rkolsen

I think that's Nicole's not the person who will argue to get her point across. She is much more rational and level headed in her explanations than Elisabeth ever was. Elisabeth was aggressive, stubborn and let her emotions dictate her arguments. As a liberal I like Nicole Wallace and the way she comes across makes you understand her point of view.

CBS and NBC do not have a national ticker. The tickers that appear during CBS This Morning and Today are inserted locally by the affiliates using a relatively simple character generator. ABC provides a national ticker and affiliates have to key their ticker on top of the networks. I am not sure if ABC provided a standard solution for their affiliates as I've seen different styles and results.

This reminds me of the aqua look Apple used on their first iteration of OSX on a different font. I think they kept the same structure so their affiliates wouldn't have to update their LIDIA equipment (the hardware that plays out the ticker.) It wouldn't be that much to ask or difficult for their affiliates to upgrade the configuration file over the weekend. An engineer told me that when Today updates their graphics, NBC (which uses the same hardware as CBS) sends out an updated configuration file where they essentially upload the files and initialize the settings. This process should take less than an hour but NBC gives the affiliates a weekend where they won't trigger the ticker.

I meant to does ABC offered This Week as a 30 minute program? I didn't think the show was like Face The Nation. Or is this a special case.

They only offer 30 minutes of ABC This Week?

Couldn't ABC cause a cancelation by pulling the show would lose their largest markets but I'm sure another group could snatch it up quickly.

WBFF launched their 4PM newscast with Kai Jackson today. The 4PM hour is conducted standing up either against the gian RP screen or a flat panel, while the 5PM hour is at the newsdesk. They also refreshed their graphics package today where the chyron takes up the entire screen now. Unfortunately they couldn't get the chyron to work functionally until the 5:30 block when they finally got the ticker on screen and for some reason the bottom most ticker used for sports scores doesn't show up until the sports segment. Their ticker is still a bit buggy as it sometimes stutters as the headline makes its way leftward. Have any other stations refreshed this package? Edit: Sorry about the size of the images, I cant figure out how to resize them. If a mod wants to change it feel free to do so and it would be much appreciated.

Their studio looks good. Edit: I see they are renting studio space from a company called Pelopidas.

If ABC did cancel The View they could move the time slot to the 9AM-10AM. I don't the affiliates would have a problem with it as long as they don't loose an hour of syndication (remember NBC cannibalized Passions so they could launch the fourth hour of Today which cleared almost every affiliate.) I think it will be successful as long as it's a continuos show because of the momentum GMA provides that I don't think syndication could offer. The only problem I could see with this plan would be with Live with Kelly and Michael which airs primarily on ABC but also airs on at least 20 other affiliates. I would expect ABC would want Live to remain live on their affiliates but this would cause the non ABC affiliates to redo their schedules.

I thought that as well but it seems like recently the days he has been off he was actually on assignment conducting an interview. I only really noticed this when a month or two ago he was off Friday and that day on Nightly News they had an excerpt of an interview that aired the proceeding Monday. But I wish if he was truly off they would just come right out and say it instead of them being "on assignment." Of course that was true with Walter Cronkite because he had a sailboat named Assignment. Plenty of people when they have seniority they start getting an RDO on Friday's (or any other day) off every other week and I think the viewing public would be okay with that.

That miniature desk is the one (or similar design) used during Rock Center and I think that monitor has been used in MSNBC's studio 3K. There have been a few cases where Brian has done a Nightly standup from that desk in the past year. But last week they did the cold open with out the desk but with him standing in front of his regular news desk.

If broadcasters go all in and invest in new equipment prior to widespread adoption is that they would be cutting off most of their over the air viewership. I don't know how they could maintain backwards compatibility with ATSC 1.0 when the stations would be broadcasting an ATSC 3.0 transport stream. Somehow the ATSC 1.0 receivers would have to figure out how to decode the 3.0 stream. The only way it could them maintain backwards compatibility would be is if the FCC allowed a companion channel similar the analog/digital simulcast but I can't see the FCC allocating additional spectrum. In addition I doubt that Congress would run another Converter coupon program so soon (but if they did I hope they would make it where boxes could take software updates for future standards.) Your right the way the UK muxes are setup is that every transmitter broadcasts the same channel number nation wide. If we were to launch DVB-T2 kind of system I think it would be similar to our channel structure today where each station would have sub channels like for WJZ all of their channels would be 13.2, 13.3 etc. You mentioned that channels carried UK's Freeview (how they brand their OTA) are bit of a basic cable type of channels. I however don't see any basic cable channels ever being launched terrestrials here in the U.S. First of all I doubt the cable networks would want to give out their content for free, given the fact they command a per subscriber fee from the cable companies. Second I believe the cable companies would protest the cable networks giving their signal for free there by enabling cord cutters. The only way I see cable channels being carried over the air would be if they are encrypted requiring a subscription to decode the channels (in the 1980s there were services that broadcast movies overnight that required a special receiver to receive the channel.) You know there should be a thread discussing all things technical and discussions about nitrates bit rates (iPad keeps auto correcting.)

WBAL-AM/TV news director Michelle Butt has been promoted to the general manager of WXII of Hearst's Greensboro, NC NBC affiliate. She is returning to WXII where she served as news director for three years before coming to WBAL. http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/82126/michelle-butt-named-wxii-greensboro-gm

Either last year or in 2013 Sinclair did overnight tests of DVB-T2 the standard in the UK. How ever one thing that makes me worried about the British style TV system is they only have six eight multiplex channels where different stations share the same multiplex. I wonder if that is by choice of Ofcom or limited availability. I do wonder if it was implemented here in the US would each station continue to have their own multiplex and avoid channel sharing? Could you imagine the picture quality if TV stations could use the full 40Mbps bit rate that some of the muxes have in the UK? If some station decided to only air one HD channel at 40Mbps that would be awfully close to the bitrates of BluRay (50Mbps)

And finally my response: https://twitter.com/rkolsen/status/554607089654697985 I guess the station didn't want to hamper the news starting a half hour earlier with a footnote stations the 7AM newscast is a goner. Come to think of it I believe this is the first time in a long time that they've cancelled a newscast. It seems like they are always adding, first the 7AM weekday show, then the weekday 10PM news, extending the 10PM new to run on weekend and finally a 4:30AM start time. In other news they are using a different voice over guy. It's still the same script but it's not Bill Ratner. I've heard this guy do various promos for the station and several short notice voice over packages (like last years Columbia mall shooting). The fact that it's a short turnaround makes me suspect they aw using one of their radio personalities to do voice overs.

Sorry for a second post in a row, I can't embed more than one tweet at a time. Here's Mindy Basara's quick response: https://twitter.com/mindywbal/status/554606988080857088

Do you happen to have the link to the WJCL deal as well? In other news with WBAL launching a 4:30 AM newscast I thought they would continue the 7AM newscasts on MeTV Baltimore. Today I was looking at my TiVo's guide and noticed that my guide listed the regular MeTV programming at that hour with That Girl at 7:00AM and I Love Lucy at 7:30AM. So I sent out a tweet to the anchors: https://twitter.com/rkolsen/status/554604793839505408

I wish during the digital switch over the manufacturers included MPEG 4 capability / the ability to run software upgrades so when we finally switch over to ATSC 3.0 there won't be another rush of people buying new adapters. Unfortunately the FCC wasn't thinking that far ahead and the manufacturers will want the influx of people buying new hardware to improve their bottom line.

Well almost four years after WMAR started their 4:30AM newscast a second Baltimore station is getting in the game, WBAL. Starting at 4:30 AM they will provide two and a half hours of local news on their main channel and an additional hour from 7:00-8:00 am on their digital sub channel, WBAL + / MeTV Baltimore. The additional newscast will launch on January 12 and consequently Early Today will .air at 4:00 AM. http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/82090/wbal-to-start-weekday-morning-news-at-430

Yes, the networks are often times willing to allow their picture quality / desired resolution slide over the air but has the option for them to transmit the 1080i image to cable & satellite if capable. For example Sinclair's KTVO, licensed to the Honeylands region of NE Missouri and SE Iowa is primarily affiliated to ABC and secondarily to CBS both of which broadcast over the air at 720p. Their affiliation agreement requires a minimum resolution of 704x480 (16:9) but has a clause stating that KTVO has the option to transmit the 1080i signal at bitrates up to 19.3 Mbps to cable companies. However rarely see the satellite companies take a direct fiber connection to the station rather they choose to pick up the signal over the air. I've seen this option with CBS & Telemundo sub channel stations.

Television stations in the US have a maximum capacity of 19.3Mbps in their transport stream. Most stations use variable bitrates meaning that if the main HD channel needs more bandwidth (like in during sports) they can fluctuate the streams bitrate there by making the sub channel use less. KOKH appears to use between12-15.8Mbps for their HD channel, which appears to be average. According to RabbitEars the average bit rate for a 1280x720p broadcast is 12.18Mbps. SD sub channels, regardless of aspect ratio generally average around 4Mbps. From what I've seen 720p looks great around 9-10Mbps, add in in two SD sub channels at 4Mbps a piece then your at your limit. But if Fox were to broadcast at 1080i anything below 13Mbps looks like crap. Generally networks write in specified parameters regarding bitrates in their affiliation agreements. Currently finding the parameters. Will post back later. NBC - Minimum 6Mbps / Nominal 9.1Mbps Cozi TV - Minimum 500Kbps / Nominal 3 Mbps CBS - Doesn't appear to have a minimum but they expect the maximum to be the full transport stream at 19.39Mbps

Someone commented that the news director wanted the reporter to do a story on that edited YouTube clip making it sound like she was told to do the story (which I guess is the ND's job to dole out assignments). I wonder if she was told to do the story using that specific clip and spin it a certain way by focusing in on "kill a cops" instead of "killer cops". As an anonymous insider told FTVLive "It was found by him [News Director], assigned by him and ultimately proofed by him." If not I would think it would be evident to me to go to the source, in that case C-SPAN (whose live content is TVEverywhere but archives are free) and find the original video just to do my due diligence. If the reporter couldn't find the clip in question on C-SPAN, I'm sure there are other sources she could went to like Fox News Edge, CNN Newsource, APTN and their own affiliate WJLA all of which would have some coverage of the event. Either way it sounds like the reporter and photographer were being scapegoated on an assignment that was handed to her by the news director who got a slap on the wrist with a one day suspension. In addition the producer to sent the news director the link of the video was suspended for two days.

I'm beginning to wonder if ABC wants a specific size ratio of their logos on the affiliates logo. It seems like the affiliates whose logos are circular all have similar proportions.

I would prefer that the local stations in my market relied on the AP wire, the local stations don't seem to summarize news as well. I think writing three sentences for a simple story is a bit excessive.

Vanessa Herring, most recently of WROC in Rochester, has since August been freelancing at WUSA in DC and WBAL here in Baltimore. Today she filed two reports for WBAL in there 11PM broadcast. Her first story led the broadcast was breaking news where she reported live from BWI airport about a Southwest Airlines flight which had a bird strike during take off which forced the pilot to declare an emergency and return back to the airport. The second was about a Ferguson protest in Annapolis where she interview the mayor. Then I discovered when looking at her twitter feed she covered a story at WUSA this morning but it didn't pan out. She was at the DC courthouse where a groper of a 12 year old girl was expected to go on trial, but the trial was delayed until next week. Consequently she didn't have a package but appeared in a short 28 second VOSOT during the noon news.