WHAT IS GOING TO BE THE FUTURE OF SUBCHANNELS ?

[Albiondon]

Here is the future of sub channels in the Erie,Pa. market:
Donald L Brown? JET/FOX/YourErie
May 20 at 6:39pm ·
Its to bad that WJET and WFXP havent added any sub channels. Do you have any plans to add them in the near future?

• 

JET/FOX/YourErie No
Like · Reply · May 21 at 4:18pm

 

[harshness]

Imagine living in a DMA with no subchannels and you have to watch the stupid stuff on Cable (DRAMA QUEEN Networks) and the major affiliates.

What DMAs have no subchannels?

 

[harshness]

Its to bad that WJET and WFXP havent added any sub channels.

You say that as if giving up picture quality for something that relatively few will watch is a good thing. The needs of the many...

 

[jegrant]

While there are some real dogs out there (no offense to pet lovers) - there are a handful of subchannels like Bounce TV and MeTV that get great ratings and provide a real service to viewers.

 

[larrykenney]

Available now in the San Francisco Bay Area: Antenna TV, LATV, Retro TV, ME-TV, Decades, Movies!, The Works, Live Well, LAFF, Justice, COZI, Get, Escape, Bounce, Grit, PBS Create, World, Life, KIDS and V-ME, ZUUS Country, Cool TV, CMC-TV, Ion Life and Qubo, plus QVC, Home Shopping, Jewelry TV, and about a dozen foreign language channels - Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, TV-India, Thai, Vietnamese, and more. We sure have lots of sub-channels to watch!

 

[RONZ]

All these channels and no Land of the Giants or WKRP in Cincinnati any more

 

[primestar31]

All these channels and no Land of the Giants or WKRP in Cincinnati any more

http://www.hulu.com/land-of-the-giants (This is FREE Hulu)

http://www.hulu.com/wkrp-in-cincinnati (Free Hulu)

 

[PopcornNMore]

I feel that having the wide variety of digital sub channels available at no cost could easily be a CATV substitute. Then simply add a low-cost Netflix, Amazon or Hulu subscription to gain access to the CATV programming you enjoy viewing. The hundreds you save each year could then be put towards retirement, a vacation, etc.

Some Examples:
Create = DIY and HGTV
Buzzr = GSN
Antenna, Cozi, RTV, MeTV = TV Land
Qubo, PBS Kids, PB&J = Cartoon Network, Disney Jr.
Escapes = LMN
GRIT = Encore Westerns
Laff = Comedy Central

 

[edisonprime]

I think a lot of it may depend on how quickly Americans stop paying for cable TV. Consider a channel like SyFy, formerly SciFi. They have a lot of science fiction shows and made-for-TV movies in their archives, only a few of which have been released for syndication. If their entire library were released for syndication you could have an entire subchannel devoted to science fiction (especially if they could also get the rights to all the various Star Trek series from years past). That's just one example of a genre that hasn't been touched yet.

The downside is that as cable channels disappear (and I don't think it's a matter of if, but when) there will be less original content made. Maybe at some point our legislators and regulators will realize that companies like Comcrap and AT&T are holding us back from having the type of Internet service that is available in many other countries (and in Google Fiber areas) and will decree that ISP's have to provide true high speed, uncapped Internet to end users. If that happens over much of the country, then the smart cable networks will start offering their services directly to end users (in a way that does not attempt to keep you from watching on an actual HDTV set), and they will survive if they have good content. The rest will slowly fade into oblivion. No technology lasts forever; if you watch a movie made back in the 30's or thereabouts there will probably be some reference to a telegram (or a message received by "wire") but I am in my 60's and I have never sent nor received a telegram in my entire life. The landline telephone is about to succumb to the same fate (pretty much already has among the under-30 demographic), and in a few more decades I suspect cable and commercial satellite TV as we know it will go the same way.

The only reason I think this hasn't happened sooner is because of the propaganda value of having a network like Fox News available to every cable subscriber. While a lot of people would never watch that to begin with, there are unfortunately a lot who do just because it's there and they don't have to pay extra for it, but the powers that be know that very few people would choose to pay a monthly fee just for Fox News (or any other news channel, for that matter). And even if only 10% of cable viewers watch Fox News, the propaganda they see there could be enough to tip a close election. And I suspect this is the major reason the Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to maintain the status quo.

Well I think the other news networks are propaganda. And can we leave politics out of this?

 

[osu1991]

Well I think the other news networks are propaganda. And can we leave politics out of this?

We all had but you just had to respond to a post from nearly 4 months ago.

 

[DS0816]

This is what TV Land used to, kind of, after it launched in 1996.

 

[Art7220]

Harshness:
> What DMAs have no subchannels?
You mean US DMAs? There's some Canadian ones. But the cities close to the US can get some though.

I guess that's it for the future, unless they put Scrambled OTA channels on like they used to have in the big cities. They would be more secure now.

 

[Mr Tony]

Here is the future of sub channels in the Erie,Pa. market:
Donald L Brown? JET/FOX/YourErie
May 20 at 6:39pm ·
Its to bad that WJET and WFXP havent added any sub channels. Do you have any plans to add them in the near future?

• 

JET/FOX/YourErie No
Like · Reply · May 21 at 4:18pm

And that goes back to the owner, Nexstar. Unless they absolutely have to (lets say to fill in a missing network) they wont add subchannels. Its a well known fact

 

[Mr Tony]

All these channels and no Land of the Giants or WKRP in Cincinnati any more

AntennaTV has played WKRP to death (sadly)

 

[Mr Tony]

What DMAs have no subchannels?

If you are exempting stations that have more than one network affiliate on a station the following would qualify
Glendive, MT (CBS/NBC)
Alpena, MI (3 of Big 4 on only commercial station)
North Platte, NE (only station with subchannel is NBC and it has FOX)
Mankato, MN (CBS/FOX)

hell here is the full list you can search through
http://rabbitears.info/networkgrid.php?group=&alt=&suppress=Y&sort=

fair amount of markets may only have 1 like MeTV. Where I use to live (Duluth, MN) was one of those markets. CBS had CW, NBC had My, Fox has none. ABC has METV

 

[waylew]

What we get here;
7-1 CBS HD,7-2 FOX SD
11-1 CKWS CBC HD
16-1 WPBS HD,16-2 Create SD,16-3 World SD
28-1 FOX HD
50-1 ABC HD,50-2 CW HD

No ME,COZI,Antenna,or anything else,unless troposphere wants to cooperate and that's not very often.

 

[harshness]

Available now in the San Francisco Bay Area: Antenna TV, LATV, Retro TV, ME-TV, Decades, Movies!, The Works, Live Well, LAFF, Justice, COZI, Get, Escape, Bounce, Grit, PBS Create, World, Life, KIDS and V-ME, ZUUS Country, Cool TV, CMC-TV, Ion Life and Qubo, plus QVC, Home Shopping, Jewelry TV, and about a dozen foreign language channels - Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, TV-India, Thai, Vietnamese, and more. We sure have lots of sub-channels to watch!

It is a shame that OTA reception is such a mess in most of the Bay Area (not that Comcast is world's better).

 

[harshness]

If you are exempting stations that have more than one network affiliate on a station the following would qualify

As you probably guessed, I was talking about subchannels in the ATSC sense and not as a label to put on OTA "cable channels".

To infer that the program lineup of the new channels is necessarily subordinate to the offerings on the big four networks is misleading.

 

[Mr Tony]

As you probably guessed, I was talking about subchannels in the ATSC sense and not as a label to put on OTA "cable channels".

you asked what DMA's dont have subchannels and I answered. Don't try and change the question

To infer that the program lineup of the new channels is necessarily subordinate to the offerings on the big four networks is misleading.

 

[harshness]

you asked what DMA's dont have subchannels and I answered.

You answered the question by perverting the meaning of subchannel to meet your needs. All stations you mentioned have a main channel and a .1 channel.