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post #1951 of 2121
11/17/10 at 5:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluegras View Post

yea i would like to WYZZ pick up Retro TV.the only closest around us would be up by rockford.

WMBD still has an open sub
"This TV" is another interesting alternative to RTV
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post #1952 of 2121
11/18/10 at 8:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluegras View Post

yea i would like to WYZZ pick up Retro TV.the only closest around us would be up by rockford.

RTV is not on any Rockford station but is on 4.2 in Rock Island IL (Quad Cities) it is also available on C-band nation wide.

Another new classic TV station is coming on 1 Jan 11- it will be on 9.2 in Chicago and is supposed ot be on 8.4 in the QC also. Peoira was not listed as being able to get it.

Tribune Broadcasting announces the launch of Antenna TV, a classic television and general entertainment movie network to air as a digital multicast on Tribune's broadcast stations beginning January 1, 2011. Antenna TV will also be offered for national distribution to non-Tribune stations.

Antenna TV will offer a combination of movies and classic television shows including: Three's Company, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Benny Hill, Maude, The Nanny and Married with Children. Classic television series will air overnight, including: Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show and The Three Stooges.

Tribune will also distribute Antenna TV beyond the Tribune station group. Interested markets should contact Bina Roy at binaroy@tribune.com or 773-528-2311.

"Tribune is committed to making full use of our bandwidth to offer viewers a broad spectrum of programming," said Sean Compton, President of Programming for Tribune Broadcasting.*"Earlier this year Tribune expanded its relationship with MGM to launch THIS TV, a digital channel of classic movies, in additional markets. The addition of Antenna TV offers a strong compliment to THIS TV and to our station's existing programming."
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post #1953 of 2121
11/22/10 at 3:13pm
From my Mediacom billing statement online today.

On or around Dec. 2nd WYZZ Cool TV ch 111 will be added to Digital Broadcast Basic.

They also mentioned the rate increase, $2 broadcast basic (there you go Sinclair) and $1 expanded starting next month.
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post #1954 of 2121
12/6/10 at 10:53pm
The suspense is terrible as to which commercial entity in Peoria will be the 1st full-hd station in every aspect. Of course, the only fully-digital station here thus far is our public broadcasting station. The rest is up to 2 central entities: the WMBD/WYZZ duopoly & the WEEK/WHOI/WAOE triopoli.

Years ago, WMBD beat the other stations to broadcasting in stereo, but was the last to provide a digital signal courtesy of Nextar's than policy.

But it eventually came to pass with the mandate, and it seems weird to think that all stations are broadcasting hd for some time now. Where has the time gone?

When WEEK announced they were taking over WHOI, they talked about building a "new studio" and further "digitizing". This made me think they were going to be fully converting almost immediately. After all, they stood to make profit on the area's #1 & #3 stations while farming all of their techs out to a central hub in Ft. Wayne.

But soon, just as WMBD became first to offer HD insert capabilities, as well as purchasing an HD-ready weather graphics system, I prematurely called WEEK's bluff & put my bets on WMBD.

But as of this past year, the WEEK triopoly has also picked up the HD insert capability, and has beat the WMBD duopoly to the ability to show local broadcasts in digital widescreen, and now, the capability of playing syndicated shows in hd.

I've seen an article somewhere where WEEK's cameras are already capable of capturing resolutions up to 720P. So there you have it, HD camreas inside WEEK. And since I understand the cameras to be the most expensive part, what else could be holding them back other than some master control upgrades? The general graphics look up to par, though their weather computer would need to be upgraded. The Accu Weather Galileo is not HD ready and now looks the worst in the state. It would certainly stick out like a sore thumb if every other aspect of their local broadcasts were in HD.

I don't know when WMBD will strike back with their own capability to show local stuff in widescreen and play syndicated stuff in HD, but I'm betting it happens this winter. Nevertheless, it appears now that WEEK just might beat them to full HD everywhere. Even if Nexstar decides to respond aggressively, they can only function when everything's installed, people learn how to work the new equipment, & the bugs are worked out.

Though I have heard that HD cameras are one of the only major things that WMBD is missing. But if that was so, than they would have at least had HD weathercasts by now. Last year, WMBD told me they were about 2 years away from total HD. That still leaves a year.

And as for the sub-channel, I can't, for the life of me, figure out why WMBD doesn't pick up retro tv. Crappy WHBF in Rock Island has it. And funny enough, it keeps WHBF from signing off at night, though they still have several hours of empty space on their main station. And why is that for a CBS affiliate? I know they lack a local morning newscast, but one would think they'd at least carry "Up to the Minute" & perhaps "Ag Day" in those slots. And given their age, network & market share potential, why they don't have a morning news operation is beyond me. Even WHOI has a morning news program that can still be called theirs. Yet WHOI relinquished their prime time and weekend newscasts unlike WHBF, who still produce their own. It's weird how one station gives up their night time operation while keeping their morning operation. While another is the total reverse.

Perhaps WHBF should strike a deal with KWQC to simulcast their morning news just to fill that wasted space. But either way, that's another market. LOL
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post #1955 of 2121
12/7/10 at 9:44am
Two questions:

Do you think WEEK will ever go to DD5.1?

Do you understand why some of the crawler inserts allow the broadcast to remain in HD and others require the broadcast to be in SD on WMBD? I was watching Blue Bloods on Friday night, and the first 35+ minutes the had an HD crawler. The last 25 or so minutes, they switched twice to SD to show the crawler. It was very strange.

Thanks.
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post #1956 of 2121
12/7/10 at 3:49pm
Weigel Broadcasting Company already has Me-TV running on digital multicast channels of its own Chicago and Milwaukee stations. In Chicago there are 2 of them one for dramas and the other for comedy and when they started out they were running shows UNCUT and w/o logos- they now have an annoying logo not sure how badly the programmes may be cut. Now the network based on classic TV series is going national.

Weigel says it has secured long-term licensing agreements for more than 50 individual series spanning the 1950s through 1980s from multiple studios and independent producers. Weigel also runs This Tv consists of movies mostly MGM and a few old TV shows- Mister Ed & Patty duke.

It's a mash-up of America's most-loved television classics, the company declared. Yes, it's quite a bonanza. Even Laverne will Shirley' find something she likes. It won't take a Perry Mason to reach the verdict that happy days are here again for classic TV lovers. It will appeal to any Bob, Dick or Mary. The news release goes on and on with those references to classic shows - but you get the drift.

No word as of yet to what stations they have signed up- there is however a test pattern being run on the same attelite that has This TV.
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post #1957 of 2121
12/11/10 at 1:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jokinjer1 View Post

The suspense is terrible as to which commercial entity in Peoria will be the 1st full-hd station in every aspect. Of course, the only fully-digital station here thus far is our public broadcasting station. The rest is up to 2 central entities: the WMBD/WYZZ duopoly & the WEEK/WHOI/WAOE triopoli.

Years ago, WMBD beat the other stations to broadcasting in stereo, but was the last to provide a digital signal courtesy of Nextar's than policy.

But it eventually came to pass with the mandate, and it seems weird to think that all stations are broadcasting hd for some time now. Where has the time gone?

When WEEK announced they were taking over WHOI, they talked about building a "new studio" and further "digitizing". This made me think they were going to be fully converting almost immediately. After all, they stood to make profit on the area's #1 & #3 stations while farming all of their techs out to a central hub in Ft. Wayne.

But soon, just as WMBD became first to offer HD insert capabilities, as well as purchasing an HD-ready weather graphics system, I prematurely called WEEK's bluff & put my bets on WMBD.

But as of this past year, the WEEK triopoly has also picked up the HD insert capability, and has beat the WMBD duopoly to the ability to show local broadcasts in digital widescreen, and now, the capability of playing syndicated shows in hd.

I've seen an article somewhere where WEEK's cameras are already capable of capturing resolutions up to 720P. So there you have it, HD camreas inside WEEK. And since I understand the cameras to be the most expensive part, what else could be holding them back other than some master control upgrades? The general graphics look up to par, though their weather computer would need to be upgraded. The Accu Weather Galileo is not HD ready and now looks the worst in the state. It would certainly stick out like a sore thumb if every other aspect of their local broadcasts were in HD.

I don't know when WMBD will strike back with their own capability to show local stuff in widescreen and play syndicated stuff in HD, but I'm betting it happens this winter. Nevertheless, it appears now that WEEK just might beat them to full HD everywhere. Even if Nexstar decides to respond aggressively, they can only function when everything's installed, people learn how to work the new equipment, & the bugs are worked out.

Though I have heard that HD cameras are one of the only major things that WMBD is missing. But if that was so, than they would have at least had HD weathercasts by now. Last year, WMBD told me they were about 2 years away from total HD. That still leaves a year.

And as for the sub-channel, I can't, for the life of me, figure out why WMBD doesn't pick up retro tv. Crappy WHBF in Rock Island has it. And funny enough, it keeps WHBF from signing off at night, though they still have several hours of empty space on their main station. And why is that for a CBS affiliate? I know they lack a local morning newscast, but one would think they'd at least carry "Up to the Minute" & perhaps "Ag Day" in those slots. And given their age, network & market share potential, why they don't have a morning news operation is beyond me. Even WHOI has a morning news program that can still be called theirs. Yet WHOI relinquished their prime time and weekend newscasts unlike WHBF, who still produce their own. It's weird how one station gives up their night time operation while keeping their morning operation. While another is the total reverse.

Perhaps WHBF should strike a deal with KWQC to simulcast their morning news just to fill that wasted space. But either way, that's another market. LOL

They need better looking newscastors before they can go HD. 'cause right now they are UGLY.
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post #1958 of 2121
12/14/10 at 7:19pm
Looks like 19/25/59 took a step forward. It looks like they upgraded to the Accu-Weather Cinema Live HD system. Chuck was using it on the MY59 news cast and it FROZE. I guess Lee premiered it this evening. I hope the 'neighborhood NEXRAD' is gone and something better replaced it for severe wx.
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post #1959 of 2121
12/15/10 at 12:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by eureka22 View Post
Looks like 19/25/59 took a step forward. It looks like they upgraded to the Accu-Weather Cinema Live HD system. Chuck was using it on the MY59 news cast and it FROZE. I guess Lee premiered it this evening. I hope the 'neighborhood NEXRAD' is gone and something better replaced it for severe wx.
I just noticed it this morning. I figured they'd be upgrading soon because Chuck would not have wanted the Galileo in place much longer, but I'm surprised to see the upgrade this soon!

Was it passed along in HD? Out of our 3 tv sets, I happened to watch it on our only non-HDTV. The freezing doesn't surprise me. LOL I've heard that Cinema Live HD is still not the best choice when compared to Vipir, WSI & WxCentral, nor is it as big of a player. But it was still a huge comeback for Accu Wx and a huge improvement for WEEK. From what I've read a couple years ago, most of it's shortcomings are in lack of interfaces, but on air, it's general appearance holds up well against the competition. As far as severe wx, yeah, I hope Chuck chucks neighborhood nexrad. If only they could get Vipir than WMBD would be getting nervous.
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post #1960 of 2121
12/15/10 at 12:19pm
Two questions:

"Do you think WEEK will ever go to DD5.1?

Do you understand why some of the crawler inserts allow the broadcast to remain in HD and others require the broadcast to be in SD on WMBD? I was watching Blue Bloods on Friday night, and the first 35+ minutes the had an HD crawler. The last 25 or so minutes, they switched twice to SD to show the crawler. It was very strange.

Thanks."

Audio is the one thing I've totally lost track of this year. I do believe they will all eventually go DD 5.1, if not 7.1 someday, but maybe only after every last stone-aged piece of their equipment kicks the bucket. Our surround system is down stairs, but I've literally spent this entire year upstairs remolding this house, and watch the tv in my bedroom, which is only set up for stereo sound.

I'm performing various remodels on this house in memory of my mother, whom we lost in January. We talked about doing different things for years, but never got around to doing anything until now. I plan to find a job and leave the farm once I'm finished. That said, I haven't been on here much lately either, but do check in to see if anybody has any interesting inside information of good things coming down the pike.

As far as WMBD's sometimes switching to SD, I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds a bit strange. It almost sounds as if both systems are still hooked up, or somebody doing it wrong, or some setting keeps reverting back to 480p. Was it close to news time, or was it their school closing system? The closing system is the only one I'm unsure of regarding HD capability. I've missed it this year, but thought it was in HD last year.
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post #1961 of 2121
12/16/10 at 9:00pm
The most important thing of all is that the WEEK/WHOI/WAOE triopoly appears to be extremely close to going HD in every aspect, and with any luck, WMBD will follow in less than a year.
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post #1962 of 2121
12/17/10 at 10:45am
I think it was when WMBD was announcing event closings and maybe local road info. It was a Friday night at about 9:40. Not a big deal, just weird because they showed the show in HD, went SD to show the crawler, then back to HD a few times.

Oh well, somday they will get it right.
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post #1963 of 2121
12/22/10 at 8:27am
I'm in North Bloomington. Anybody in this area having success with an indoor antenna for picking up the Peoria local stations?

I have always been a Comcrap customer, and had never used my set's internal tuner. Just recently, I picked up a piece of coax that I had laying around, connected it to the antenna input on the set, and ran a channel scan - just out of curiosity.

I picked up Fox and the CBS station out of Champaign. Fox has a very strong signal strength, CBS marginal, but breakups are few.

PQ on both is outstanding - especially on Football.

Was wondering if an internal antenna would allow me to pick up Peoria stations. If so, which one?

Looks like all stations are within 35 miles from me, which is about the distance the Champaign station is from my location.

I don't want to go roof or attic and run cables, if I can get the locals with something behind the set.

Thoughts/experiences?
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post #1964 of 2121
12/22/10 at 1:33pm
Did the digital channel enhancements get pushed back in Peoria from 1/25/2011 to 2/15/2011 ? This is getting ridiculous as long as they keep pushing things back people will keep putting it off ,I am about ready to call it quits and find another provider this carrot and stick routine is getting on my nerves.Comcast has done some good changes (a28,Xfinity website with mydvr and channel change capabilities)but look how long we have been without an hd addition and we couldn't even get NFL RedZone for this season.It will probably be June before we actually get anything, we will be put back on the list for change and someone else will qualify before our area and it will be pushed back again !!!Our saturation point is 80%-85% they want 90% or better, some time you have to give people a hard choice and if they choose not to accept it you don't punish everybody else.
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post #1965 of 2121
12/23/10 at 6:30am
Just got the notice in the mail yesterday verifying the delay.
I suppose it's possible that they have a shortage of boxes.
I have a TV repair shop - talk to a lot of people. The Little-Old-Lady type is never voluntarily going to get a box.

OTOH, people with Basic only (ch2-22) have not been getting any notices (according to all that I have talked to) so they think they won't need a box. But, at the bottom of the notice, is a line (QAM tuner TVs will continue to receive Basic channels without a digital device) that indicates that analog Basic is going away also. Technically, you would not need a box for Basic if you have a new TV or DVD/VCR Recorder, but Basic Only customers are the least likely to have a new TV/device.

There has been no indication from Comcast about how Basic customers will be treated: no free box? one free box? three boxes like Expanded customers? (not likely) If no free box for Basic customers, there is going to be a real problem if Basic analog disappears with the transition.
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post #1966 of 2121
12/23/10 at 6:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zaphod7501 View Post

OTOH, people with Basic only (ch2-22) have not been getting any notices (according to all that I have talked to) so they think they won't need a box. But, at the bottom of the notice, is a line (QAM tuner TVs will continue to receive Basic channels without a digital device) that indicates that analog Basic is going away also.

I GUARANTEE you analog limited basic is NOT going away, period! (THAT is why those subs are NOT getting the notifications - get it??? ) The QAM disclaimer is one of their "standard" ones they put on all notifications related to this conversion. It IS still a correct statement, because limited basic IS in clear QAM right now (both SD & HD limited's) & will continue to be AFTER analog exp basic goes away; not sure where you then came to the conclusion that the analog limited is going away as well.
Limited subs are NOT even eligible for ANY DTA's (FREE or otherwise) in our markets - again, because (I repeat) analog limited is NOT going away now. You have to be at least on expanded basic service to even be able to get DTA's on your account.

If/when that time comes, (which is happening in a very few markets) THEN CC WILL offer FREE DTA's for those subs as well - but right now, there is nothing to worry about & there is NO "real problem".

BTW, you ARE aware that limited basic subs CAN actually get FULL digital boxes (NOT DTA's) for ONLY $.92/month. (+ $.23 for the remote) It's the EXACT same digital box expanded basic subs get for their 1st free box, but it's at a lower monthly charge for limited only subs. You also get a full EPG, which obviously the DTA's do not. You do pick up a few digital-only channels that are not in analog, (broadcast subchannels such as WTVP Create & World, WEEK weather, etc.) & you do also get all Music Choice channels as well. (they do NOT come thru a clear QAM tuner because they are encrypted, but they ARE part of limited basic service; check out an updated CC channel lineup card you probably recently got in the mail & you'll see for yourself)
BTW, this is what I have down here & I know it works the same up there as well...

As far as the delay, I don't understand why they keep having to delay it up in your neck of the woods. Ours was supposed to originally started in late September, but then got pushed back to middle of November. The last analog cutoff was supposed to have 12/7, but even then got delayed another week to 12/14 - but the good news is, CC lit up ALL the new HD (50+) the SAME day they shut off the last analog channels!
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post #1967 of 2121
12/23/10 at 9:34am
Sounds like your push back was to our date 11/16 and then we were pushed back to Jan 25th now to Feb. 15th .When I went in to pay my bill they had boxes and were handing them out and one customer said they had called her and said she needed to pickup boxes and they asked if she wanted someone to come by and install them for free or install them herself.Do they only have limited number of people authorized or knowledgeable to make this changeover ?It seems when one area is pushed back it has a dominoe effecting other areas as well.I just can't wait to get it over with and done, I will probably only watch the same 10 to 15 channels but there are a few that I want NFL/Redzone, TV One ,ESPNU,
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post #1968 of 2121
12/23/10 at 10:30am
Well probably part of the reason why they are moving these dates out (& to the point of some people still NOT having obtained their boxes) IS CC's fault!

Instead of doing 2 LARGE batches of analog shut-offs SO far apart, CC should have done smaller groups of channels (like maybe 10 or so) in shorter time periods. (like every 2-3 weeks apart) This way, instead of them getting hammered by a LOT of people at once that didn't do their part, they would get hammered by less, since obviously different subs "notice" the loss depending on the channel(s) disappearing. But they would have enough time to take care of them more timely, before proceeding with the next batch of cuts. They could have also started the process earlier & could have very easily been completely DONE by now!
This the way other cable co. have done it & it seems to have gone smoother, with quicker adoption rates for digital only systems - but who said CC always knows what it's doing...
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post #1969 of 2121
12/23/10 at 12:48pm
I know a lot of things come into play costs,other providers,customer participation,customer dissatisfaction,channel contracts,labor agreements,vacations,manpower and hours.But I hope this is the last push back .Peoria /Macomb/Quincy/Galesburg ought to be about the last larger market in the Chicago+West market group.Also we have some special circumstances being old Insight system but they should have that all corrected by now.Does Peoria have Lifetime Movie /Planet Green/ESPNU/Biography channels hd active or are they just on the channel guide ?Maybe they will put a crawl on the channels to be removed in January that would cause some people to get the equipment they need.
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post #1970 of 2121
12/23/10 at 1:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Bears Fan View Post

Does Peoria have Lifetime Movie /Planet Green/ESPNU/Biography channels hd active

Don't know about P/B, but we've had all of them down here since even BEFORE the conversion started...
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post #1971 of 2121
12/27/10 at 5:12pm
Newbie here with a question for you (which has also been posted on the Chicago thread) regarding Peoria/Bloomington's de facto TBN affiliate, WWTO LaSalle/Chicago, in case anyone knows, noticed, or cares.

When I was back home for Christmas, in northwestern Peoria County near Brimfield--and in reception range of all Peoria/Bloomington and Quad Cities stations (including the infamous WHBF in its low-V DTV 4 glory) plus WWTO--I noticed that all of the four additional WWTO TBN subchannels (Church Channel, JCTV, Enlace, Smile of a Child) had disappeared and there was problems with the picture quality of the signal (reception was still fair--probably a satellite issue?).

Does anyone know what is up with WWTO lately?

Also, I thought the WWTO translators in the likes of Peoria, Rockford, Bloomington, Galesburg, etc. were gone, but apparently the one in Galesburg on channel 51 is still operating (it was detected during a re-scan of one of my grandparents' TVs Christmas Eve).
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post #1972 of 2121
1/2/11 at 11:35am
Officially, it looks like the Quad Cities stations are offering HD newscasts all at once.

On 27 October, the KWQC ratings powerhouse became their first to offer local news in HD, which comes as no surprise.

Than, on 21 December, much to my surprise, WHBF became their second station offer local news in HD, even beating WQAD, which, at least, is in the process of constructing their new HD news set. They dismantled the old one last week and are doing news in a another location until the new set is finished. This means the QC will have 3 stations showing news in HD in a matter of weeks! And an interesting note is that even though WQAD will be the third, the thinking over there is that they will look much better than KWQC & WHBF when they're done.

So there you have it, while 3 QC stations go digital locally, the entire Peoria market is lagging behind. The very fact that not only has the poor, strangled & mismanaged WHBF been able to remain independent, but it can afford to add all these toys on it's own. It comes to show that WHOI could have remained independent and done the same. WHOI was in better shape than WHBF. And even though the WEEK/WAOE/WHOI triploli gets to share one set of everything, WHBF beats them to producing HD newscasts in digital! Talk about embarrassing! WMBD/WYZZ should be embarrassed too.

The Springfield-Decatur-Champaign Market is even bigger than the QC market, yet it seems to me that their WAND is still their only station offering news in HD, as they started 26 June. Since it appears that WCIS/WICD & WCIA still have yet to offer local news in hd, WMBD, being owned by the same company as WCIA, may also not be making the move for a while & WEEK may already know this and therefore are waiting to take the final steps.

WEEK appears to be getting close, and will likely be first, but it's very fishy to me that they decided to go to digital widescreen instead of jumping straight to Widescreen HD from 480i NTSC like many other stations have done. This suggests things may be staying the same for a while, idk.

I still think they'l beat WMBD/WYZZ But it's also my prediction that WMBD will look better once they catch up. Excepting the crappy reliably of their transmitter, they do seem to get more things right the first time, (i.e. more powerful transmitter, better graphics, etc) they're just slow to catch up these days.
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post #1973 of 2121
1/2/11 at 4:55pm
Well, I just found a press release from the fall of 2010 that showed that around 200 of out nation's 800 news outlets are broadcasting in hd. That would mean 1/4 of all newscasts are in HD.

I've seen press released where several media companies have stricken deals with brands like Panasonic & JVC to convert ALL their stations newscasts to HD. It also said that Nexstar signed a deal with JVC to convert 8 of their 62 stations newscasts to HD in 2010, but only 8. At numbers that small, I doubt WMBD is on the list for 2011.

I saw another release that shows that only 2 Granite Broadcasting stations have converted their newscasts to HD thus far, though I can't remember the dating of that article.

But it does look like WHOI WOULD HAVE been broadcasting a digital newscast by now had Gray Communications decided to keep them. For those who remember, Gray acquired all of the Benedek stations, but immediately put half back of for sale. Well, another news release stated that Gray Communications has stricken a deal with JVC to have all 30+ of their stations newscasts converted to HD by 2011, but it won't do is much good here in Peoria now.
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post #1974 of 2121
1/3/11 at 6:50am
here is the response that i got from programming about WEEK and WHOI about then trying to change over to widescreen

Thanks for your e-mail. Of the 600 or more local broadcast stations in the country, a very small percentage has at this point been in the position to upgrade their facility for local HD news broadcast. Most of the very large markets such as Chicago and LA have made this conversion, most of the smaller market stations to date have not. This is due to the fact that it costs as much to convert to HD in the 117th market (Peoria) as it does in the 3rd largest market (Chicago). In some isolated cases, as cited below, the conversion has occurred in smaller markets. In some cases this is done with hand-me-down first generation HD equipment that a broadcast company is replacing in a much larger market. Sometimes it is due to the fact that a station has been ignored by the company that the upgrade is required to keep the station on the air.

The other issue is that local news, based upon the nature of the programming, does not benefit greatly when moving from standard definition 16x9 broadcast and full HD. Most viewers simply cannot see the difference, so many companies have made the choice to convert in steps over time to full HD.

WEEK and WHOI remain the only stations in Central Illinois that now broadcast in 16x9 digital. We will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

67% of homes have a digital set, at least one of the average 3 in home sets. All network and syndicated programming on WEEK, WHOI and WAOE are broadcast in high definition. Our newscasts are broadcast in digital 16x9. That will be the configuration of our stations for the next several years.
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post #1975 of 2121
1/3/11 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluegras View Post
here is the response that i got from programming about WEEK and WHOI about then trying to change over to widescreen

Thanks for your e-mail. Of the 600 or more local broadcast stations in the country, a very small percentage has at this point been in the position to upgrade their facility for local HD news broadcast. Most of the very large markets such as Chicago and LA have made this conversion, most of the smaller market stations to date have not. This is due to the fact that it costs as much to convert to HD in the 117th market (Peoria) as it does in the 3rd largest market (Chicago). In some isolated cases, as cited below, the conversion has occurred in smaller markets. In some cases this is done with hand-me-down first generation HD equipment that a broadcast company is replacing in a much larger market. Sometimes it is due to the fact that a station has been ignored by the company that the upgrade is required to keep the station on the air.

The other issue is that local news, based upon the nature of the programming, does not benefit greatly when moving from standard definition 16x9 broadcast and full HD. Most viewers simply cannot see the difference, so many companies have made the choice to convert in steps over time to full HD.

WEEK and WHOI remain the only stations in Central Illinois that now broadcast in 16x9 digital. We will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

67% of homes have a digital set, at least one of the average 3 in home sets. All network and syndicated programming on WEEK, WHOI and WAOE are broadcast in high definition. Our newscasts are broadcast in digital 16x9. That will be the configuration of our stations for the next several years.
If they believe there's only 600 broadcast stations in the country, than I guess it's possible they'd believe that nobody can see the difference between sd & hd newscasts. LOL TV stations are now starting to convert to HD newscasts at a fairly fast clip, which is probably something Granite is turning a blind eye too.

I had done further research since reading an article where Granite had one or 2 stations with news HD, and it's sad to say that later research shows those stations, which are in bigger markets, are only broadcasting in digital widescreen. People can say that it's financially impossible for them due to the fact they declared bankruptcy, but Young Broadcasting, who owns KWQC, is also in the same boat, yet they're converting their stations. And Young broadcasting hasn't been making money over fists sucking revenue by running duopolies, triopolies & central hubs as Granite has been doing.

Man, I Hope Nexstar steps up to the plate and does it first here in Peoria. But it doesn't seem like there's any real competition here, which is the sort of thing that happens when all your stations are only controlled by 2 companies, and both of those companies happen to be tight.
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post #1976 of 2121
1/3/11 at 4:11pm
Is anyone else having trouble with WEEK channel 906 the last couple of weeks. It cuts out or freezes up every few seconds. This just started recently and makes the channel unwatchable.
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post #1977 of 2121
2/2/11 at 12:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zaphod7501 View Post

WMBD still has an open sub
"This TV" is another interesting alternative to RTV

I don't think Nexstar believes in subchannels unless it was a situation like we face in Springfield with WCIA/WCFN (WCIA airing WCFN on 3.2 in Champaign, and vice versa on 49 in Springfield). Nexstar's WTWO in Terre Haute also does not have subchannels--and that market still has nowhere to go for ABC OTA since 1995.
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post #1978 of 2121
2/8/11 at 11:11pm
My question is why don't we have anyone in the business that can give us a little information about the Comcast analog reclamation. (inside info not generic)Is everything on schedule for Peoria/Galessburg/Macomb/Quincy (Chicago+ West).February 15th is the date for first group to be removed and February 16th the first additions of HD channels.Will Comcast do this neigborhood by neighborhood or is it an all at once deal ?Maybe someone from Springfield could let me know how their World of More transition went.also how long before Docsis 3 was available ?
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post #1979 of 2121
2/9/11 at 7:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Bears Fan View Post

Will Comcast do this neigborhood by neighborhood or is it an all at once deal ?Maybe someone from Springfield could let me know how their World of More transition went.also how long before Docsis 3 was available ?

I believe they did everyone (all towns) at once that is served out of our headend - which include Decatur, Lincoln & several smaller surrounding towns. But since I have no idea how your areas headends are divided, I can't tell you how it's going to work for your whole region. (I am very suspect that Quincy is really part of YOUR region, but...)

As far as the actual WOM cutoffs - on the day they did the 2nd & last round of analog cut-offs, they added pretty much ALL the new HD's on that SAME day. (they did NOT put up ANY info screens on those previous analog channels!) Our area already had DOCSIS 3, so can't comment on that for your area.
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post #1980 of 2121
2/11/11 at 12:31pm
I just came back from Galesburg Saturday and soon realized that 43 has added a second sub-channel, the Country Network, on 43-3!

Our stations may be lagging behind the Quad Cities regarding HD upgrades, but when it comes to sub-channels, it looks as if Peoria is going to have just as many as the others. I know there's a huge lack of sub-channels in the Springfield-Decatur-Champaign market. Still, I'm hoping we can pick up Retro TV soon. I was watching the "A Team" & "Knight Rider" on RTV 4-2 while I was gone. I remember those from my childhood and I can watch the old stuff forever!
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