Louisville, KY - HDTV - Page 6

Just curious William, why 2 PBS stations in L-ville? Are they seperate entities?

I'm not William but the answer is History .... Once upon a time channel 15 was an independent PBS station, while 68 was the official KET station. As I recall, channel 15 had monetary problems so KET offered to buy out the station. Presto, chango ... Louisville winds up with 2 KET/PBS stations.

HDC

Interesting. So why keep them both alive? Why bother with that expense? Especially now that they are multicasting, it seems redundant to have (now) 5 channels of PBS being broadcast. 15-1, -2, -3, -4, and 68. And assuming 68 multi casts, then you have 8 PBS channels!? There's not that much content to air ...

Duc,
I'll defer to William or woowoo on that one ... I think the original reason to keep both stations up was that one of them was used to startup the KET2 channel in the analog domain. As for the future I know not ....

HDC

A little history...


Actually, we had bought a replacement analog transmitter for 68 just before the merger with 15. (It arrived after merger so we put it in). We developed KET2 specifically for the available channel in Louisville. Since we had to deliver KET2 to Louisville via satellite,it made sense to allow cable companies to pick it up either via off-air of 68 or direct from satellite. With that model we reached over 50% of the population of the state. Now, using same upgraded microwave system that we use for the DTV transmitters , we now deliver KET2 to ALL 15 transmitter sites at no additional cost than before. All cable companies now receive KET2 either off-air from 68 or from a local KET DTv transmitter.

Our Louisville unit can cut in the ch 68 feed at this time and will be able to cut into 38 when its on the air.

As to content for 38..... I have no idea other than to put KET2 on it for now..


William

Hey MichaelZ,

Nice overview list, but you didn't include WBKI (WB). They do have some network HDTV these days, but the station manager won't give me astraight answer about when they launch. Do you have any word on their launch date to complete your list? I'm just wanting to share the pain!?! BTW, speaking of "world-class city" does anybody know how merger effects our TV market status? I believe we were #40 nationally before merger. Seems like markets much smaller than ours (can you say advertising $$$) are getting many more DTV channels sooner than we are in Louisville. What gives?

Correct
I was one of the channel 15 staff lucky enough to be employed by KET.

PCS, when you speak of merger, are you referring to the proposed DirectTV / DISH Network merger? If so, that deal is dead, squashed by the FCC who rejected it. As for where that leaves the DBS services in the country, I'd say it's status quo for now. DISH just put up a new satalite that has spot beam ability, and will help get some of the LiL channels off the CONUS satalites, and MAY help them serve more markets, but the sad fact is that we will NEVER get LiL HDTV from satalite. There is no way they can fit that much bandwith on the available slots.

Steve,
We start tranmitter installation 11/19. The building, tower, antenna nd
line is complete. Not sure how long the installation will take (being
performed by the manufacturer) Bill

Sounds like it may be pretty soon although I don't have a clue how long a transmitter will take to put up.

I think PCS was talking about the city-county merger.

I believe that number will not change since it just has to do with metro area more than anything, and that will not be changed by the merger. Louisville will be the 16th largest city, but still the 51st largest metro. I believe are TV Market Status is at #50, that should not change.

DucTape,

No I was not referring to DBS. Good guess. I wasn't very clear. I was referring to the Metro Louisville merger with Jefferson County to form Greater Louisville. We are now a much larger city "on paper" and I understood this was one of the motivations for merging to give us greater clout with other metro areas for business, etc. This should change our status as a TV market and this should lead to more advertising $ (perhaps). I was just commenting on the sad state of affairs that WBNA could get their DTV signal launched and WAVE and WLKY and the rest are still huffing and puffing trying to catch up. What a joke! PATHETIC. Some "world class" broadcasters we have compared to those in much smaller markets who are up with DTV and passing HDTV and who have less advertiser dollars to fund their operations (I suppose). At least WHAS is giving us HDTV. I have respect for them and their efforts. The others are getting more ire from me each and every day they delay, stall, make excuses, play political games with the FCC, use MY (along with all American taxpayers) public property broadcast spectrum for free and milk us for every dollar possible while giving us jacksh*t for quality. Can you tell I have feelings about this? On tuesday I plan to do my part to THROW THE BUMS OUT starting with Northup and Mcconnell to give someone else a chance to get the job done. Later!

Here's a follow-up in case you missed the Courier on Monday. It's a decent article by tom Dorsey about KET and gives the good news/bad news about DTV in Louisville. According to the article WBKI is still stonewalling grrrrrrrrrr... Here's the article

http://www.courier-journal.com/featu...028dorsey.html

Ah! I didn;t even think about the local merger To many 'mergers' to keep up with!

Yep, I think we're all getting sick of the incredible feet-dragging that most stations are doing, and sick of the thought that even when DTV begins transmissions, most stations will cheap out on passing HD signals. It is a slap in the face for sure. I mean, in the grand scheme, how much more can the HD equipment cost them once they're broadcasting DTV?

PCS, I know why I missed WBKI (WB) is due to the fact the they do not even have a Digital antenna planned for Louisville! They broadcast out of Campbellsville and I don't think they will have a DT here in L'ville - probably just cable.

WBKI-DT (no plan for Louisville - Campellsville is under review)
WBNA-DT 8 PAX Louisville KY Nov 1 2002 (I can't believe these guys can be on the air and the others can't - WTF????)
WKPC-DT 17 PBS Louisville KY Now Live (w/o HD though)
WLKY-DT 26 CBS Louisville KY Jan 31 2003 (what a joke! Hahaha)
WKMJ-DT 38 PBS Louisville KY May 1 2003 (according to William they should beat this)
WAVE-DT 47 NBC Louisville KY Dec 15 2002 (going to be missed based on Dorsey's article - I am betting on Jan 15, 2003)
WDRB-DT 49 FOX Louisville KY Nov 1 2002 (missed - now December 1)
WFTE-DT 51 UPN Salem IN Nov 1 2002 (missed - I have no idea on this one)
WHAS-DT 55 ABC Louisville KY Now Live (Kudos, kudos - one station - besides WKPC - could get live, on time, with HDTV!)

Well, this tells a tale of woe for us HD fans. Thank God for ExpressVu and Dish/Directv or it would really be bleak!
BTW, after the metro merger Greater Louisville will be 25th in size (if memory serves me right) but in reality we seem more like 200th

PCS
Thanks for the link

Rumor has it that fox might be testing there low power DTV transmitter later this week.
Honestly, That's all i know.........:-)
Happy thanksgiving folks
I'm hittin the highway for the holidays.
woo

Woo,

Thanks, what's the channel #? What direction is the tower? Is it in the Knobs? Have a safe trip.

PCS, here is the info - the degrees are from Hikes Point

WBNA-DT 8 PAX Louisville KY Now Live 214°
WKPC-DT 17 PBS Louisville KY Now Live 316°
WLKY-DT 26 CBS Louisville KY Jan 31 2003 316°
WKMJ-DT 38 PBS Louisville KY May 1 2003 316°
WAVE-DT 47 NBC Louisville KY Dec 15 2002 36° <<
WDRB-DT 49 FOX Louisville KY Under Review 310°
WFTE-DT 51 UPN Salem IN Under Review 310°
WHAS-DT 55 ABC Louisville KY Now Live 312°

You can find out antenna info from http://www.antennaweb.org

MichaelZ-- thanks for the udpate.

Odd issue, Live in far eastern Jeff country (Old Henry Road) and I'm unable to receive any digital signal for KET on channel 17, but amazingly receiving a good lock on the KET channel 43 ? (I can receive WHAS (55) fine.) Where is 43 antenna located?

Equip: Using a Channel Master 3023 UHF with Radio Shack amp 15-1109. Antenna in attic. (HTPC with myHD)

Anyone receiving any Lexington stations in Louisville area? I had a great analog signal last night, but didn't pull any digital.

thanks, Steve

Channel 43 is out of Elizabethtown
Same programming....

WOW, Let's hear it for the little guys. Finally we have 2 digital stations on the air in Louisville! The remaining stations that have not made it to air with digital should hang their heads in shame.

woowoo, thanks for the info on ch 43

Let's hope WAVE and WLKY can get their act together. The broadcasters made a commitment and we've heard excuse after excuse, especially here locally. Broadcasters promised HDTV back in 1985 to keep their spectrum, and 17 years later all I hear is "next month". I bet January will come and go without WAVE and WLKY up and running.

Cambus,
Welcome to avs looks like HDTV in Louisville is growing. FYI, the FOX station Woo mentioned is not WBKI which is WB network. I guess it is an Etown Fox affilliate. I get WDRB here in Louisville. also, we actually have 3 digital stations in Louisville WHAS (ABC), WBNA (PAX), WKET(PBS). Only WHAS passes thru a hidef signal. WKET is working toward being able to do hidef and WBNA (?). I agree, come on WAVE and WLKY, as well as WDRB and WFTE. Get off your a**es and broadcast HDTV!!!

I was in the mall last week and Insight cable was there with a kiosk. I talked to them about my service and asked about HDTV on Insight. To my surprise the two CSRs knew about it and indicated it should be available once WAVE and WLKY get going with their local DTV stations. They anticipated January 2003. I guess we'll see. At least it is being talked about to the general public and they didn't give me some BS like I've gotten before about "we already have HDTV it's called digital cable, blah, blah, blah!"

For some reason I cannot get excited about WDRB's testing of their 'low power' DTV transmitter when I know that they will NOT be passing the EDTV 16x9 Fox stuff. So no widescreen NFL, no widescreen 24. Looks like I'll still be watching analog for awhile more!

Channel 43 is KET's E-town DTv transmitter. It is not a Fox affiliate.

Did everyone know that the UofL - Purdue basketball game (the Wooden Tradition in Indianapolis) is going to be on HDNet *live* at 3:30 on Saturday!!!

Go Cards (and HDNet) !!!!!!

Thanks for the heads up. Too bad I'm treed in here in Audubon Park so I can't get D* or E*. I guess I'll have to make a run to Ovation to watch it there since they use HDNET to display their HDTVs.

WDRB-DT has been up since at least Wednesday(11/27) evening. Don't know about daytime but it has been there the last 3 nights.

beetle, thanks for the heads up! WDRB is on this afternoon (channel 49). I hope they pass the faux 480p widescreen signal for 24 this Tuesday
--- Stations doing Digital ----
WBNA-DT 8 PAX Louisville KY Now Live
WKPC-DT 17 PBS Louisville KY Now Live
WDRB-DT 49 FOX Louisville KY Now Testing!!!
WHAS-DT 55 ABC Louisville KY Now Live

---- Now for the Slackers! ------
WLKY-DT 26 CBS Louisville KY Jan 31 2003 (Yeah, I bet - LOL)
WAVE-DT 47 NBC Louisville KY Dec 15 2002
WFTE-DT 51 UPN Salem IN Under Review