"The Tube" gone from Minneapolis (WUCW 23-2)??

[Mr Tony]

So tonight I turn on the Dish 811 and go to 23-2 for "The Tube" (love the channel) only to see a black screen....hmmmm....91% signal

hit channel down to 23-1 CW and channel up and see 29-1 (My TV)

23-2 is gone.....rescanned and its still not there anymore...just 23-1

Did Sinclair pull the best station out there from Minneapolis????

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I am hearing that it is being dropped all over the place because of a new government rule that says so much programming on a digital subchannel must be x hours of educational content.

I must disagree with the goverment and I think that Music Videos ARE educational, hell I learned a lot as a kid just by watching J Giles Band's "Centerfold"

 

[Mr Tony]

I am hearing that it is being dropped all over the place because of a new government rule that says so much programming on a digital subchannel must be x hours of educational content.

thats retarded. Here in Mnneapolis on the subchannels we have
-24/7 weather & news (5 ABC)
-24/7 weather (11 NBC)
-SD version of channel (9 FOX & 29 My)
-CBS has no subchannels

The only one that "qualifies" is PBS. We have PBS HD on the "main" PBS (KTCA 2) and the second PBS (KTCI 17) has a SD feed of 2, 17 and has TPT Kids (Twin Cities PBS version of "Sprout"), Create and 24/7 weather radar

 

[TNGTony]

In Cincinnati
NBC 5.2 NBC Weather Plus
ABC 9.1 24/7 weather radar/weather info
CBS 12.2 CinCW (does have educational block)
Fox 19.2 The Tube (24/7 as far as I can tell)
PBS 48.2 and 48.3 have oodles of educational programming.
PBS 14.3,4,5 are nothing but educational/informational.

See ya
Tony

 

[gaarcham]

Just noticed this missing too

I got home finally from a long Christmas vacation, and went to turn on the tube while checking the forums. It's gone in Tampa. 38 is just showing a stretched format on the sub channel.

None of our sub-channels show educational either. Just the PBS of course.

 

[osu1991]

I heard that sinclair's contract with the tube expired on 12/31. It has been dropped in OKC also.

 

[mwgiii]

Add Birmingham's WABM 68.2 (also Sinclair) to the removed list. It is now showing a SD signal of 68.1.

The local engineer for Sinclair regularly posts in the Bham AVS thread. I posted a question asking what happened to it.

 

[dishrich]

Good ol' Sinclair strikes here, too! (again)
Dumped from both ABC affiliates on both sides of our viewing area (WICS/WICD)
Not to mention, we KEEP having to hear about Sinclair's catfight w/Mediacom here as well ALL the fricken time. I am SO glad I have "alternative" ABC sources, so I don't have to keep seeing/hearing this during ABC prog.

 

[jhamps10]

no kidding, I just wish that they would get a final contract for the mediacom crap. I have to see it every 15 minutes on our sincrap station. I can't wait until we get our HDTV, so hopefully we can pick up WSIL out of Harrisburg then I won't have any sincrap to deal with.

 

[Sentry]

Gone in Charleston/Huntington WV market also.

 

[Dishpointer]

I still have it in Augusta GA. For how long, who knows. Hopefully it will stay because my wife and I like it.

 

[Mr Tony]

Add Birmingham's WABM 68.2 (also Sinclair) to the removed list. It is now showing a SD signal of 68.1.

interesting that your subchannel is a SD version of 68. here in Mpls, they removed 23-2 from the guide so when I scan its just 23-1 (the HD version)

 

[rad]

FWIW, the two stations that used a subchannel for weather info pulled them. One just went dark, no warning, the other had a crawl saying that due to FCC rules they would discontinue as of 12/31.

 

[aboz]

it's gone here as well in Rochester, our fox (sinclair) had it on 31-2.

 

[mike1973]

it's gone here as well in Rochester, our fox (sinclair) had it on 31-2.

Beat me to it

 

[mwgiii]

interesting that your subchannel is a SD version of 68. here in Mpls, they removed 23-2 from the guide so when I scan its just 23-1 (the HD version)

Sinclair owns both WABM & WTTO here and both have the SD version on the -2 channel.

 

[mdonnelly]

Here's a link to a FCC rule blog that covers the new subchannel regulations. It starts with the second article. It looks to me like the FCC wants to kill off the subchannels. Fine with me, cuz I want all the bandwidth on the primary for OTA HD.

http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/archives/cat-digital-television.html

 

[voomvoom]

http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/archives/cat-digital-television.html

After looking this over, I see the rules basically now apply to digital for what analog already had. For a 24/7 digital channel they'll have to supply not less than 3 hours a week of Childrens programming, for less than 24/7 channels they'll have to supply the correct ratio for the hours they provide. Also, it says these new hours can be applied on any of the digital channels, so each channel don't necessarily have to have Childrens programming.
On another note and back to the original topic, I just turned my antenna over towards Columbus, Georgia (90 miles out) to see if there Fox54 (WXTX) was still showing the Tube. Unfortunately, it's cloudy, not to mention it's currently at low power, and therefore is usually "hit or miss" during daylight, I can't get a signal. However, the CBS affiliate WRBL, which has been showing a Triple Dopplar Radar (forever seems like), just this weekend started showing a Weather Channel, simular to the NBC WeatherPlus Channel, but it's not WeatherPlus, it's currently showing a kids show called "Weather 101". I can't help but wonder if they will show this 3 hours a week to comply with the FCC?

Al

 

[whitewolf8214]

I have it hear in Saint Louis,Missouri on 11-2.

 

[leo250]

I have it hear in Saint Louis,Missouri on 11-2.

Does it matter who owns the CW station in St. Louis? CW 11 in St. Louis is a Tribune station. I guess it shouldn't matter who owns them if the FCC rules are involved. Is it possible the playing field is not level in this situation?