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Virtual Channel Designations
- Thread starter Santa fe
- Start date
It's all mandate. The use of the old analog channels is part of the ATSC standards that are incorporated into FCC rules.
But most stations wouldn't want it any other way for marketing, either. A lot have changed RF channels twice since the end of analog, which would have been a marketing nightmare. Many are now in channel-sharing deals or are on "someone else's" old RF channel.
When you have a brand identity that's been constant for 70+ years like "channel 3" or "channel 5," you don't mess with what's working.
But most stations wouldn't want it any other way for marketing, either. A lot have changed RF channels twice since the end of analog, which would have been a marketing nightmare. Many are now in channel-sharing deals or are on "someone else's" old RF channel.
When you have a brand identity that's been constant for 70+ years like "channel 3" or "channel 5," you don't mess with what's working.
I think the NBC & CBS O&O stations all brand with their city name. "CBS Philadelphia", "NBC Boston" and so forth.
Some CBS ones do. Others don't. NBC still mostly uses channel numbers in its branding.
WFMZ-TV in Allentown, PA is still "channel 69" even though RF channel 69 hasn't existed since 2009. But they do tell antenna viewers that they transmit on RF channel 9, so despite historically being a UHF station, you now need a VHF antenna to receive them:
www.wfmz.com
How To Watch: Viewers with Antennas
Use this helpful tool to determine if you're using the right TV antenna to get the best reception of 69 WFMZ-TV: thefreetvproject.org
Could WOIO ditch "19" for "CBS Cleveland?"
It's actually more likely that WOIO simply becomes "19". Gray Television has been placing a heightened emphasis on local identities among their entire station group and has gone to the extent of removing Big Four network logos from their station logos.
As the old saying goes, "don't say 'channel', say 'nineteen'!"
The Channel's 19 & 43 marriage kind of threw a changeup in with 19's (and 43's) identity.
I still preferred "We're Nineteen" and "We're Fox 19" over anything channel 19 has done with its CBS affiliation identity. The entire news block on 43 always emphases placement of the 19 identity which to me, looks awkward and clumsy. As if it's ashamed to identify the duel ownership and 43's part within the CW and Gray Television group.
As there was a time when 43 wanted to "Slide down the dial" and takeover the 19 spot. I've often wondered if it's quietly happened without anyone (including themselves) noticing. At certain times, 43 seems to air nothing more than leftovers that nobody but binge watchers (Court shows for one?) cares for. I still think they are capable of bringing back something more attractive and try to reclaim their "Play's Favorites" type mantra. Especially with cord cutters and aging original viewers seeking something more with the antenna.
I still preferred "We're Nineteen" and "We're Fox 19" over anything channel 19 has done with its CBS affiliation identity. The entire news block on 43 always emphases placement of the 19 identity which to me, looks awkward and clumsy. As if it's ashamed to identify the duel ownership and 43's part within the CW and Gray Television group.
As there was a time when 43 wanted to "Slide down the dial" and takeover the 19 spot. I've often wondered if it's quietly happened without anyone (including themselves) noticing. At certain times, 43 seems to air nothing more than leftovers that nobody but binge watchers (Court shows for one?) cares for. I still think they are capable of bringing back something more attractive and try to reclaim their "Play's Favorites" type mantra. Especially with cord cutters and aging original viewers seeking something more with the antenna.
Getting "Favorites" programming for OTA independents like 43 is a challenge today. You get what you pay for applies, so the better movies, reruns and syndicated fare costs more, assuming that they are even contractually available to 43 in this market. Plus, diginets already have the better reruns and are in the market, so why would 43 show what's otherwise available? Outside of court shows, talk shows and a few quiz shows, quality first run syndicated programming has mostly left OTA for the subscription streaming services like Netflix, Prime, Paramount Plus, Peacock, etc. So the pickins' are slim.
43's best product is their local news at alternate times to "traditional" 19. While I don't watch a lot of local TV news, it seems 19/43 does a pretty good job presenting just the news without a lot of fluff. With their young staff, perhaps that's what the ND is doing, emphasizing the basics. But I don't see that much, so I could be wrong.
43's best product is their local news at alternate times to "traditional" 19. While I don't watch a lot of local TV news, it seems 19/43 does a pretty good job presenting just the news without a lot of fluff. With their young staff, perhaps that's what the ND is doing, emphasizing the basics. But I don't see that much, so I could be wrong.
1. They're not gonna bump CW for My Net
2. My Net isn't even really a network any more. It's a syndication service airing reruns of shows you can see a bazillion times a day in traditional syndication and on cable
Channel 43 has long distanced themselves from My Net.
In 2015, channel 43 debuted a 9p newscast, pushing My Net to 11p-1a
When CW jumped from 55 to 43 in 2018, WUAB further pushed My Net back to 1-3a, as the 9p newscast was cancelled, the traditional 10p newscast went back to an hour, and other shuffling to accommodate CW took place.
And then shortly after that, My Net was quietly banished to the 19.2 graveyard, where it has lived a zombie-like existence ever since.
19/43's current news product is a lot better than the "Cleveland 19" period that was several steps backwards from its "Action News" hey day.
"Cleveland 19" wasn't bad, but what they did was overcompensate to try to get all of the "Action News" stank washed off ASAP.
Remember, the main anchors during the "Cleveland 19" time was mild mannered Mark Nolan and prim and proper Romona Robinson. They were about as un-"Action News" as you could get coming off the heels of Sharon Reed and Catherine Bosley under the watch of Bill Applegate.
When you look under the "19 News" hood, you'll see it's really just "Cleveland 19" with a smidge of a harder edge without going full bore "Action News".
Only thing I can think of...gotta fulfill the commitment, but not waste channel 43 real estate to do so, thus it withers on the 19.2 vine.
While I don't really like MyNet pre-empting the MeTV schedule, there's a potential advantage here. 19.2 is re-transmitted on WTCL-LD 6.2, and the way I see it, this is purposely being done to repeat MyNet along with WOIO (CBS) on 19.10 and WUAB (CW) on 43.10. A while back, the engineer told me that he disagrees with WOIO and WUAB being repeated on WTCL, and would rather see that bandwidth used for other networks/services, but this was a corporate decision and not WOIO's. With WOIO's 30 kW broadcast launching later this year, and with W28FG-D being moved to Akron to be used as a WTCL-LD repeater, he hopes that this will convince the higher ups to discontinue the simulcasts on WTCL-LD. This is where I suggested keeping the 19.2 simulcast on 6.2, but upping it up to 720p HD. If WOIO plans to keep MyNet on 19.2 for the foreseeable future, upping the 6.2 simulcast to 720p would provide viewers with a HD feed of MyNet, and in turn would be a bonus for MeTV viewers as well. This can be done right now if they wanted to, though they probably would have to downgrade 19.10 to 480i as a result. A simular example is WYTV and WYFX-LD in Youngstown, where MyNet airs on WYTV 33.2 in SD, but is simulcasted on WYFX-LD 62.2 in HD at the expense of a smaller coverage area.
I actually liked Cleveland 19, as it was more down to earth, where 19 News is a bit more aggressive, but without the Action News branding or tabloid format. Speaking of which, the other night, one of the on-scene reporters was wearing a Cleveland 19 hat while reporting the recent storm damage.
I wish that Channel 5 would use one of their subchannels to carry Scripps News. It would be nice to have a 24/7 news channel on broadcast TV. I know that it is on Channel 23, but they are not easily received in parts of Greater Cleveland. Scripps owns channel 5, so what's the problem?