What FTA Satellite Carries WGBH PBS Station

[avenger]

Can anyone please verify if WGBH PBS station is carried by any FTA satellite, and if so which one and at what transponder can it be found.

Thank You.

 

[FaT Air]

AFAIK, it's not, although you'll find some of the programs they produce on the PBS channels that are FTA. 125W & 103W. Also may find an occasional 'feed' on 125W

 

[brentb636]

According to Wikipedia, about 70% of all programming on PBS is produced by WGBH. I doubt , however, that the WGBH main channel is actually put on FTA, but I think that it IS provided to SHAW in Canada, from what I've read.

 

[Mr Tony]

WGBH is actually on Bell as Bell carried Boston and Seattle as the US nets (Shaw is Detroit and Seattle)

WGBH is not on free to air but as noted the national feeds are on 125W (both E & W)
PBS World is also on 125W

 

[avenger]

Thanks for the feedback,...so as soon as the microHD arrives, will be checking and tunning into 125W, for my FLU does not let me tune into the PBS channels.

 

[cyberham]

Best of all worlds here: I receive PBS Boston (WGBH) via Eastlink Cable (available in Vancouver, Nova Scotia, etc.), PBS Detroit via Shaw Direct (PBS Seattle / Spokane available too) and PBS New Orleans / soon all PBS 125W via FTA. My sister enviously says..."how come you can get so many PBS stations"?! And that could be what drives FTA growth if we could get the word out to the general public.

 

[Xizer]

Except for the fact that PBS doesn't really want you watching their national feeds and if the general public actually starts watching PBS through the national feeds instead of their affiliates then they'll encrypt them. (Or at least, encrypt everything except the "East" feed - HD01)

The affiliates would be in a panic if they were no longer relevant. PBS still relies on an outdated "affiliate" operation model even though we all know the national arm is superior and many affiliates are very annoying and undeserving of support - particularly the ones who downrez the PBS feed from 1080i to 720p! My PBS affiliate does that which is why I only donate to the good affiliates which produce quality programming for the national PBS schedule like WGBH or New York's THIRTEEN.

 

[Mr Tony]

Best of all worlds here: I receive PBS Boston (WGBH) via Eastlink Cable (available in Vancouver, Nova Scotia, etc.), PBS Detroit via Shaw Direct (PBS Seattle / Spokane available too) and PBS New Orleans / soon all PBS 125W via FTA. My sister enviously says..."how come you can get so many PBS stations"?! And that could be what drives FTA growth if we could get the word out to the general public.

Louisiana PBS is on 87W
Maybe you mean Oklahoma which is on 125W

 

[Trip]

Iceberg, perhaps I'm confused, but I read that sentence differently than you did. I read it as "cyberham receives Louisiana PBS now and will soon receive all the PBS on 125W in addition."

- Trip

 

[cyberham]

My sloppy writing: I meant what tripinva said. I know PBS FTA signals are not meant for end users. I pay my two local television providers so I can watch my "local" PBS stations from Detroit and Boston. And I watch them most of the time when I want PBS. Most Canadians do the same since the PBS signals usually originate from locations too far away to receive any other way. But the FTA PBS signals add variety (and sometimes time shifting) to my palette of stations I enjoy. As most of us know, FTA is unlikely to replace pay TV, but it would still be good if FTA could become more popular among the general public to stir further development of equipment to serve the industry.

 

[Mr Tony]

oh ok
Only reason I wondered is folks will wonder why they cant get LPB on 125W. Because it isnt here

When I had Shaw I had 4 PBS stations
Buffalo in SD Detroit in HD (this is when Shaw had Buffalo nets)
Seattle in HD and Spokane in SD

made it nice for the different programs on each one

 

[digiblur]

Except for the fact that PBS doesn't really want you watching their national feeds and if the general public actually starts watching PBS through the national feeds instead of their affiliates then they'll encrypt them. (Or at least, encrypt everything except the "East" feed - HD01)

The affiliates would be in a panic if they were no longer relevant. PBS still relies on an outdated "affiliate" operation model even though we all know the national arm is superior and many affiliates are very annoying and undeserving of support - particularly the ones who downrez the PBS feed from 1080i to 720p! My PBS affiliate does that which is why I only donate to the good affiliates which produce quality programming for the national PBS schedule like WGBH or New York's THIRTEEN.

One big problem..the masses have no way to watch it except on their local affiliate.

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

[Tron]

What Digiblur said is the one thing that I believe keeps most good FTA from being encrypted.

FTA viewers are a VERY small percentage of the population, and are generally not considered to be a danger by the bean counters (unless there are too many internet references to certain feeds). That is why it is comforting to realize that FTA is a niche hobby, and not a generally known method of receiving programming used by the public. As long as it stays a niche hobby, those who know about it will find interesting things to view "up there".

That may sound selfish, and I'm sure some will disagree with me (which is fine and I expect it), but that is the way it is.

 

[skysurfer]

Except for the fact that PBS doesn't really want you watching their national feeds and if the general public actually starts watching PBS through the national feeds instead of their affiliates then they'll encrypt them. (Or at least, encrypt everything except the "East" feed - HD01)

I"m not so sure about that. I'm sure your closest PBS station probably gets a good cut when you call the 800 number on the screen of a national PBS feed during a pledge program to donate. If things didn't work that way, I don't know why all the affiliates are not demanding PBS encrypt all the national feeds so they can get pledge money from local viewers.

 

[Xizer]

Encryption and equipment capable of encryption costs more money and when you're dealing with hundreds of affiliates which will need decryption hardware it's an unnecessary expense as long as the number of home viewers capable of receiving these feeds remains so tiny. This is the same reason most other OTA networks don't bother with encryption. Fox is the only one that does it and it's obvious why. Murdoch is easily the most malicious CEO of any of these companies.

I think the thing that makes it most obvious that these feeds are not meant for us is the fact that HD03 airs pre-air PBS programming of popular shows almost a week in advance of affiliates airing them as well as their annual meeting presentations which are meant for internal viewing by affiliates only. I've also seen backhauls from live events hosted by PBS affiliates uplinked to HD04.