Greenwood, MS - HDTV - Page 3

I used to get WABG-DT over here until March 17, 2006 when KARK-DT (Little Rock) increased power. One thing, about WABG was they were passing DD 5.1 audio while KATV-DT [ABC] in Little Rock (only increased power last fall) still only broadcasts 2.0 audio. E* and D* HD channels are often compressed and that accounts for the lackluster quaility.

WXVT has potential with its CBS affiliation, but present ownership and management IMHO doesn't help things. Although i generally hate multicasting, a dual CBS/CW digital signal could do wonders for 'XVT. Too bad WABG lost CBS in the mid 1960's over WJTV's objections. KTVE (NBC) has problems of their own, plus its not that local of a signal in the eastern part of the G/G DMA. WLBT cast their lot with VHF and damanges any fringe coverage to the north.

Don't get hopes up, its only a bottom 25 market.

I dunno why any digital channel wouldn't pass the 5.1 - even with a non-HD picture it can still make a world of (listening) difference.

I still am not sure what market I am actually in. I'm in Grenada County. One DirecTV receiver I have puts my zip code in the "Greenwood-Greenville, MS-Lake Village, AR" market for locals, but shows WTVA as the NBC affiliate. The previous owners of the house had DirecTV but with Columbus locals. And the cable, if I recall correctly (since Cable One's website is down) carries locals from Tupelo, Columbus, Greenwood and Memphis.

Does anyone know if WABG joins the ABC afternoon football game in progress (in HD) if the early Lincoln Financial SEC game runs long or does it delay the ABC feed (in SD)? If am considering using WABG as an alternative to KATV from Little Rock for my parents in SE Arkansas if they are a better affiliate. Thanks!

WOW! I'm glad to see that Greenwood has its own forum thread. I was born there and still have family there. Not too long ago we gave my fam there a 51" hdtv but I know the cable in that house hasn't been serviced or updated since I lived there 25 years ago and used speaker wire to run the cable signal from the living room the my bedroom. How can I find out whats avaliable in the area now. Does the local cable provider have a website?

Time Warner serves Greenwood. Try this link for a channel lineup. Otherwise, go to the main site and enter 38930 as the zipcode.

Their HD lineup leaves a lot to be desired compared to the satellite providers:

501 HBO East High Definition
505 Showtime High Definition
551 MOJO
552 HDNET Movies
553 HD Net
558 Universal HD
701 WABG HD
751 HD Theater
752 TNT HD
753 ESPN-HD
754 ESPN2 High Definition


If it hasn't been upgraded, then they are at least missing out on what looks like nearly 100 digital tier channels. Of course their site says the digital premium pack is $116/month, not including HD, receiver fees, etc. To get it all (all sports, premiums, HD, etc. for three rooms) it looks to be $156/month. Ouch.

A better bet would be either E* (dish network) or even better now with the upgrades, D* (DirecTV) than local cablecos. Both E* and D* HD receivers have built-in OTA tuners. Network OTA HD in Greenwood is about 5 years behind my local area (Little Rock DMA). Only MPB and WABG have HD (the later carries FOX in a SD subchannel on 6-2). No HD currently from WXVT and nearest HD from NBC is WLBT-DT 9 Jackson, WMC-DT 52 Memphis, and KTVE-DT 27 El Dorado, AR.

I've checked out the Columbus-Tupelo boards and WTVA isn't broadcating HD at all, in fact they haven't built out their digital transmitter yet.

This is also one of the same stations that caved to Wildmon and company a few years ago over The Book of Daniel.

Whew thats expensive! Do they try to chage more because its a small town or because they think they customers don't know any better. My cable in Memphis is cheaper than that with cable internet.

I have no idea. Something tells me there aren't many people in Greenwood with the full monty anyway. It certainly makes satellite TV much more appealing.

Any word from *anyone* on progress, or lack there of from WXVT concerning HD?

I'm wanting CBS in HD. Please WXVT! I can't get it through DirecTV because of where I live. I'm not elegible for their DNS or locals out of Memphis. I guess it's too expensive for WXVT to upgrade their transmission equipment or they don't think the market is there yet. Just my .02.

It looks like the Delta area of NW Miss/extreme SE AR is in a black hole for CBS-HDTV. Neither WREG-DT Memphis (28) nor KTHV-DT Little Rock (12) reach Bolivar county 24/7, so that rules out fringe OTA.

You might want to read the Little Rock board, several posters that are D* customers have been dealing with our horrid ABC affiliate and have found a work-a-round . It would be worth a PM or two.

For those in the G/G market, what are the plans for watching the Superbowl:

A) Watch OTA via WABG 6-2 SDTV?

B) Attempt to pull in a neighboring station (such as WBDB-DT Jackson or KLRT-DT Little Rock, AR) if living near the edge of another market?

C) Watch it in HDTV via D* DNS (WNYW New York)?

D) Drive to a buddy near Jackson, Memphis or Little Rock that has HDTV?

E) Suffer and watch on analog cable?

I will be watching the Superbowl on D* via DNS HD out of New York. Channel 88.

Super Bowl? What's that?

A bad halftime show between two halves of football, lol.

Still it can be an interesting game some years, although for quality football the NFC and AFC Conference Championship games are typically better football games.

For those stuck on cable in the area w/o NFL network, the NFL has decided to air a simulcast of the game via NBC, and CBS. In the G/G market, the western portions (Chiot County, AR, Washington Co MS) will be able to watch via KTVE-DT (27) NBC on Saturday. Those people that can receive a OTA signal from WJTV-DT (52) Jackson will be able to watch via CBS.

E* (dish network) will carry the game on NFL Network (SD channel, for all subs, HD for those w/the HD package).

I remember when WDBD went WB and Jackson had no Fox affiliate. The Super Bowl was on Fox the next year; talk about an uproar! All the local affiliates were getting angry calls from OTA viewers. I was one of the lucky ones with D*.

BTW, my mother-in-law in Belzoni got an HDTV for Christmas, and of course I was the one to hook it up. You can see the Ch 6 and 23 towers out her back window, so rabbit ears worked great. The HD channels are a bit compressed, but it's miles ahead of analog. The Delta has come a long way! I had no idea about 6-2; I wondered why D* had denied her Fox DNS.

D* is denying Fox now in the Delta? That's a shame. It is still listed on their website (at least for Grenada zip codes) as qualifying for DNS.

Do you know if she qualifies for any other DNSes? It's a shame that WABG-DT is so spotty here (the analog is almost nonexistant). OTA I can't get anything else digital except for PBS from Oxford. CBS from Cleveland and Columbus are hopeless and of course, WTVA will apparently never go HD...

ABC aside, this is network HD Hell.

Strangely enough, E* considers it in the Jackson DMA. I've told her she could "move" her D* to Jackson. However, she gets a great signal from WABG-DT, so she's happy with 6-2.

Being in Belzoni, you could put up an outdoor antenna, even a small one, and be able to receive WJTV-DT, and WDBD-DT..Belzoni is within the coverage area for most of the Jackson stations... Even WAPT-DT would be receivable, not sure about WLBT, though...they are whispering on RF Channel 9... barely able to pick it up in Brandon, or that was my experience last year

Plus, installing that antenna could score you a few points with the mother in-law , lol

I'm new to this forum and to DTV. All of the "local Channel" discussion is very familiar. After having been assured by DTV and a third party retailer that I would receive "local channels" I took the plunge and switched from cable to DTV. As you all know I am now trying to find an OTA solution.
My mother lives just 15 miles from me and receives all Jackson channels on DISH. Hoping to get some feedback from people in Greenwood on antenna reception and type of antenna used.

Doug Smith, W9WI of the WTFDA list reported this morning that MPN had applied to the FCC to power down the signal of WMAO-23 analog Greenwood.

This will allow WMAO-DT to increase power to its full capacity since the transmitters share a common transmission line. Once completed, WMAO's digital coverage area will exceed that of the current analog coverage.

I have pulled up the proposed coverage map for WMAO-DT, it looks promising for those in SE Arkansas that can receive KETZ-DT or KETS-DT but looking for more HD programming (although, the limited AETN HDTV programming looks great w/o mulitcasting but its only 3-5 hrs per week). It would be great though to catch some of the MPB original programming in a digital format up this way (If only KVTN would shut down analog on 25 ).

The HD programming off WMAV in Oxford looks a lot better than it used to, but is a far cry from the beautiful stuff that comes off of dedicated HD channels.

WMAO will probably look worse; whereas WMAV has 3 digital channels fulltime (2 SD, 1 HD), WMAO seems to have 4, according to the program guide on my DirecTV receiver.

I'm sure one channel is HD, one is MPB SD and one is Create. Does anyone know what that fourth channel might be?

It'll be interesting to see if I can snag WMAO from here in Grenada; WMAV is hit or miss (mostly miss since I moved my antenna 5 inches.)

WABG among ABC stations fined by the Federal Cleavege Checkers (FCC) for "indecent" content---*five* years after the alleged incidnet.

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=136607

That's odd. All the other articles I've read about the fine said it was relegated to just the ABC O&O's in the Central and Mountain time zones. Have they extended it to all ABC affiliated stations?

Monday night, noticed via analog WMAO that MPB will be decreasing power levels on three MPB analog transmitter sites including WMAO 23 Greenwood. Once MPB increases power for WMAO-DT its coverage area according to coverage maps I've seen from the FCC will indicate a increase in WMAO's coverage area. Nearly all of Desha County AR and all of Chiot County AR will be in footprint of WMAO-DT (25)

Did they happen to say when exactly it would occur? The video only mentions WMPN in Jackson.

According to this press release
Bude and Greenwood are the next scheduled to transition. Yesterday morning, I was unable to receive WMPN 29 during some tropo ducting while WDBD 40 WUFX 35, WLBT 3 (of course), and even WMAW 14 Meridian were in. If WMAO's digital coverage is close to that of WABG-DT then areas from Dumas AR to the SE should be able to receive MPB DTV consistently.

Edit: Found a Clarion-Ledger article on the analog power reduction, mainly discussed WMPN, but WMAO is targeted about mid August