes, the PQ sucked on all of the channels.

As I have done with a few other markets (Chicago, Denver, Richmond and Roanoke to name but four), I'm in the process of reading the entire Mobile/Pensacola thread from start to finish to get an idea of how DTV evolved over the years.

I've come up with two questions after culling what I could from the nine years of DTV history for this DMA.

1). WALA had a CP granted for 124 kW (BPCDT-19991028AEO) but ultimately built a 29 kW facility (BLCDT-20050316ADI) at a slightly higher HAAT. Why did Emmis, the owner at the time, opt out of the more powerful facility?

2). I understand that for historic reasons, the Mobile-licensed stations had their NTSC transmitter plants closer to the COL near Malbis. When DTV was on the horizon, why didn't stations like WKRG and WALA consolidate with the others by re-locating their ATSC facilities near Robertsdale?
Do you happen to know the channel that 124 kW CP was for? That would be more power than allowed on VHF channel 9. I can only speculate since I can't find historical info on that application, that they got a UHF allotment, and reapplied for a VHF-high allotment to reuse their analog antenna.

As for #2, WKRG, WALA/WFNA and AETV own their towers so it would make sense to keep using them instead of going to a lease situation with American General's tower in Robertsdale.

The diversity of location helped when Hurricane Ivan came through and one of the Robertsdale towers fell. It took out several FM and TV stations all at once. Having some of the signals scattered means we're not likely to lose everything in one fell swoop.

Do you happen to know the channel that 124 kW CP was for? That would be more power than allowed on VHF channel 9. I can only speculate since I can't find historical info on that application, that they got a UHF allotment, and reapplied for a VHF-high allotment to reuse their analog antenna.

The CP, approved in February 2002 by the FCC, for that 124 kW plant was indeed for channel 9. The "Tech Box" in that app shows:


1. Channel Number: DTV 9 Analog TV, if any 10
8. Height of Radiation Center Above Average Terrain : 346 meters
9. Maximum Effective Radiated Power (average power): 124 kW


Even at the lower height, I would think the 6.3 dB power difference would have served WALA well in terms of power density. And the cap on VHF high is 160 kW.

From this thread, it's difficult to determine if WALA ever operated with that greater power. There's some speculation around mid-March 2005 that they did based on reception reports in the Florida panhandle.


As for #2, WKRG, WALA/WFNA and AETV own their towers so it would make sense to keep using them instead of going to a lease situation with American General's tower in Robertsdale.

The diversity of location helped when Hurricane Ivan came through and one of the Robertsdale towers fell. It took out several FM and TV stations all at once. Having some of the signals scattered means we're not likely to lose everything in one fell swoop.

Point well taken on that second item. The cluster of towers along I-10 aren't all that far apart. The only one with a shorter stick (excluding WEIQ, which exists for APT to cover Mobile) is for WALA and its companion, WFNA. Both are under 1300' HAAT whereas the others are around 1800'.

The CP, approved in February 2002 by the FCC, for that 124 kW plant was indeed for channel 9. The "Tech Box" in that app shows:


1. Channel Number: DTV 9 Analog TV, if any 10
8. Height of Radiation Center Above Average Terrain : 346 meters
9. Maximum Effective Radiated Power (average power): 124 kW


Even at the lower height, I would think the 6.3 dB power difference would have served WALA well in terms of power density. And the cap on VHF high is 160 kW.

From this thread, it's difficult to determine if WALA ever operated with that greater power. There's some speculation around mid-March 2005 that they did based on reception reports in the Florida panhandle.



Point well taken on that second item. The cluster of towers along I-10 aren't all that far apart. The only one with a shorter stick (excluding WEIQ, which exists for APT to cover Mobile) is for WALA and its companion, WFNA. Both are under 1300' HAAT whereas the others are around 1800'.

D'oh, my stupid brain was thinking VHF-low with the power levels. It's been on of those days.

WALA is definitely harder to receive in Mobile and Pensacola; of the two TVs in my residence with OTA hookups only one gets it reliably, and I live north of Foley!

There's another station on RF channel 9 in Panama City, and the signals meet around Fort Walton Beach or thereabouts. Maybe the lower power has something to do with that spacing? I know people in FWB complain about not being able to receive any Fox programming because of the two signals.

WALA is definitely harder to receive in Mobile and Pensacola; of the two TVs in my residence with OTA hookups only one gets it reliably, and I live north of Foley!


I was something of a skeptic about the efficacy of power levels on high-VHF. Here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth DMA, WFAA increased just a tad from 45 to 55 kW in April 2010 (less than 1 dB of difference). Theoretically that should have been negligible but the real world worked out quite differently.

As one metric, a television equipped with non-amped rabbit ears here some 40 miles out, went from an occasional lock on WFAA (RF-8) to a solid signal 24/7. No change whatsoever was made here at the receiving end. That slight boost in power by WFAA was evidently enough to get past the digital cliff and provide more power density.

As far as I know, everyone in the whole DMA that had similar problems also benefited with that smallish 10 kW increase.

...On many channels off the back of my Channel Master 4228 that I do not normally receive. It is in my attic in a fixed location, so reception would have been a lot better and I'll bet I could have gotten New Orleans stations and maybe more, had I been able to reorient.

WDAM Hattisburg
7.1 WDAM-DT
7.2 This TV
7.3 Bounce

WLOX Biloxi (No CBS sub-channel, yet)
13.1 WLOX-DT
13.2 24X7 We
13.3 Bounce

WMAH Biloxi
19.1 WMAH SD
19.2 WMAH HD
19.3 WMAH CR

WHLT Laurel Hattisburg
22.1 WHLTHD
22.1 WHLT DT2
22.3 WHLT DT3

WLBT Jackson (Cutting in and out, but sometimes looking perfect)
3.1 WLBT-DT
3.2 Bounce

Wow, that's pretty cool. The last couple of nights have been good for FM DX; I logged Alexandria and Lafayette, LA on Friday. The sports station on 106.1 in NO completely wiped out the station from Pensacola for the entire night last night. I didn't think to check the TV too.

In the Mobile HD newscast race, WALA has already confirmed they're building a new set, but no word on if WPMI will do the same. Some stations can get away with reusing the old set, like WTVA in Tupelo did. It actually wound up looking pretty nice in HD, but their set is unlike any other I've seen, being completely open to the back office, with people walking across the set during newscasts.

We already know Local 15's graphics packages are HD ready with their HD promos, so, it may only be a matter of switching out studio equipment to get them up and running.

WPMI-TV will be getting a new set (http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/wpmi-tv-to-have-a-new-set-for-local-newscasts-and-lawcall).

Not sure it has been mentioned, but I just read on WALA's Facebook page that along with the new set they will be upgrading their graphics package for the HD switch. They said the completion date is late April. Their old package is at least 7 years old, I think.

WPMI-TV will be getting a new set (http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/wpmi-tv-to-have-a-new-set-for-local-newscasts-and-lawcall).
Man, I've been wrong about everything lately. :(

Are y'all surprised that WAWD finally made it to southwest Alabama when Dish Network added it on their local channel list. It happened last night and now we got 12 on Dish.

I hope Dish Network adds WBQP-CA.:-D

Meanwhile over on DirecTV, WPAN is back on channel 53.

Just what we need, another channel of nothing but infomercials.

WLOX's CBS subchannel is up and running
http://www.wlox.com/story/17360048/wlox-launches-its-cbs-addition

From what i've heard, it's only in SD.

"WALA-TV and WPMI-TV to begin producing newscasts in high definition this weekend" (http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-mobile/wala-tv-and-wpmi-tv-to-begin-producing-newscasts-high-definition-this-weekend-1)

Thanks for the update, Mario!

Local 15 was off the air for a while this evening for some reason. Around the time they went off we lost all the digital tier locals (in the 800s) on Riviera Cable here in Foley and they're still not back on. :-(

With WALA's launch tonight, with it comes HD spots, spots stretched to 16x9, and on WFNA, zoom-o-vision (taking the 4x3 frame and zooming in to where the sidebars are half the size they normally are, and cutting off the frame in the process....Access Hollywood and TMZ were doing this.

The most definitive sign was the late night repeat of Alcatraz in HD, normally it is in letterbox...hopefully our prayers of WALA/WFNA FINALLY running HD content in HD are soon to be answered!

There's always some teething when a station debuts HD news. I recorded it and just watched it. Everything looks pretty good and some of the field reports appeared to be HD or near to it as well.

WALA is not my #1 news choice but I'm happy they're making the effort . That old graphics package was cringe-inducing because it was so out of date.

Now we cross our fingers and hope Local 15 makes the switch tomorrow!

Now we cross our fingers and hope Local 15 makes the switch tomorrow!

I second that emotion!

A picture of the new set for WPMI-TV is on their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/LOCAL15News?sk=wall&filter=1) now.

I've been a fan of Local 15's news presentation since moving down here a while back, so maybe I'm biased, but I think their HD setup for news is head and shoulders above Fox 10's. WALA has a nice giant touchscreen the hosts can play with, but the weather graphics still look a little clip-arty. Both stations appear to have gotten their hands on HD field cameras, which many early HD-adopters failed to do, probably due to cost.

Between these two events and Pensacola's talker WCOA 1370 taking over 100.7 FM, it's been an eventful media weekend on the coast.

I've been a fan of Local 15's news presentation since moving down here a while back, so maybe I'm biased, but I think their HD setup for news is head and shoulders above Fox 10's. WALA has a nice giant touchscreen the hosts can play with, but the weather graphics still look a little clip-arty. Both stations appear to have gotten their hands on HD field cameras, which many early HD-adopters failed to do, probably due to cost.

Between these two events and Pensacola's talker WCOA 1370 taking over 100.7 FM, it's been an eventful media weekend on the coast.

Agreed, WPMI really outdone themselves on their move to HD and WALA was a disappointment. Outside of their HD launch, many of their spots are airing in stretch-o-vision and it seems that they are still working out the bugs that can come with a HD switchover while WPMI/WJTC chose to upgrade their master control months ago and was ready to handle HD content.

Still, we can only hope that WALA/WFNA can FINALLY pass through syndicated HD content! The first test is Nate Berkus at 9am....will they pass?

The first test is Nate Berkus at 9am....will they pass?

Yep!

Cudos to both stations and their owners for finally going HD in news and local production.

I would like to see less stretch-o-vision as the HD concept further matures.

Unfortunately, Nate Berkus was probably the ONLY non-news show on WALA in HD today. Most everything else, including Dr. Phil, People's Court & Jeopardy was in stretch-o-vision!!!

I'm sure they're working out the bugs, but this has to be the roughest HD transitition i've seen so far...

WALA-TV broadcast "The Wendy Williams Show" in high definition and the 16:9 aspect ratio today.

I wonder why some syndicated programs are in HD but some like Jeopardy! are still in SD, stretched, on WALA? Wouldn't they all pass through the same satellite receivers and HD board equipment?

am glad i moved away from there and moved to dallas tx here everything is in hd and here the kdfw fox 4 i can pick up here unlike wala fox 10 i couldnt even pick them up and i love the news here the sets are wonderful

am glad i moved away from there and moved to dallas tx here everything is in hd and here the kdfw fox 4 i can pick up here unlike wala fox 10 i couldnt even pick them up and i love the news here the sets are wonderful
The professionalism and quality of your local newscasts should be better because you're in market #5. Mobile-Pensacola-FWB is market #60.

From my perspective, I think Local 15 punches a few markets above its weight, if that makes sense. WKRG is probably average for this size, and WEAR and WALA lag behind in professionalism, quality of reporters and presentation. All the stations seem to suffer more technical glitches, misspelled words and screwups than I think is appropriate for this market size. Local 15 might be the worst offender in that respect.

Having said that, all the stations are a breath of fresh air compared to the four years I lived in Mississippi, where my TV stations were split between three markets and only two stations had "local" news. WABG Greenwood (market #187) and WTVA Tupelo (market #133) were the only ones relevant to my region, and WABG was like watching a bad high school media class each night. WTVA was much better than you'd expect in such a small market, though, and also went HD for news ~3 years ago.

The professionalism and quality of your local newscasts should be better because you're in market #5. Mobile-Pensacola-FWB is market #60.

If Dallas did not blow Mobile away, considering the market differential, there would be something badly wrong. Larger audience=greater ad revenue=better news department budget.

But there has been a tremendous decline in the quality of local news and the amount of money that station owners spend on their news departments in the past several decades.

It is just a sign of the times, unfortunately. And it followed the decline of newtwork news operations.

I hate the decline. I may be relatively young but I prefer the local news and national news on the old three networks to getting everything off the internet.

Don't get me wrong, I spend hours a day reading and commenting about news online, but I still like to settle down for the news on TV each day.

I hate the decline. I may be relatively young but I prefer the local news and national news on the old three networks to getting everything off the internet.

Don't get me wrong, I spend hours a day reading and commenting about news online, but I still like to settle down for the news on TV each day.

No arguement from me on that!

A step closer on WALA...Jeopardy and Wheel are now in HD!

How is WALA/WFNA coming across on your cable or satellite system in SD? DirecTV is letterboxing the 16x9 frame during local news shows and any 4x3 content that is being displayed properly is now window-boxed and stretched content is letterboxed in 16x9. Is this one of the added perks of the Fox "Splicer"?

I've yet to see any HD on WFNA other than CW programming, and at least they're back to airing content in properly pillarboxed SD instead of zoom-o-vision.

I can only hope that stretch-o-vision is a temporary problem and that it's not going to be like it is on cable and satellite channels in the attempt to "fill the screen" with as much "HD" content as possible. If they are really sending out a special feed to all cable and satellite providers in the market, then their OTA viewers are REALLY at the bottom of their list!

Speaking of window-boxing, I see it on WFBD on Directv (channel 48). The channel claims that they are putting out shows in HD, even though DirecTV is only carrying them in SD. For anyone who can actually pick up WFBD, are they really in HD? It seems to me that they are only capable of producing HD content in their facility, but not able to air it.

Good to hear about Jeopardy! and Wheel. That's progress. Now if they can just fix the stretch-o-vision issues we'll be doing good.

I get Blab TV on Riviera Cable's HD locals tier and it's windowboxed. I don't know if they are able to get WFBD directly off air or they're getting Blab via WHBR 33.3. On 33.3 it's SD.

Are y'all surprised that WAWD finally made it to southwest Alabama when Dish Network added it on their local channel list. It happened last night and now we got 12 on Dish.

I hope Dish Network adds WBQP-CA.:-D

And now WAWD is on channel 58 of DirecTV. It only comes up on my HD boxes (it's probably an MPEG-4 channel) and it's in 720p HD, but the picture is about 10 percent smaller than the frame and it's in the 16x9 ratio. Is the same thing happening on Dish?

I wonder what's keeping DirecTV from providing WFGX and WJTC in HD now....

And now WAWD is on channel 58 of DirecTV. It only comes up on my HD boxes (it's probably an MPEG-4 channel) and it's in 720p HD, but the picture is about 10 percent smaller than the frame and it's in the 16x9 ratio. Is the same thing happening on Dish?

I wonder what's keeping DirecTV from providing WFGX and WJTC in HD now....

If WFGX-TV were to broadcast ThisTV programming full time on their main channel, there would be no need for DirecTV to provide a high-definition version of their programming because ThisTV programming is not available in high definition.