WZME Bridgeport, CT (NY area) dropping MeTV for H&I 10/4

[dfecarter]

yeah I saw it last night...gonna miss Columbo on Sun nights, last night the format or resolution was messed up, reminded me of Cozi Tv channel where the SD video is squeezed inward, wonder if they might over time add another ch that carries Me Tv, doubt it.

 

[NJSatGuy]

I want my Me TV on Directv too! The new NJ/NY Me TV affiliate is WJLP, Middletown, NJ (wjlp3.com) broadcasting from 4 Times Square in Manhattan. There is a dispute regarding which channel they should be assigned: 3, or 33. I've written to both WJLP and MeTv regarding this awful situation. The responses are below:

MeTV: "WZME has changed its affiliation from Me-TV too H&I as of 10/11/15. If you are able to receive the local stations from NYC then you can find Me-TV on WJLP, see our site metv.com for a list of providers that carry WJLP channel 33.1 If however your receive your local stations from Hartford then we are sorry to inform you that you will not be able to watch. Me-TV does not currently have an affiliate in the Hartford market – You can contact your favorite local station and ask them to carry Me-TV. We hope to have one in the future. Thank you"

WJLP:
"MeTV is available to Direct TV at no cost. The reason they have chosen not to carry us is over dial position which we have been litigating with the FCC over the past year and a half. Other providers have chosen to put us on Ch 3 as the law provides or give us a temporary dial position until the matter is settled.

But unlike cable operators who have to carry a station on its over the air channel, satellite operators only have an obligation to carry us on a negotiated channel. Direct TV has declined to carry us on our requested channel until the matter is settled.

May I suggest changing to Dish which does carry us on Ch 3 or your local cable system. We apologize for the inconvenience."

I have written to Directv requesting that they add WJLP to their NY locals. Don't know if it'll do any good, I'll miss my Svengoolie fix each Saturday night.

 

[Mr Tony]

But unlike cable operators who have to carry a station on its over the air channel,

thats funny because its wrong. In Duluth, MN the locals (3,6,8,10,21) have been carried on 4,5,12,13,11 for oh about 25 years now.
The UHF stations (back in analog days) in Minneapolis were carried between 2-23 for years.

satellite operators only have an obligation to carry us on a negotiated channel.

Interesting. Because I know when Dish adds a local and say its a subchannel they have some weird numbering.
-They try and use the current RF station that it broadcasts on
-If it already taken then they try and use the pre-DTV conversion number
-they make up something

 

[Gooch]

yeah I saw it last night...gonna miss Columbo on Sun nights, last night the format or resolution was messed up, reminded me of Cozi Tv channel where the SD video is squeezed inward, wonder if they might over time add another ch that carries Me Tv, doubt it.

Format for H&I (broadcast by WZME from Bridgeport CT) is still definitely "squeezed inward" as of Nov 1. It arrives on Channel 19 on Verizon FiOS in Central NJ. When they were broadcasting ME-TV on channel 19 prior to Oct 11, it was not squeezed. I left a comment about this on the H&I Facebook page and someone replied that I should contact Verizon. I don't think that will do any good.

 

[primestar31]

Format for H&I (broadcast by WZME from Bridgeport CT) is still definitely "squeezed inward" as of Nov 1. It arrives on Channel 19 on Verizon FiOS in Central NJ. When they were broadcasting ME-TV on channel 19 prior to Oct 11, it was not squeezed. I left a comment about this on the H&I Facebook page and someone replied that I should contact Verizon. I don't think that will do any good.

Google WZME and see if you can find the email for their engineer. Send him and email explaining what's wrong, and how you think it should be. Hopefully he'll then agree and fix it. I've done this a few times now with my local stations. I think I'll have to do it again with Comet on WSMH, as that's showing the wrong Aspect also... I just don't understand why they don't turn on a simple tv set, and noticed they have things set wrong on their broadcasts...

 

[Gooch]

Google WZME and see if you can find the email for their engineer. Send him and email explaining what's wrong, and how you think it should be. Hopefully he'll then agree and fix it. I've done this a few times now with my local stations. I think I'll have to do it again with Comet on WSMH, as that's showing the wrong Aspect also... I just don't understand why they don't turn on a simple tv set, and noticed they have things set wrong on their broadcasts...

Good idea! I'll give that a shot.

 

[dfecarter]

I will as well, heck I am only like 20 miles from the transmitter, think it's near ansonia

 

[primestar31]

Good idea! I'll give that a shot.

I had one station out of the few I emailed, that didn't take any action on an aspect ratio issue for GRIT in months after notifying them (in fact, same group that's now doing Comet wrong). I then emailed GRIT from their web page, and THEY contacted the station and had it fixed in like 8 hours!

If you get no action from the station, try emailing H&I directly with the info.

 

[Gooch]

I had one station out of the few I emailed, that didn't take any action on an aspect ratio issue for GRIT in months after notifying them (in fact, same group that's now doing Comet wrong). I then emailed GRIT from their web page, and THEY contacted the station and had it fixed in like 8 hours!

If you get no action from the station, try emailing H&I directly with the info.

I have had several email discussions with WZMETV today and they state that they are transmitting what they receive from H&I which is in a 16:9 format. When they transmitted METV, METV was in a 4:3 format. They asked me to check to see what I got on BBC America which is strictly 16:9. My picture on BBC America is not shrunk so it has to be something WZMETV (or possibly Verizon FiOS) is doing.

 

[Juan]

I have had several email discussions with WZMETV today and they state that they are transmitting what they receive from H&I which is in a 16:9 format. When they transmitted METV, METV was in a 4:3 format. They asked me to check to see what I got on BBC America which is strictly 16:9. My picture on BBC America is not shrunk so it has to be something WZMETV (or possibly Verizon FiOS) is doing.

Or your TV is doing

 

[Mr Tony]

I have had several email discussions with WZMETV today and they state that they are transmitting what they receive from H&I which is in a 16:9 format. When they transmitted METV, METV was in a 4:3 format. They asked me to check to see what I got on BBC America which is strictly 16:9. My picture on BBC America is not shrunk so it has to be something WZMETV (or possibly Verizon FiOS) is doing.

I'd hazard a guess its FIOS that is causing the issue then

 

[Gooch]

I'd hazard a guess its FIOS that is causing the issue then

Whenever they show a commercial, it is unsqueezed. It is only the H&I feeds that are squeezed. For Juan, I have Vizio 472XVT. You can set the width to various sizes like "Normal", "Wide" or "Zoom" but is all manual, nothing automatic. For all feeds on SD channels, the width is 30 1/2" except for WZMETV, where the with is 24". Attached is a file of the "squeezed" view.

 

[Juan]

I'd hazard a guess its FIOS that is causing the issue then

Maybe the set top box

 

[Gooch]

Maybe the set top box

I experimented with TV Settings for the STB. You can setup the "SD Over ride" to be "Off", "Wide" or "Stretch". "Stretch" makes WZMETV look okay but all the other SD channels are too wide and the edges are off the screen. That's not acceptable. So I will wait for WZMETV.Verizon FiOS to figure it out how BBC America does it because they are doing it the right way.

 

[Gooch]

I experimented with TV Settings for the STB. You can setup the "SD Over ride" to be "Off", "Wide" or "Stretch". "Stretch" makes WZMETV look okay but all the other SD channels are too wide and the edges are off the screen. That's not acceptable. So I will wait for WZMETV.Verizon FiOS to figure it out how BBC America does it because they are doing it the right way.

WZMETV replied that "stations up-convert it to HD and that often solves the problem since all HD is considered 16:9. We cannot do that because we are locked into the SD tier on all of our cable and satellite outlets."

I have found that I also have the same problem on Cine-Moi but Grit-TV works okay. There is a key on the Remote that let's me change the Aspect to three different width sizes so I guess that is the best I can do.

 

[Gooch]

WZMETV replied that "stations up-convert it to HD and that often solves the problem since all HD is considered 16:9. We cannot do that because we are locked into the SD tier on all of our cable and satellite outlets."

I have found that I also have the same problem on Cine-Moi but Grit-TV works okay. There is a key on the Remote that let's me change the Aspect to three different width sizes so I guess that is the best I can do.

Today. the Game Show (FiOS channel 184) briefly went into "squeezed" mode for about 5 minutes at around 8:15 am. Verizon must be tinkering