Repack phase assignment by callsign?

[harshness]

I've figured out a roundabout way of doing it, but I think it would be handy to have a query that allows the user to find out what phase a particular station is scheduled to be part of based on the callsign. If such a query already exists, perhaps it could be made more prominent/obvious.

My method involves searching by RF channel and then iterating through the phases to see when it appears as a pin on the map.

 

[Trip]

I could write something like that, but it would be completely redundant. Starting here:

RabbitEars.Info

You do Ctrl+F, enter the callsign you're looking for, and it will take you to the appropriate row. There are two numbers between the Operator name column and the [Const.] link column. The left number is the phase. (The right number is the Linked Station Set ID; not all stations are in a Linked Station Set so the number may or may not be there.)

I've attached a screenshot showing where I've searched the page for KOIN and then added a red circle around the phase.

- Trip

 

[Voyager6]

Another method would be to just search by market.
Here is the listing for all stations in the Baltimore market.

New Curr
Ch Ch Callsign City of License Operator Ph LSS
11 13 WJZ-TV BALTIMORE, MD CBS Corporation 9 65 [Const.] [Map]
12 11 WBAL-TV BALTIMORE, MD Hearst-Argyle 9 65 [Const.] [Map]
22 29 WMPB BALTIMORE, MD Maryland PBC 8 57 [Const.] [Map]
23 39 WMJF-CD TOWSON, MD HME Equity Fund II 8 [Const.] [Map]
25 40 WNUV BALTIMORE, MD Sinclair 8 [Const.] [Map]
26 46 WBFF BALTIMORE, MD Sinclair 8 [Const.] [Map]
27 38 WMAR-TV BALTIMORE, MD Scripps-Howard 8 [Const.] [Map]
0 41 WUTB BALTIMORE, MD Sinclair [Const.] [Map]

 

[harshness]

I could write something like that, but it would be completely redundant.

I submit that it would be much closer to what most people are searching for.

I have a theory that people shouldn't have to figure out the best way of doing the most popular queries and if it is in a database, you should have to do a full text search to find what you really want.

Perhaps it would suffice if you simply explained how to get there in the site menu.

It seems like your default query is perhaps most useful for those who may be trying to second guess the assignment algorithm.

 

[Trip]

Incentive Auctions - LEARN - Repacking

There is all the raw data necessary to create your own set of tools, designed as you see fit.

Most people have had no trouble operating the tools as they're written. I suspect most people care about their market. Therefore, they'll select their market from the drop-down list, click "Go", and then they'll see the new channel assignments and the phases, and they're happy. So most people will not need to search the full text list.

The first time someone had trouble finding the phases, I added them and the LSS IDs to that page, and I've had no complaints since.

As far as the site menu is concerned, I'm not sure how much clearer it could be. I've attached pictures showing the steps to get to it. The first one has circled in red the two ways to get to the Repacking Tools, either via the front page link or the drop-down menu. The second one shows where you end up after clicking one of the two links, and I circled in red both the link to that page--it's the first one--and where it points out in the second sentence of the very short first paragraph that the transition phases can be found on that page. I purposely tried to make that page as straight-forward and descriptive as possible. At some point, I can't make it any simpler.

- Trip

 

[harshness]

I'm trying to look at it from the standpoint of the average OTA consumer rather than that of a broadcaster as I assumed that the audience of rabbitears was more in line with Joe Sixpack rather than your run-of-the-mill broadcast TV engineer who understands the industry lingo.

Both the phase and the date are part of the data set and until phases start slipping, most are probably interested in the date that their station is going to cut as opposed to any of the other milestones. That said, I suppose some may try to scan early to see if they can catch some hot testing action.

For my education, I'd like to know if the cut is supposed to happen at the PHASE_COMPLETION_DATE or sometime either side. The answer is probably in some of the mass quantities of documentation but the FCC seems very adept at hiding stuff in plain sight using an verbosity, footnotes up the wazoo and a ample peppering of jargon.

 

[Trip]

You think people know the call signs of their local stations but not which city they live in? I'm not sure which average OTA consumers you're talking to, but I have encountered many who know they watch, for example, NBC from Orlando, but have no idea it's WESH.

The phase completion date is the end of the phase, and the transition is supposed to happen no earlier than the phase completion date of the previous phase, and no later than the assigned phase completion date. That hasn't really been obscured. There have been graphs demonstrating how it works, like this one. Transition Schedule Searching Google for "repack phase", it was the third result.

- Trip

 

[harshness]

You think people know the call signs of their local stations but not which city they live in?

Many people don't live in the same place that their signals come from and for more than a few, there are multiple "cities" that make up a broadcast market.

The phase completion date is the end of the phase, and the transition is supposed to happen no earlier than the phase completion date of the previous phase, and no later than the assigned phase completion date. That hasn't really been obscured. There have been graphs demonstrating how it works, like this one. Transition Schedule Searching Google for "repack phase", it was the third result.

Is it not the purpose of rabbitears to simplify rather than forcing users to wade through the mires that are the FCC's old and new sites?

From my perspective, the FCC's chart doesn't pin much down in terms of when to expect the cut. As you've explained, they can cut during the testing period or on the completion date. Just a dozen words and more understandable than a bar graph that doesn't directly address when a cut may or may not happen.