Digital Channels

[JTT 111]

I don't understand why some of the digital channels like METV needs to be on more than one subchannel.  For example, I can find METV, Heroes & Icons, and Catchy TV in the Los Angeles area on more than one local subchannel.  Why is this the case? 

[Megatron81 263]

I don't know maybe the owners want to double dip and just take the money. The only one in West Michigan that has double network channels is Dibal it is on WLLA DT6 & WOTV DT4 which was DT2 before Nexstar took The CW for DT2.

[SDHIll1980 103]

1 hour ago, JTT said:

I don't understand why some of the digital channels like METV needs to be on more than one subchannel.  For example, I can find METV, Heroes & Icons, and Catchy TV in the Los Angeles area on more than one local subchannel.  Why is this the case? 

 

I'm in the Los Angeles area myself, and there are at least a couple of factors as to why you'll have duplicate feeds of MeTV, H&I, and Catchy locally.  One of which are signal contours...when Weigel finalized the purchase of KAZA-TV, it was about a year later that it began channel-sharing with KHTV-CD, one of three low-powered signals also currently owned by Weigel.  However, when the channel-sharing arrangement was made with KAZA and KHTV, there were areas in the Los Angeles basin that couldn't pick the OTA signal.  There was a signal boost not long after, and now both stations cover most of L.A. and Orange Counties, as well as the western edge of the Inland Empire.  The secondary affiliations with KDOC (MeTV), KCOP (H&I), and KTTV (Catchy) fills-in those gaps over-the-air where KAZA and its low-power siblings have signal issues.  Which goes to the second point, at least with the Fox stations group, they have contractual agreements to carry some or all of the Weigel digital networks on their subchannels (except in Chicago, Weigel's home base), and KDOC's contract with MeTV pre-dates Weigel's purchase of KAZA.

 

On Spectrum cable, MeTV (KAZA 54-1), MeTV+ (KHTV 6-1), H&I (KSFV 27-2), Catchy (KPOM 14-1), and Story TV (KAZA 54-2) are all available there, and in 720p picture quality.  A long-winded explanation, I'm sure, but that's the gist as far as the situation in Los Angeles.

[mre29 1537]

6 hours ago, JTT said:

I don't understand why some of the digital channels like METV needs to be on more than one subchannel.  For example, I can find METV, Heroes & Icons, and Catchy TV in the Los Angeles area on more than one local subchannel.  Why is this the case? 

 

Looks like it has to do with signal strength, at least for MeTV. Via Wikipedia:

 

Quote

Before a signal upgrade in late 2018, KAZA's over-the-air signal was not available in much of western and southern Los Angeles County, due to its channel-sharing agreement with low-powered Class A UHF station KHTV-CD, which necessitated the continual co-affiliation through KDOC.

 

I should note that here in the Boston-Manchester market, MeTV is on subchannels of both Hearst-owned ABC affiliates, WCVB and WMUR, with identical schedules except for the stations' 10pm news and a 10:30pm repeat of Chronicle on WCVB 5.2. Xfinity carries both feeds, likely because of those newscasts.

 

[Abraham J. Simpson 315]

If the tv provider has an agreement to carry the subchannels of each station, that’s what happens, regardless of there being a duplicate, and regardless of content (newscast).

 

If you have a scenario where two ownership groups have deals to carry whatever little digital network and those groups are both in a city, you’ll have that overlap.