We're not sure we're releasing the balloons and celebrating just yet, but an OMW/ODTV reader is sharing what could be good news for those over-air digital viewers struggling to receive Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8.
The reader dropped WJW a note via an online contact form, noting the station's VHF related troubles...and joining the rather large chorus hoping to get the station to move back to its pre-transition UHF digital assignment of RF channel 31.
A reply came back...our reader noting the name atop it, of WJW's Todd Meany. He's been the newsroom's "point man" on the digital TV transition, and is listed on the above linked contact form.
Assuming our reader isn't just making this up out of thin air, here's Meany's response:
"We would love to go back to channel 31, and in fact the FCC is talking about letting stations around the country, who are in the same situation as we are, go back to their former channels. We hope this happens sooner rather than later."
Assuming that is Todd, he's actually a bit behind the times in information.
Local TV Fox affiliate sister station WGHP/8 in the Greensboro/High Point NC market has already lit up, under FCC special temporary authority, its former digital signal on UHF 35.
A list by RabbitEars' Trip Ericson details moves by VHF stations across the country to fix or supplement their signal - somehow, either temporarily or permanently. It lists WGHP as currently operating both VHF 8 and UHF 35.
Another sister station of WJW in the Local TV group, KSTU/Salt Lake City, is listed as opting to hang onto pre-transition UHF 28 instead of staying on VHF 13.
And also significant to ODTV, it shows Sinclair ABC affiliate WSYX in Columbus petitioning to move its RF channel from VHF 13 to UHF 48. (It was, of course, on analog 6.) There are no listings (yet?) for ABC O&O WTVG/13 and Raycom CBS affiliate WTOL/11 in Toledo.
Is this brief note scribbled to a frustrated viewer by a Fox 8 staffer a sign that WJW could well land back on UHF RF channel 31 soon - a move that most local digital OTA viewers would likely welcome?
Well, the North Carolina and Utah moves may be an indication that Local TV does see this as a solution for the VHF DTV problem. We don't know if other moves are possible here.
We also don't know if there would be any technical problems if WJW wished to return to UHF 31.
It would seem to be a pretty uncrowded channel, judging from what we've been reading on Mr. Ericson's own site.
But we don't know if CityTV in Toronto would put up new objections to a permanent or even temporary WJW return to 31...CityTV operates analog channel 31 in southern Ontario, not terribly far from London, as a repeater for the Toronto signal.
Though the station can be seen in Erie PA, we're told, we don't believe analog 31 ever made it - even before WJW-DT lit up pre-transition 31 - into the Cleveland market. We don't think this is a similar situation to the CFPL/10 interference to WOIO's anemic VHF RF 10 digital signal...
Showing posts with label columbus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label columbus. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Analog Shutoff Times As We Know Them
UPDATE 6/10/09 4:15 PM: OMW hears that Winston Broadcasting CW affiliate WBNX/55 has been promoting a 10 AM analog shutdown time, adding the station to the growing list of Cleveland market stations turning off the analog transmitter at that particular time.
And Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 confirms the 10 AM time in this item on its NewsNet5 website, along with announcing its own "On Your Side" DTV help phone bank...Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM, and Monday from 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
We've also corrected an error in the list below - Raycom CBS affiliate WTOL/11 Toledo will make their switch (literally, from analog 11 to digital 11) at 4;25 AM Friday, not 4:05 AM Friday. That was a typo on our part.
The original list is below...
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It has taken us far too much time to compile this list...and it's not even complete.
As far as the Internet is concerned, pretty much all local TV stations in our coverage area seem to regard the shutoff time for their analog signals on Friday as a state secret.
In the Cleveland market, only NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and PBS affiliate WEAO/49 (Western Reserve PBS) have made an effort to let their website visitors know when their analog signals will go away.
In general, almost all stations have done a very poor job with the DTV sections of their websites. Many are regurgitating national-only information from their networks, or their website hosting company.
But we slogged through, and here's your market by market list. We are not listing Cincinnati and Dayton, as our colleagues at Tri-State Media Watch/Tri-State DTV Watch have extensively covered those areas...
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CLEVELAND: As far as we know, the "Big Four and a Half" network stations in the Cleveland market are still planning on a 10 AM analog shutdown on Friday. That would be: WKYC/3 (NBC), WEWS/5 (ABC), WJW/8 (Fox) and WOIO/19 (CBS)-WUAB/43 (MyNetwork TV).
Only WKYC has actively publicized the time, both on its website (via our blogging colleague Frank Macek's "Director's Cut" blog) and on-air. If WEWS, WJW or WOIO-WUAB have put up the time on-air, we haven't run into it.
The "19 Action News" front page's DTV Countdown Clock now tracks to 10 AM on Friday. A clock linked through WUAB's My43.net, though, counts to midnight on Friday. Who knows? We suspect the latter is just something left behind from an earlier setup, since the WOIO front page clock now matches the time we've reported here.
Western Reserve PBS' WEAO/49, as reported here, is planning to shut down analog channel 49 at 11:59 PM.
We've heard that Univision O&O WQHS/61 is shutting down analog 61 at 11 PM, but we haven't confirmed that.
We have found no analog shutdown information for: WVIZ/25 (PBS) or WBNX/55 (CW). Ditto for ION Network O&O WVPX/23, which must perform a "flash cut" to debut its digital signal on RF channel 23 for the very first time.
The folowing stations have already turned off analog: WDLI/17 (TBN), WOAC/67 (informercials) and WMFD/68 Mansfield (local independent).
YOUNGSTOWN: We only have one confirmed analog shutdown time in the Youngstown market.
PBRTV's Tom Lavery tells us that officials with Vindicator NBC affiliate WFMJ/21 say it'll shut down the analog transmitter at 11:59 on Friday night.
We've searched, we've asked, and we can't find the analog shutoff times for the other two stations still needing to do so in the Youngstown market: WKBN/27 (CBS) and WYTV/33 (ABC).
Since both stations are controlled by the New Vision folks, we would expect them to turn off their analog transmitters at the same time.
Western Reserve PBS' WNEO/45 Alliance, of course, consigned analog 45 to the scrap heap way back in November...
TOLEDO: Thanks to a very helpful OMW reader, Toledo's analog shutoff time list is almost 100% complete.
And if you're a DTV watcher, you might want to head for Toledo Thursday night, and stay up all night...maybe getting a short nap or two between switches.
Here are the analog shutdown times for Toledo, in order of time early Friday morning:
12:07 AM - WTVG/13 (ABC)
2:05 AM - WNWO/24 (NBC)
4:25 AM - WTOL/11 (CBS)
10:00 AM - WUPW/36 (Fox)
OMW hears that WUPW had planned a 6 PM analog cutoff, but moved it up to 10 AM, due to FCC regulations about call center hours.
There's probably a reason for the early Friday morning times in Toledo - both WTVG/13 and WTOL/11 are "flash cutting" their digital signals onto their soon-to-be former analog channels.
We have no information about: WLMB/40 (religious/independent). Toledo's MyNetwork TV outlet, WMNT-CA 48, is a low-power station, and isn't affected by the end of full-power analog.
COLUMBUS: We're also missing a lot of information from Central Ohio's stations.
The only confirmation comes from Dispatch CBS affiliate WBNS/10, which has this message on its "Viewer Services" page:
"On Friday night at approximately 11:59 p.m., WBNS-10TV will sign off our analog signal as part of the government mandated DTV transition."
We can't find any information on analog shutdown times for the remaining Columbus market stations still putting out analog signals: WCMH/ 4 (NBC) and WSYX/6 (ABC).
A number of Columbus market stations have already turned off the analog juice: WTTE/28 (Fox), WOSU/34 (PBS), WSFJ/51 (TBN) and WWHO/53 (CW)...
LIMA: We wish all TV engineers were like Block NBC affiliate WLIO/35's VP/engineering Frederick Vobbe, who is well noted for sharing information online.
Vobbe's separate engineering site, WLIO.net, confirms the station's analog shutoff time for channel 35:
"On June 12th at 6:59AM we will sign off WLIO analog.
During 'First Edition' from 6AM to 7AM, we will be talking about the transition, and at the end of the news show we will press the button for the last time.
During the day, our technical staff will be disassembling the 1964 transmitter, which will be scrapped out."
We'd like to put a call out to viewers within range of WLIO's analog channel 35, especially...we'd love to see that in video, even if it's posted to YouTube or something. (We'll presumably also find it on WLIO's website, under the news rebroadcast section, but we'd like to see it off of analog 35.)
Lima's only other full power station, religious/independent WTLW/44, shut off its analog signal some time ago.
Lima's other network affiliates, WLQP-LP/18 (ABC), WOHL-CA 25 (Fox) and WOHL-LP 38 (CBS), are now owned by Block/WLIO, and are not subject to the full-power mandated analog shutoff.
WLIO VP/engineering Vobbe detailed the digital plans for the Lima LPTV stations in an earlier item on his blog...
And Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 confirms the 10 AM time in this item on its NewsNet5 website, along with announcing its own "On Your Side" DTV help phone bank...Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM, and Monday from 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
We've also corrected an error in the list below - Raycom CBS affiliate WTOL/11 Toledo will make their switch (literally, from analog 11 to digital 11) at 4;25 AM Friday, not 4:05 AM Friday. That was a typo on our part.
The original list is below...
----------
It has taken us far too much time to compile this list...and it's not even complete.
As far as the Internet is concerned, pretty much all local TV stations in our coverage area seem to regard the shutoff time for their analog signals on Friday as a state secret.
In the Cleveland market, only NBC affiliate WKYC/3 and PBS affiliate WEAO/49 (Western Reserve PBS) have made an effort to let their website visitors know when their analog signals will go away.
In general, almost all stations have done a very poor job with the DTV sections of their websites. Many are regurgitating national-only information from their networks, or their website hosting company.
But we slogged through, and here's your market by market list. We are not listing Cincinnati and Dayton, as our colleagues at Tri-State Media Watch/Tri-State DTV Watch have extensively covered those areas...
----------
CLEVELAND: As far as we know, the "Big Four and a Half" network stations in the Cleveland market are still planning on a 10 AM analog shutdown on Friday. That would be: WKYC/3 (NBC), WEWS/5 (ABC), WJW/8 (Fox) and WOIO/19 (CBS)-WUAB/43 (MyNetwork TV).
Only WKYC has actively publicized the time, both on its website (via our blogging colleague Frank Macek's "Director's Cut" blog) and on-air. If WEWS, WJW or WOIO-WUAB have put up the time on-air, we haven't run into it.
The "19 Action News" front page's DTV Countdown Clock now tracks to 10 AM on Friday. A clock linked through WUAB's My43.net, though, counts to midnight on Friday. Who knows? We suspect the latter is just something left behind from an earlier setup, since the WOIO front page clock now matches the time we've reported here.
Western Reserve PBS' WEAO/49, as reported here, is planning to shut down analog channel 49 at 11:59 PM.
We've heard that Univision O&O WQHS/61 is shutting down analog 61 at 11 PM, but we haven't confirmed that.
We have found no analog shutdown information for: WVIZ/25 (PBS) or WBNX/55 (CW). Ditto for ION Network O&O WVPX/23, which must perform a "flash cut" to debut its digital signal on RF channel 23 for the very first time.
The folowing stations have already turned off analog: WDLI/17 (TBN), WOAC/67 (informercials) and WMFD/68 Mansfield (local independent).
YOUNGSTOWN: We only have one confirmed analog shutdown time in the Youngstown market.
PBRTV's Tom Lavery tells us that officials with Vindicator NBC affiliate WFMJ/21 say it'll shut down the analog transmitter at 11:59 on Friday night.
We've searched, we've asked, and we can't find the analog shutoff times for the other two stations still needing to do so in the Youngstown market: WKBN/27 (CBS) and WYTV/33 (ABC).
Since both stations are controlled by the New Vision folks, we would expect them to turn off their analog transmitters at the same time.
Western Reserve PBS' WNEO/45 Alliance, of course, consigned analog 45 to the scrap heap way back in November...
TOLEDO: Thanks to a very helpful OMW reader, Toledo's analog shutoff time list is almost 100% complete.
And if you're a DTV watcher, you might want to head for Toledo Thursday night, and stay up all night...maybe getting a short nap or two between switches.
Here are the analog shutdown times for Toledo, in order of time early Friday morning:
12:07 AM - WTVG/13 (ABC)
2:05 AM - WNWO/24 (NBC)
4:25 AM - WTOL/11 (CBS)
10:00 AM - WUPW/36 (Fox)
OMW hears that WUPW had planned a 6 PM analog cutoff, but moved it up to 10 AM, due to FCC regulations about call center hours.
There's probably a reason for the early Friday morning times in Toledo - both WTVG/13 and WTOL/11 are "flash cutting" their digital signals onto their soon-to-be former analog channels.
We have no information about: WLMB/40 (religious/independent). Toledo's MyNetwork TV outlet, WMNT-CA 48, is a low-power station, and isn't affected by the end of full-power analog.
COLUMBUS: We're also missing a lot of information from Central Ohio's stations.
The only confirmation comes from Dispatch CBS affiliate WBNS/10, which has this message on its "Viewer Services" page:
"On Friday night at approximately 11:59 p.m., WBNS-10TV will sign off our analog signal as part of the government mandated DTV transition."
We can't find any information on analog shutdown times for the remaining Columbus market stations still putting out analog signals: WCMH/ 4 (NBC) and WSYX/6 (ABC).
A number of Columbus market stations have already turned off the analog juice: WTTE/28 (Fox), WOSU/34 (PBS), WSFJ/51 (TBN) and WWHO/53 (CW)...
LIMA: We wish all TV engineers were like Block NBC affiliate WLIO/35's VP/engineering Frederick Vobbe, who is well noted for sharing information online.
Vobbe's separate engineering site, WLIO.net, confirms the station's analog shutoff time for channel 35:
"On June 12th at 6:59AM we will sign off WLIO analog.
During 'First Edition' from 6AM to 7AM, we will be talking about the transition, and at the end of the news show we will press the button for the last time.
During the day, our technical staff will be disassembling the 1964 transmitter, which will be scrapped out."
We'd like to put a call out to viewers within range of WLIO's analog channel 35, especially...we'd love to see that in video, even if it's posted to YouTube or something. (We'll presumably also find it on WLIO's website, under the news rebroadcast section, but we'd like to see it off of analog 35.)
Lima's only other full power station, religious/independent WTLW/44, shut off its analog signal some time ago.
Lima's other network affiliates, WLQP-LP/18 (ABC), WOHL-CA 25 (Fox) and WOHL-LP 38 (CBS), are now owned by Block/WLIO, and are not subject to the full-power mandated analog shutoff.
WLIO VP/engineering Vobbe detailed the digital plans for the Lima LPTV stations in an earlier item on his blog...
Friday, April 17, 2009
Analog Shutdown Wave, Second Group
The latest wave of analog TV shutdowns got underway Thursday, as April 16th was the first day that non-public TV outlets could go off the air before the moved digital TV deadline of June 12th.
Here in Northeast Ohio, a before/after check of Trinity Broadcasting O&O WDLI/17 Canton shows that the incredibly snowy analog channel 17 picture we saw last night was gone by this morning.
OMW reader and digital TV follower Rich Emery down in Hamilton(!), near Cincinnati, tells us he watched WDLI's TBN sister station in the Dayton/Cincinnati region - WKOI/43 Richmond IN - dump its analog carrier without fanfare at "exactly" 11:59 PM last night.
We haven't heard if TBN's new O&O in the Columbus market, WSFJ/51 Newark, did the same, though we'll assume they did.
On the commercial side, Wheeling/Steubenville is now an all-digital market, as Cox NBC affiliate WTOV/9 Steubenville made the switch at 12:30 PM Thursday. We're told the analog signal went away at that point, and the digital version of WTOV moved to RF channel 9 about five minutes later.
WTOV's competitor in the market, West Virginia Media CBS/Fox/ABC affiliate WTRF/7 Wheeling WV, made an identical change back on February 17th...also moving its temporary digital signal to a new permanent home on the old analog channel...
Here in Northeast Ohio, a before/after check of Trinity Broadcasting O&O WDLI/17 Canton shows that the incredibly snowy analog channel 17 picture we saw last night was gone by this morning.
OMW reader and digital TV follower Rich Emery down in Hamilton(!), near Cincinnati, tells us he watched WDLI's TBN sister station in the Dayton/Cincinnati region - WKOI/43 Richmond IN - dump its analog carrier without fanfare at "exactly" 11:59 PM last night.
We haven't heard if TBN's new O&O in the Columbus market, WSFJ/51 Newark, did the same, though we'll assume they did.
On the commercial side, Wheeling/Steubenville is now an all-digital market, as Cox NBC affiliate WTOV/9 Steubenville made the switch at 12:30 PM Thursday. We're told the analog signal went away at that point, and the digital version of WTOV moved to RF channel 9 about five minutes later.
WTOV's competitor in the market, West Virginia Media CBS/Fox/ABC affiliate WTRF/7 Wheeling WV, made an identical change back on February 17th...also moving its temporary digital signal to a new permanent home on the old analog channel...
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