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Superstations post-2009?

post #1 of 12
1/8/07 at 11:28pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone know what will happen with the various superstations after 2009? The cable and satellite companies won't be willing to "waste" bandwidth on HD versions of those channels, but at the same time once the analog shut-off occurs there won't be any reason for there to be 4:3 feeds of them. (For example, what reason would there be for WGN to generate a 4:3 feed post-2009?)
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post #2 of 12
1/9/07 at 1:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kucharsk View Post

Anyone know what will happen with the various superstations after 2009? The cable and satellite companies won't be willing to "waste" bandwidth on HD versions of those channels, but at the same time once the analog shut-off occurs there won't be any reason for there to be 4:3 feeds of them. (For example, what reason would there be for WGN to generate a 4:3 feed post-2009?)

Cable. You think everyone will have a 16:9 picture in 2009?
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post #3 of 12
1/9/07 at 5:26pm
According to Wikipedia, this is the list of superstaitons:
KTLA
KWGN
WAPA
WGN
WKAQ
WPIX
WSBK
WTBS
WWOR

Out of those, I've only ever heard of WTBS and WGN. The others might just be regional superstations. TBS just announced today that they are going HD, so that would just leave WGN, which is technically a different channel than WGN9-TV-DT in Chicago, running a different schedule (due to SyndEx and CW affiliation). As for incentive, there's always cable, and, since it's a different channel that only runs on cable, I don't see any reason to stop doing a 4:3 SD channel in 2009.
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post #4 of 12
1/9/07 at 5:40pm
While having much of the same programming WTBS and TBS are not the same. TBS is no longer legally considered a superstation but rather a regular national cable network.
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post #5 of 12
1/9/07 at 9:19pm
Thread Starter 
Well to phrase the question another way, D* and E* likely don't have the bandwidth to deliver the HD versions of all local channels, but the 4:3 versions will be gone in 2009.

As far as superstations go, I get KTLA, WWOR and WSBK from E*, and WGN via C-Band.
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post #6 of 12
1/9/07 at 10:49pm
I would *love* to see Wrigley Field in HD on WGN. But as I've learned here on AVS, there are many twisted business reasons why this may never happen outside of the Chicago market. One of them, I'm assuming, is the competing CW (formerly WB) networks in every city that don't need a nice shiny Cubs game in HD up against their lame-ass rerun of Full House on a Saturday afternoon.
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post #7 of 12
1/9/07 at 10:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kucharsk View Post

Well to phrase the question another way, D* and E* likely don't have the bandwidth to deliver the HD versions of all local channels, but the 4:3 versions will be gone in 2009.

As far as superstations go, I get KTLA, WWOR and WSBK from E*, and WGN via C-Band.

What cave have you been in? Haven't you heard the news? The CES announcements? D* is going to have 100 national HD channels by year's end! There's going to be bandwidth aplenty! more exclamation points !!!!!!!
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post #8 of 12
1/10/07 at 4:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kucharsk View Post

Well to phrase the question another way, D* and E* likely don't have the bandwidth to deliver the HD versions of all local channels, but the 4:3 versions will be gone in 2009.

Don't know about E* but D* DOES have the bandwidth for local HD for 1500 of the 1700 OTA stations in the US so I would say your statement is highly flawed.
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post #9 of 12
1/10/07 at 5:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SJKurtzke View Post

...TBS just announced today that they are going HD...

TBS OTA has been HD (1080i) for a couple of years now it is just that they only show SD source programing other that Braves home games which are in HD. Also OTA is required to go digital (not HD) and this has no bearing on cable or satellite.
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post #10 of 12
1/10/07 at 5:44am
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Originally Posted by William View Post

TBS OTA has been HD (1080i) for a couple of years now it is just that they only show SD source programing other that Braves home games which are in HD. Also OTA is required to go digital (not HD) and this has no bearing on cable or satellite.

Thats just local for Atlanta. The TBS HD recently announced is for the nationwide cable channel carried on other systems
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post #11 of 12
1/10/07 at 6:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jefbal99 View Post

Thats just local for Atlanta. The TBS HD recently announced is for the nationwide cable channel carried on other systems

That is what OTA means. Also the OTA channel is the same feed as sent to all cable and satellite providers so they could start TBS HD right now. What TBS is addressing is that they don't offer any programing in HD so it would be pointless to offer an HD channel with no HD programing (other than Braves home games). Just hope they don't inherent their sister's stretch-o-vision model.
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post #12 of 12
1/10/07 at 8:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by William View Post

That is what OTA means. Also the OTA channel is the same feed as sent to all cable and satellite providers so they could start TBS HD right now. What TBS is addressing is that they don't offer any programing in HD so it would be pointless to offer an HD channel with no HD programing (other than Braves home games). Just hope they don't inherent their sister's stretch-o-vision model.

OTA feed of TBS in Atlanta is different from the cable feed for the nation. The OTA feed has a half hour of headline news and a slightly different morning and afternoon lineup of programs.
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