So I'm flipping through the guide because there's nothing on TV and I notice a channel that I had almost forgotten about-WGN America. Yeah the channel has kind of gone downhill in the last couple of years but I think for me, the reason why I almost forgot about it was its channel location on Dish- channel 239; right in the middle of a bunch of shopping and religious channels that practically nobody watches. I know that WGN has probably always been on 239 and I'm probably the 1st one to complain about it, but I was just thinking, since Dish seems to be moving channels lately, how about having WGN switch places with, say QVC, that way QVC is with the rest of the shopping channels and WGN is with the more variety basic channels like FX and TBS (obviously the new channel # for WGN would be 137 and vice versa) Anyway, that's my humble opinion about it and I'll leave the rest of you to decide whether it's a good idea or not.
WGN America
- Thread starter CK SatGuy
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It is there because it's with the superstations. While no longer considered one it was. The type of programming is much like the channels it is near. (Wsbk wwor etc...)
Yup, I watch How I Met Your Mother there along with other shows... wish the other "supers" were HD ...
WGN is no longer a "super' but it is still listed with those----which means it is adjacent to another neighborhood.
I used to like to watch WGN when they carried "Corner Gas"..Since they dropped that show (late nights) I will only occassionally watch WGN,however I just checked thier new fall schedule and they have quite a bit of variety programming coming up.However they dropped "The Beverly Hillbillies"(early mornings)thats been on the schedule for years..Oh well all those are available on DVD>.
What makes a channel a superstation? I know TBS lost their superstation status that why Dish moved it to channel 139.
it has to have been named as superstaion in the law (currently SHVERA) and it has to provide the same programming in the local market as it does by cable/satellite and not joina network that was in place by a certain date.
In WGN's case it does not provide the same programming OTA in Chicago as it does by satellite. BTW both TBS and WGN lost that status awhile ago. It took DISH awhile to moce TBS and they apparently never bothered to move WGN.
Channel needs to be moved, makes no sense since only a few sub to the superstations. WGN can't like the placement either
from wiki (take it with a grain of salt)
In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite carrier
According to the FCC WGN is still considered a superstation. There use to be regional superstations too. Here in MN KMSP 9 (now Fox) when they were an Independent station was on pretty much on nearly every cable system in Minnesota as well as large portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
I agree with the part about formal regional superstations but disagree with the rest.
The FCC is no longer the one to define the term. it has been defined in law for some time. in the current law six stations were named and WGN was one of them. However the law also set up criteria that those six stations had to me as I described above WGN no longer meets them and it is not distributed as a superstation. Cable and satellite providers have to negotiate for the right to carry WGN America. A superstation receives no direct compensation for carriage but the cable or satellite company must pay a copyright fee.
BTW that wikipedia article contains a note saying it contains outdated and perhps inaccurate information and invites people to improve its accuracy.
I still record WGN News from Chicago but that's about it. I recorded many of the shows for years going way back to 1983 or so. One day back in 1984 I taped a whole week of WGN from Sunday to Saturday 24 hours a day of recording . Had to use SLP mode and 3 different VCR machines. Commercials and all. Youtube yanks anything you post with WGN. At least they did with me. When I go back and look at all of the local programs they did it still amazes me. Bozo and Ray Rayner etc. Just last week they did a story about the director of the classic WGN Bozo show that had passed away.
