channel2 979 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Not all of them. I remember seeing a number of them that gave up calls that had nothing to do with UPN or the WB. I still mourn the loss of "KBHK." Despite that heavy cable rate there, it is still important to have an OTA signal so everyone (including the ones that that don't have cable) can watch NBC. I feel OTA comes first than cable, but it seems that Comcast is not too quick in finding an OTA placement. And that's a shame. It benefits Comcast to get even those few OTA-only viewers in the Boston market onto the trains that run on their tracks. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152592 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1955 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 It benefits Comcast to get even those few OTA-only viewers in the Boston market onto the trains that run on their tracks. What if they don't want their cable service (or other MVPDs for that matter), yet they still want free OTA NBC? So if Comcast can't find an OTA signal, the viewers will be SOL? That's what I'm talking about. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152593 Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 979 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Depends on the person. They might try to pull in an NBC station from a neighboring market, like how to my grandparents in Michigan, WWJ-TV effectively didn't exist. Or they might resort to unauthorized means of accessing NBC programming. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152594 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1955 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Depends on the person. They might try to pull in an NBC station from a neighboring market, like how to my grandparents in Michigan, WWJ-TV effectively didn't exist. Or they might resort to unauthorized means of accessing NBC programming. My point is this. If Comcast said they're going to have an OTA channel for this new NBC Boston to fill the entire market, they need to find one stat. If they want to put the signal on WNEU, say so. They should've done all of this before making that announcement in January. While they're trying to hurt Ansin, they're probably going to hurt themselves even more if they can't find an OTA signal to fill up an entire market. Everyday that past that they can't find a signal, they look even more foolish. Ansin should be laughing at them. I don't think most folks in the southern half are going up on their roofs and risk their lives hooking up an outdoor antenna, just to getting WJAR. And with some cord-cutters or cord-nevers, I doubt they'll spend a mint going to (or back to) Comcast. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152596 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Adams 2 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Don't know if anyone else has noticed, or this has any connection whatsoever with the upcoming affiliate fracas, but NBC has moved its COZI network from WMFP 62.1 to WNEU 60.3. Comcast Cable apparently has no clue what is happening, because they're still calling 62.1 COZI,, but the listings are for a religious network. THe COZI website now lists their programs as being on 62.2, but a call to WMFP tells me that COZI is now actually on 60.3, and they were not aware that the listings were incorrect. When asked if Comcast would be carrying 60.3, the spokesperson told me it was "in the works," but had no definite time frame. Very strange. I haven't seen anything on any forums about this, not that COZI is one of the top-rated networks, but still.... Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152604 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3955 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 By the looks of TVfool's maps, Greater Boston has a better signal from WJAR than from WNEU. It would take a die-hard antenna viewer in the right location at the right height and a good antenna to even have a shot... Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152610 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4745 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 While they're trying to hurt Ansin, they're probably going to hurt themselves even more if they can't find an OTA signal to fill up an entire market. The real losers will be the children of the Boston area. I have exclusive photos of generic free use sad children that may or may not be impacted. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152612 Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1299 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Somehow, I can hear WBZ, WFXT, and especially WCVB salivating at gaining some ex-WHDH viewers. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152614 Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1684 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 My point is this. If Comcast said they're going to have an OTA channel for this new NBC Boston to fill the entire market, they need to find one stat. If they want to put the signal on WNEU, say so. They should've done all of this before making that announcement in January.I don't think they ever said that there's going to be a signal that covers the entire market but rather an OTA in the market. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152616 Share on other sites More sharing options...
newsbot 271 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Somehow, I can hear WBZ, WFXT, and especially WCVB salivating at gaining some ex-WHDH viewers. Are WHDH viewers going to abandon Channel 7 en masse just because of the loss of the NBC affiliation? If there is any effect from the debut of NBC Boston it will be felt by all stations (including, ironically, Comcast-owned NECN) and not just WHDH. Keep this in mind: the only thing WHDH has left post-NBC is its identity as The News Station, and to expect Ansin to sit idly by and let other stations pick off "his" viewers is naive in the extreme. They are the only station that will have 8P-10P free to counterprogram entertainment programming with more news as they see fit. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152631 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3955 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Comcast getting their way by disenfranchising some OTA viewers in Boston has far worse implications on the industry and sets a damaging precedent for broadcasting as a whole. First it's Ed Ansin....then it could be other groups which are in a rapid state of consolidation... Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152632 Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonDonP1 118 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 It may be too late for me to say this, but the Boston Hearld reported almost a month ago that NBCUniversal was considering acquiring WBPX from Ion Media Networks to serve as the Boston's new NBC O&O. It has not been confirmed on whether or not WNEU would pick up NBC programming on digital subchannel 60.1 and move Telemundo to a different subchannel. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152638 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4745 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Comcast getting their way by disenfranchising some OTA viewers in Boston has far worse implications on the industry and sets a damaging precedent for broadcasting as a whole. First it's Ed Ansin....then it could be other groups which are in a rapid state of consolidation... The government is selling chunks of tv spectrum... OTA is becoming a non-issue in more than just Boston. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152644 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 The government is selling chunks of tv spectrum... OTA is becoming a non-issue in more than just Boston. Isn't it becoming a non-issue in the entire northeastern (new england) US region, and New York (as in the entire state, not just the city), most of all? Because I think that OTA is still an issue for some, considering that cable prices and the fact that they almost never come separately are ridiculous Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152646 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelson R. 569 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 I dunno...I seem to recall CW and My Network TV affiliates changing their call letters like it was going out of style back in 2006. One of those was WWWB channel 55 who got MyNet and switched to WMYT. (SHOULD have been WMYC "My Charlotte." Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152657 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1537 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 What if they don't want their cable service (or other MVPDs for that matter), yet they still want free OTA NBC? So if Comcast can't find an OTA signal, the viewers will be SOL? That's what I'm talking about. Or what about cordcutters who only have internet service but would like to receive NBC OTA rather than via Hulu or nbc.com? Of course, someone who only watches one or two shows could simply buy them off of iTunes or Amazon... Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152659 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABC 7 Denver 1717 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Or what about cordcutters who only have internet service but would like to receive NBC OTA rather than via Hulu or nbc.com? Of course, someone who only watches one or two shows could simply buy them off of iTunes or Amazon... You want to buy your local news off iTunes or is Comcast going to by you Sling? Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152662 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1537 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 You want to buy your local news off iTunes or is Comcast going to by you Sling? Sorry, I was thinking network programming. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152664 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius22 122 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 PlayStation Vue will have the local Stations included. if all goes through the NBC Boston station can be watched. subscriptions might cost more if in a select city. they might not include this. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152671 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bixpchiphead 105 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 And to think NBC could have had Channel 7 in Boston back in 1959.... From Wikipedia: In 1959, RKO and NBC reached an agreement on what would have been the highest-priced license transfer in broadcasting history to that time. The deal would have seen RKO acquire NBC's WRC-AM-FM-TV in Washington, swap WNAC-AM-TV and WRKO-FM (the former WNAC-FM) in Boston to NBC for that company's WRCV-AM-TV in Philadelphia, and sell the WGMS stations in Washington to Crowell-Collier Broadcasting (as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations at that time would not permit ownership of both the WRC stations and the WGMS stations). The deal was an attempt to resolve a controversy surrounding a 1956 swap of NBC and Westinghouse Broadcasting stations in Philadelphia and Cleveland. In 1965, the FCC declared the 1956 trade null and void, effectively reversing the swap, and denied the proposed license transfers on what would prove to be the ironic ground that NBC would enter the Boston market as the product of its dishonesty in the Philadelphia/Cleveland transaction. NBC has been pulling shenanigans like this all the way back to General Sarnoff. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152687 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4378 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Somehow, I can hear WBZ, WFXT, and especially WCVB salivating at gaining some ex-WHDH viewers. They are more likely laughing at Comcast. At present, the best case scenario for Comcast is a negligible change in NECN's ratings. The worst case scenario is WNEU failing to get any audience whatsoever. If I were WFXT, I would be really concerned at WHDH in morning drive and at 10... only because of some of the recent changes instituted by Cox management. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152689 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4378 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 NBC has been pulling shenanigans like this all the way back to General Sarnoff. Look at the life of Major Edwin Armstrong and his lengthy legal battle with Sarnoff for the development of FM radio broadcasting. That tops everything else. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152690 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4745 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Somehow, I can hear WBZ, WFXT, and especially WCVB salivating at gaining some ex-WHDH viewers. Just watch out for WHDH may just dump a bunch of older viewers, convicts and other undesirables outside the preferred demo. Those other stations will be stuck with all those dead weight viewers. Viewer Dumping... the ugly darkside of ratings. Fidel Castro pulled the same stunt in the early 80's. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152691 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColumbusNewsFan 217 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 They are more likely laughing at Comcast. At present, the best case scenario for Comcast is a negligible change in NECN's ratings. The worst case scenario is WNEU failing to get any audience whatsoever. If I were WFXT, I would be really concerned at WHDH in morning drive and at 10... only because of some of the recent changes instituted by Cox management. and knowing how COX feels about FOX and Ansin about FOX... Could WHDH get the FOX affilation? I know a lot will say there under contract until 2019 but all contract can be changed if you wave enough money at them. Right now, WHDH looks good at this point as NBC's attempt to move to what has been a series of errors by NBC. Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152692 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1537 Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Just watch out for WHDH may just dump a bunch of older viewers, convicts and other undesirables outside the preferred demo. Those other stations will be stuck with all those dead weight viewers. Viewer Dumping... the ugly darkside of ratings. Fidel Castro pulled the same stunt in the early 80's. What are you even talking about? Link to comment https://localnewstalk.net/topic/14838-boston-tv-crisis-whdh-and-wneu/page/27/#findComment-152722 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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