WBTS - Home of NBC Boston?

[mre29 1519]

They are shutting down the transmitter, but the WBIN license will live on, sharing with WUTF, on the WUTF transmitter.

 

All the way down in Worcester. Man, that's weird.

[channel99 45]

All the way down in Worcester. Man, that's weird.

WUTF covers the market quite well, and includes the southern NH area where WBIN is located. But WBIN has seemed more interested in recent years in their must-carry status, not OTA.

[Carl Youncinator 3]

WFXZ will channel share with WGBH on VHF low channel 5, as listed on rabbit ears dot info. Has the repack freed up any full power VHF channels for use in Massachusetts?

[JCB4TV 347]

WUTF covers the market quite well, and includes the southern NH area where WBIN is located. But WBIN has seemed more interested in recent years in their must-carry status, not OTA.

It should also be noted that Univision is in the process of purchasing the WBIN license, which will probably mean that Univision will switch to Spanish format, possibly a Univision O&O leaving room on WUNI, an Entravision station. Can WBTS go there?

[JCB4TV 347]

WFXZ will channel share with WGBH on VHF low channel 5, as listed on rabbit ears dot info. Has the repack freed up any full power VHF channels for use in Massachusetts?

WFXZ is a CD station essentially getting an upgrade.

[kdex86 53]

It should also be noted that Univision is in the process of purchasing the WBIN license, which will probably mean that Univision will switch to Spanish format, possibly a Univision O&O leaving room on WUNI, an Entravision station. Can WBTS go there?

 

WBTS is already channel-sharing with WNEU (Telemundo). I believe the main cause of concern is getting the main OTA transmitter for both of these stations in Needham, giving it consistency with WBZ, WCVB, WHDH, and WFXT. With WMFP channel-sharing with WWDP, it'll be transmitting from West Bridgewater instead of from the FM-128 tower (which is actually in Newton Upper Falls). Perhaps WBTS/WNEU can move their signal to that tower when the repack occurs?

[Carl Youncinator 3]

WMFP is changing it's city of license from Lawrence to Foxboro. Since they will be channel sharing with WWDP, will WWDP be changing their city of license too? WBTS isn't channel sharing with WNEU as both are separate frequencies (channels 46 and 34 respectively) which transmit from different towns (Needham, MA and Goffstown, NH).

[channel99 45]

It should also be noted that Univision is in the process of purchasing the WBIN license, which will probably mean that Univision will switch to Spanish format, possibly a Univision O&O leaving room on WUNI, an Entravision station. Can WBTS go there?

 

WMFP is changing it's city of license from Lawrence to Foxboro. Since they will be channel sharing with WWDP, will WWDP be changing their city of license too? WBTS isn't channel sharing with WNEU as both are separate frequencies (channels 46 and 34 respectively) which transmit from different towns (Needham, MA and Goffstown, NH).

 

WBTS sharing with WUNI would certainly work, and there is enough room now, since WUNI now has only 2 channels - the 1080i primary channel and the 480i LATV. Coverage is good, and it may well be the best channel left for WBTS.

 

WMFP first broadcast from the Lawrence area, soon moving that analog signal to a Boston office tower, but the COL remained as Lawrence. However that's too far north to be covered by WWDP, which has a very short tower, and limited coverage, requiring the COL change. Possibly WBTS could move to WWDP, but WMFP is probably most interested in keeping must-carry rights for the WMFP license.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

Does anyone remember that the only reason NBC had to do to WHDH in the first place was because Group W signed WBZ over to CBS and eventually merged with them. It has been my belief to this day that NBC has never been truly satisfied with its Boston situation since leaving WBZ.

 

I strongly and vehemently disagree, and stand by my dissent. If GE-led NBC hated Ed Ansin as much as you claim they did over the WSVN debacle, they would have never done business with him and worked to wind up on UHF instead.

My dude, you're also very wrong. NBC stuck with WHDH because it was the only viable option. Once it stopped being the only viable option, they bounced. This doesn't require such a close reading of the tea leaves.

 

I do not know how many times I have to say this on here, and everyone seems to miss the freaking point.

 

NBC affiliated with WHDH because they WANTED to, and because they NEVER truly had any ill will with Sunbeam and Ed Ansin. They may not have been happy with the circumstances over leaving WBZ, but WHDH was already in turnaround mode and eventually overtook WBZ for the #2 position in the market anyway (mind you, Westinghouse stations pre-1995 ran to the beat of their own drum, preempting network shows at will for their local or in-house syndicated fare).

 

It was never "the only viable option." They WANTED to be there. They CHOSE to be there. So much so that they signed WHDH to a really long contract.

 

Once Comcast took over, everything changed. But that's because the new Comcast leadership wanted everything to themselves, not because of an affiliation switch that happened at the tail end of the Reagan Administration.

 

Good freaking grief.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

For all the brouhaha over the Jay Leno Show prime time fiasco, WBZ actually pre-empted NBC programming far more often that did WHDH.

Same with KYW, long the #3 station in Philadelphia during the 70s and 80s. While Westinghouse effectively took over CBS, the operations culture with that whole station group changed so severely that it almost could be considered as an ownership change.

[channel2 979]

WBZ becoming an O&O seems to have messed them up a lot...

[TheRolyPoly 2415]

WBZ becoming an O&O seems to have messed them up a lot...

 

Actually... not really. Because now they're probably third or even second in a five-crowed field.

[jbnews 344]

After NBC Boston started, WBZ jumped from 3rd to 2nd.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 708]

I strongly and vehemently disagree, and stand by my dissent. If GE-led NBC hated Ed Ansin as much as you claim they did over the WSVN debacle, they would have never done business with him and worked to wind up on UHF instead.

 

 

I do not know how many times I have to say this on here, and everyone seems to miss the freaking point.

 

NBC affiliated with WHDH because they WANTED to, and because they NEVER truly had any ill will with Sunbeam and Ed Ansin. They may not have been happy with the circumstances over leaving WBZ, but WHDH was already in turnaround mode and eventually overtook WBZ for the #2 position in the market anyway (mind you, Westinghouse stations pre-1995 ran to the beat of their own drum, preempting network shows at will for their local or in-house syndicated fare).

 

It was never "the only viable option." They WANTED to be there. They CHOSE to be there. So much so that they signed WHDH to a really long contract.

 

Once Comcast took over, everything changed. But that's because the new Comcast leadership wanted everything to themselves, not because of an affiliation switch that happened at the tail end of the Reagan Administration.

 

Good freaking grief.

 

Exactly. If NBC really wanted to, they could have gone to one of those other independent stations. UPN and WB still hadn't launched at that time. They just liked WHDH for obvious reasons.

[channel2 979]

I doubt Tribune would have let WLVI break rank and join NBC, and they could have bought WSBK but chose not to.

[JCB4TV 347]

Exactly. If NBC really wanted to, they could have gone to one of those other independent stations. UPN and WB still hadn't launched at that time. They just liked WHDH for obvious reasons.

In 1994, WFXT was not a Fox O&O as they were owned by the Celtics at that time as NBC might have gone there which would have allowed WHDH to make like WSVN and joined Fox.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

In 1994, WFXT was not a Fox O&O as they were owned by the Celtics at that time as NBC might have gone there which would have allowed WHDH to make like WSVN and joined Fox.

 

That option was open. As was WSBK and WLVI. And guess what? NBC didn't take them. Because they wanted to do business with Sunbeam and WHDH, and never felt it a last resort.

 

A last resort would be a WWJ-TV, KDNL or WNWO, stations that have an imperceptible audience or no news operation.

[elfuego35 90]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NCqitsJBlVv--fUQqk322SSPy7Rf0bBVVWs3ztwr6Qo/edit

 

The Google doc I linked to above is the "Television Makes Strange Bedfellows" portion of Raymie's New World @ 20 series written for the 20th anniversary of the New World-Fox announcement.

 

That document explains how, and why each network chose their partner in New England at the time, and the factors in how WHDH became the NBC station

[JCB4TV 347]

It a

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NCqitsJBlVv--fUQqk322SSPy7Rf0bBVVWs3ztwr6Qo/edit

 

The Google doc I linked to above is the "Television Makes Strange Bedfellows" portion of Raymie's New World @ 20 series written for the 20th anniversary of the New World-Fox announcement.

 

That document explains how, and why each network chose their partner in New England at the time, and the factors in how WHDH became the NBC station

It appeats that in essence, WHDH went with NBC as they had a national news department while Fox News was still 2 years away.

[Carl Youncinator 3]

Will WGBH have to discontinue mobile TV when they move from rf 19 to rf 5 during the repack?

[broadcastfan9751 140]

Will WGBH have to discontinue mobile TV when they move from rf 19 to rf 5 during the repack?

 

Not necessarily, but mobile TV probably won't work very well on low-VHF, so they might have to move it to WGBX (and possibly switch to ATSC 3.0, which has better mobile TV capabilities).

[Carl Youncinator 3]

Wikipedia indicates that WBIN shut down on 9/15/17.

[broadcastfan9751 140]

Wikipedia indicates that WBIN shut down on 9/15/17.

 

They haven't shut down, they've begun channel sharing with WUTF according to RabbitEars.

[Carl Youncinator 3]

WBIN's VHF translators are still being listed at the bottom of the screen. Since a spectrum auction was for their main signal on UHF rf 35, are their lp translators still allowed to operate along with the their channel share agreement with WUTF ?

[broadcastfan9751 140]

WBIN's VHF translators are still being listed at the bottom of the screen. Since a spectrum auction was for their main signal on UHF rf 35, are their lp translators still allowed to operate along with the their channel share agreement with WUTF ?

 

Yeah, the translators are under separate licenses, so they can still operate.