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Changes in DFW's LPTV market

J

JHBrandt

Star Participant
My wife was dismayed today when she tuned to 31.4 this evening expecting Knight Rider and got The Dick Van Dyke Show instead. Seems RTV is no longer on 31.4. :(

Tuning around, I found a couple more changes:
- UAN is moving from KJJM's 34.1 to full-power KTAQ on 47.2. (For now they're on both.)
- 50.3 has replaced the Azteca night-light slide with English-language programming - and it's not infomercials! :) I haven't identified it yet, though.

Anyone hearing rumors on whether RTV will be returning to DFW (perhaps on a full-power station like KFWD)?
 
Not sure what's up with 31.4, but that's happened before where it was apparently a technical problem getting the RTV feed. I suspect it'sonly temporary.

I had come here tonight to point out that 50.3 is now running AMG-TV.

Not sure what network 34.3 is running, but they've got Bonanza on right now (8pm central)
 
tested said:
Not sure what's up with 31.4, but that's happened before where it was apparently a technical problem getting the RTV feed. I suspect it's only temporary.

I had come here tonight to point out that 50.3 is now running AMG-TV.

Not sure what network 34.3 is running, but they've got Bonanza on right now (8pm central)
Click to expand...

Hope you're right. Otherwise my wife is really going to miss Emergency!

Not sure if 34.3 is affiliated with a network or not. I always figured it was a local effort like 31.3's HOT TV.
 
Then what type of programming is on it? The My Family TV website still has KJJM-LD listed as an affiliate. Any chance someone can figure out what shows are on it and when and I can look around for info on what it could be?

- Trip
 
JHBrandt said:
My wife was dismayed today when she tuned to 31.4 this evening expecting Knight Rider and got The Dick Van Dyke Show instead. Seems RTV is no longer on 31.4. :(
Click to expand...
RTV is on 31.4 today.
 
tripinva said:
Then what type of programming is on it? The My Family TV website still has KJJM-LD listed as an affiliate. Any chance someone can figure out what shows are on it and when and I can look around for info on what it could be?

- Trip
Click to expand...

Today, Storm Stories was on from 6 to 6:30, followed by a movie starring James Stewart. I'll post more later.

Doesn't seem to match up with the MyFamilyTV.TV schedule, but this programming does seem to be new. Before I started this thread, 34.3 ran a mix of infomercials and obscure reruns. ("Dusty's Trail," a "Gilligan's Island" knockoff, was a 34.3 favorite.)

BTW, why isn't their website address just MyFamily.TV? What's the point of repeating the "TV"? :D
 
I saw a crawl on 34.1 announcing that it was on 47.2 and would soon leave 34.1.
I'm really not sure what is on 34.3. Last night I saw preacher John Hagee at one point, a christian movie at another and some weird classical music video with bible passages. (not the word network though)
 
tested said:
I saw a crawl on 34.1 announcing that it was on 47.2 and would soon leave 34.1.
Click to expand...

I think the D/FW market has hit the saturation point with the number of LPTVs now operating and doubtlessly struggling in a tough economy. There are a total of 10 such facilities and I can't fathom how the number of streams (counting the subchannels, it's a total of 35) can make any money.

Even though they have CPs, I doubt that KNAV/22 and KHPK/28 are in any hurry to light up. What can they possibly put on that will be profitable? Emphasis on profitable not what we'd like to see.

KVFW/38 seems to be off the air as much as it's on and when it is on, a good part of the time is Windows desktop or a static frame from a program where the playback app has crashed. The Urban Superstation touted by KPFW never became a reality and UAN's move to a full-power facility has got to put KJJM into a not-so-good position. KLEG/44 has had the static slide (complete with snow, really) for Azteca up since January. There's evidently nobody willing to play for play on 44.

I'd be curious to know how many orders are placed via HSN's OTA K25FW facility compared to cable. They use a separate phone number to track from whence the order originates. K25FW was off for a number of days in early February and, if it were a real money maker, I'm sure Ventana would have taken measures to get it back on sooner than they did.
 
If you look at Trip's very fine rabbitears.info website, you'll see there are a lot of networks that are not on any of the subchannels here.

In general, I agree with your assessment that there's too many choices and not enough money to make them profitable. However, we don't really know what all the economics of these stations are. I have no idea how many people watch home shopping on K25FW, but it must be worth it to someone to keep it going. They have nothing else on that station.
I could make the argument about many of the full power broadcasters too. The only difference is that the power bill for the LP stations is a lot lower.
 
Tonight may have set a new standard for weirdness on DFW LPTV stations.
For some reason, 34.2 was simulcasting KXAS. I really wonder if this was just someone at the transmitter watching channel 5, not realizing they had punched it up on air.

Still can't tell what 34.3 is. Tonight it was running a reality show about a tree trimming service. Looks like it was produced in the Tulsa area. Go figure.

38.1 was the real fun one to watch. It was back on the air, but they had a hard time getting their programming running.
I saw a website on screen from the internet provider Clear. Someone was typing away, trying to bring up slingbox. They finally did and I saw some programming sign for KVFW 38.1.. but it would only last a few moments before the browser would crash and say the connection to the website was lost. This went on repeatedly.
I really don't understand why they need slingbox to run their programming. Where is it coming from and wouldn't it be cheaper to just hook a DVD player into the transmitter?
 
When I went to the Valley to setup my dad's outdoor antenna, the local Telemundo station was running a Directv full screen with info on their hockey offerings. Mind you this is a full power station. But they're apparently feeding the transmitter with Directv. The cable channel had normal programming.
 
I've seen that with networks like Daystar or the LPTV nets, but that surprises me for a network like Telemundo that wants to consider itself a competitor with Univision. Especially in such a prominent Hispanic market.
 
That station has always counted on cable. It's licensed to Rio Grande City at the far west end of the Valley, and initially it didn't have that great a signal down by Brownsville. But I believe they moved their tower further east with the digital upgrade.
 
tested said:
Tonight may have set a new standard for weirdness on DFW LPTV stations.

38.1 was the real fun one to watch. It was back on the air, but they had a hard time getting their programming running.
I saw a website on screen from the internet provider Clear. Someone was typing away, trying to bring up slingbox. They finally did and I saw some programming sign for KVFW 38.1.. but it would only last a few moments before the browser would crash and say the connection to the website was lost. This went on repeatedly.
Click to expand...

I have Clear and although it's a good value for consumer-grade Internet service, I wouldn't pick it if I needed a constant 24/7 connection, as I imagine a TV station would. WiMax technology just isn't reliable enough. I experience occasional short dropouts at home, which are no big deal if it just interrupts me downloading a podcast, but I imagine they'd wreak havoc on anyone trying to stream video straight to broadcast!
 
For what it's worth, 34.2 still had KXAS this morning, but was back to some kind of religious spanish language programming by noon.
 
tested said:
For what it's worth, 34.2 still had KXAS this morning, but was back to some kind of religious Spanish language programming by noon.
Click to expand...

34.2 had been Almavision, which is a Spanish religious network, so that's what they presumably returned to.

38 was on for a day or two, but seems to be off the air again. They seem to be having big problems.

Looks like 18 is off the air also.
 
JHBrandt said:
38 was on for a day or two, but seems to be off the air again. They seem to be having big problems.
Looks like 18 is off the air also.
Click to expand...

Having the callsign of K?FW seems to be the kiss of death in this market. KZFW was also off for a few days in a row last month.

KPFW/18 was pretty steady when they were on RF-29. Since the change to RF-18, they've been intermittent. If that station were truly profitable, they'd be hustling to get it back ASAP.

...which brings us to KVFW/38, the Comedy Central of the LPTVs in these parts. On those rare occasions, then they are on, the hijinks of what you see would be apt for Wierd Al's "UHF" movie. The Windows desktop is rather consistent programming fare. If not that, the registration screen for an app's evaluation period having expired is often present. Then, as tested noted, it's a laugh riot to watch someone frantically typing and/or clicking away to launch a video program. And if it's not that, KVFW's feature is a still frame from a crashed Slingbox (of whatever they're using) session.

The business model of KVFW appears to be:

1). Spend a lot of money on engineering studies and consultants to get a Cedar Hill stick.
2). ???
3). PROFIT!

I guess they're still working out the details on step 2, eh? :)
 
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