WGN HD for Tricities TN Market?

jman069

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Jan 22, 2006
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ive never been able to watch WGN in HD in my market which is the Tricities in north east TN. I am currently paying around 2.99 a month just to have the station which is SD and coming in from NY Market WPIX channel 234 for me.

I recently called dish and was told a year or two ago they could have switched me to HD (possibly from a different market) for that channel but no longer can.

Is this correct? Is there no way I can watch WGN in HD where I'm at? I'm not interested in sports and only watched the channel for Smallville and now Supernatural and I'm so tired of SD for that channel.

Any help or advice is welcomed
 
I'm confused as that's not showing up in my guide and Dish rep was saying it's not even in my area.

I have WCYB which is NBC in my area and this almost looks like it's an OTA station and if so I can't get it with an antenna where I live.

Had an antenna connected to a 722 years ago and it would get my locals maybe 5% of the time and any other time it would say signal wasn't strong enough or couldn't find a signal. I tired this when my locals were in HD before dish carried them in HD. Which now they do except evidently for that channel you linked.

Is this something where I could call and say it's in my market as an OTA and I can get the same station but maybe different market in HD? Not sure I understand their rules but the way I think it was explained was that if its not offered where I live they couldn't give it to me from a diff market I think.

Anyways was excited when u replied but once again it's not showing in my guide and also if I search via my hopper for supernatural it never finds an HD version of the show except for when reruns are on TNT. I'm guessing that means I don't have it still.

I'll also say at one point I think we did have a WCYB CW HD within my guide but it's been maybe a year or more ago however I never found the shows I watch on that channel which was always confusing. It was like it had almost all the shows except the one or two I watched.
 
WCYB 5 is available on Dish in HD (NBC) from the 129° orbital slot. The SD channel is on the 110° orbital slot, but the CW sub-channel is not available at all on Dish.

WGN HD, channel 9, CW Affiliate from Chicago is ONLY available in the Chicago market as part of their local channels. It is NOT available anywhere outside of the Chicago market and hasn't been for many, many years. This applies to most cable systems, DirecTV and Dish.

WGN America in HD (No CW programming) is a national channel 239 and part of AT200 and higher package. This channel shares about 40% of the programming on WGN 9 Chicago.

WGN 9 Chicago on Dish Network is on a spot beam and cannot be received at all, even with the Arecibo Radio Telescope antenna, in the Tri-Cities.
 
I'm guessing I'm out of luck then regarding WCYB CW in my area in HD without an antenna then if I understand correctly.

Thanks for the info everyone and happy holidays!
 
Is this something where I could call and say it's in my market as an OTA and I can get the same station but maybe different market in HD? Not sure I understand their rules but the way I think it was explained was that if its not offered where I live they couldn't give it to me from a diff market I think.

By Law, Dish Network cannot sell you local channels from any area other than your own. If you live in the TriCities TV market, that is the only set of local channels they can sell you.
By Law, if Dish carries one local channel in your market, they have to carry all the local channels in your market. This is called the "must carry rule". However, the must carry rule does not apply to sub-channels, or low power channels. And if a channel asks Dish for money or any conditions to carry the channel, they are no longer eligible for must carry. They become a "retransmission consent" channel.
There's more to this rule, but these are the broad strokes.

Dish offered "super stations" at one time. I don't see them as an option any more. I think some still have them, but I am pretty sure no new subscribers to these are allowed. They were/are only available in SD (outside their respective spot beams). WPIX, WWOR (NYC), WSBK (Boston), KWGN (Denver), KTLA (LA) were the only stations "grandfathered" and CONDITIONALLY available nationally by law.
 
I'm guessing I'm out of luck then regarding WCYB CW in my area in HD without an antenna then if I understand correctly.

Thanks for the info everyone and happy holidays!
I can't even guarantee that this CW sub-channel is HD. Generally the sub-channels are not HD. It could be 480i 16x9 like the CW channel here in the Cincinnati market.
 
They do offer it in hd.

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WCYB is in HD according to their website in the link. DISH is only carrying it in SD. I also see there is no PBS there so they are getting the National PBS in SD.

I'd move... :) :)
 
The PBS is one of those "technicality" ones. The "local" PBS WETP is based in Sneedville, TN, which is in Hancock county, which is in the Knoxville market
Although the Virginia PBS IS in the Tri CIties market and is not carried... weird
 
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Yeah thanks everyone but appears I'm getting screwed out of that channel in HD. I called WCYB today actually and was told I couldn't get it in HD yet I know people have CW in HD with Charter which is our local cable provider. So to me that's always been weird how charter has it but I didnt. As a side note I do not know how the channel is labeled with charter I just know it's CW in HD as a buddy of mine watched Smallville before that ended and it was in HD. My local WCYB said WCYB CW wasn't offered at all in HD at the moment and did explain it was a sub...

It's not a huge issue and I've had dish for 12 years now but I guess from the time before last that I called up to here recently. Within that gap was when Dish offered superstations to people who didn't otherwise have it and I missed that window but as I've mentioned I at least get the SD version of WPIX which I pay 2.99 extra for a month.

It's not a big deal but it's one of the few shows I still watch that hasn't ended or been cancelled and getting a 4k TV tomorrow that's 70" so wanted HD if possible.
 
What "It" are you referring to? :D
Knew I should have been more specific,hate typing on the tablet though lol

The Cw sub channel is available in hd,to providers that choose to carry (it).

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The original source that WCYB receives from the CW network is HD. WCYB can feed that to Charter (or another cable company) in HD by fiber directly to their headend, regardless of what resolution they put out on their OTA transmission.
 
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correct.
I know when I lived in my house I had an antenna for KEYC, which is the CBS in Mankato, MN (90 miles from Minneapolis). They have a Fox subchannel that is 480i widescreen OTA but is in HD for the 2 cable companies and Directv. They get a direct feed
 
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That's so weird that the representative would tell me it wasn't available in HD at all yet (keep in mind unsure the station the other guy had CW in HD in) but sounds like from everyone' sin put they just don't have an agreement with dish to provide a direct feed in HD.

I'd like to thank everyone for at least clarifying this for me as when I called dish today (to have a tv wall mounted but asked about CW just to try my luck again) they tell me it's not even in my locals at all.

Well, I did tell the WCYB lady it's 2015 almost and 4k is becoming to emerge and to be stuck in SD which was what she was saying was available was a shame.

Again, thanks everyone for the detailed explanations and your time.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!
 
Blue Ridge PBS (Actually based out of the Roanoke, VA area) used to be available in the Tri-Cities, but due to financial reasons (I believe), they shut down the transmitters covering the Tri-Cities (though the transmitters are still in place, and are apparently fired up every so often to keep them operational and the licenses alive...).

J
 
That's so weird that the representative would tell me it wasn't available in HD at all yet (keep in mind unsure the station the other guy had CW in HD in) but sounds like from everyone' sin put they just don't have an agreement with dish to provide a direct feed in HD.

I'd like to thank everyone for at least clarifying this for me as when I called dish today (to have a tv wall mounted but asked about CW just to try my luck again) they tell me it's not even in my locals at all.

Well, I did tell the WCYB lady it's 2015 almost and 4k is becoming to emerge and to be stuck in SD which was what she was saying was available was a shame.

Again, thanks everyone for the detailed explanations and your time.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!
The only possible solution would be to (move).I'm guessing you would be in the Knoxville spotbeam.Would have to look at the sat maps to be certain.

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If you really, really, really want WGN out of Chicago (not the superstation) in HD you can get it on Shaw Direct. It is on Anik F2, which you can receive in Tennessee. You will have to subscribe to a package that will run you about $50 per month, and get an address broker in Canada, you'll also gave to buy your own equipment and install it yourself. The equipment will probably run you around $400 or so. Just letting you know it CAN be done if you want it that bad. "Moving" to the Knoxville DMA will be easier and cheaper if you can live with WBXX.
 

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